July 2, 2019

Attendees:  James Marquart,  Arne Almquist, Paul Bernazzani, Katrina Brent, Brian Craig, Dan French, Derina Holtzhausen, Lynn Maurer, Brenda Nichols, and Bob Spina.

I. Approval of Dean’s Council Minutes dated June 18, 2019

The minutes of the Academic Dean meeting, dated June 18, 2019, were approved as written.

II. GUESTS: Theresa Hefner-Babb

                   RE: Documentation of Qualifications

                   Compliance Assist

Documentation of Qualifications (DOQ) – During the SACSCOC Advisory visit with Dr. Taylor in May, the question was raised on how to handle ‘instructional associates’, and the recommendation  from Dr. Taylor was to document them as Teaching Assistants (TAs).  There was discussion, including who assigns the grades.  Theresa said her office will be going back and completing DOQ forms on all our instructional associates. They must have 18 hours experience in the field.  The DOQ forms will go to the Deans who will route them to the Department Chairs for signature.  Then the Deans will sign off and send them back to the Office of Planning and Assessment. Transcripts will be made available.  The deadline for DOQs to be returned to the SACS office is July 15th.

Compliance Assist – An email was sent out from Dr. Nichols yesterday with instructions on accessing Compliance Assist. There is a link in that email that will be necessary for access.  Theresa used the overhead projector to review how to access/ retrieve the Reaffirmation 2020 report status as well as other information.  Please read the  narrative portions and let Theresa or Joe know if any questions or comments.  Anywhere there is a ‘blue link’ in a document, the deans were asked to try the links to make sure they are working properly.  (preferably off campus).  The documents can be copied into Word in case anyone has suggested changes they want to make and send to Dr. Hefner-Babb for review.

QEP – Theresa gave a brief update on the QEP Committee meeting yesterday.

III. Brenda Nichols

• Faculty Advisors for Upper Level Distance Education and Grad Students

    There was discussion on having designated faculty advisors for upper level distance education and grad            students. Admissions are getting held up within the departments by the Chair or faculty members, especially      during the summer. There needs to be more timely reviews and decisions made.  Having the department chair designate someone as a backup when they are out of office or the use of faculty advisors were discussed.   

• Academic Partnership – Summer enrollment is up about 13% from this time last summer. Dr. Nichols gave an overview of how AP is doing overall. 

• Technical Credit – The draft policy, Transfer of Technical Credit, was discussed at the last meeting. Some feedback was received and the policy will now move forward to Dr. Evans for approval.  If approved, the policy will go in to effect fall 2019.

IV. Personnel Justification

When submitting paperwork for new hires, transitions, replacements, moves, etc. deans are requested to start including a summary paragraph of what is being done and why.

V. Other:

Katrina Brent –

• Updates given on the Recruit Back process.
• Non-payment purge information will be going out soon.
• Enrollment updates given.
• Exit surveys being done on students who are not returning to Lamar.
• The new Call Center has made between 1200-1300 calls so far.

Bob Spina –

• There has been communication with BISD about King Middle School and a 3^rd party from Chicago.
• Renovations on the bathrooms in the Education Building have begun.

 Lynn Maurer –

A candidate for the Associate Provost of ORSP position is coming back to campus for a short visit on July 15^th.  While here, he would like his wife and middle school daughter to meet with contacts at local schools.  Due to this being the summer months, it was suggested to connect his wife with someone at Region V.  Dean Spina will forward the Regional V contact information.   

Arne Almquist –

• Several small group study rooms in the Library are getting furniture and will be ready for fall.
• The Library would like to eliminate hard copies of dissertations. Those that existed prior to digitalization will be scanned before being shredded. Copies of dissertations are public and pdf copies are available via ProQuest.  

Paul Bernazzani –

Slowly starting to move faculty in to research labs.

Derina Holtzhausen –

Updates given on various summer activities within the College of Fine Arts and Communications, including band camps, choir camp, dance events and study abroad trips.   

 VI. Adjourn; 3:00pm