September 24, 2019

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

I. Approval of Dean’s Council Minutes dated September 10, 2019

The minutes of the Academic Dean meeting, dated September 10, 2019, were approved as written.

II. GUESTS :

Dr. Kenneth Evans & Dean Terrebonne

RE : Strategic Planning : Outreach Sessions Within Each College

The meetings of the working committees are to be rescheduled from last week due to Imelda. Following that, Dr. Evans stated they will be ready to schedule the next step of the strategic planning and the best way to get that information out campus-wide to faculty and staff is through the colleges. Dean Terrebonne and the consultants have worked out a time frame/schedule of how to pull these college meetings together. The subcommittee meetings scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday, and October 1st will still take place, but via Zoom. Following that, the deliverables from the subcommittees will be due October 15th. November 11th and 12th are the dates proposed for the two outreach meetings. Dean will reach out to the college deans to coordinate. Besides the five college sessions, there will be additional sessions for alumni, business leaders, and students.

The Core Team meeting scheduled for November 19th has not changed.

GUEST: Quentin Bellard, Interim Director, Center for Teaching & Learning Enhancement

RE: Update/Calendar Events/Resiliency

Mr. Bellard was introduced as the Interim Director for CTLE. He is covering for Dr. Amy Smith who is on Faculty Development Leave for the fall semester.   Updates were given as follows :

• ACUE Program

        There are 23 participants, including Mr. Bellard. A meeting will be scheduled with all participants in October.

• SMART Program with Dr. Kelly Brown

        Meeting that was scheduled for September 18th has been rescheduled for October 7th.

• Department Chair Handbook

        The handbook should be going to print in the next week or so.

• CTLE Workshop
  • Resiliency Training (~15 attendees in person and virtual)
  • Using BB & EAC Visual Data Program Improvement (~30 attendees in person and virtual)
  • Next program Monday September 30th with Ms. Dindy Robinson
  • Smartsheet evaluation form for virtual attendees on the CTLE Blackboard course
• Classroom Observation for Ms. Cherie Acosta in studio theatre this Thursday 11:15am-12:30pm

GUEST : Dr. Cristin Bahrim, Undergrad Research

             RE : Update

 Dr. Bahrim was introduced as Interim Program Director for the Office of Undergrad Research. 

• Research Proposal Requests – Copies of the flyer for Research Proposals were distributed. This is open to all majors. The deadline for proposals is October 3, 2019. Dr. Bahrim has been in contact with Department Chairs and asked them to encourage their faculty to participate. About 85 faculty are needed to be reviewers.
• Calendar of events – A calendar of events from the O.U.R. was distributed. Interdisciplinary involvement is needed.
• Student Travel - The O.U.R. will support student travel involving undergraduate research/creative activity. The request form (see attached) must be presented to Chairs and Dean for approval before being submitted to the Undergrad Research office.
• Conferences – Two conferences are being organized ; the 7th Texas STEM Conference on November 2^nd and the 6th Humanities, Arts, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Education and Business (HASBSEB) conference on November 23rd.

Members of the Dean’s Council were asked to support the activities and events of the O.U.R.  

Dr. Marquart stated another ad will be placed to fill the Director position.

 III. Tolling the Tenure Clock (Gwinyai Muzorewa, History)

 Deferred.

 IV. SSR in Social Work

 Deferred.

V.  College Worksheets

Scorecards for the five colleges, separated by college and departments, were distributed and will be sent electronically as well. These go back to budget meetings and are based on how TSUS assesses. The goal is to tie the budget process to TSUS assessment. Deans were asked to look these over and let Dr. Marquart know if anything doesn’t appear correct. Each dean should pick out three things from the scorecard that he/she plans to focus on within the college this year. These items will be discussed at length at the next Dean’s Council.

VI.  Displacement Assessment – Katrina Brent

An impact survey form was sent out after the storm Imelda that hit the area this past weekend. As of this morning 542 students reported being impacted, mainly with flooded cars, loss of books, etc., with 246 who have lost housing. At this moment damages are estimated at $1.5 million. The number of faculty and staff reporting loss stands at 45. This form is being used to assess needs. All students will be followed up with individually. All those reporting housing loss were sent temporary housing information. Options for students discussed. As of yesterday, September 23rd, about $50,000 came in through the Cardinal Emergency fund. FAQs and information are listed on the lamar.edu web site. Any student can call 880-8888 with questions or 880-8822 for schedule changes. The Undergrad Advising Center was flooded and staff are being dispersed to other work areas for an undetermined amount of time. The LU crew is making calls to students. Students can still claim Harvey funds and Imelda funds both if impacted twice. For online students, there is a $500 scholarship that can be offered.

VII. Compassion - Optimism

Reminder after all that’s happened with the recent storm, we need to help students how/when possible to keep them in school.

VIII. Other

Jim Marquart

• An internal ad will be placed for the Vice Provost position in the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs to see if there is any interest.
• Beck scholarships are being finalized.
• Marquart attended the GAI Formula Advisory Committee last week in Austin. The committee is requesting legislation to leave formula funding alone for space utilization.
• Marquart and Dr. Nichols will be attending department meetings for faculty and staff for each department this year. They will begin with the College of Education first. The first meeting is scheduled next week.

Brian Craig

Storm damage/flooding within the College of Engineering discussed.

Bob Spina

• The College of Education did not suffer any storm damage or flooding.
• An email about the upcoming academic lecture series went out.

Arne Almquist

Storm damage/flooding in the Library discussed. In addition, several staff were stranded overnight in the library due to flooding.

Dan French

• The College of Business did not suffer any storm damage or flooding.
• The accreditation team for Construction Management made it in on Saturday despite the flooding. The accreditation survey ended today with positive results.

Paul Bernazzani

• The new Science & Technology building sustained water damage in approximately 15 rooms. The Construction company was on site today as the building is still under warranty.
• Classes are ongoing in the new building.
• Research teams are about 50% ongoing.
• Industrial Engineering is utilizing the Makerspace; more planned for the spring semester.

Joe Nordgren

• Academic Calendar meeting is rescheduled for tomorrow, September 25th.
• Cardinal Conversations is tomorrow afternoon at the President’s home. Let Dr. Nordgren know if interested in participating.
• Appreciation expressed to those who have agreed to serve on the David Beck Fellowship Committee.

Derina Holtzhausen

• Focus was on policies this month within the college. Faculty who are part of a college committee but unable to serve, were asked to step down from the committee.
• An attendance policy for students within the college is still being developed.
• The college is still working on a new Interdisciplinary degree.
• Meeting held recently to discuss Band camps.
• The College of Fine Arts & Communication received minor water damage.

Lynn Maurer

• Storm damage/flooding falling under the College of Arts & Sciences discussed. In the Carl Parker building, the University Press, Post Office and Dean’s Office are open; all other offices in the building are closed due to the flooding.

IX. Adjourn – The meeting was adjourned at 3:30pm.