Administrative Council Meeting Minutes
October 20, 2014
Attendees: Dr. Michael Galyean, Dr. Cindy Akers, Dr. Michael Ballou, Dr. David Weindorf,
Jane Piercy, Norman Martin, Ann Ulmer, Dr. Phil Johnson, Dr. Steve Fraze, Dr. Mike Orth, Dr.
Charles Klein, Dr. Mark Wallace, and Dr. Eric Hequet
1.
Minutes from the September 15, 2014 Administrative Council meeting were approved as distributed.
2.
Dr. Galyean reported to the committee that student safety has been a real concern lately, and department chairs need to have conversations with their students and urge them to be very careful about their personal safety at all times. International students in particular need to be made aware that they should not be afraid to report issues to anyone in the department and more importantly to the police. There have been numerous reports lately of incidents happening both on and off campus that have affected CASNR students.
3.
Dr. Weindorf has been working on a research publication incentive program, and gave a presentation to the council of a draft of the policy. It is designed to encourage faculty to increase their research publications, as well as have them published in higher impactfactor journals. For most departments in CASNR, a full-time faculty member is expected to publish two to three peer-reviewed research manuscripts per year. That will not change; however, if faculty members choose to go above and beyond those annual production marks, a monetary incentive program is being developed. After receiving feedback from the department chairs, the deans will make changes to the draft of the guidelines and resend it to the chairs.
4.
Dr. Akers has recently returned from Washington, DC where she visited with CASNR congressional interns. While there, she met with Mr. Al Almanza, who is with the USDA
Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). Mr. Almanza indicated he was very interested in hiring a TTU (upperclassman) student for a summer internship. This internship would pay a salary as well as the student’s flight and housing expenses. Dr.
Akers asked the department chairs to please send her the names and resumes of one or two students in their department who they would recommend for this internship (this may include students who are currently being considered for the CASNR government internship program). Please have the names and resumes to her by Monday, November
3 rd . Mr. Almanza would like a name by the end of November.
5.
Dr. Akers also reported that the President’s Office has put together a task force committee for university-wide retention efforts. Our college is well represented on the committee, as she, Dr. Sam Jackson and Dr. Michael Farmer (representing the Faculty
Senate) are members. The university has purchased a software program (Education
Advisory Board – Student Success Collaborative or EAB-SSC) that will pull data and show what students have done over a period of time, and whether they might be successful in their next-level classes. This will be a tool for staff advisors to use when helping students make decisions as to what degree program, classes, etc., they should get in to. The kick off for this new software happens tomorrow, but it will not be available for use until the spring semester.

6.
Other
Jane Piercy announced that the CASNR Homecoming Breakfast this weekend was a success and approximately 250 alumni and family members attended, as well as both the
Chancellor and President. Unfortunately, parking became an issue as the R03 lot that we had permission for our alumni to use has been taken over by the Red Raider Club and is now in use for donors. They did not find this out until several people had tried to park there and were not allowed to do so. After several phone calls, things were straightened out, but unfortunately this could be a problem for future homecoming breakfasts if we continue to use on-campus facilities.
Jane also reminded the council that the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Luncheon is today. It will begin at 11:30 a.m. in the Matador Room at the Student Union Building.
She also reported that fundraising was going well. A new video for the Therapeutic
Riding Center was debuted at the “Matador Evening” that went over very well. The video will also be shown at the Pig Roast in November.
Dr. Eric Hequet announced PSS currently has two ongoing faculty recruitments. The soil physics position and the Bayer Cropscience Chair position are both still open. Also, during the last PSS faculty meeting, it was discussed and approved that they would like to develop a combined B.S./M.S. program.
Dr. Mike Ballou announced that Taylor Person, a PSS undergraduate, will be the CASNR
NSF Entrepreneurial Fellow representative. He also mentioned that Jennifer Horn from the Office of the Vice President for Research is looking for students interested in being part of a new organization called “TTime” (Texas Tech Innovation Mentorship and
Entrepreneurship), which is an entrepreneurial program that will work to align students with opportunities to help faculty members with the business side of their research. This is in anticipation of the new Research Park that will be going up soon.
Dr. Akers indicated that applications to Texas Tech are coming in, but the reports have not been “cleaned.” When they have and the numbers are correct, the reports will be sent to departments. Also, if you have student recruits that you feel need a little extra incentive, send her the names and she will get them additional information.
Dr. Phil Johnson announced that Dr. Aaron Benson will be leaving on November 12 th
.
He will be taking a position (outside of higher education) in Salt Lake City, Utah. He will begin the process soon to start a search to replace him. Also, AAEC just hosted representatives from the Zamorano University (in Tegucigalpa, Honduras). They are going to look into developing a Master’s Program with them, where their students would come to Texas Tech to finish an M.S. degree in Agribusiness.
Dr. Mike Orth reported that AFS is in the process of hiring their biostatistics cluster hire faculty member. Also, as of today they have an interim rodeo coach (Brent Hodges) and they will be starting the search for a new full-time coach soon.
Dr. Fraze mentioned that AE&C will have their promotion and tenure meeting on Friday.
They have three faculty members that will be going up this year. The AE&C open faculty position in communications should be posted today. He also made note that this

was the one-year anniversary of waiting for building projects to begin that have already been paid for. They have been waiting on some new windows, as well as office and bathroom renovations. In addition, the National FFA Convention begins next week, and
Dr. Fraze said AE&C will have several faculty members attending.
Dr. Weindorf noted that he and Norman Martin have been working on a new project for the CASNR website to show CASNR’s international presence. It will feature a map of the world with pushpins where we have projects that are on-going. When you hover over the pushpin, a box will pop up with the faculty members name and contact information.
Norman Martin reported that the 16 th new faculty member’s bio is ready to be placed on the CASNR website. He also noted that the college information has been updated and thanked Pam, Zach, and Julann for all their help in tracking down the current information and numbers.
Dr. Wallace mentioned that NRM does not have any current faculty searches, and they will not have anyone going up for promotion and tenure this year. The new Professional
Science Master’s degree program has hit some roadblocks, and they are still working on getting that program started. Also, the student organization of the Association of Natural
Resource Scientists (ANRS) has been hosting a variety of events and seminars, and recently held a faculty meet and greet session where they were able to raise approximately $3,000.00, which will go towards student travel expenses.
Dr. Charles Klein announced that one of LA’s newest faculty members, Yi Luo, has successfully defended and will be awarded her doctoral degree in December. He was excited that this would make the fifth faculty member out of a total of eight who have a
Ph.D. degree in a program where a Master’s degree (MLA) is the terminal degree. Five of the eight faculty members also have a professional license. Dr. Klein also reported they have five new MLA students enrolled this semester.
Dr. Fraze, on behalf of the other department chairs, commended the two new Associate
Deans (Dr. Weindorf and Dr. Ballou) for a great start in their new positions and said they had done a wonderful job. The department chairs are looking forward to working and doing more with them in the future.