Administrative Council Meeting Minutes
October 18, 2010
Attendees: John Burns, Norman Hopper, Sukant Misra, Cindy Akers, Eduardo Segarra,
Steve Fraze, Philip Gipson, Tom Thompson, Leslie Thompson, Alon Kvashny, Jane Piercy,
Norman Martin
1. Approval of October 4, 2010 Minutes
Minutes of the October 4, 2010 meeting were approved.
2. Recent Developments in Budget Working Group – John Burns
Dr. Burns reported that line items were discussed at the last Budget Working Group
meeting. Two possibilities exist regarding the future of line items; all line items
would be cut a certain percentage or all line items would go away. All line items
need to be defended. Every line item must be justified as to what benefit it has to
the state of Texas.
Dr. Burns stated another area that will be reviewed will be vehicles. At this time, the
total number of vehicles in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural
Resources is 103. Department chairs are asked to review the number of vehicles in
their departments and review the state monies that are being spent to operate and
maintain the vehicles. One idea mentioned in the Budget Working Group meeting
was to rent vehicles from the TTU motor pool. This would not be feasible for CASNR
and would be very costly.
Dr. Burns mentioned another item to be thinking about is how the college is using
its lands. Discussion began regarding the area of Farm Operations.
3. Branding and Student Enrollment – Norman Martin
Norman distributed information he received from Rachel Bobbitt regarding Penn
State’s College of Agricultural Sciences program. The Ag program was revamped by
a brand campaign. As a result, enrollment in the college has increased. Discussion
began regarding updating and improving the CASNR website. We need to look at
the standardization of the websites. Kris Allen, CASNR’s webmaster, can help with
the template for standardizing the web pages. We need support from the
departments. Dr. Akers requested that the department chairs send her a list of
careers from their respective areas. Norman reported that Leslie Cranford of
Communications and Marketing will be taking care of CASNR’s news. Cory
Chandler, who previously handled CASNR’s news, has moved to Undergraduate
Admissions.
Action items at this time include:
a. Department chairs send Dr. Akers a job list
b. Contact Norman to standardize the department publications template
c. Be thinking about what the college can do regarding photography
We need to respond to our college Marketing and Outreach Committee with ideas.
4. Other
Dr. Burns expressed his concerns regarding the parking requirements this year
during Homecoming Breakfast.
Dr. Tom Thompson inquired about the recent memo from the provost regarding the
review of IT infrastructures and services. Dr. Burns reported that the provost has
requested that Sam Segran review all academic and administrative areas. The
results from this review could help evaluate possible duplicate, insecure, or
disparate IT infrastructures or services.
Dr. Gipson reported there is increased interest in ranch management that involves
managing wildlife and livestock. At this time, they are working on interaction
between the Department of Animal and Food Sciences’ undergraduate program and
the Department of Natural Resources Management’s graduate program.
Dr. Gipson announced a meeting will take place on Wednesday morning at 10:30 at
AFS with ranchers. They will be discussing an intern program.
Dr. Misra has requested that the departments revise their bullets and add new
statements for a new state appropriations booklet. This information is due by the
end of October.
Also, Dr. Misra mentioned that earmark requests for the Redbook are under
preparation.
a. Three Texas Tech led proposals to be forwarded to the VPRO include
cotton, food safety and sustainable agriculture
b. Three partnering (led by other institutions) proposals to be forwarded to
the VPRO include Ogallala, sorghum and CNAS
These proposals will go forward from CASNR to the VPRO for inclusion
consideration in the Redbook.
Dr. Misra still needs the space allocation information from the Department of
Animal and Food Sciences and the Department of Landscape Architecture.
Dr. Hopper stated that ICRS will send a new RFP in the next two to four weeks.
Dr. Hopper reported that 10 students have completed the first interview session for
the internships. Interviews with the donors will take place today. They hope to
have five interns in the spring and five in the summer.
Dr. Hopper announced the learning outcomes and assessments are due in
November.
Dr. Segarra stated that he is very pleased that Dianne Coffman received the Top
Techsan Award.