PROVOST COUNCIL
MINUTES
February 4, 2015, 8:00-12:00
Present
Alison Morrison-Shetlar, Brandon Schwab, Richard Starnes, Lowell Davis,
Doug Keskula, Becky Kornegay, Carol Burton, George Brown, Darrell Parker,
Susan Fouts, Dale Carpenter, Kevan Frazier, Brian Railsback
Guests
Chip Ferguson for Jeff Ray, Tammi Hudson, Cory Causby, Paul Johnson, AJ
Grube
Recorder
Anne Aldrich
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Policy 82 (Facilities
Use and Public Art)
and 114
(Solicitations,
Assemblies and
Public Addresses
(Alison)
The Provost requests the help of the deans in letting faculty know this is a
curricular issue.
USNEWS Online
Ranking (Alison)
Last year we were 34th on the list, this year we are down in the 90’s. Our
ranking has declined because far more institutions are participating.
DISCUSSION
Adverse Weather
Policy
(Tammi Hudson/
Cory Causby)
There were issues with email communication to students regarding the
cancellation of classes due to the Outlook 65 migration which have now been
resolved. Tammi Hudson reviewed the current processes for weather
monitoring and communication to campus.
 Biltmore Park classes follow lead of UNC-A.
 If the CatTran cannot run, classes are cancelled due to the high level of
ridership.
 Information is posted on the webpage as well as pushed out to media sites
(radio, TV).
 Communications are also sent via MyCat, however, there can be delays.
We have not used the emergency notification system in the past – considering
how to go forth with this. The system will be tested this Friday to determine
any issues. Protocol is that notification goes out before 6am for daytime
classes; for evening classes notification will go out by 4pm. We err on the side
of safety.
Policy 41 has now been divided into two policies via the State Office of
Human Resources with strong clarification as to what adverse weather is –
now defined as a National Weather Service warning; a weather advisory does
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not meet requirements for taking adverse weather leave. Definitions were
created for mandatory and non-mandatory positions. These positions need to
be identified and notification to staff need to be communicated in advance.
Time to make up adverse weather has been reduced from 12 months to 90 days
and cannot be made up at the employee’s discretion but at supervisor
discretion. Time can now be made up in overtime. It is important for
supervisors to have conversations with their staff about the changes in this
policy.
If county schools close, and staff that must leave for that reason, they are
required to take vacation leave unless there is a National Weather Service
warning in place.
Open buildings during adverse weather should be opened anyway as the staff
that open buildings are designated as mandatory.
Biltmore Park
Strategic Plan
Proposal
(Doug Keskula/
Carol Burton/Kevan
Frazier)
The next step for the Biltmore Park Strategic Plan proposal is to broadly
distribute the plan, reworking a short form version for this purpose. We will
be meeting with Faculty Senate and Staff Senate as well as with Biltmore
Farms representatives and others. We will be sharing information with those
that participated in developing the plan – over 150 constituents were involved.
We are putting together an 8-10 faculty and staff implementation team to
develop a work plan, metrics, timeline, etc., and simultaneously will be
forming the external advisory board made up of 12 highly engaged individuals
in the area. We want this to be a high profile group including the chancellor,
provost and deans.
We will be developing a unified and clear understanding of the offerings and
services of Biltmore Park – branch campus or instructional site? A branch
campus requires its own faculty and budget and which we have no intention to
create – we are an instructional site and intend to stay an instructional site. In
March/April we will be working with Provost Council on space allocations,
programs, etc., so we are clear on what and why a particular program should
be at Biltmore Park.
We were surprised how many people did not realize we were in Asheville after
having been there for almost 75 years, thus we are paying particular attention
to goal #6 which addresses this issue. In addition, we are enhancing our visual
brand and will look to take better advantage of this opportunity – a front door
will be installed next week. We are working with development and external
relations to increase our visibility at events in Buncombe and surrounding
counties. The Life Long Learning Institute second semester began this week.
We have at this point hosted most of the state legislators for tours at Biltmore
Park, and we continue to review curriculum, certificate programs, etc.
Proposal for online
M.S. in Sport
Management
(Paul Johnson/
AJ Grube)
This program was suspended during a time of declining enrollment and it is
now being revitalized. It is a 30 hour, one year program that will not incur any
new resources at this time. It is one of few Master in Sport Management
programs in the country and we have great hopes for the program. We have
some cross over classes so students will receive a project management
certificate as well. There are no master of Sport Management programs
currently in the UNC system.
It last operated in 2008-09, a face to face program and enrollment was low,
thus the need for restructuring. There are several courses in different career
paths that individuals can take; coaches are more frequently being required to
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have a master’s degree and this will assist. The second or third year into the
program, there will be a need for additional resources. The funds associated
with marketing, we will be able to meet on our own. This is not classified as a
new program for GA. Discussion ensued. Provost Council moved
unanimously to move forward.
New Certificate
Proposal for CHHS
(Doug Keskula)
Both WCU and Fayetteville State have a 100% pass rate on the nursing exam
for the state; overall pass rate for the state is 85% (about 60 programs).
The College of Health and Human Sciences would like to move forward with a
Nurse Practitioner certificate program. The white paper included in the
attachments provides a summary. We are looking at a shift in the future in
how health care will be provided and managed by mid-level practitioners like
nurse practitioners. Mission Health System approached our program to
consider development of an 18 credit hour certificate to function in these
expanded roles; provided $25,000 to consider feasibility; an advisory
committee has been established and they put together the proposal for your
review. Discussion ensued.
Provost Council agreed for Doug to move forward conceptually with this
certificate proposal. We will work on clearer criteria for certificates moving
forward.
Latest Education
Enrollment Trend
Data (All)
Dale distributed handouts and reviewed the information with the council. In
the last four years combined there has been a 27.6% decrease in enrollment in
education programs across the system. Not one single institution is doing well.
Also attached are the recommendations that came out of the Education Summit
from BOG. We are looking at our options. We will continue this discussion at
the next Provost Council Workday.
Posthumous Degrees
(Lowell Davis)
Lowell reviewed the handout with Provost Council. From this point moving
forward, if a student has earned 90 hours, a posthumous degree will be
considered. There will also be a structure put in place for honoring the student
by placing a legacy brick at the clock tower in lieu of planting trees. The
situation that prompted this was a student death who was in her last semester
doing her student teaching.
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