PROVOST’s COUNCIL
WORKDAY MINUTES
February 19, 2015, 8:00-12:00
Present
Susan Fouts, Carol Burton, Doug Keskula, Becky Kornegay, Dale Carpenter,
Darrell Parker, Jeff Ray, Tim Metz, George Brown, Brandon Schwab, Lowell
Davis, Richard Starnes, Alison Morrison-Shetlar, Kevan Frazier, Mimi Fenton
Guests
Johnny Lail, Rubae Schoen
Recorder
Anne Aldrich
DISCUSSION
Branding
Information
(Rubae Schoen)
We have a new Director of Marketing and now an individual over social media
(Donna Presnell), thus we are looking at the university as a whole regarding
consistency in branding. Inconsistencies with our branding come up frequently
- we want to be sure that we are making every effort to have standard branding.
Rubae distributed handouts with sample templates and reviewed with Provost’s
Council. Marketing is happy to work with individuals to determine needs for
special projects that can carry over to future events. Rubae will work with
individuals on font selections that will also become available on all our
computers and throughout the tech commons. If there are items you would like
to see as templates, please feel free to contact Rubae.
Rubae sent out an Open House survey right before the last open house and we
are awaiting that information to move forward. Rubae encouraged individuals
to complete the survey which will give us information on reduced rate
purchases, etc. Discussion ensued.
Alison would like Rubae to come up with a basic package of items that every
college should have on hand and Alison will commit to provide funding to
cover these initial expenses – the package should cover a two year life span.
Alison also encouraged members of Provost’s Council to work with Rubae in
visiting their areas.
Math Placement
(Lowell Davis)
The Office of Institutional Planning and Effectiveness, Provost Office and the
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science have been working
together to evaluate how first-time freshmen are placed in a liberal studies and
gateway math courses. Lowell distributed two handouts which Johnny Lail
reviewed with the council. The model presented is to better stream students
into the appropriate level math course for a greater likelihood of
success. Discussion ensued.
Next steps – we are going to pilot the program and the next year offer ways for
students to challenge their placement. We are also looking at English 101
(those who failed), trying to look at a number of different majors and programs
to determine what is happening so we can have an impact on our retention and
graduation rates. The failure rate of English was not nearly as high as
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mathematics. There was much conversation about various programs in the
colleges to address some of these issues – outcomes are still to be determined.
Update from
Executive Council
(Alison)
We continue to have a great debate on budget, but had to cancel the latest joint
Chancellor’s Leadership Council and Budget Advisory Committee meeting
due to weather issues. It will be rescheduled in March. We still do not know
what our budget will be but we want to be ready.
Alison would like the Provost’s Council to have purchase orders ready to go, if
bidding is required; please go ahead and begin that process for those areas we
collectively agreed would be on our list. Our goal is to be ready to go with
year-end money purchases. Most of you are on schedule with your spending.
We have E&T money in reserve for which we have a proposal. We will be
moving forward with these discussions in the near future. If anyone else has
proposals for use of these monies, please let Alison know.
There is discussion about utilization of indirect funding. Alison’s goal is to
find ways to bring more indirect funding to academic affairs to reinvest in
research and related agendas.
There has been discussion about the multi-use facility regarding utilization of
the space as well as parking issues. Original occupants of the space will have
first right of refusal to the space – we would like to open this up to other local
Cullowhee and Sylva businesses.
We have had lots of discussion about branding and what Rubae shared today.
The faculty forum with responses to the gender salaries – we will provide
you with the data to determine where you are in your areas. Dale did an
excellent job of having this open discussion with his faculty and what he has
done to mitigate these issues. There was a lack of representation by males at
the open forum and a lack of attendance by deans (who are mostly male) that
was mentioned in the faculty forum newsletter. Discussion ensued.
Update from
Advancement
Activities (all)
Graduate School and Research:
We had a good turnout for the Education Summit. The breakout sessions were
positive and productive. We met with Jennifer McDonough. We have two
new tuition awards for residence and online – already have applications in
place and we have a new graduate faculty mentoring award. Grant wise we
have a lot of activity, down a little bit from last year but we were really up last
year because of a $750,000 receipt of a grant. We are closing in on this goal.
We have exhausted the funds for provost’s internal grants.
Educational Outreach:
We had a successful science fair. We established a military gaps scholarships
for student caught between military and university bureaucracies.
Office of Undergraduate Studies:
Carol is serving on planning committee for the volunteer summit/leadership
retreat on October 2 and 3, sponsored by Development Office. We will be
asking for input for faculty, students and programs we should showcase and
are inviting upwards of 500 people. We attended the NC Campus Compact
meeting – Lane Perry received the Emerging Professional of the Year Award
for the state.
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College of Health and Human Sciences:
We are working to develop an Advancement Council to support development
activities. College level committee structure has been reorganized and we are
currently updating CHHS by-laws. The associate dean search is going well and
the School Director for Health Sciences search is ongoing. Lisa Lefler is in the
planning process for the Native Health conference sponsored with Smithsonian
to happen in April.
Associate Provost for Academic Affairs
We had a productive Department Heads’ Workshop yesterday. We continue to
build international programs and advancement opportunities there. We have
decided to wait to submit a proposal for the B.A. in Musical Theatre until next
year – we have let GA know.
Hunter Library
The library kept regular hours on Monday (inclement weather day), which rests
on the backs of our support staff. Besides publicizing our being open, via an
announcement on our website, we provided links to online research assistance
for students who couldn’t come to the library.
We have 3 LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act) grants going
forward.
The library plans to do a collection review (of journal and database
subscriptions) to address the fact that our current budget does not cover our
contractual obligations. An announcement of this will go out to faculty within
the next two weeks.
College of Education and Allied Professions
We had an advancement council meeting.
College of Business
We have a new young leader for our COB advisory board that works for
Merrill. He is working to get COB connected with the Bank of America
foundation. The corporate proposal goes to BOG next week. The endowed
chair search was failed this year – will revisit next year.
Kimmel School
Advancement – we have a call regarding an endowment scheduled today.
Martin Tanaka was awarded another patent. Kimmel School by-laws have
been revised and updated. Brittney Buchanan is our new executive assistant for
the dean. We have completed interviewing for the IT position.
Office of Institutional Planning and Effectiveness
Staff in our office have been invited to present at two conferences this spring.
College of Fine and Performing Arts
We did not cancel any performances this week in spite of the weather. Tonight
is the opening for the Rocky Horror Picture Show, plus an ongoing show in the
gallery. We are planning the gala and silent auction event that will go online.
The Controlled Chaos Festival is in Highlands this year. Next year is the 10 th
anniversary of the college.
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Advancement – we had a meeting with Penny Stephens about creating a
$50,000 scholarship for students; we have meetings scheduled with benefactors
this week and next.
Biltmore Park
Biltmore Park staff left early one day, had two delayed class days, and class
cancelled once. There is a challenge in the alert system for faculty that we are
attempting to resolve shortly. We met with Hendersonville’s economic
development board – very good meeting. February 24th (next Tuesday) is the
first of our monthly Open Houses scheduled through June. The intention is a
casual pop-in at recruitment. We put a full page ad in the paper. Kevan will
send follow up on these dates (time is 5:30-7:00). It will be downstairs in the
first floor lobby. April 9th is Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours.
College of Arts and Sciences
We held campus presentations here for the Sequoyah professorship – we had
good candidates. Next Saturday as part of the campus theme and the women’s
leadership conference, we will be hosting dinner with NC Women Supreme
Court Justices on March 28th. ….legacy gift of $2million??? On 23rd of
March, we are hosting the World Made Straight. There will be two screenings,
more to come.
Office of the Provost
We are nurturing a relationship regarding the science building and plan a visit
with students and Richard in March.
Bookstore evaluation report – the only way we can move forward is to have
faculty representation on a committee or hold forums to see what faculty needs
are from each of the colleges. Please send Alison one name to be the faculty
representative from your area. We need names by Monday of next week.
As of the beginning of March we will be renting space in the Jackson County
Chamber of Commerce in Sylva. It is a large office space, gallery space and
use of a conference room (seats 12 comfortably). The conference room usage
will go through Julie Spiro at the Chamber of Commerce. We are discussing
usage of the gallery space, etc. We want to have a presence in this space so we
are considering student internships that could be in this space. The opening
will be in April to the public. We will have signage as well. 25,000 people go
through the Sylva Chamber of Commerce every year.
CEAP Assessment
Day
(Dale Carpenter)
The purpose of CEAP Assessment Day is to welcome new people, and also do
a strategic planning conference to determine priorities and budget requests –
Kristen Crosson attended. We reviewed the strategic plan for the college that
was approved two years ago, then updated and did budget requests – this was
in the fall. In the spring we do Assessment Day - Kim Winter and Renee
Corbin manage and plan for it.
This is an opportunity for people to meet each other, develop a sense of
community, and to make budget decisions and priorities. The Assessment Day
attendees now understand that this is an annual event so people now plan for it.
The goal is for each program to develop an advisory group with internal and
external stakeholders. Individuals from other colleges participate in this event
where they may be involved with particular programs – their input is
invaluable. This is an effort to showcase what colleges are doing.
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Moving Contingent
Faculty to Full Time
Positions
(Tim Metz)
Tim distributed a handout following up on an article sent out to Provost’s
Council on faculty positions. The article was in the February 4 th Chronicle of
Higher Education about the reliance on full time non tenure track faculty to
meet growth needs.
There is a downward trend in adjuncts and an increased trend in full time non
tenure track faculty. The handout demonstrates where WCU stands in relation
to this trend. Our overall faculty count has remained steady over the decade
even with the growth of student population. Our student/faculty ratio has
increased slightly as a result over the last decade. Discussion ensued.
Campus Theme for
2015-2016
(Carol Burton)
As most of you are aware we have adopted an interdisciplinary institutional
theme for the past several years: an engagement component related to service
and service learning and an opportunity for students to engage in common
intellectual experiences as well as faculty involvement. We are now in the
process of selecting next year’s topic and look for natural synergy in this
process.
We are discussing the idea of Africa as our theme next year; thinking of
developing nations and the global economy. We are interested in your
feedback and interest. Faculty, staff and students serve on a committee to
guide the theme throughout the year. There are lots of opportunities for
interdisciplinary activities with this topic.
George Brown suggested for the future, if we could plan two years out there
could be a great deal of resonance created through student productions, plays,
etc. Discussion ensued. The Council endorsed the theme. Carol will take the
ideas generated today back to her planning group and will come back with
more information.
Latest Education
Enrollment Trends
(Dale Carpenter)
In the last 4-5 years the enrollment for students who want to be teachers in the
UNC system is down 25% and significantly down in the masters programs.
System-wide we had an Education Summit with BOG and this was discussed.
The good thing is that in North Carolina there are still jobs for teachers. They
are not as competitive as some other states, but there are available positions.
The UNC system prepares 4,000-5,000 students for these positions out of the
10,000 new teachers hired across the state every year. The high need areas are
STEM, special education and teachers for middle grades. We lost the
Teaching Fellows Program but have learning communities that have been
productive in retention and graduation and expect them to be helpful in
recruitment.
We are losing teachers and principals to South Carolina – a new trend. We can
assist by continued promotion of P-16 expansion and marketing strategies.
Discussion ensued.
Current Enrollment
Numbers
(Lowell Davis)
Lowell reviewed the current enrollment numbers and we expect a boost right
after the Open House. Student Affairs has slowed down acceptance of students
for fear that we would reach 2,000 or have a freshman class of 2,100 due to
high number of early applications. The March 21 Open House is expected to
be the largest WCU has ever had. We are not seeing the melt we typically see
by this point in time. We are monitoring daily. We can serve no more than
1800 freshman. We need to be strategic in which programs we market. It is
very important for faculty members to be present for these events – they are the
main recruiters for our institution.
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