Council of Deans
Unapproved Minutes
April 8, 2002
Members:
Sullivan
Buckley
Burgess
Dawe
Goode
Harrison
Neale
Soelle (Absent)
Young
Others Present:
Harold Robinson
TonyPokomy
Dr. Linda Dzialo
1. Agenda Item 1 - Keys to Classrooms
a. Sullivan stated that Harold Robinson will begin the meeting by talking about keys.
This issue came up in the Facu1ty Council meeting on Friday and Su1livan has also had several
telephone calls and e-mails about this.
b. Robinson stated that he had sent out an e-mail a couple of weeks ago about locking
ofdoors. He was under the impression that the custodians were locking the doors after they fInished
cleaning but apparently this has not been done for some time.
(1) There have been situations that have occurred and Robinson's office started
getting calls on why certain doors were not locked, so he told his people that they will start locking
doors like they have done in the past. Apparently what is now happening is that we have some
people who do not have keys to the areas they need to get into as a matter of routine every day.
Every situation is different depending on the individual, whether an administrative situation or an
academic situation. There are faculty that are in various classrooms on various days and those
rooms are not open.
(2) The real issue is do we want security or do we not want security. Security really
is not in Robinson's area of responsibility but they can enhance security by locking the doors.
Someone has to decide whether we want security or not. Sullivan stated that we want security on
some things and not on others.
(3) Sullivan stated that it probably is not a big problem totally across campus.
Primarily, Nance Boyer is where we may be having problems because we have a lot of shared rooms
that oftentimes need to be open early. Probably the problem is primarily on the second and third
floors ofNance Boyer. The Business Building and the Science Complex are probably not a problem.
(4) Robinson stated that it is very easy to request keys for individual needs for
particular rooms. IfDepartments request the keys, Robinson will get them made. To his knowledge,
every department has keys to every room they use. Neale mentioned that they have never issued keys
to faculty in Nance Boyer because the classroom assignments change from semester to semester.
For instance, she may be in room 1068 this semester and 1078 next semester or may use three
classrooms in one day. Neale stated they have asked the Education secretary to come in five minutes
early every day and open up all the rooms on the first floor of Nance Boyer. Robinson stated that
he has a classroom master for Nance Boyer and he is willing to issue that if the departments will
request one. He stated that the departments will have to control access to the various areas they
have. Question was asked about Student Union because a lot of classes are held over there.
Robinson stated that those classrooms are keyed to a master; one key opens all the large classrooms.
Sullivan asked how adjunct faculty get the doors open in the evening. Robinson stated that keys are
issued to the department itself and they in turn issue the keys to the adjuncts. The departments
control those keys and keep up with them. Discussion followed.
c. Sullivan stated that based on what has been discussed, keys will be issued based on
valid requests from the department chairs through the deans.
2. Agenda Item 2 - Opportunities for Recruitment at Interscholastics
Sullivan stated that he was in almost every building that was holding interscholastics last
Friday and it seemed to be going very well. There were large groups of students in almost every
classroom. Every teacher he talked with seemed to be very positive about it and they mentioned that
this was the highlight of the year for their students to come to Cameron for this event. Sullivan
stated he was happy with what he saw there; however there are some opportunities we are missing
when we are holding the interscholastics on campus. When he visited the classrooms he did not see
anyone in any ofthe rooms talking about Cameron or giving out Cameron brochures. This is a great
opportunity to tell all these students about the University and hand out department or university
brochures. Dr. Sullivan stated that he appreciates everything the faculty did in making this event a
success but next year he would like to have an organized effort to incorporate recruitment during
interscholastics. Lengthy discussion followed.
3. Agenda Item 3 - Early Alert and Intervention Strategies
a. Sullivan stated that he had asked for feedback from the deans by April 2 on ideas they
might have on what might be done to implement an early alert and intervention strategy.· He received
one feedback and that was from the Library. Asked ifthe deans needed more time to work on this.
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b. Buckley stated that he pulled a report to see ifthere were any examples ofwhat early
intervention was and there were no examples cited. Asked if there are any examples of what early
intervention is.
c. Sullivan stated that what he did before at the Air Force Academy is that at the end of
nine weeks he received a report from all faculty members and anybody they saw as an "at risk"
student was contacted by the Registrar and was asked to voluntarily participate in what was called
the "How To Study Program." Several faculty members across the institution had been trained in
what was then called the behavioral modification strategy and each of those faculty took about ten
students and for about 15 minutes a week for about three weeks, the students would be given
strategies on how to organize their time, how to organize their environment for studying and then
they started keeping a record of how much time they were studying and brought it back the next
week and the faculty member worked with them some more. It was a very specific kind of
intervention. The program was reasonably successful.
d. Neale mentioned that attendance is really a problem. Class attendance and success
are very highly correlated and there is no university attendance policy. If we had an attendance
policy and the professor sees this problem occurring, if there was an alert system in place then the
Registrar or someone could get in touch with the student and counsel them about their nonattendance.
e. Harrison stated that attendance is very important and that we should have a formal
attendance policy that certainly applies to introductory level Freshman classes and maybe oriented
toward general education classes. If you can get students through 40 or 50 hours of general
education they will generally be okay. The other thing is that a lot of schools still send out a midsemester grade report if there are any problems or deficiencies noted - just a mid-term letter to the
student that informs them that their mid-term evaluation indicates they are not doing as well as is
expected in whatever class and recommends they go meet with their advisor to see ifthere are some
adjustments that could be made.
f. Buckley mentioned that online courses don't have attendance. Harrison felt that we
should talk about restricting enrollment in online classes to certain levels. He would never suggest
a Freshman student take an online course unless they had no other choice, or their test scores look
good, or they are old enough to do it. There may be other criteria that needs to be looked at for
defining the appropriate online students. Short discussion followed.
g. At this point in the meeting Young gave an overview of what the Library has been
doing with regard to support of online and distance learners. One of the faculty has developed a
module to go along with one ofthe composition courses. Students who take that course can access
that module and learn about Library services and complete an exercise. Another thing they are doing
is to add some electronic data bases. This is not working yet but what this should do is help our
distance learners access information off-campus. The Library is currently working on delivering
articles to students electronically. The way it should work is that a student will be able to access
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articles that are scanned into their computer at an off-campus location. They are also working on
a tutorial that can be posted to their web page that will help students learn about Library services.
h. Dawe stated that he thought part ofthe problem is that we don't know how much of
this difficulty is driven by academic problems as opposed to non-academic problems that the
students are having. A lot ofstudents in his classes, when they don't show up and he speaks to them,
have all these other life problems which we cannot do anything about unless we want to start offering
some sort of counseling services. Harrison stated that when he starts to hear these kinds ofreasons,
he tells the student that it appears things are not working out this semester and if they can't make
adjustments or changes, don't spiral in but drop the classes, work on their life situation, change what
is going on and come back when they can be more successful. You can't escape F's so he tells them
to drop out, take a break, don't give up, restructure and then come back. We should do whatever we
can do to stop students from getting F's. Discussion followed.
i. Dzialo stated that one intervention that some universities are using and one that she
listened to during a recent teleconference, is that each incoming Freshmen must take a Noel-Levitz
survey and then they have the support available on their university to have people lined up to meet
with these students, one on one, about the results. They talk up front about the personal life
situations - is this the time in their life that they can devote to studying, how they can structure their
time and all those kinds ofthings. They do it up front. The discouraging thing is that some of the
good interventions require money and support of people. While the individuals here are trying to
draft good interventions, Dzialo would encourage us to step past the money thing. A year from now
we hope to write our Title III grant directed towards retention. We need to try to look at what a great
intervention program would look like ifwe didn't have those restrictions and try to write our grant
based on that.
j. Harrison mentioned that the most important thing we can do for free, is make the
contact between the University and the student personal rather than detached. He personally goes
on record once again as opposing any type of registration on-line for any type of students. He
believes that is bad idea. Every student should see an advisor and talk to somebody on campus about
why they are coming to college, what they are here for, what is an appropriate plan ofstudy, how to
layout a strategy - somebody they can come and talk to when they begin to cave in a little bit.
Whatever it is, if it is personal, it is going to be better than if it is impersonal regardless of all other
considerations. Getting students to show up and come to class, that is personal.
k. Buckley stated that early intervention is also a part of what you might call late
intervention. When a student goes on probation we don't do anything for them on probation. That
is something that just says one more bad time like this and you are out. Maybe during their
probation semester we should be doing something with those students. That would be a late strategy
but those students can easily be identified. Dawe mentioned that when graduate students get on
probation, in addition to meeting with their advisor, they have to go through the Graduate School
to enroll in any other classes. They get a double dose ofcounseling. That would be a very easy thing
to set up at the undergraduate level. Short discussion followed.
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1. Sullivan asked if most faculty keep roll. Answer was that, generally, no they don't.
Burgess stated they are supposed to for VA purposes. You don't know which students are VA and
if a student stops attending, a report has to be submitted to VA. Short discussion followed.
m. Sullivan asked, what ifwe say that faculty must make known those students who are
not making satisfactory progress by the end ofthe ninth week - do they know by the end ofthe ninth
week? Replies were that some will and some won't; all too often they do not; some faculty tell
students that they can't really tell them what their grade is until the end; some professors only give
a mid-term and a final and that is it and the student can't know.
(l) Buckley commented that a long time ago they did a mid-term D and F report.
That would be a much easier thing to do - a report that would highlight the D's and F's. Question
was asked if the professor would be responsible for notifying those students. Sullivan replied that
we do not know that yet. This is just one form of intervention and the most personal form of
intervention.
(2) Harrison stated that one strategy would be for the professors to turn the reports
in to the department chair and then the dean, and that a letter be sent to the student that notifies them
that there is a problem and suggests they come in and seek help. This letter could go out from the
department chair's office or the dean's office. He does not believe it should be the professor's
responsibility to make contact with the student. He would make this a University policy that the
University steps in and notifies the student when they have a problem. The Registrar could generate
the list and the student's instructor could get a copy. Goode mentioned that grade reports in the past
went out through the Registrar. Short discussion followed.
(3) Dzialo mentioned that this is exactly what the public school does. The teacher
fills in a scantron form, whether the student is marginal, passing, or failing. These forms are
computerized together and then letters are issued at a certain juncture in the semester. They have
it down to a science if we decide to do something like that.
n. Sullivan stated he has some ideas and he will try to draft something up and get it back
to the deans.
4. Agenda Item 4 - Definition of Minor Requirements for Catalog
a. Sullivan stated that this item has to do with the definition of minor requirements in
the catalog. Zoe DuRant came before this group several weeks ago and talked about the list of
minors on pages 192, 193 and 194 of the catalog. We have defined minors in many areas and we
have undefined minors in others. The question is, do we want to define minors in all those that we
don't already have defmed minors or how do we want to proceed with that. Sullivan read through
the list ofundermed minors. DuRant's point is that if the minor is defined, then they can help a
student a lot better when they go over to do their grade checks or gradation checks. If the minor is
undefined, they are continually having to ask questions about what constitutes the minor.
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b. Harrison stated he would argue to go in the other direction. It may be convenient for
the Registrar's department but it is a restriction with regard to advisement and program development
for a student and a faculty member and the advisor if they are held to the fire on a defined minor.
c. Burgess stated that in theory if an advisor has signed off on it, shouldn't that be
acceptable? Sullivan stated that goes back to Harrison's point. For instance, if the student is a
Computer Science major and has a minor in English and the advisor is a math professor, what does
a math professor know about English. Is whatever he signs off on adequate? Buckley mentioned
that up in the top paragraph is says the minor is subject to the approval ofthe chair ofthe department
that offers the courses in that minor.
d. Harrison stated that the major advisor probably does not have expertise with regard
to the minor program. He would not make the major advisor responsible for advising in the minor.
It is common, nationwide, for there to be a designation of a minor advisor in departments and that
person gets all the advisees that want to minor in that discipline. For instance, a student majoring
in Psychology would take Psychology 1113 and 15 more hours in Psychology. That might make
sense with respect to complementing the major. That 15 hours might be significantly different ifthe
student is a Business major, a CJ major or a Computer Science major. You can make something out
of a minor with regard to complementing a major. That is why Harrison would argue away from
structured minors. They make a good accounting convenience but really limit a student's ability to
create a program of study that meets their needs. He would be in favor of doing away with many
ofthe defined minors we have now rather than creating more. Short discussion followed.
5. Agenda Item 5 - Definition of Out-of-State Fee Waivers for Texas Residents
a. Sullivan stated that he has been asked about the definition ofout-of-state fee waivers
for Texas residents and it really is not clear.
b. Harrison briefly gave a history of this issue. Sullivan stated that it might be
worthwhile looking at where our out-of-state residents come from. He will ask Dizalo to seek
clarification from the President. Short discussion followed.
6. Agenda Item 6 - Section Caps on Online Courses
a. Sullivan stated that they are still looking at the rule that if a faculty member has over
40 in the online class then they qualifY for a student assistant. He doesn't know where we are for
this semester but he believes three people have been hired to assist the instructors. His thought is
that ifwe are getting 41 or 42 students and hiring an assistant we may be better offfmancially to cap
the class at 40. Kimberly Merritt has 63 students and that makes sense to have an assistant and she
seems comfortable in operating in that particular venue. Sullivan is trying to get a feel- should we
go ahead and cap all our sections at 40? He stated that we have looked at this for a couple of
semesters now and he asked the deans ifthey have any particular feeling about whether we are better
offcapping at 40 or leaving it uncapped and then try to deal with the student assistants. He does not
need input right now but wants the deans to think about it.
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b. Harrison stated that he thinks we are better off capping at 40 for a while. As more
programs go online and we take a look at the student demand and see how it grows, a cap might be
what we need to save our lives for a while until we can figure out how to manage an exploding
enrollment online. He feels a generous cap up front is a safety measure for a while until we see what
is going to happen to us. This would be both in our programs and maybe in the Army programs
too - we could just be inundated if we are not careful.
c. Buckley mentioned that probably what should be done is figure out what role these
student assistants have taken in the class. After the short discussion that followed, Sullivan asked
the deans ifthey have any suggestions about this to let him know what they are. Also, probably need
to get the student assistants and the faculty members together and discuss what their role they played.
7. Sullivan reminded the deans that faculty members who hold tenure track appointments
and who have three or more years of service, counting the current year, must receive nonreappointment notices by May 31 of the year preceding the final year of appointment. All such
recommendations are due in the Provost Office no later than April 15.
COMMENTS
D. Goode - Stated that there were some Internet problems last Thursday and Friday and but hopefully
the Internet connection is restored.
Buckley - No comments.
Harrison - No comments.
Dawe - No comments.
Pokorny - No comments.
Dzialo - Recruiting Day is Saturday, April 20.
Neale - No comments.
Burgess - No comments.
Young - No comments. Sullivan stated that Young started her support group, Friends ofthe Library,
this past week.
Soelle - (Absent)
Adjourned 12:13 p.m.
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