1 First-­‐Year Council Meeting Minutes October 18, 2010 Present: Amber Blackmon, April Chatham-­‐Carpenter, Linda Corbin, Adam Haselhuhn, Chris Neuhaus, Dave Marchesani, Lyn Redington, Paul Shand, Donna Vinton, Kristin Woods, Anna Kogl, Pierre-­‐Damien Mveyekure, Deedee Heistad, Linda Walsh, Jon Buse, Mike Licari Absent: Melissa Payne, Inez Murtha, Lyn Countryman, Ken Brown 1. Mike Licari briefed the council on the upcoming HLC campus visit on Nov. 8-­‐10. Mike shared the review team will likely be interested in meeting with members of the Council and perhaps the council as a whole. He has not received all requests for meetings from the visit team as of yet, but he is hopeful he will receive that information by the end of the week. Mike encouraged council members to review the HLC self-­‐study report (see end of chapter summaries), the Foundations of Excellence self-­‐study, and the university and Board of Regents strategic plan and their goals and objectives. Mike said the site team will have questions about the FOE process and the Council’s progress on implementing our improvement plan. Several members of the HLC review team have participated in or are participating in the FOE process at their home institutions, so may ask questions related to things they could consider doing on their home campuses. 2. The council reviewed the FOE self-­‐study recommendations that were not the primary charge of the Council. This included the department-­‐level recommendations and those recommendations made regarding academic advising, diversity, and liberal arts core. While progress on implementing a number of these recommendations has been made, the Council felt it necessary to document progress to date on implementation of each of these recommendations. April will prepare a spreadsheet of recommendations with an additional column that council members will use to update progress on implementation of each item. 3. The council reviewed the current students’ website and discussed the development of a first-­‐
year student website. Jon explained the Division of Student Affairs has been in communication with University Relations, who maintains the current students’ site, about plans to improve the site. Presently, students do not generally use the site and the goal is to create a page that is more useful to students. Jon suggested we create a first-­‐year student section of the current students’ page rather than create an entire new web page. Donna suggested we review the graduate student orientation website (especially “The Basics” section), which the council reviewed and discussed. Kristin shared information about the online transfer orientation program that was developed last year. The intent of the online orientation is to provide key information to students in advance of their transfer orientation programs. Adam said he thought students can be overwhelmed with information during orientation and a website could be a useful resource. The council also reviewed the orientation website and 2 discussed adding information from the graduate student orientation site to the existing orientation site. Long term, the plan will be to incorporate information specifically directed to new students on the current students web page. 4. Sub-­‐committee updates MAP-­‐Works – Chris reported the freshmen transition survey has closed. Response rate was 85.6% which is above the national average of 70%. Chris thanked members of the DOR staff for their strong efforts to implement the program and to respond to students who are having difficulties. There is an appreciation reception on November 3 at 4 p.m. and all Council members are encouraged to attend. Faculty Development – Chris reported work continues on developing resources for faculty. Progress is being made on development of a faculty development website, referral resources for faculty, and information that describes who new students are to faculty and information that identifies best practices in teaching, advising, etc. of first-­‐year students. Pierre-­‐Damien also reported he has spoken with the Associate Provost Arthur who has agreed to provide time during new faculty orientation sessions for the Council to specifically address first-­‐year student needs and resources. Cornerstone – Lyn shared progress on development of course syllabus. The committee also is reviewing syllabi from College Writing and Research course and discussing the idea of incorporating the academic inquiry and transition course into an existing LAC course. The council discussed challenges to this model and implications of changing an existing LAC course and the impact such changes may have on articulation with community colleges. Also, there is concern about ability to fund an additional course through the LAC. The sub-­‐committee plans to complete its draft syllabus by Nov. 29, in order to prepare for piloting an experimental section/s in Fall, 2011. Assessment – Donna shared that next steps in developing assessment plan are to take existing measures we have available, such as NSSE, ACHA/NCHA, etc., and insert those data into the plan. Next meeting – November 1 at 3:15 p.m. in Gilchrist 009.