Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts
Deans & Chairs Meeting
October 22, 2014
PRESENT:
Dan Ennis, Jim Everett, Arne Flaten, Kenneth Martin, Preston McKever-Floyd,
Carol Osborne, Philip Powell, Holley Tankersley
GUESTS:
Ralph Byington, Provost
Nick McKinney, Jackson Scholar
Phil Schuman, Academic Advisor/Academic Outreach
Dr. Ralph Byington met with the Chairs at the beginning of the meeting. The Dean and Associate
Deans joined the meeting after the Provost concluded his discussion with the Chairs.
Approval of Minutes
A motion was made by Jim Everett to approve the October 8, 2014 minutes and seconded by Ken
Martin. The motion passed unanimously.
Dean’s Updates

Nick McKinney, a Jackson Scholar, was introduced to the Chairs. Nick is enrolled in a
leadership class this semester that is reviewing and discussing models of leadership. The
first part of the class involved exploring the theoretical aspects of leadership and the
second half is centered on models of practical leadership. Nick is shadowing Dan in his
leadership role as Dean of the college and he attended the Chairs meeting to observe.

Dan introduced Phil Schuman as the newest member of the academic advising team. Phil
will also assist the Dean with academic outreach. Phil will join the staff in a time-limited
position effective November 3.

Dan asked that the Chairs identify faculty to participate in December commencement.
The deadline for submission of faculty names to Judy is Friday, November 7.

The COHFA Spring Faculty meeting will be held on Thursday, January 8, in the Black Box
beginning at 9:00.

Stacie Nevadomski Berdan will be on campus Wednesday, November 12, as part of the
HTC Speaker series. Her presentation will begin at 7:00 p.m. Dan asked the Chair to send
Judy the names of faculty in their department that would be interested in attending the
reception in the mezzanine at 5:30.

Dan distributed the names of the students and their scheduless, who have been identified
as being in jeopardy of losing all or part of their financial aid. These students are enrolled
in classes with no financial aid eligibility. Only courses that are directly applied to an
undergraduate degree are covered by financial aid. It was explained that there are many
good reasons justifying a student being enrolled in a particular course, such as a
substitution. We need to provide the justification, and the documentation must be on file
to prevent the student from losing financial aid. The Dean stressed the importance of
advisors contacting the students immediately. If there is reason the course(s) should be
counted toward the student’s degree requirements, and it is not visible to the Registrar,
Meg Hurt (349-2309) should be contacted. If paperwork needs to be submitted, it should
be completed immediately.
Going forward, the paperwork must be filed early in the process so that when the data is
pulled, the student’s financial aid will not be affected. Credits 1 thru 12 must be in the
student’s degree program; credits 13 through 18 are not tracked because the tuition does
not change. Financial aid will only cover one degree program, so this policy is not a friend
to the student seeking a double major. If the major requires a minor or cognates, financial
aid will be provided. Dan suggested the College come together with a collective document
that defines a cognate and consider cognate/minor language be incorporated in all majors.
A representative from the Financial Aid Office will be invited to the November 12 Deans
and Chairs meeting to bring clarification to the policy and answer questions.

Dan distributed a suggested revision to the COHFA third-year review policy that addresses
faculty that are awarded credit towards tenure. A faculty member given one year of credit
toward tenure will submit their documents during the spring semester of their second
year at Coastal; a faculty member given two years of credit toward tenure will also submit
their documents in their second year at Coastal in order to ensure that they have
completed at least one full year of service at the university. Dan will add a reference from
the faculty manual and bring the policy to the November 12 Deans and Chairs meeting for
review.
Announcements




The Academic Chairpersons Conference will be held on February 4-6, 2015 in Austin, TX.
Dan will send the Chairs information on the conference when it becomes available. He will
support their attendance if they are interested.
Arne Flaten is hosting Dr. Ioannis Liritzis from the University of the Aegean in Rhodes,
Greece.
Thursday, October 23, is the opening of Diana Farfan’s Bread and Circus in the Rebecca
Randall Bryan Art Gallery from 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Sarah Brallier, Chair of the University Core Curriculum Committee, will be asking for
volunteers to serve on the committee, and Chairs are encouraged to respond. Sarah will
be working to populate the Core.
Submitted by: Judy Davis