Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts
Deans and Chairs Meeting
July 25, 2012
PRESENT:
Maria Bachman, Steven Bleicher, Matthieu Chan Tsin, Dan Ennis, James Everett,
Eliza Glaze, Carol Osborne, Ken Rogers, Holley Tankersley
Approval of Minutes
Ken Rogers moved for approval of the July 18 minutes, seconded by Jim Everett, and the minutes
were unanimously approved.
Dean’s Updates

At the recent Board of Trustees meeting, it was announced that effective with the Fall
2012 Semester dependent children of full-time faculty/staff, who are enrolled as full-time
students, will receive a 50% reduction in their tuition. This benefit excludes time-slotted
(limited) positions and teaching associates. The second announcement concerned transfer
evaluations that are done using courses from straighterline.com. Straighterline.com
packages distance learning courses and sells them to institutions that otherwise do not
offer them. This company is not accredited. Liberty University is a prime example of an
institution that uses Straighterline.com. Departments are asked to be mindful of these
transfer courses and to alert the Dean’s Office if you encounter them.

There are 21 slots being awarded for professional positions in the university for next year.
We share that number with the library and the other colleges. The Deans are in the
process of revising their requests for slotted positions accordingly.

The Retention report is now complete and it targets a very specific package of responses.
The data suggests that the #1 risk is the out-of-state, marine science major living at
University Place. The university is targeting 2015 as the date when all freshmen will live
on campus. Marine Science is in the process of developing new admissions standards to
pre-qualify students seeking entrance into the program.

The Dean informed the chairs that COHFA’s nomination for the Governor’s Professor of
the Year Award will be Pamela Martin. The nomination will be forwarded to the
President’s Office for consideration.

The 3% cost of living raise has passed and will be reflected in the next round of pay for
12-month employees. Others will see the increase on September 15.

President DeCenzo is holding a retreat on Friday, July 27, and the agenda will be centered
around customer service. The retention consultant indicated that many students in their
exit interview have expressed frustration with the administrative processes of the
university. It should be noted that the academic offices were not highlighted as areas of
concern. Dan asked for any ideas that would help simplify any of the processes. The
transfer equivalency process was cited as an area that is cumbersome. Improvements to
the Orientations in the summer were discussed, and suggestions included meetings with
parents by the individual departments and sessions to help students better understand the
Core. It was noted that the Freshmen Year Experience (FYE) will aid new students their
first year.

The faculty salary plan was presented to the Board of Trustees and a pool of $250,000 was
approved. The Board voted that $250,000 be set aside for this year to address
compensation issues for the fall. The administration must now find the money for this
package. Once the source is identified, the process for awarding the funds will be
developed. This is a one-time allocation and is designated for faculty and staff.

Discussion proceeded on the rating system that will, most likely, be implemented. Next
year Dan plans to establish a college guide that will outline the merit process as adopted
by the college and will clarify the merit rating system based on the annual faculty
performance evaluations. Dr. Ennis will send an email out explaining the need to
compose a committee to work on the development of this guide. Departments will be
asked to identify their representatives. The faculty committee will be intricately involved


in the establishment of the merit rating process to ensure equity throughout the college.
Currently what one department uses to determine a three (3) is not the same as what
another department uses. The committee will be charged with defining what the three (3),
two (2), and one (1) will mean.
Dan distributed an abstract prepared by Holley that reflects what it looks like if the
proposed number of threes were assigned. This is not the finalized version as the Dean is
still in the process of meeting individually with each department chair.
The chairs were reminded that their new faculty hires for the fall should receive a letter
from them explaining department expectations. Dan distributed a sample letter for chairs
to use as a guide. He asked that they generate a letter and tie it to the faculty performance
document.
Associate Dean Reports
Carol Osborne

The first Professional Development dinner for the new academic year is scheduled for
October 15. It will be held in conjunction with the Wall School of Business and will be
held in the Wall Board Room. The Dean suggested that a post-dinner survey be
conducted to measure the success of these dinners and the impact on our faculty.

The chairs are requested to review the email sent by Ellen Arnold regarding Assessment
and the work planned beginning in the fall.

Carol would like to continue discussion on what we can do to help the probationary
student succeed. We need to help them find the resources that will lead them down a
successful career path.

Any updates departments have to their webpage can be submitted to Carol.
Holley Tankersley

The list of COHFA committee representatives, internal and external, are now posted on
the website.

Holley reminded the chairs to select a department representative to the college QEP
committee.

The email to the chairs regarding high failure rate courses in COHFA will be discussed at
the college meeting on August 16. The new policy will require faculty teaching the high
failure rate classes to report mid-term grades for all students in each section of the course
they are teaching.
Other
Matthieu Chan Tsin asked the chairs for input on a petition submitted from a student in the College of
Business. The student was awarded credit in transfer for FREN 120 as part of the courses she took
through her high school. The transfer student is preparing to graduate and was informed in May that
the core requirement of FREN 110 was not fulfilled. At that time, the student was given options on
how to fulfill this requirement. The petition is requesting FREN 110 be waived. As chair of the
department, Matthieu does not recommend the waiver, but requested input from the chairs. The chairs
voted unanimously to support the chair’s decision.
Submitted by: Judy Davis