NCA Self-Study Committee Meeting Notes
Thursday, December 13, 2007
106 STU
Present: Chick Blue, Pam Brenzing, Catherine Frerichs, Carol Griffin, Julie Guevara (Chair), Josh
Hilbrand (student representative), Bart Merkle, James Moyer, Barbara Reinken, Ellen Schendel
Others Present: Cynthia Teerling (GA)
Agenda:
1. Review of minutes 9/13/07 and 11/08/07: Approved.
2. Review of self-study comments – fora and websites:
- Comments from fora and email distributed.
- The comments from the fora mainly wanted to know more about the process – why we do it; what
does it accomplish; when will the next draft be available; what types of documents will be needed
from units, etc.
- Off-site facilities – every single meeting was appreciated by those folks for having been included in
the discussion and were well attended. Off-site facilities want to have both Allendale and Grand
Rapids know what they are doing as well as them knowing what is happening in GR and Allendale.
Grand Valley is the only university in the TC consortium that holds a commencement for their
students. What is the five-year plan for TC? Should have something in the self-study mentioned in
the section that talks about Continuing Education. Where do we go from here?
- Diversity issues.
- Folks asked if they could voice concerns about workload – Julie assured them that they can and
should voice their comments and concerns.
- Possible challenge – external exposure/visibility of the university beyond the immediate area –
more nationwide.
3. Review of others’ self-study comments:
- Overall, the comments were positive and very appreciative of the work done by the Steering
Committee and subcommittees.
- Need to articulate more regarding transfer students.
- Space issues mentioned.
- Noted that document was overwhelming written in a positive tone but also noted that we have some
serious issues that need to be worked on, i.e., faculty morale, communication between
administration, faculty governance and faculty, etc.
- Julie stated that a lot of the issues currently being discussed are a result of the self-study assessment
process and initiatives undertaken to meet the challenges issues by NCA.
- Current challenges at the university should be included in the challenges section with comments
related to how we plan to go about changing these negative issues to positives.
- How do we go about getting information about faculty who are receiving tenure or promotion to full
professor. Is this information publicly available? Julie will ask Monica Johnstone to work on
gathering information for CLAS. Most of the professional schools should be able to provide this
type of information readily because of their individual accreditation processes.
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Some people suggested that we need to brag/boost more, give more positive examples to the
document.
4. Comments from Provost Davis:
- aim for the self-study is to get re-accredited and be honest but not self-defeating
- Later versions of the self-study will be reviewed by the President and the Board of Trustees and we
want the report to reflect positively on GVSU.
- We should state that we are in process of some things, working on others, and certain items are
completed.
- in a good place right now – positive comments, conversation about positives and negatives, etc.
- Thank you for all the hard work already completed and the work to come.
5.
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Other:
Cleanup of typos will be done before the chapters are returned to the subcommittees for revision.
Issues should be brought up now and during the revisions – make a list and review each.
A suggestion that the top 5 issues/areas of concern by individual steering committee members
should be sent to Julie by the first week of classes to determine whether or not they really should be
included in the report or not.
Encouraged members to have other campus committee members review the draft document on the
website.
Julie will meet with each of the Criterion chairs in early to mid January. Linda will schedule these
one hour meetings.
6. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 1:02 p.m. The next meeting of the whole Steering
Committee will be on Thursday, February 14, 2008, 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., 106 STU.
Future meeting dates for 2008:
Thursday, March 13, 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., 106 STU
Thursday, April 10, 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., 106 STU
Thursday, May 8, 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., 106 STU
Thursday, June 12, 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., 106 STU
Thursday, July 17, 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., 106 STU
Thursday, August 14, 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., 106 STU
Thursday, September 11, 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., 106 STU
Thursday, October 9, 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., 106 STU