SOUTH PLAINS COLLEGE
Institutional Effectiveness Committee
January 20, 2012
9:00 a.m. – Sundown Room
MINUTES
Members Present: Billy Alonzo, Christi Anderson, Cary Banks, Sharon Bogener, Debra Britton,
Julie Gerstenberger, Rebecca Graves, Sue Ann Lopez, Kara Martinez, Mollie Melton, Cathy
Mitchell, Robert Plant, Gary Poffenbarger, Lynda Reid, Randy Robertson, Lance Scott, Amanda
Sims, Jack Warldow, Myrna Whitehead, Alan Worley and Stephen John. Makinzee Escamilla
was also in attendance.
Members Absent: Rafael Aguilera, Rob Blair, Urisonya Flunder, Joseph Kline, Yancy Nunez,
Michael Smith, Dawn Valles, Jim Walker.
The meeting was called to order at 9:00 a.m. Stephen John introduced new members appointed
to the committee who included Billy Alonzo, Rebecca Graves, Joe Kline, Alan Worley, Kara
Martinez and Michael Smith. Minutes of the April 8, 2011 meeting, distributed earlier by email,
were approved by consensus.
The following agenda items were taken up.
Supervisors Network – LeadSPC
Julie Gerstenberger reported that 26 supervisors participated in a StrengthQuest workshop
April 29, 2011 that was directed by Jay Kilough, director of the Career Center at Texas Tech
University and a certified StrengthQuest facilitator. StrengthQuest is an inventory system of
personal strengths. The 26 participants took an online assessment that identified their top five
individual strengths. Assessment results were discussed by the participants, and Kilough
provided information on how to use personal strengths to be more effective leaders.
Gerstenberger also reported on a subcommittee meeting that was held June 29, 2011. Minutes of
the meeting were distributed. Subcommittee members discussed the Connections customer
service training and resources that would be needed to implement the training in a face-to-face
setting. Jeri Ann Dewbre, Human Resources Director, has received information about an online
option called Connections Now. The committee recommended that the Connections training
become an initiative of the Human Resources Office, which has resources for professional
development. Funds are available to purchase training materials and pilot the online training
modules. A timeline for piloting the Connections was also discussed but action has yet to be
taken. Committee members also recommended to repeat the StrengthQuest session for others.
Institutional Research and Data Subcommittee
Jack Wardlow reported that this subcommittee met October 28, 2011. Minutes of the meeting
were also distributed. The committee discussed strategies for ensuring that accurate “clean”
data is entered into the college databases. State and federal reporting requirements were
discussed as well as the need to improve the Degree Audit function of CampusConnect. The
committee also discussed what kinds of data would be needed for the QEP and the Compliance
Certification Report.
TaskStream AMS Implementation Update
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John reported that the TaskStream AMS has been completely implemented and that all AMS
workspace managers have been trained. Additional training has taken place in small groups
and individually during the past fall semester, focusing on appropriate planning and
assessment content to record into the system. While a majority of workspace managers have
entered planning and assessment content into the AMS, there are still gaps in workspace
activity. These gaps have been shared with Administrative Council Members. John asked for
feedback from IE Committee members who have been assigned TaskStream workspaces. Lance
Scott suggested that a workspace content outline would be helpful in navigating between
content folders in the workspace and would also help organize content. Some users work better
recording their content on paper and then entering their planning and assessment reports into
the online resource. John said that it would be easy to develop a Word document template that
would be an outline of the workspace structure. He said he would design the template and
distribute it to IE Committee members for review.
SACS Annual Meeting Report
Gary Poffenbarger, Cathy Mitchell and Stephen John shared with the committee what they
learned from attending the SACS/COC Annual Meeting December 4-6, 2011. Poffenbarger
attended sessions pertaining to developing a quality enhancement plan, Mitchell focused on
student services and John said he attended sessions on institutional effectiveness and writing
the Compliance Certification Report. Most valuable was learning what pitfalls to avoid as the
college starts its accreditation reaffirmation process. Additionally, the Commission on Colleges
announced revisions to the Principles of Accreditation that were approved at the annual
meeting. SPC will be subject to these revised Principles, among them new federal requirements
for students enrolled in distance learning courses. John said the Reaffirmation Leadership Team
is scheduled to attend a Leadership Team Orientation with COC staff January 30 and will learn
more at this meeting about the revised Principles.
QEP Progress Report
Poffenbarger reported that a QEP Steering Committee has been appointed and the group met
twice last fall. The first meeting was an orientation meeting to introduce the team to the general
process of identifying a topic. The second meeting was with Dr. Donald Crump, consultant,
who worked with the committee to plan the steps that will be required to write a successful
Quality Enhancement Plan. The committee is scheduled to meet January 27 to participate in a
brainstorming activity that will be used with various focus groups. A list of QEP Steering
Committee members was distributed and Poffenbarger said additional faculty will be asked to
join the committee.
Compliance Certification Audit
John also reported that the Compliance Certification Audit Team also met two times last fall,
which included an orientation meeting to organize the work of the committee and a planning
session with Dr. Crump. A compliance certification matrix has been developed and compliance
coordinators for each of the requirements and standards have been identified. John said the next
step will be to schedule a series of small group meetings with compliance coordinators to
discuss requirements and standards and clarify what documentation is needed to address
compliance. A list of Audit Team members as well as the timeline for preparing the Compliance
Certificate Report was distributed to members.
Student Satisfaction Inventory
Cathy Mitchell reported that results of the Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory are being
compiled. The inventory was administered to students this past fall. She discussed preliminary
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results with the committee. The SSI identifies institutional strengths and challenges. Among the
Strengths were the following:
 Tuition paid is a worthwhile investment.
 The quality of instruction I receive in most of my classes is excellent.
 My academic advisor is knowledgeable about my program requirements.
 Classes are scheduled at times that are convenient for me.
 The campus is safe and secure for all students.
 Registration processes and procedures are convenient.
 There are convenient ways of paying my school bill
 Faculty are usually available to students outside class (during office hours, by phone, or
by e-mail)
 Students are made to feel welcome here.
Challenges that surfaced included three campus items that were placed on the inventory by the
college.
 Campus Item: I know what courses I need to graduate from South Plains College.
 Financial aid awards are announced in time to be helpful in college planning.
 Campus item: Information about scholarship opportunities and the application process
in available and accessible.
 Campus item: Financial aid advisors are helpful.
 I am able to take care of college-related business at times that are convenient for me.
 This institution helps me identify resources to finance my education.
Mitchell said the campus items identified as challenges were not unexpected. Additional study
of each challenge area will be needed in order to formulate action plans. Final results and
analysis will be distributed to IE Committee members as well as the Administrative Council.
Support Services Survey
John reported that 243 responses have been received for the Support Services Survey that
opened last fall. Support services managers reviewed the survey last fall and requested minor
revisions to some of the survey statements. The survey will close January 27. Results will be
compiled and reported shortly thereafter.
External Constituents Survey
Committee members learned that the External Constituent Survey will be administered during
the spring semester. A copy of the survey instrument and the list of constituent groups who
will be asked to participate in the survey were presented to the committee.
Employee Survey
The biennial Employee Survey will be administered this spring. The survey action plan was
distributed to IE Committee members. The survey is scheduled to open online March 19 and
close April 16.
Annual Program Review/Planning Hearings
Members were informed that the focus of the annual planning/budget hearings will shift to one
of program review and assessment. The Administrative Council approved a hearing format
where presenters will report on at least one assessment that was conducted in their area of
responsibility, the assessment findings and recommendations for improvement. Budget
resources necessary to implement the improvement will also be presented in the hearings. An
Annual Program Review Report template is being developed and will be distributed. The
Annual Review Hearings are scheduled for March 1 and 2.
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Mission Statement Evaluation Subcommittee
John said the IE Committee has been charged with leading the college through an evaluation of
its mission statement. This review is necessary as the college begins work to update its
Institutional Plan in 2012-13 and as it prepares for reaffirmation of accreditation. The evaluation
process should include the following components: peer comparison, statutory role and scope,
external constituents, employee input, student input, and other evaluation factors discovered by
the committee. Primary data will come from the External Constituent Survey, the Employee
Survey and the Student Satisfaction Inventory. Timeline for completing the project is spring
2012. John asked for IE Committee members who were interested in helping with this project to
contact him about serving on the committee. Those who volunteered were Jack Wardlow, Kara
Martinez, Robert Plant, Randy Robertson, and Becky Graves.
With no further business, the meeting adjourned at 10:30 a.m.
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