Members Present: Duane C. Anderson, Pamla Armstrong, Ed Brackett, Nick Cheper, Bob Feighner, Kurt Jackson, Linda Mitchusson, Jack Paschall, Chuck Perry, Shirley Talley, Nancy Thomason, Alvin Turner, Bruce Weems

Members Absent: Kenneth Moore

Others Present: Ben Harper, Marilyn Cole

Recorder: Sue Milner

I. Call to Order

Dr. Anderson called a regular meeting of the Academic Affairs Council to order at 9:00 a.m. Dr. Harper was present as representative of the School of Education and Psychology. Dr. Moore is in North Carolina at an NCATE meeting.

II. Approval of Minutes

The minutes of October 14, 1997, were approved as submitted with a correction to the date of the meeting.

III. Agenda of Vice President for Academic Affairs

A. COI, November 13, 1997

1. Civil Rights Litigation: Ned Bastow, legal counsel for the Regents, discussed issues for which the State Regents are concerned.

a) He reviewed the status of affirmative action.

b) NCAA rules on qualifying athletes as related to ADA. The discussion of a Department of Justice inquiry.

c) DRS Funding: The Department of Rehabilitation Services suggested a five year phase-out of funding to universities. DRS believes that ADA requires universities to meet ADA requirements without DRS financial support.

2. Proposed State System Policy revisions:

a) Computer proficiency: Requirements for earning an associate degree or baccalaureate degree now includes computer proficiency. Students may successfully complete a high school computer science course that the higher education institution will accept; satisfy an institution's computer literacy college level course or complete work as designated in a degree program; or pass an institution's computer literacy assessment test, if one is offered. This is effective Fall, 1998 for beginning freshmen.

b) Suspended students: Suspended students may appeal to attend summer school and if they earn a 2.0 or higher in course work that is applicable to general education or their program of study, their suspension may be removed and they will be allowed to attend in the fall semester. If not, they must appeal again.

c) Admission of home school students: These students are not eligible to enter college until their peers have graduated from high school.

3. Electronic Media Report: The policy on electronic media and outreach is being revised in the next four months. The Mingle Report is a referral source in the revision.

4. Admission/Retention Committee:

a) The committee rejected a request to include and count informal geometry in a high school core for admission purposes.

b) The committee denied a request to recognize AP courses with a higher differential GPA calculation.

5. Pass Rates: A handout revealed pass rates of the 1996 core curriculum tests for Oklahoma school districts.

B. Calendar

Nov. 17 - 3-yr Tenure Review due. Ardmore, OneNet, Residency, and Student Teaching payroll are due. Summer 1998 Class Schedule and Proposed Faculty Loads are due.

Nov. 26 - School is not in session for Thanksgiving Holiday. Tuesday night classes do meet. Administrative offices are open on Wednesday. Personnel in these offices may take annual leave.

Dec. 1 - Class work resumes.

Dec. 3 - Last day to withdraw from all classes.

Dec. 5 - Notification of Final Fall Faculty Load due January 22

Dec. 8 - Non-instructional Contribution notification of a due date, January 15.

C. Early Enrollment

Reports show spring early enrollment is down in undergraduate and graduate. December 3 is last day for early enrollment. Dr. Anderson will review small classes on December 4.

D. Contact Students

Deans are to contact students who are currently enrolled but have not pre-enrolled for the spring semester. A list of those students was distributed last week.

E. Early Enrollment Schedule

In discussion, Dr. Anderson and Deans agreed to reduce the days of early enrollment to five and keep the enrollment time from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Consideration will be given to a proposal to change to 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. if students are advised before enrollment day. Deans are to develop a plan for advising students earlier. Changed enrollment dates will be published in various mediums.

E. Course Substitution Forms

When a substitution form is received and the request is for a substitution from another area, the form must be routed to that area. It must track back to the department with the course being substituted.

F. Summer School Schedule

Dr. Anderson distributed a handout of Enrollment Dates for Beginning Freshmen.

G. Intersession Schedule

Dates for an Intersession Schedule are December 15 through January 9 and May 15 through May 29. Intersession offerings should be listed in the Final Summer 1998 Schedule and the Tentative Fall 1998 Schedule.

H. Other

1. Deans are to consider establishing guidelines for prioritizing use of the vans or bus when needed for field trips.

2. Dr. Anderson met with Eastern Oklahoma State College and Dr. Joe Wiley (Southeastern Oklahoma State University) at McAlester to discuss program delivery at McAlester. The McAlester facility is not a higher education center; it is a branch campus of Eastern. Eastern has a new building with thirteen classrooms (four are OneNet classrooms) a small library.

3. Deans are to report the number of chairs in each room of their respective building to the Academic Affairs Office by December 1. East Central is in the process of updating institutional square footage report.

4. An annual physical count of computers in labs and offices is due. All computers, regardless of condition, should be included in the count. This report is due the first week in December. A memo is pending for further details.

5. A Zone 12 meeting for teachers is scheduled on the East Central campus April 3, 1998.

6. Dr. Anderson distributed an article from the October 31, 1997, Chronicle of Higher Education, concerning information technology. The article reviews commercial software packages for course development.

7. A tentative calendar for the 1998 Summer Session was distributed. The Calendar Committee will submit the proposal to President Cole.

8. A Faculty Handbook review committee has been appointed.

IV. Agenda of Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs

A. Student Evaluations

Classes should have been selected for student evaluation by November 14 and the process completed by December 5. It will be helpful if packets are returned to Ms. Angie SanMillan for processing as the evaluation is completed.

B. UNIV 3001

A proposal for a syllabus for UNIV 3001 is in the developmental stage. Dr. Talley, Dr. Jackson, and Dr. Anderson will meet and agree on a proposal to submit to deans. .

C. Recycling

The recycling process is still successful. There is one problem area with recycling bins used as trash receptacles. If a recycling bin is repeatedly used for trash, it will be removed. Ron King, the student worker, is doing a good job communicating with people in the areas involved. If offices are interested in joining the recycling program, contact Dr. Tally for placement of receptacles.

D. Professional Development

Contributions are coming in for the November 26 submission deadline. After review, Dr. Tally will contact faculty who have made suggestions.

V. Unit Reports

Continuing Education and Community Services--Ms. Nancy Thomason

James Vercelli is replacing Sheri Huneycutt as CPE and Grants Coordinator. Charlee Lanis is Coordinator of a new grant, Child Care Training and Resource Referral, and begins her employment January 2, 1998. Ms. Thomason's area received several grants for teacher assisted training throughout the state.

Registry--Ms. Pamla Armstrong

Dr. Anderson referred to a letter from Paul H. Anderson, President-Elect of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. Mr. Anderson reports the excellent AACRAO meeting in Tulsa was a direct result of Ms. Armstrong's outstanding leadership. She served as the 1996-97 President.

Library--Dr. Chuck Perry

"Hiroshima" was the number one topic and a three-way tie for second included "abortion, poetry, and Taoism." Ms. Lori Mardis is joining the library faculty in January. Two sister institutions are interested in buying some of the book stack shelving from the old library.

Data Processing--Mr. Bob Feighner

Data Processing now has a web page. The Software Installation Policy can be down loaded from their home page. Mr. Jim Benham and Mr. Tom Shannon are now located in the A-V area of the old library. The entire Data Processing personnel and equipment will ultimately be housed there.

School of Humanities and Social Sciences--Dr. Alvin Turner

The School held their first annual Advisory Committee for the Legal Studies program, which is a prerequisite for accreditation. The Oklahoma Political Science Association is meeting on campus November 21 and 22. One presentation that may be of interest to many is a forty-year collection of ads. A program schedule is available in the Office of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. All are invited.

School of Mathematics and Sciences--Dr. Bruce Weems

Professor Daniel Block has completed all requirements for the Ph.D.

School of Business--Dr. Linda Mitchusson

The Boswell lecture was very successful. A new secretary, Sharon Box, is employed in the Small Business development Center at Poteau. The School Secretary, Sharyl Braddock, is resigning at the end of December. The School represents the business area December 5 during Career Day at Mid America Vo-Tech; Mr. Bill Walden is giving the presentation.

School of Education and Psychology--Dr. Ben Harper

The School completed the NCATE Report, which is due this week. Several applicants are being interviewed in the education area. Basketball season is underway.

Assessment Center and Institutional Research--Dr. Kurt Jackson

The annual Assessment Report is available from the Assessment Center. Twenty questions are addressed. ECU hosted a meeting of the Oklahoma Association for Institutional Research and Planning in October. Dr. Jackson, Ms. Angie SanMillan, Ms Billie Woods, and others from ECU attended.

Title III and Grants and Research Information Center--Mr. Ed Brackett

Total grant value this year is $3, 963, 450. In October, the total value of grants in operation is $4,735,073. Robbie Shumard is the new secretary in the Grants office. Approximately 248 Institutional Goals Inventory Surveys are distributed for completion. The Survey is due within two weeks of distribution.

School of Graduate Studies--Dr. Jack Paschall

Dr. Paschall has suggestions for short courses, work shops, and seminars. Faculty are very responsive to intersession ideas.

Faculty Senate--Dr. Nicholas Cheper

Dr. Cheper met with President Cole concerning the Duplicating Office. The Faculty Senate is sponsoring Thomas Guild, speaker and representative of the AAUP. The event is scheduled in the Estep Multimedia Center. In response to Faculty Senate suggestions, enrollment status on the web page is updated every 30 minutes. Dr. Anderson reminds persons using the home page that enrollment is not updated, if kept open, unless the reload button is pressed.

VI. Old Business

Strategic Planning

December 5 is the due date for a draft of strategic planning updates. Final changes are due January 30. Dr. Anderson wants brief statements in the plan about progress toward goals that were established in the previous plan. The purpose of this exercise is to provide a meaningful skeletal outline of projected goals. The same format should be used.

Advising Center

Discussion of an Advising Center resulted in asking for suggestions from Department Chairs. Chairs are to submit their recommendations in writing to the Academic Affairs Office. Thus far, he has received only one response.

Reformatting of Major Programs

There is progress in reformatting major programs. Program changes must be discussed with the Department Chair, Dean, and Dr. Anderson before submitting to the Academic Committee.

Teacher Education

A meeting in the Estep Multimedia Center is planned before the Christmas break to explain requirements in Teacher Education. These requirements are imposed on ECU by external bodies.

VII. New Business

1998-99 Budgets

Deans are to think about next year's budget. Budget forms will be distributed at the first AAC meeting in January. Dr. Anderson anticipates continuation of budget review meetings.

VIII. Adjourn

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 12:15 p.m.

Duane C. Anderson, Vice President for Academic Affairs