|
Academic Council
Meeting Minutes
April 29, 2003
Present: Curtis
Johnson, Dean of the College; Stephanie Arnold, Dean of Arts
and Humanities; Greg Fredricks, Interim Dean of Mathematical
and Natural Sciences; Harry Schleef; Dean of Social
Sciences; Terri Banasek, administrative assistant and
recorder; and Rosie Healy, administrative assistant for
budgets and contracts. Guest: Mervyn Brockett, Vice
President of Finance and Treasurer of the College.
Agenda Items:
- Dean Johnson noted that if enhancing our revenues is
part of our strategy for better fiscal health, the issue
of retention is vitally important. We historically lose
18-19 percent of our first-year class; we lose a similar
percentage from sophomore to junior year. Once students
come back as juniors, they usually stay the duration.
The president, Jane Atkinson, and Dean Johnson have been
talking abut initiatives to aim at sophomores. This
ranges from campus life issues to courses they can or
cannot get into. No systematic attention has been given
to sophomores as a group. Dean Johnson wants the
divisional deans to take the idea back to the chairs -
what are some of the things we might do differently in a
more focused way with sophomores? If we can improve our
retention rate with that group, it will make almost as
much difference as gains with first-year students. It
was suggested that maybe we should change priority for
registration. We need to keep seniors as a high priority
for registration but probably not juniors; one
possibility is to group sophomores and seniors as a
second priority after first-year students.
- Dean Arnold asked if the Academic Council is
evaluating how the faculty mentoring program is working.
Could we strengthen that by having a meeting with mentors
to get their observations, perhaps also meeting with
junior faculty as to how it is working for them - what
else would help? Currently, mentors are outside the
department - could that be done differently?
Dean Johnson said that he has deliberately kept it
outside the department. He noted it has been uneven in
its success; it is a good idea to assess it. Some junior
faculty have reported that mentoring has been very
positive; in other cases, almost no contact has occurred.
Academic Council needs to reinforce the message to
senior faculty. This should be done early in the fall,
separately from Academic Council. Dean Arnold pointed
out that expectations for junior faculty vary greatly
from department to department. Academic Council should
take on developing mechanisms to help. Dean Johnson
noted that our chairs do not receive any sort of formal
instruction as to what it is to chair - there is no
handbook or training. He is concerned about how junior
faculty are brought along. Some chairs nurture them and
others do not. Should Academic Council create a chairs'
handbook that contains expectations for chairs and set up
a review process? This could include building a set of
more concrete expectations for chairing.
- Dean Johnson reminded the divisional deans that it is
time to review low enrollment figures. If we are going
to eliminate low enrollment courses, now is the time to
act. Academic Council previously agreed that we ought
not to impose measures - this needs to be corrected
within the department. The divisional deans can get
enrollment figures off the Web.
Next meeting: Tuesday, May 6, 2003, 9:30 a.m.
|
