I. CALL TO ORDER

Dr. Anderson called to order the annual Planning Meeting of the Academic Affairs Council at 10:00 a.m. Dennis Boe, President of the Faculty Senate, was welcomed to the Council.

Dr. Anderson asked members of the Council to read Who Moved the Cheese and pass it along to the next assigned reader. Dr. Talley will start the chain.

Members Present: Duane C. Anderson, Pamla Armstrong, Dennis Boe, Bob Feighner, Kurt Jackson, Carlotta Lockmiller, Linda Mitchusson, Bill Osborne, Jack Paschall, Charles Perry, Shirley Talley, Nancy Thomason, Alvin Turner, C. J. Vires, Bruce Weems.
Others Present: Bill S. Cole, Marilyn Cole, Todd Essary
Recorder: Sue Milner

The minutes for the Academic Affairs Council meeting of July 11, 2000 were unanimously approved as posted on the web.

Academic Plan

Dr. Anderson highlighted sections of the Academic Plan as follows: (p. 8) percentage and age of students enrolled since Fall 1995 shows that transfer and non-traditional students are not enrolling; (p. 14) shows trend of SCH's produced; one issue is where are beginning freshmen taking general education courses? (p. 15) see trend again in degrees granted; (p. 26) a new objective is to maintain existing specialty program accreditations and secure additional specialty program accreditations; (p. 46) institutions are now required to tell the State Regents how they intend to allocate State and APRA monies.

Dr. Anderson reviewed the Annual Report. Some of the items discussed were the following: 
Faculty profile shows that ECU is down in faculty holding doctorates.
Follow-up of 1999-2000 Goals/Objectives. The narratives in school and department Strategic Plans do not reflect the decreasing enrollment, yet enrollment has declined. An issue to consider is competing with two-year schools for general education and concurrent students.
Assessment. Need to continue to have assessment and encourage greater faculty involvement in the process.
Continue to promote and highlight faculty and student scholarship. Annual faculty performance evaluation has been revised.
Continue to improve quality of course delivery and services.North Central Association Self Study has been launched and will be completed this year.
A Technology Plan has been developed.
Academic Affairs Procedure Book will be completed by December, 2000.New degree programs. Recommending that the library media certification be converted into an option. Continue developing new programs and certificates.Sponsored programs (grants) continue to provide monies for ECU. External funds and tuition account for 52 percent of ECU's monies.
Department, School and academic unit Strategic Plans. Revisions have been completed.

Dr. Anderson asked council members to think of the 2000-01 Goals and Objectives as a work plan and to expect it to be on the agenda every month. The goals are summarized below:

1. School and department recruiting plans. Departments are encouraged to follow the plan as they outlined in their Strategic Plan.
2. Student retention and graduation. Look carefully at Strategic Plan to see what departments said they would do. Frequently asked questions will be included in the Academic Advising Center's web page.
3. Continue to insure appropriate course articulation and transfer of credits.
4. Continue to establish formal 2 + 2 transfer guides.
5. Determine the current level of implementation for the assessment of student learning for each undergraduate and graduate degree program, and initiate improvements as needed by using the NCA Assessment document.
6. Continue the documentation of the use of assessment data/results.
7. Continue to promote and highlight faculty and student scholarship.
8. Refine the proposed new annual faculty performance evaluation policy and procedures.
9. Continue to improve the quality of course delivery and services provided for off-campus students.
10. An outreach site at the Gordon Cooper Technology Center is in progress.
11. Complete the North Central Association Self Study.
12. Publish the Academic Affairs Procedures Book by December, 2000.
13. Continue to explore the development of new degree programs, options, and minors.
14. Implement the new options (MIS, Education Technology) and submit the Bachelor of General Studies and Master of Education in Library Media to the OSRHE.
15. Implement the BSN program at SOSU.
16. Maintain the existing sponsored program activity level.
17. Discuss course syllabi for all General Education courses to conform to the revised course syllabus format.
18. Discuss General Education curriculum. 
19. Revitalize enrollment in teacher education programs.
20. Begin development of web-based courses.

Mr. Todd Essary distributed instructions and a map for the upcoming ECU Escape event designed for recruiting students. Mr. Essary is expecting approximately 200 students and their parents. Escape is scheduled Saturday, September 30, and will start 4:00-4:30 p.m registration, 5:30-6:45 p.m. scholarship information, application process, free food, plus tickets to our Lone Star Conference football game at 7:00 p.m. This is an opportunity for deans and faculty to visit with prospective students. If planning to attend, e-mail Mr. Essary. Students will be grouped by discipline interests for easy identification by deans and faculty.

Dr. Carlotta Lockmiller gave an overview of the self study process status. 

A. Items completed.

1. Self study plan.
2. Time line.
3. Visit from the NCA liaison.
4. A solid organization policy is in place for criteria teams.
5. Extensive education of steering committee.
6. Attendance at the NCA meeting in Chicago by five team leaders.

B. Education Information.

1. The process of education is ongoing. There are some problems with the source of information.
2. There is some difficulty in getting people to write evaluative reports.
3. It is necessary to think in terms of institutional wide concerns rather than localized concerns.
4. The first draft of the self study is an incomplete document.

C. What needs to be accomplished.

1. Correct disjointed reports.
2. Provide missing data.
3. Provide source, semester, and year of data collected.
4. Provide comparative data to make a case.
5. Provide evaluation.
6. Publicize what is being done, i.e. Columns, Ada Evening News, etc.
7. Know mission of East Central University.
8. Develop a resource room.

Dr. Lockmiller pointed out that the Self Study should be posted on the internet for everyone's perusal. May is the deadline for the Self Study document and it will be sent to the printer in July. The Site Visit is at the end of October, 2001.

SECOND SESSION, August 15-9:00 A.M.

Dr. Anderson called the meeting to order. Dr. Cole joined the Council and spoke briefly on enrollment, NCA self study, new faculty appointments for this fall, state level funding, a joint Foundation and ECU capital campaign for nine million dollars, importance of external funding, and acquisition of funding for renovation of the old library and old science hall.

Dr. Anderson distributed data packets covering undergraduate and graduate student credit hours, program majors, and degrees granted for academic years fall, 1995 through fall, 1999. Data shows a decline in enrollment since 1995 and a decline in revenue. A handout of the annual intersession report shows a significant increase in SCH when comparing May, 1999 to May, 2000. OneNet enrollment shows 516 SCH's in 1995 compared to 2,449 SCH's in 1999. Discussion continued on changing student habits, services offered at ECU, environment, and attitudes.

Mr. C. J. Vires distributed a diagram of the Technology Plan picturing the relationship of instruction, administration, and infrastructure. Also, he distributed the final report submitted by the ad hoc Committee on Technology Planning. Mr. Vires stated that they looked at the needs first and then let those needs drive technology. The three parts of technology are (1) mechanical-bells and whistles, (2) systemic-going, once in place, and (3) human-makes it happen.

Dr. Kurt Jackson distributed an outline for using forms included in the packet. NCA is asking East Central University to assess its assessment. Evaluation is based on three levels with level 3 as a goal. More will follow on the assessment process.

This was discussed earlier.

Freshman Rally

Dr. Talley gave assignments at the Freshman Rally to council members.

Paper Recycling Procedures

A memo will be sent to ECU personnel with a schedule of recycled paper pick up times. These times are based on a survey done earlier asking for locations where pick up should be made. Funds are limited to 20 hours per week for pick ups; recycling paper brings no revenue to the university.

East Central has employed thirteen new faculty. Persons on the agenda have been notified. Deans were asked to include the following in their school and/or department meetings: parking permits and where to park, textbooks, procedure for getting payroll checks, process for travel money, faculty mailboxes and how to distribute mail, test security, securing keys, audio-visual equipment, and mentoring within the school. Faculty will meet with the deans at 1:15 p.m.

The Council was reminded that the student should be given a BFA (Beginning Freshman Advising form) to give to the advisor. This process is critical to student management.

Faculty advisors will be named with specific responsibilities as a support system to the Advising Center. Deans were asked to continue to provide faculty on call to help with advising in the Center. One or two faculty members should be available during the enrollment period.

Meetings of the Transfer Matrix Committees are business communication, computer science, mathematics, information systems.

There were no reports from units.

Calendar Dates/School Start-up

August 17 - General faculty meeting, 9:00 a.m. Faculty dinner, 6:30 p.m.
August 18 - Regular enrollment and beginning freshmen orientation.
August 21 - Classes begin.
August 25 - Last day to enroll. Last day for staff changes in class schedule.
September 26 - Academic Affairs Council meeting.

Deans will be asked to introduce new faculty at the general faculty meeting.

Last year's evaluations are complete. The list of chairs to be evaluated this year will be distributed in October.

Research Day is scheduled at UCO October 27, 2000. Abstracts should be sent to the Academic Affairs office to meet the due date of September 8 for submission.

An adjunct faculty orientation program will be developed but will not be implemented this fall.

1. AAC Meeting Dates. A schedule of the Academic Affairs Council meeting dates was distributed to council members.
2. Institutional Goals. A third institutional inventory goals document will be available fall, 2000.3. National Education Technology. Computer literacy standards are being revised to reflect greater sophistication on the part of users.
4. Handling Difficult Students. An article written by Richard J. Riehl, Executive Director of Enrollment Services at California State University, titled "Handling Difficult Students: Can You Spell "Chicken Soup"? was distributed. Dr. Anderson asked that support staff read the article.5.Real Player Radio. Mr. Jim Waller has asked that those using the Real Player radio on computers to limit its use before 12:00 noon. It is tying up a band width and slowing down the network across the campus. Deans were asked to inform their office staff of the problem. Also, faculty who are responsible for student labs should discourage the use of Real Player.
6. Web Page. Deans were reminded to update their school and department web pages.7. Lab Use Policy. Lab directors are reminded to post lab hours and to send a copy to security and to the academic affairs office.
8. Position Description. Provide copies of position descriptions to new department chairs, etc. All academic affairs council members should bring their position description to the September 26 meeting.
9. "Big Ticket" Items. Deans are to submit large budget items by 5:00 p.m. Friday, August 18. These will be included in the State Regent's Budget Survey form 2001-02 that is due September 1, 2000.
10. Legal Issues in Higher Education. Interested council members will attend the Legal Issues conference October 5, 2000, held at The University of Oklahoma College of Continuing Education.

The meeting of the Academic Affairs Council was adjourned at 2:00 p.m.

Duane C. Anderson
Vice President for Academic Affairs