Office of Academic Affairs

Minutes of Academic Affairs Council - August 14 - 15, 1996
Fountainhead Resort Hotel, Checotah, Oklahoma

Others Present: Bill S. Cole, Holly Sewell

Recorder: Sue Milner

I. OPENING COMMENTS/OVERVIEW--Dr. Duane C. Anderson

At 1:15 p.m., Dr. Anderson called the session to order. The minutes of the July 23, 1996, were approved as distributed.

Faculty and Assignments.
Deans/Division Chairs will introduce new faculty members at the general faculty meeting, Monday, August 19 in the Regents Room. There are five new faculty as follows:

• Art-Mr. James Alford
• Cartography/Geography-Dr. James Lowry
• Chemistry-Dr. Daniel McInnes
• Mathematics-Dr. Kerry Johnson
• Mathematics-Dr. David Pike

Documents Distributed.

• A news article from the Wall Street Journal
• A map of the new University Student Center
• A Strategic Plan for 1996-2001
• Academic Plan, 1996-2001.

Annual Report, 1995-96: Academic Affairs.
This document links to the Strategic Plan. Some items discussed were as follows:

• Priority Three: Complete the review and revision of the General Education curriculum, and implement a revised curriculum.
• Preliminary Fall Headcount Enrollment and FTE 1991-1995 shows accomplishments through the years 1991-95.
• Priority Seven is new and reflects new initiatives at the university.
• Headcount and FTE from 1991-95 is flat. ECU needs to start thinking of new programs for which there is a need.
• Increases/decreases in majors by school/division.
• Increases/decreases of degrees granted by school/division.
• Dr. Anderson discussed the student credit hours produced.
• Goals and Objectives for Academic Affairs helped the institution in meeting goals and student retention. The established Teaching, Learning and Technology (TLT) Round Table continues discussion.

Ms. Thomason gave a brief account of her experience at the Harvard Management Lifelong Education Leadership Institute. She attended the institute in June. The council participated in a Leadership Orientations questionnaire from the 1988, Leadership Frameworks. The Leadership Orientations instrument is keyed to four different conceptions of organizations and to the task of organizational leadership.

III. REVIEW OF PROPOSED AAC GOALS/OBJECTIVES FOR 1996-97--Dr. Duane C. Anderson (See Attachment A.)

Dr. Anderson referred to the following topics:

• Schools/Divisions will be responsible for developing and teaching the UNIV 3001 General Education Seminar courses, effective fall 1997.
• Dr. Anderson, deans and division chairs will produce an academic professional development plan.
• ECU will expand its delivery of off-campus courses by working with other institutions.
• Academic reorganization will be initiated this fall.
• There will be a review of School and Division Strategic Plans and other sources for possible new degree programs.
• There will be continued development of computer technology.

Ms. Armstrong distributed an estimated time frame for printing the 1997-98 Catalog.

• Programs approved during the 1996-97 year go into effect fall 1997.
• November 1996 is the deadline for requests to the Academic Committee if the changes are included in the 1997-98 Catalog.
• Department or Division narrative in the catalog is limited to 250 words. The catalog is a contract between student and university rather than a recruiting tool.
• A transfer student at ECU for the first time, Fall 1996, will be admitted under the new general education requirements. However, a petition has been developed to allow students who have taken course work at other colleges with plans of transferring to ECU to be allowed to move back under the old requirements. ECU does not want to assess students who have completed 30 or more hours at another school.
• If a student wants to continue studies under new general education curriculum, Dr. Anderson may waive the freshman seminar course. The same form will be used if the student is required to remain under the new requirements but have only the freshman seminar waived. The Registry office has petition forms.
• Beginning freshmen are required to enroll in the Freshman Seminar in their first semester of enrollment--no exceptions.

• A list of division center locations for enrollment was distributed. Beginning freshmen majors will be taken to the centers for enrollment August 20. Changes will be made in the Arts and Letters Division.
• Jackson reported the results of summer 1996 enrollment. He discussed freshman orientation and enrollments per week, number and percent tested, number enrolled to date and number scheduled to date. PLC and summer enrollments totaled 548. Of those enrolled, 25 percent were placed in Title III.
• Assessment of majors will be presented to departments in November for a first draft and is to be completed by the end of the fall semester.

7:45 P.M.--DR. COLE

President Cole spoke to the council in an informal setting on the President's Perspective on 1996-97. He thanked the council for their support in a successful year in strengthening ECU's academic programs. He reviewed some accomplishments of the year and summarized some plans for East Central.
Topics included the following:

• Progress in the building program and the renovation of existing buildings.
• Conference.
• Budget for 1996-97.
• Personnel changes--retirements, reassignments, and new faculty.

Dr. Anderson called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. The meeting continued as follows:

VI. TEACHER EDUCATION REDESIGN UPDATE--DR. KENNETH MOORE

Commission.
Dr. Moore reminded the council that teacher education redesign has been in progress for four years. HB 1549 eliminated the old commission and established a new commission in 1992, comprising sixteen members. The commission is getting ready for new requirements to go into effect July 1, 1997. There are four groups involved: State Department, Commission, Regents, and Vocational Education. Each group is responsible for a specific part of the redesign. The State Department is responsible for teacher certification, faculty development, and competencies.

Certification.
Dr. Moore explained the suggested certification (teaching) areas. The State Department developed these areas and held hearings in July. From those hearings , only one comment was made that concerned the Middle Level Specialist. It is believed that elementary teachers need some knowledge of secondary subjects and knowledge of middle schools.

Committees.
National Evaluation Systems, Inc., an educational testing firm from Amherst, Massachusetts, has been asked to develop competency tests for the teaching areas. The firm is setting up committees to look at the tests for each of the content areas. Volunteers are needed to serve on the committees to set up certification tests for Oklahoma. Dr. Anderson is asking deans/division chairs to find faculty in specific teaching areas to serve on those committees.

Curriculum Guidelines.
Dr. Moore distributed an overview of NCATE approved curriculum guidelines to academic deans. Programs are to submit folios that meet NCATE guidelines, pass competencies, and guidelines from respective learned societies. The State Department full competencies will be available January 1, 1997. Submissions must go to the Regents and the Commission by fall. An East Central University institutional plan for redesign of teacher education must be submitted to the Commission on January 1, 1997. A team will come to the ECU campus and check our new programs at a later date. NCATE is coming to the ECU campus in spring 1998.

Pass Objectives.
Pass objectives, NCATE's approved curriculum guidelines, and the learned society guidelines should be followed in the development of our new programs. Dr. Anderson reiterated that faculty must use these guidelines and develop the best program possible. Faculty members must be involved and not allow the Commission complete control of programs.

Portfolio.
Oklahoma State University is bringing in people from Princeton September 12-13 who are experts on portfolios for a portfolio institute. Faculty are encouraged to attend that institute. Contact Dr. Moore for details. Students must start a portfolio at the time of admission to a program.

VIII. FACULTY EVALUATION DOCUMENT--DR. DUANE C. ANDERSON

Dr. Anderson deferred this item to a later date. The current system dates to the pre-1990-91 North Central preparation period. It has been implemented by using the Non-instruction Contribution form, Student Evaluation of Faculty Teaching document, and the department/division evaluation.

IX. Development Plan--Work Session
Dr. Anderson deferred work on the plan to a later date.

X. Academic Reorganization--Work Session
Council members worked in groups to consider possible reorganization of the current six schools/divisions into four schools. After a short work session, Dr. Anderson listed those schools in groups as suggested by council members.

XI. Wrap up/final discussions

Dr. Anderson mentioned briefly the North Central recommendations from the 1991 site visit and noted significant progress towards addressing all of the items.

Brief discussion occurred about the semester start-up. An event added this year is a beginning freshman rally picnic at 6:30, August 20 on the Kerr Center lawn. Council members were invited to help.

XII. Meeting Adjourned

The meeting adjourned at 12:15 p.m. The next meeting of the Academic Affairs Council is scheduled for September 17 at 9:00 a.m.

Duane C. Anderson
Vice President for Academic Affairs

1. Implement and monitor department, school and division, and academic unit student retention programs.
   • Responsible: All AAC units
2. Implement and monitor long-term department, school and division, and academic unit efforts to improve the institution's graduation rates.
   • Responsible: All AAC units
3. Develop UNIV 3001, General Education Seminar, course through the Schools and Divisions in cooperation with the Assessment Center for implementation in fall 1997.
   • Responsible: Director of Assessment/IR, Deans, and Division Chairs
4. Continue improving institutional policies and procedures relative to course articulation with Oklahoma public colleges and universities.
   • Responsible: Vice President for Academic Affairs, Registrar, and faculty serving on Regents' Transfer Curriculum Committees
5. Establish formal 2 + 2 articulation agreements in selected degree programs with Connors State College, Eastern Oklahoma State College, Murray State College, Rose State College, and Seminole Junior College.
   • Responsible: Vice President for Academic Affairs, Deans and Division Chairs
6. Streamline program (major) assessment plans and continue to integrate assessment into program reviews.
   • Responsible: Director of Assessment/IR
7. Develop a strategy to respond to the shift from federal external funding to foundation, state and local external funding.
   • Responsible: Director of GRIC and Executive Director of Continuing Education and Community Services
8. Produce an academic professional development plan.
   • Responsible: Vice President for Academic Affairs, Deans, and Division Chairs
9. Explore possibilities of revising and improving the annual faculty performance evaluation system.
   • Responsible: Vice President for Academic Affairs, Deans, and Division Chairs
10. Expand delivery of off-campus courses through OneNet and traditional on-site instruction.
    • Responsible: Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dean of the School of Graduate Studies, and Executive Director of Continuing Education and Community Services
11. Initiate academic reorganization.
    • Responsible: Vice President for Academic Affairs, Deans, and Division Chairs
12. Review School and Division Strategic Plans and other sources for possible new degree programs.
    • Responsible: Vice President for Academic Affairs, Deans, and Division Chairs
13. Continue the development of computer technology in support of teaching and learning.
    • Responsible: Vice President for Academic Affairs, Deans, Division Chairs, and members of the Teaching, Learning and Technology Roundtable
14. Complete revision of the Faculty Handbook, and produce an Academic Affairs Procedures Book.
    • Responsible: Vice President for Academic Affairs, Administrative Assistant (Sue), and others as needed