VP COUNCIL MEETING

December 13, 2007

Present: Linda Luehrs-Wolfe, Christal Albrecht, Judy Murray, Bill Coppola, Julie Leidig, Cher Brock, Larry Rideaux

Absent: Gary Liebst

Guests: Debra Rockefeller, Bonnie Longnion, Kirsten Lue King, Marie Thibodeaux, Christina Todd

1. Curriculum proposals (Marie Thibodeaux) The VP Council approved the consent agenda with the exclusion of BIOL, DANC, ACNT, Vet Tech, and DMSO. Please refer to the attached document:

2. Academic Calendar (Linda Luehrs-Wolfe) – EC approved the 2008-2009 Academic Calendar as proposed.

3. Faculty Credentials (Linda Luehrs-Wolfe) – The Executive Council charged the VP Council to develop a set of recommendations by their January 16, 2008 meeting that will guarantee all faculty hired across the district will be based on the same identical criteria. The VP Council reviewed the Faculty Qualifications Table they developed in 2005 and made a few adjustments to the guidelines. KINE courses should have the bachelor’s or master’s degree requirement removed and changed to “preferred” with a demonstrated proficiency or appropriate certification for activity courses. MUAP and MUEN courses should be listed separately from MUSI courses. The MUAP and MUEN transfer courses should be listed with the recommendation of, “Demonstrated proficiency/experience in specific performance area, with a bachelor’s or master’s preferred.” PSYC courses should have “The analysis of coursework may be necessary for some specialized courses taught within this discipline to verify there has been appropriate graduate course content appropriate for teaching the course” removed from the guideline. SPCH courses should remove the slash between “speech/communications” and place the word “or” as well as remove the entire last sentence. “Public Administration Master’s” would need an exception written to justify the hire for government courses. MATH courses should remove the sentence, “Any graduate level math hours should be courses (by designation and/or content) that can count toward a Master’s degree in mathematics.” Astronomy (PHYS) course requirements should remove the one course requirement in astronomy, and add the statement that preparation in astronomy is necessary. BIOL course requirement should remove the statement about the an analysis of credentials. There needs to be a global statement added to the document that these are only minimum guidelines. All exceptions and equivalencies must be well documented.

4. Faculty Credentials Appeals Process (Linda Luehrs-Wolfe) – The purpose of the committee is to provide faculty members a venue for appealing a decision to teach within a particular discipline. The VP Council decided not to pursue a formal appeals process.

5. Nursing Appeals Process (Linda Luehrs-Wolfe) – The VP Council recommended that the word, “problem” be changed. The council wanted to add a statement that states the dean is responsible for taking action within ten days. In addition, the last item should specify that the final appeal to the college’s chief academic officer or chief student services officer is considered final. The appeal process for admissions into nursing still needs to be developed by the deans of nursing and should be created for all allied health programs. This appeals process for admissions is due January 9, 2008.

6. Team Teaching with Nursing Workload (Christal Albrecht) – The nursing workload is 320, and some of the nursing faculty are team teaching and only teaching ½ of this workload. The VP Council members will take this to their deans to determine what the workload is for the nursing faculty.

7. DL Drop Process for Mini-Mester (Larry Rideaux) – Because our offices are closed over the Christmas break, we needed to develop a process for DL students to be able to drop during the mini-mester through an online process. A temporary process was developed to handle this online drop situation. A schedule change form has been inserted into the DL course, and this electronic form can be filled out by the student and forwarded to the instructor for approval. The VP Council noted that a copy of this electronic drop request should be emailed to a Student Service’s Council representative. An automatic date stamp will also be included inside the electronic drop form. As a safe guard, the DL student will not be dropped unless the dean receives the electronic drop form from both the student and the instructor.

9. SHSU Transfer Courses (Larry Rideaux) - The VP Council noted that since the list of SHSU courses are also SHSU core courses, the approval of transfer for these courses should be automatic.

10. Web Review Council Rep (Judy Murray) - The VP Council voted to keep Judy Murray on the Web Review Council. This team is evaluating Estrada and other content management systems. On January 14, 2008 the council will begin the evaluation process to decide by March 2008 if they will stay with Estrada or go with another company. January 16, 2008 will be the switch to our new web address: www.lonestar.edu.

11. Faculty Workload (Linda Luehrs-Wolfe) – The VP Council reviewed the faculty workload drafts. Recommendations 1 & 2 were approved with the charge of moving CIT and POFT workload back to 320, not 288. The VP Council agreed to go forward with the current faculty workload proposal, with the specification that the allied health fields be evaluated (pending deans’ council feedback) over the next year. The VP Council agreed with recommendation # 7 to form a standing committee that would meet as needed to address workload issues that arise. Issues from faculty should first go to the respective deans. The VP Council did not recommend the non-teaching portion change to institutional service and professional development. The first paragraph in Recommendation # 3 will be removed, the second paragraph was approved. The VP Council will meet on 1-8-08 from 12-2 pm at DSTC to further address workload and faculty credentialing issues prior to the EC meeting. The basic structure of the clinical, co-op, and internship/practicum workload models were approved based on the committee’s workload recommendations. Specifics are still being reviewed. The deans recommended the co-op be 64 hours. Send Linda Luehrs-Wolfe any concerns prior to the January meeting. Recommendations # 5 and # 6 were tabled due to time constraints. This workload recommendation must be finalized by 1-8-07. The Dental Hygiene is going to a 5-1 and the LVN has changed to 10-1 student/instructor ratio.

12. Grant Opportunities (Bonnie Longnion and Kristin Lue King) – Bonnie and Kristin reviewed the following grant opportunities: 1) 2008 High School Summer Bridge, 2) Professional Development Modules Project, 3) Texas Course Redesign Project: Phase IV.

Next VP Meetings:

January 8, 2008 from noon – 2:00 PM: DSTC, Room 112

January 22, 2008 from 9 AM – 1:00 PM: DSTC, Room 117