June 7, 2013
10:00 a.m.
Ruby Hicks Hall, Room 248
Members Present: Dan
Averette, Jackie Blakley, Tim Bowen, Scott Harvey, Dan Holland, Lynn Lewis, Robin
McFall, Sarah Shumpert, Brian Swords
Members Absent: Amanda
Blanton, Todd Crisp-Simons, Amoena Norcross
Others Present: Gayle Arries
Length of Meeting: 2.25 hours
Topics Discussed:
The minutes of the May 28, 2013 meeting were approved.
Galen distributed and discussed the handout Ground Rules for an Effective Meeting. One of the issues raised in the strategic
plan group meetings was communicating more effectively, and this may be a way
to help that happen with the Provost’s Council.
Galen discussed Building Safety Coordinators. The names of the coordinators are due to Mike
McComas on June 7. Galen asked the
members of the group to send the names to Anne.
Anne will compile the list and send it to Mike on June 7.
The Pre-Requisite Workgroup has not had time to meet and
will update Provost’s Council at a later meeting.
Under Academic Integrity, Galen reported that in order to
provide consistent sanctions, the English Department prepared a rubric to
address the different levels of plagiarism.
Tying this in with the Student Code of Conduct, and with the college
values of integrity, ethical conduct, and community, Galen asked the members of
the group for their thoughts on instituting an honor code. As a whole, the group agreed with this idea
noting that it would be in line with key insights from the strategic plan
sessions by stressing student and employee responsibility and
accountability. As an action item, Dan
Holland will convene a group to work on the concept of an honor code. The workgroup will deal with such things as
the criteria for the code, logistics, and how to educate students.
Galen discussed the strategic initiative to define the
transformative student experience, and noted that he would like to commission a
project team to work on this initiative.
Using various tools, including the college values, collaborative input,
and student input, the team would determine a key set of elements to help with
this definition. The group brainstormed
on the makeup of the team, and suggested that the following areas/individuals
be considered:
·
Learning Communities
·
Transition to College
·
Student Development
·
Credit Deans
·
Intake and Success Coach
·
Community Campuses
·
CCE
(stackable credentials)
·
Kevin Steele (interaction with students and
co-curricular activities)
·
Butch Merritt
·
Rob Massey or Caroline Williams.
Galen will convene the group. By October, using consensus workshops, he
hopes that the elements will be defined and in place.
Galen mentioned a letter from the Department of Natural
Resources that mentioned the DNR sites, its resources and its outdoor programs,
and encouraged institutions to work with the DNR. Anne will scan the letter and send it to the
members of the group.
Galen noted that the Early Alert/Measure of Student Progress
meeting on June 13 will be an overview of individuals’ responsibilities, how
the process will work, and what we need to do to achieve this outcome.
Galen reported that the Commission approved the budget at
its June 4 meeting. The budget should be
loaded into Banner by the third week of June.
Under Announcements, Scott Harvey noted that, while he has
not had any requests for changes from faculty, the college continues to look
for ways to improve the attendance process.
A workgroup will convene to investigate any issues. Since we have determined that attendance is
crucial for student success, the college needs to determine how the procedure
translates into our practices.
Scott distributed a comparative summary of course
projections and noted that it could be used to strategically recruit
students. He will send out another
summary in July. Scott also reported
that currently, we have 97 Bridge students who have graduated with the University
Studies certificate. We may have over
200 by the end of the summer.
Galen reviewed a PowerPoint presentation of key performance
indicators. The presentation, prepared
by Chris Marino, gives a picture of what the indicators look like based on
cohort and snap shot metrics. This important data allows the college to ask
questions about improvements, while showing the progress its making in other
areas.
Dan Holland noted that there seems to be confusion about the
way faculty handle a student absence because of a college-sanctioned
activity. It was noted that with the new
attendance policy, the absence may not matter if it does not constitute missing
two weeks. The attendance system cannot
designate a “no class” day. The default
is absent, which will count against the student. The college may need to review the process
and the definitions, consider a better communication plan, and provide a
resource center with frequently asked questions.
Dan expressed the concern that the college needs a process to
communicate and to deal with students who are a threat to self and others. Dan, Croslena Johnson, and Mike McComas will
work on this procedure and bring it to a Deans’ meeting.
Lynn was pleased to announce that the Easley Campus and
Easley Baptist Hospital are looking for ways to be more collaborative. Sharing strategic planning initiatives and
agency resources would be beneficial to both institutions.
Brian Swords discussed the in-take process and noted that he
has been very pleased with the implementation.
Because of the advising process, about 70% of students’ majors have been
changed. This is sometimes a difficult
discussion to have with students, but feedback from them has been
overwhelmingly positive.
Gayle Arries noted that TV commercials will start next week
on WYFF and WSPA. The big market push
has not started yet, so it will be interesting to see how this affects
enrollment.
Key Talking Points:
1.
Transformative Student Experience Project Team to
determine focus and goal.
2.
Academic Integrity Incident Report workgroup to address
how to teach students about the Student Code.
3.
Attendance workgroup to address procedural issues.
4.
Retention efforts – pay attention to student learning
in the classroom.
5.
Budget update.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Recorded By: Anne Bryan
Next Meeting: Tuesday,
June 25, at 2:00 p.m., in RH 248
