June 23, 2015
1:00 pm
Ruby Hicks Hall, Room 245
Members Present: Gayle
Arries, Dan Averette, Tim Bowen, Jenni Creamer, Scott Harvey, Tom Hiebel, Linda
Jameison, Tom Lawrence, Lynn Lewis, Lou Ann Martin, Sarah Shumpert, Brian
Swords, Hap Wheeler
Members Absent: Jackie
Blakley
Others Present: Amanda Blanton, Margaret Burdette,
Cara Hamilton, Jenn Hulehan, Cindy Mobley??, Diana Walter, Carol Watts
Length of Meeting: 2 hours
Topics Discussed:
The June 9, 2015 meeting minutes were approved as presented.
After welcoming the visitors to the group, Galen began the
discussion on the Compass Placement Test.
He explained that as of 2016, the Compass test will no longer be
available. Carol Watt noted that,
without software support, the Asset will no longer be available either. Our Asset testing is a manual process that we
use for disabilities services testing and for students with no computer
skills. Considering the timeline, Galen
suggested creating a team to identify dependencies and to consider options,
including the following:
1.
Status quo – identify and use a new tool to do exactly
what we are doing now.
2.
Re-assess the college philosophy about placement –
assess college readiness for programs rather than courses. May be the long term correct solution, but it
cannot be accomplished in six months.
3.
Use option 1 as a stop-gap while working on option 2.
For Bridge students, it was suggested that we use the ACT,
SAT, and GPA or a combination of these for assessment. Using Clemson’s math test may be an option as
well.
It was noted that the Placement Committee, with a few
additional members, will be the team. It
is best qualified to make these decisions and to consider all the
implications. The Placement Committee,
with the addition of Amanda Blanton, will be charged to assess the tools that
exist to place student for courses and assess all the dependencies. The team will give regular updates to the
Provost’s Council.
Jenn Hulehan presented the Comprehensive Studies Redesign. Her presentation focused on the past, present,
and future of the program and discussed the following.
·
Background
·
Mission and Values
·
Who We Serve
·
Student Retention Specialist
·
Integration of Basic Skills into Core Classes
·
One Size Does Not Fit All
·
Multiple On and Off Ramps
·
Fast Track
·
Express Track
·
New Organizational Model
·
Timeline
Cara Hamilton updated the group on the US DOE audit and
noted that the college did very well in the review. She distributed and discussed Lessons Learned from Department of Education
Program Review from Greenville Tech’s on-site review, and noted issues and
concerns that Tri-County is addressing well and needs to continue to do so
through good practices and processes.
Policy 8-2-1031, Academic
Advising, was discussed. Lou Ann
will make the minor revisions and forward to Galen for presentation to
Executive Staff.
The Academic Program Review presentations will the focus of
the late July Provost’s Council meetings.
With this review, the first round of programs will be complete.
Sarah Shumpert updated the group on the QEP Project
Teams. Phase 2 of the HIPs project is to
develop a QEP plan for SACS compliance.
The Project Charter team has been meeting to determine on what and how
the work will be done. Sarah distributed
a list of the proposed members of the subgroups and asked the deans to contact
her with any additions or deletions.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Recorded By: Anne Bryan
Next Meeting: Thursday,
July 23, at 1:30 p.m., in RH 245
