Friday, February 26, 2016

Academic Leadership Team 2-9-16


Academic Leadership Team
February 9, 2016
1:00 pm
Ruby Hicks Hall, Room 245

Meeting Notes:
 
Members Present:     Gayle Arries, Dan Averette, Tiffany Blackwell, Jackie Blakley, Rick Cothran, Jenni Creamer, Matt Edwards, Tom Hiebel, Linda Jameison, Lynn Lewis, Chris Marino, Crystal McLaughlin, Sarah Shumpert, Brian Swords, Hap Wheeler
Members Absent:      Scott Harvey
Length of Meeting:   2 hours

Topics Discussed:
In introducing the new Academic Leadership Team idea, he noted the major components of both the individual teams that report to the Senior Vice President (College Transitions Team, Senior VP Staff Team, Curriculum and Instruction Team and the Student Support and Engagement Team), as well as the integrated role that all teams combine to serve.  The grounding premise is that each of the individual teams that report to the Senior Vice President are responsible for different aspects of creating and delivering the transformative educational experience.  The interplay between the teams provides the environment for creating the strategic context in which the strategic and operational activities occur. 

This meeting’s focus issue was:
Create a frame work for using student characteristics to inform service, support, and programming. 
This project was generated from the January Strategic Plan work session.  It was identified as a catalytic initiative because of the impact the results would have on other strategic initiatives.   
Brainstorming Session:  How does this project relate to the design and delivery of the transformative student experience?

·         Who are we serving – Know our customers
·         Provide structure, support plans – bang for the buck
·         Who are we recruiting?
o   Target markets
o   Program fit
o   Mechanism to recruit
o   Differentiate ourselves among competitors.
·         Data
o   Identifying the data we need to make informed decisions
o   Quantitative / Qualitative
·         Speed of decision making – have the information that we need to pull from
·         Student Characteristics – Categories
o   Family
o   Work
o   Academics
o   Financial
o   Goals – Need to add this category.
·         All of this could help create a more holistic view of the student.
·         Students are asked the same information repeatedly – Streamline the student experience

Group Session: What problems would having this framework solve for the institution and for our students?  The following issues were identified.

1.      We don’t know what student characteristics are predictors of success.
2.      We don’t know if our resources and services are in alignment with student needs.
3.      We don’t maximize the use of limited marketing resources.  The market doesn’t know us.
4.      We aren’t strategic in seeking funding opportunities that meet student needs.
5.      Student data are fragmented and hard to access (sometimes).
6.      Our graduates don’t have a strong allegiance to Tri-County.
7.      We don’t align employee competencies and faculty/staff development to student characteristics.
8.      We don’t understand the impact our policies have on students based on their characteristics.
9.      We don’t feed student characteristics into program delivery decisions.

After discussing the prioritization of these issues, the group agreed that the student data issue should be addressed first. 

ACTION ITEM:  A team consisting of Chris Marino, Jenni Creamer, Lynn Lewis, Matt Edwards and Brian Swords will use these elements to create a draft student data project charter.  This group will report at the next Academic Leadership Team meeting.

Recorded By:             Anne Bryan

Next Meeting:            Tuesday, February 23, at 1:00, in RH 248

Staff Advisory Board Minutes 11-12-15

Staff Advisory Committee Minutes
November 12, 2015
8:30 am  RH 102


Members Present: Debbie Powell, Jessica Scott, Susan Womack, and Tracy Wood

Members Absent:  Jamie Black, Scott Jaeschke, Beth Byars, Jessica Cullen, and Jason Hart

Review of October 1, 2015 Minutes:

A quorum was not present so the minutes were not reviewed.

Holiday Drop-In Update:

The Anderson Campus Holiday Drop-In is scheduled for Friday, December 4.  Sunday’s Restaurant is catering the event.  The Easley Campus Holiday Drop-in is scheduled for Tuesday, December 8, the same day as the Pendleton Campus Drop-In.  A Taste of Distinction is catering the Easley Campus event.

Debbie is meeting with Sandra in the Café this afternoon to decide on the menu for the Pendleton Campus Holiday Drop-In.  She invited those present to attend the meeting.

Debbie offered to pick up poinsettias for the Anderson and Pendleton Campuses to use as table centerpieces and give away as door prizes.  Tracy offered to pick up poinsettias and table decorations for the Easley Campus.

The SAB currently has ten $25 VISA gift cards to give away as door prizes.  Since $2,000 has been budgeted for the event, it was decided to purchase an additional ten $25 VISA gift cards to give away.  After discussion on whether to include the names of the Anderson and Easley Campus employees in the Pendleton Campus drawings, Tracy suggested that the Anderson and Easley Campuses hold their own drawings.  Debbie said she would send the Anderson and Easley Campuses two VISA gift cards each to give away as door prizes.  The remaining sixteen VISA gift cards will be given away as door prizes at the Pendleton Campus Holiday Drop-In.

Debbie reported that Tammy Fiske called and asked if the Foundation Office could do several games at the Pendleton Holiday Drop-In.  The games are holiday themed and each game will take approximately 20 minutes.  Debbie told Tammy she was sure SAB would be agreeable.

Debbie said that she had contacted Lou Moritz and his staff is available to set up the Café for the event.  SAB members interested in helping with the event should come to the Café around 10:00 on the morning of the Drop-In. 

Next Meeting:

The SAB will not meet in December due to the Holiday Drop-In.  After discussion about how busy some of the offices are at the start of the spring term, it was decided that SAB would not meet in January unless there is a reason to meet.  The next meeting of the SAB will be in February.   

The meeting adjourned at 9:15 am.

Staff Advisory Board Minutes 10-1-15



 


    

 
   
 


Staff Advisory Committee Meeting
October 1, 2015
8:30 am RH 102

In Attendance: Jessica Scott, Beth Byars, Tracy Wood, Debbie Powell, Jamie Black, Scott Jaeschke

There was a proposed change to the September 10 minutes regarding the satellite campuses.  We have to follow state fund guidelines with the monies so lunch has to be limited to $7 per person. Since there are only 18 and 15 full-time employees at the two satellite campuses our budgets from last time are a bit generous.  Let’s put a period after “$2,000 should be earmarked for the event.” And then say “The satellite campuses will arrange their own catering.”  We need to send a directive to the satellite campuses to let us know their plans by Nov. 6 and to be mindful of the $7 per person spending guideline.

 The Minutes were approved, as revised.

Sue Bladzik and Shannon Holland (assisted by Tracy) were identified as the satellite campus reps from last year.

CPR training - Beth says shouldn’t it be taught on professional development day?

Bruester’s gift cards - Lisa Anderson was sent an email asking for approval to use Active Calendar for employees to register to win a $5 Bruester gift card.  Lisa forwarded the email to Sharon Colcolough and we are waiting for a response from her.   Meanwhile, Gloria in Personnel provided a list of full-time faculty and staff (335).  The employee list was numbered to correspond with pre-numbered tickets.  It was the general consensus that the drawing take place today.  (Pause for ticket tearing and then drawing.)  Each of the 6 SAB members present drew 6 tickets for a total of 36 winners.

132 Susan Bladzik
368 Tracy Ethridge
374 Jessica Cullen
277 Tina Burton
234 Dana Griffith
235 Todd Crisp-Simmons
181 Carolyn Gambrell
180 Melissa Baxter
291 Cathy Cole
160 Sarah Denhartog
351 Melinda Zeigler
187 Karen Baraksky
366 Margaret Allen
373 Cynthia Mobley
250 Cindy Lewis
179 Shannon Holland
217 Amelia Borders
270 William Woodall
229 Jacqueline Rutledge
138 Catherine Sedat
139 Cory Evans
211 Yan He
293 Jonathan Hughes
127 Tim Bowen
177 Brian Swords
353 Melissa Dover
359 Deborah Vance
360 Angela Luper
376 Jonathan Finch
380 Teresa Summers
258 Susan Blankenship
435 Margaret Burdett
395 Jeffrey Laws
352 Emily Danuser
263 Scott Moser
171 Gregg Corley

December 8 is the holiday drop in on the Pendleton Campus.  Scott confirmed with Julia that music would be provided.  The time is from 11 AM – 1 PM in the café.

End 9:13 AM

Provost's Council Minutes 1-26-16


Provost’s Council
January 12, 2016
1:00 pm
Ruby Hicks Hall, Room 248
Members Present:     Gayle Arries, Dan Averette, Jackie Blakley, Rachel Campbell, Jenni Creamer, Scott Harvey, Tom Hiebel, Linda Jameison, Lynn Lewis, Sarah Shumpert, Brian Swords, Hap Wheeler
Members Absent:      Tim Bowen
Others Present:          Michelle Jacobson
Length of Meeting:   2 hours

 Topics Discussed:

 The December 10, 2015 meeting minutes were approved as presented.

Michelle Jacobson discussed the financial aid default rate and the Connection article.  Galen gave some background on Tri-County’s loan history and the increase in the default rate.  Michelle implemented a default management plan and shared that the college default rate is trending in the right direction.  She stressed that the decrease in the default rate is a team effort and thanked the group for its work.

She reported that we use Inceptia, a third party loan servicer, to reach out to students as soon as they graduate or withdraw. Inceptia continues to contact students through the grace period and as they move into repayment.  This contact has helped with the decrease in the default rate.

In addition, Michelle is teaching a Financial Fitness course as part of a learning community.  In addition to a pre and post assessment, course topics include:

·         Budgeting
·         Tracking Spending
·         Credit Cards
·         Loans
·      Cost of education

The Academic Calendar Committee Charter and By-Laws were reviewed.  Discussion touched on the following.

·         The permanent faculty member provides institutional memory.
·         Human Resources will have a non-voting member.
·         The final calendar will be presented to Provost’s Council.
·         Galen will appoint the permanent faculty member.
·         A statement for amending the By-Laws will be included.

Galen will make any changes and finalize the document.  It was recommended that the calendar considerations be posted with the committee charter.

Galen discussed the spring semester professional development day (March 1) and reminded the group that the morning is dedicated to institutional activities, with the afternoon open for department/division activities. 

Scott discussed the 2016 Academic Calendar.  He explained that a member of the Calendar Committee was concerned about the short amount of time between summer and fall for faculty to have a break and for end of term processing to take place.  In order to lengthen the break, and to meet all the calendar requirements, the committee used Labor Day as a class day. During discussion it was noted that:

·         The Labor Day holiday will be used on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
·         Since there are already no classes on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, faculty feel they have lost a day.
·         It is hard to find 22 days in the calendar when faculty can take off.
·         It looks like the same amount of time between semesters.

It was noted that, if we did not move Labor Day, the semester would be extended too much for faculty to have a break. 

ACTION ITEM:  The Calendar Committee will document the rationale for the 2016 calendar and will take it to the divisions. 
Announcements:

Scott:
Reminded the group that Acalog training is coming up.  The Acalog username and password have changed slightly and are now linked to a position, rather than an individual.

Jenni:
The enrollment report is available.  Currently we are trending toward our enrollment goals.  Jenni will have more information later in the semester.  She noted that the national trend is a decline in enrollment.  In our state system, enrollment is down in all colleges.

Dan:
Because of great team work, the EIT division now has all classes covered.  The students are aware of the issues and appreciate that there are no interruptions to their academics. 

Linda:
Noted that the first class day went well, and thanked everyone for the help with providing first day guides.

Galen:
Is considering a new meeting approach.  In the future, Provost’s Council meetings will be topic based, in a strategic manner, with as much intent as possible.  He also reported that Executive Staff will take part in Lean Process training.  As their training project, he and Linda will review the suspension process. 

With no further business, the meeting was adjourned.

Recorded By:             Anne Bryan

Next Meeting:            Tuesday, January 26, at 1:00, in RH 248

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes 1-29-16


Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes

January 29, 2016

 
Members Present: Tom Hiebel, Terri Smith, Andrea Barnett, Timeko McFadden, Lacey Torge, Stacey Frank, Justin Herndon, and Amy Roberts

 
Not in Attendance: Meg Allan, Fran Broome, Gregg Corley, Laura McClain, and Stacy Smith

 
Guests: Della Vanhuss and Lou Ann Martin
 

Meeting began: 1:30PM

 
Stacey introduced Terri Smith as the new adjunct representative from Comprehensive Studies replacing Larry (Kevin) Bell.
 

Tom introduced Della Vanhuss. Della explained the purpose of changing the General Education Outcomes for the college holistically. It was recommended that these changes encompass what employers are looking for in a recently graduated college student and how this would provide a foundation for becoming a well-educated person. Della explained that these would be college-wide and that we would see these changes coming in 2017. Tom asked for us to pass this vote, it was seconded by Amy Roberts. The vote passed unanimously.

 
Old Business:

 
Pay per course/ per hour: It was brought to Senate, that adjunct faculty specifically, were not being paid the same for each course when the courses are offered at different lengths (ie: 6 week versus 7 week versus 14 week). The concern is that if faculty are to teach the same amount of minutes per course regardless of meeting pattern, why are they not being paid the same? The question was then, what about full-time faculty on overload, revisiting an old issue. Was the problem really addressed? Senate will look into this and return with answers for faculty.

 
Another issue that has been brought forward is faculty vacation days. Faculty are allotted by law 23 days within the 9 month calendar and an additional 5 if teaching summer classes. Senate will be looking into this situation with Deans and Department Heads.

 
It was asked of faculty senate to revisit the drop/ add period by the calendar committee. It has been argued that we should follow York Technical College and move forward with no drop/add period. It has also been argued that the drop/ add period should be on the same day. Following this discussion, Senators discussed this and identified an idea that would satisfy all arguments. A proposal will be brought forward to Executive Committee for approval.

 
Revisiting our previous discussions regarding our governance scope, we will continue to research and revisit at a later date.

 
New Business:

 
Lou Ann Martin attended the meeting to ask for suggestions for Starfish. She also collected problems that faculty are having with the workability of Starfish. We provided her with what we know.
 

Title IX was brought up by faculty regarding windows in doors being covered and leaving doors open when students are within. Faculty are concerned that this is not conducive of being able to have private time to get work done, eat, change clothes to go to the gym, etc. This will be followed up by Senate and bring answers back. 

 
There was no time for Committee Reports. We will start with this next meeting.

 
The meeting schedule was not developed due to running out of time.

 
The meeting was adjourned at 2:50PM.

 
Minutes taken collectively. Submitted by S. Frank 2/1/16

Provost's Council Minutes 11-10-15


Provost’s Council
November 10, 2015
1:00 pm
Ruby Hicks Hall, Room 248

Members Present:     Gayle Arries, Dan Averette, Jackie Blakley, Tim Bowen, Rachel Campbell, Jenni Creamer, Scott Harvey, Tom Hiebel, Lynn Lewis, Sarah Shumpert,

Hap Wheeler

Members Absent:      Linda Jameison, Brian Swords

Others Present:          Chris Marino

Length of Meeting:   2 hours

Topics Discussed:

The October 27, 2015 meeting minutes were approved as presented.

Sarah, Gayle, and Galen discussed the High Impact Practices Communication and Engagement message.  Galen noted the intent of the communication is to clarify what program HIPs are, to explain the scope of the QEP, and to differentiate between program HIPs and high impact teaching practices. Several handouts were distributed and discussed.  Discussing each of the Circles of Involvement, Sarah noted that the circles demonstrate the different levels of involvement in the project.  She and Gayle also used a pyramid model and discussed the pyramid. 

Blue – High Impact Programs

·         The focus of our QEP
·         Know HIPs are effective, but not enough opportunities for student
·         Embed two HIPs into the curriculum

Purple – Teaching Practices

·         Best practices in teaching and learning
·         Anyone can use
·         Portable, instructor specific

Green – Service Standards

·         Includes all employees
·         Help to create the environment for HIPs

Tan – A Flexible Approach

·         Support
·         HIPs are determined by the faculty

To better understand the nuances of HIPs, the group discussed several HIPs scenarios.

This message will be presented to the QEP workgroups and then to all campus community groups for discussion and feedback.

Galen discussed Strategic Planning Preparation.  He wanted to expand awareness on an institutional issue related to access and success and wanted to provide context so that employees could begin thinking about what actions to take.  In discussing his presentation, Tri-County Population Bio-Demographics, he noted that 1) the non-traditional = the new traditional and 2) as non-traditional = new traditional, one size does not fit all. We need to leverage our strengths to address the needs of the non-traditional.  Our strategies will not change, but we will need to broaden our perspective and refine our priorities. 

Access Issue

·         25 – 34 is the only cohort that is growing in our area
·         We need to solve the access issue

Need to better understand these students. Are more likely to be

·         Under-resourced
·         Older, working, parents
·         First generation college
·         Lower socio-economic status
·         Learning disabled

Galen asked the group to present these issues to their faculty and staff prior to the December 15 planning meeting.  Discuss with them what we need to do to serve this population, what pieces are missing, and what actions we need to take using the college’s strategic framework and planning. 

Announcements:
Scott explained a catalog option.  Our print shop can provide 1,000 catalogs before Christmas.  This option is more expensive than outsourcing, but the turnaround time is much faster.  After discussion, the group agreed that the need for the printed catalog outweighs the cost. He will move forward with this option.

Galen reported on the placement testing replacement.  The state-wide group that is working on this just found out that it must do an RFP, which will delay the decision and purchase.  The purchase cannot be sole sourced, and if individual colleges buy Accuplacer, they will be out of state compliance. RFPs will be reviewed in January.  The group will not know anything official until February 1.

With no further business, the meeting was adjourned.

Recorded By:             Anne Bryan
Next Meeting:            Thursday, December 10, at 3:30, in RH 245

Provost's Council Minutes 10-27-15


Provost’s Council
October 27, 2015
1:00 pm
Ruby Hicks Hall, Room 248
Members Present:     Gayle Arries, Dan Averette, Jackie Blakley, Jenni Creamer, Scott Harvey, Tom Hiebel, Lynn Lewis, Linda Jameison,  Sarah Shumpert, Brian Swords, Hap Wheeler
Members Absent:      Tim Bowen
Others Present:         
Length of Meeting:   2 hours

 Topics Discussed:

The September 22, 2015 meeting minutes were approved as presented.

Galen noted that the approval changes to the Overnight Travel Authorization form are in place. The form now requires first and second level supervisor signatures, but does not need a vice president’s signature, unless the vice president is the second level supervisor.  Also, the form now has a text box for the GSA justification, rather than requiring an additional sheet of paper.  Both of these improvements will make the process more efficient.

ACTION ITEM: Galen will talk with Cara about the need for the requestor to have a copy of the OTA, with all signatures, returned to them.

Procedure 3-1-1010.3, Course Scheduling for Credit/Curriculum Programs.  After a brief discussion in which it was determined that this procedure is operational, Lynn moved that this procedure be deleted, with its contents added to all parties involved in scheduling.  Dan seconded the motion.  It passed unanimously.

Procedure 1-8-1010.1, Reproduction of Copyright Materials, Print and Non-print.  Galen noted that this is the combination of two procedures, with updated verbiage to include changes in copyright law.  The college attorney reviewed this procedure and suggested simple edits.  The group agreed to additional revisions.  Galen will make the revisions and forward it to Executive Staff for review and approval. 

Scott discussed Scheduling and noted the members of the Strategic Scheduling Committee:  Brian Swords, Tim Bowen, Chris McFarland Christy Lawless, Della Vanhuss, Jackie Rutledge, and Doug Wilson.  A Comprehensive Studies representative will join the committee.  Using Schedule Planner, he led the group through an exercise to demonstrate to the group the difficulty our students have in developing a schedule.  The discussion touched on the following points.

·         Enrollment problems – If a student cannot get a schedule, he/she leaves.
·         Fast Track courses have great success rates, but they do not work with other schedules.
·         Too many people creating schedules – call for centralization.
·         The college needs to be committed to the target programs at each campus and provide the courses to support those programs.  We need to give our students the ability to do what we say they can do. 
·         Build core schedules at each campus and allow courses with low enrollment at the community campus. 
·         Video conferencing – must have infrastructure and support and funding to do it well
·         Non-standard meeting patterns are a significant issue.  Off campus (high school, clinical, etc.) will most likely be approved.
·         Grow our evening program/less online.

ACTION ITEM:  The Strategic Scheduling Committee will develop a scheduling framework to address all variables.  Once the framework is in place, the scheduling process will be much more efficient.

ACTION ITEM:  Add a Comprehensive Studies and a Success Coach representative to the Strategic Scheduling Committee

Gayle gave a website update and noted that we are making progress.  She distributed a list of all credit and non-credit programs that we offer, and noted that many of them sound the same.  Since the website is being developed through the lens of the student, she asked the group to review the handout to consider ways to make it more user friendly for the student.  The goal is for students to use as few clicks as possible to get the information they need. Gayle asked that any ideas be sent to her.

Announcements:
Galen:

Discussed the October bonus for full time employees.  Based on the state requirements, a small group of employees will not get the bonus.
Galen provided the names to their supervisors to allow them to have a discussion with the employee. 
 
Oconee Hall power outage – Addressed it with a quick fix, but additional work will need to be done.
The SFAA review of the Student Success Center request went well. 
 
Lynn:
Reported that they have found snakes in Fulp Hall.

Scott:
Three training sessions are scheduled:  Classroom Management, Advanced Standing, and Course Scheduler. 
Attendance tracker changes will go into effect in the spring.  Now, the LDA will upload automatically.

Jackie:
The South Carolina Women in Higher Education luncheon was a success.  Lynn was the speaker and did an excellent job.

Jenni:
First Spring group orientation will take place at Easley on October 28.

With no further business, the meeting was adjourned.

 Recorded By:             Anne Bryan

Next Meeting:            Tuesday, November 10, at 1:00, in RH 248

Provost's Council Minutes 9-8-15


Provost’s Council
September 8, 2015
1:00 pm
Ruby Hicks Hall, Room 248
Members Present:     Gayle Arries, Dan Averette, Jackie Blakley, Tim Bowen, Jenni Creamer,  Scott Harvey, Tom Hiebel, Lynn Lewis, Lou Ann Martin, Linda Jameison,  Brian Swords, Hap Wheeler
Members Absent:      Sarah Shumpert
Others Present:          Margaret Burdette, Matt Edwards, Emma Robinson
Length of Meeting:   2 hours
Topics Discussed:

The August 25, 2015 meeting minutes were approved as presented.
Emma Robinson gave a progress report on the SC Accelerate grant.  During her presentation, she discussed the following.
·         Work Plan
·         Strategies (5)
·         Project Charter Deliverables
·         Budget
·         Goals and Outcomes
·         Grant Closeout

The group appreciated the information and was pleased with the success of the grant.

Rebecca Eidson discussed the Communications policy and procedures.  The policy, 1-2-1024, had no changes.  Two procedures, 1-2-1024.2 (Internal Communications) and 1-2-1024.1 (External Communications) were to be combined into one and then deleted.  She will present the combined procedure, which has no significant changes, to Executive Staff.  Members had no recommendations for revision.  Rebecca also noted the new Communications page on eTC.

Matt Edwards gave a demonstration on Office 365 and discussed the recent eTC outage.  He noted that no maintenance is conducted two weeks prior to the start of classes.  The outage was caused by a record number of people reviewing their emergency information.  The system had to look up that information for every user, and the volume of users caused the performance issues.  Matt walked the group through the Office 365 demonstration.  He noted that the college is responsible for the security of stored student data, and we will have better control of that with Office 365.

Matt also reported on a new procedure, Cloud Computing Procedure, that he drafted. Much discussion took place on this procedure, especially on its application to college cell phone use and the overall impact on how the college does business.  The group suggested that the following be considered for the procedure:

·         A preamble with background information;
·         Define the type of information
·         When to implement the procedure – risk management concerns
·         Remedies
·         Get input from other stakeholder groups

Matt will revise this procedure and bring it forward at another meeting.
The following policies were reviewed.
1-8-1010, Reproduction of Copyrighted Print and Non-print Material
Motion to approve by Lynn
Seconded by Margaret
Approved as presented.
3-2-2020, Maximum Student Load
Motion to approve with revision by Linda
Seconded by Jackie
Approved with a minor revision
3-2-1042, Credit Students’ Educational Goals
Motion to approve by Tom
Seconded by Scott
Approved as presented.

3-2-1054, Recognition of Academic Achievement
Motion to approve by Scott
Seconded by Dan
Approved as presented.
Galen will present these at the September 9 Executive Staff meeting.

With no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Recorded By:             Anne Bryan

Next Meeting:            Tuesday, September 22 at 1:00, in RH 245