Leadership Council
May 11, 2017
9:00 – 10:30 a.m. Hill 306
Notes
In attendance: David Hough, Russ Brock, Gilbert Brown, Christine Combs, Denise Cunningham, Janice Duncan, James Satterfield, James Sottile, Kim Dubree
LC members discussed graduate assistant (GA) allocations for summer 2017, fall 2017, and spring 2018. The dean asked the group to decide if they wanted to keep the same number of GAs that have been allocated across units in the past, i.e., 3-4 years or consider a needs-based approach. LC members stressed the need to insure GA are not used for clerical work. University policy allows for two different types of GAs – Teaching GAs and Research GAs. The dean offered to provide student workers and/or part time temporary help if units need clerical work such as copying and answering phones when administrative assistants are out. Greenwood no longer uses GAs due to the expense. Janice hires student workers for set hours that have enough hours so they can also substitute in the classrooms. She does need a tech/research person. They are starting a research project with the first grade classroom next year. COE does not currently have extra funds for this, but the group discussed the possibility of sharing GAs across units when needs such as this arise. The dean asked how LC members would like GAs to be allocated. Gilbert said he could share one with Denise. Cathy could have one GA and a student worker. James Satterfield is not as familiar with a department GA versus ones that work with specific faculty. It was also mentioned that some places use a GA pool who work project by project, not for individual faculty. Denise assigns hers by program and they help others if they have down time. Department heads do not keep track of what they are working on.
The dean asked if everyone wanted to keep this process the same or change it. Members discussed that they should change the culture and share GAs and/or ensure they are actually doing what they should be doing. The group asked the dean to develop a form for requesting a GA and a form for periodically evaluating their work. Dean Hough agreed to draft forms for further consideration. The form would include what the project is and estimated hours needed. It would be a needs based approach. There would then be a follow up process where someone would be designated to talk to the GAs periodically to see what they have been working on. Members discussed this and reached unanimous agreement. Someone asked if the Graduate College was offering summer GAs. No one has heard back from that office. You could check online or call them. To finalize the above discussion, the dean will email everyone:
- A sample GA project request form
- Follow-up protocol
Department Heads will manage what they do.
Faculty Advisory Council met yesterday. They will present a Breakout activity at the August 18th College Meeting. They will be allotted 45 minutes. The purpose is to better understand the college and to meet new faculty. The dean will use his budget to pay for eight Breakout box sets for this. The sets will then be divided up among the departments so faculty can use them for their classes.
Dean Hough mentioned the lists of program advisory groups that were submitted by department heads. These will be utilized in the near future.
The Dean handed out the agenda from ALC. Everyone was asked to look at key dates/events and to talk to him if you want to discuss anything further. The Board of Governors meets May 18th. The dean was scheduled to talk to them for seven minutes about our college and will not be able to attend. He asked if someone would go to the BOG meeting for him and to let him know. Gilbert Brown volunteered.
James Sottile talked about moving toward a culture of assessment and having faculty and staff reports reflect assessment activities. He would like to see this topic on staff ADPs and Faculty Annual Performance Reviews. James distributed information (line graphs) on “Comparison of Disposition Outcomes Criterion.” James discussed the outcome of the summary. By having a positive orientation toward using digital measures and Taskstream, data was improved; students embrace it more. This needs to be done with faculty and staff and he asked for everyone’s support. Everyone agreed and was unanimous in their support to do this. James will work on a sample format for staff ADPs and Faculty Annual Performance. He will send it to the dean and department heads for review.
Dean Hough reported that the ALC discussed using Blackboard for P/T reviews rather than making hard copy binders. The Provost is putting a task force together to look at this. Everyone said it would be better to use Blackboard.
The dean reported that his audit of summer teaching assignments looks to be on track. He noted that the first week student head count will be an important number to monitor.
Around the Table
Janice Duncan
They had a wonderful band concert last night. Sixth grade students also performed. Today is the Honor Day Luncheon and Ceremony. Three of their seniors are going to attend college overseas, two to St. Andrews in Scotland and one in Switzerland. Next year the first grade class with have more students. The students will be split with half in regular class and half in special area classes to see if they learn better. Their third grade instructor is going to attend a program in Spain for three weeks. Their vocal music instructor retired and the classes will be taught by two part-time teachers. Janice was informed that their Chemistry/Physics instructor is leaving and will start the search soon.
Dean Hough
Department Heads, Janice and Deanne were reminded that the 2016-17 annual reports are due next Thursday and to include the two new, additional sections. Greenwood has formed a task force to write up what makes them more unique than other pubic and private schools. Janice is the chair and parents, faculty and alum were selected. The dean reminded department heads to send him the name of a faculty member that would also be on the task force: CEFS: elementary, RFT: middle school, CLSE: secondary. Janice would like a secondary level faculty with science background. The dean may ask Karen Engler to help find someone. Gilbert also volunteered to be on the task force. The dean also reminded faculty to use Greenwood for faculty/class presentations/projects.
James Satterfield
They will be working on P/T guidelines for next year.
James Sottile
They are working on elementary, special education and early childhood matrixes.
Chris Combs
West Plains did not have classes for a week after the bad flooding. Some of their area schools closed for the remainder of the year, but students have completed requirements. Four out of eighteen of their student teachers for next year have already been offered jobs. This says a lot for the college and program.
Cathy Pearman
The number of students working on their BS-Science is going down. It is now at six. Cathy was invited to meet with Dr. Tamara Jahnke, Dean, CNAS to listen to a proposal. They would like to use the MAT program for fifth year science students. They would come in with content, take MAT methodology and complete their degree in fifteen months. They are will working on it, but Cathy thinks it could work.
Submitted by Sharon Lopinot, Exec. Asst. II