College of Education
Leadership Council
August 20, 2020
9:00 – 10:30 am
Agenda
Zoom
Attendees: David Hough, Russ Brock, Jef Cornelius-White, Denise Cunningham, Kim Dubree, Janice Duncan, Karen Engler, Deanna Hallgren, Rachel Heinz, Stephanie Huffman, Travis Marler, Juli Panza, Barri Tinkler, Ximena Uribe-Zarain, Rose Lee, Sharon Lopinot
Everyone was welcomed by Dean Hough. He explained that academic department heads, GLS, and the CDC are to send his office data requested by the Provost’s Office. Mary Lynne sent an EXCEL file for ease of data entry. Please send data to Rose, Sharon, and Dean Hough each Tuesday morning by 8:00 a.m. The information will assist the COVID-19 Team in monitoring situations. The information needs to start with the first day of classes through Tuesday, August 24. The information will be aggregated and forwarded to the Provost’s Office. Stephanie is revising the form to add more details so the dean has specifics if needed. This will be separate from the one for the Provost.
Around the “Table”
Rachel Heinz
All is going well. At some point she will know when moving Bear Power to a four year program would be possible. She will find out in September if they receive a federal grant for two million dollars. She is meeting with Abilities First today at 4:00 pm and will be discussing a different grant she submitted last month for $20,000.
Karen Engler
She is working on sending out an email regarding MEES online training. She is also working on an email to offer face-to-face meetings to new supervisors and cooperating teachers.
Kim Dubree
There are 204 student teachers for Fall. Eleven chose virtual placement and she is working on placing them. She is also starting on placing practicum students, but needs to know which type of placement they want, virtual or face-to-face. She will send an email regarding this to the Dean and department heads.
Stephanie Huffman
They are dropping and adding students.
Juli Panza
They are still admitting undergraduates and transfer students. She has a list of recruitment events for this year and will email it to everyone.
Janice Duncan
They are pleased with enrollment which is 366 (usually 375). Students are attending five days a week. Eighty of the students elected to have virtual classes. They had 100% attendance on the first day of school.
Russ Brock
He is hearing from area schools that things are changing hour by hour and all have contingency plans. The professional developers are busy with virtual and face-to-face professional development. All safety guidelines are being followed. If anyone becomes infected with COVID-19 or is in contact with someone who has it, Russ was informed to go to the MSU COVID-19 Information site online to see procedures. Russ can also talk to the Dean about it.
They held their Virtual SW Regional Teacher Recognition Program on Monday. The three regional winners are Jesse Baker (Billings), Tonya Claybrook (Spokane), and Armando Johnson (Springfield). They were notified that all three of the Regional winners have advanced on to the semi-final level and are still in the running to be the next State Teacher of the Year. The finalists should be announced around August 27. The Dean asked if any were MSU graduates. Russ will let him know and if any are secondary education graduates Dean Hough will let Karen Engler know so she can forward the information to some of the professors they may have had.
Barri Tinkler
The first Continuous Improvement Seminar is next Friday, August 28, 10:00 am to noon, via Zoom. Barri will send a Zoom link next week. They will discuss practicum/student teaching issues. Barri asked department heads to let her know if they have any questions that should be addressed.
There is a federal mandate about reciprocity for students getting certification in other states. If a student gets certified for education at our university and they go out of state they need to know what to expect regarding certification. Barri completed a worksheet on it and the final answer regarding anyone asking questions is “it depends”.
Denise Cunningham
They are accommodating late registrations. The Bear POWER students are ready. During the summer, CEFS faculty were working on social justice issues and how to merge information into all classes. Faculty requested a separate meeting after their monthly department meetings to continue working on the topic.
Deanna Hallgren
The center is filled. A number of new babies were added. They are at full capacity, but some only attend on certain days so all is going well.
Jef Cornelius-White
They are working on late student registrations. There are a number of requests for Zoom. They are also hiring some new per course faculty. They discussed social justice at their first department meeting.
Dean Hough
One topic discussed yesterday was current traditional seated classes where it is hard to safely distance students. Jen Cox can be contacted to see if a larger room is available. Students can be asked if they would rather take the class via zoom. Department heads need to work with their faculty to provide the safest learning environment possible. Denise brought up that some rooms are being held open for covid cleaning so it is harder to work on moving classes.
Dean Hough informed department heads that he needs to find money for recruitment and course coverage should an instructor need assistance for a period of time. If a class needs to be created for a smaller number of students (8+), let him know and he will work with the Provost to find funds to support same.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:57 a.m.
Submitted by Sharon Lopinot, Executive Assistant II