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Minutes
Administrative Council
Tennessee Technological University
September 4, 1996
Members Present
Karen Adams Alice Mason
S. K. Ballal Linda Maxwell
Ed Boucher Leo McGee
Evans Brown David Narrie
Marc Burnett Mike Nivens
Emily Campbell Terry Rector
Rodney Carlson Barbara Reynolds
Dennis George William Schrader
Linda Giesbrecht-Bettoli Paul Semmes
LaNada Harding James Monroe Stewart
Janell Hawkins George Swisher
Paul Isbell Noel Tolbert
Homer Kemp Angelo A. Volpe
David Larimore Dale Wilson
Jeffrey Marquis
Members Absent
Sue Bailey John Hitchcock
Whewon Cho Darrell Jennings
Cathy Cunningham Regina Lee
S. Deivanayagam Tony Via
Others Present
Steve Coble
Monica Greppin
Pat King, Resource Person
Marie Ventrice for George Swisher
Darlene Wiegend
Summary of Proceedings
1. Approved the agenda for September 4, 1996.
2. Approved the Minutes of March 27, l996.
3. Approved Name Change for Student Services and Housing.
4. Approved Proposed Change in Policies and Procedures for
the Outstanding Professional Award.
5. Approved Revision in the Publications Policies and
Procedures.
6. Approved a Motion that the Chairman appoint
an ad hoc subcommittee of the Administrative Council
to develop formal policies and guidelines on class
scheduling and make a recommendation to the
Administrative Council.
7. Approved a motion to refer an advisement/registration issue
to the Academic Council for their consideration.
Under such other matters, the Chairman announced names of an ad hoc
committee to serve on appointment and reappointment of department chairs
and President Volpe passed around copies of publications compiled by
Creative Consultants and announced that the final figures on enrollment.
Proceedings
James Monroe Stewart, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m.
Approval of the Agenda
Dr. Narrie MOVED approval of the agenda with Dr. Kemp SECONDING. MOTION
CARRIED.
Approval of the Minutes
Dr. Narrie MOVED approval of the minutes of March 27, 1996 with Dr.
George SECONDING. MOTION CARRIED.
Approval of Name Change for Student Services and Housing
Mr. Burnett asked for approval to change the following departmental
names within the Division of Student Services:
-from Housing to Residential Life
-from Student Services to Student Affairs
Mr. Burnett said this is part of a plan relative to reorganization that
includes Mr. Boucher and others within Student Services and this change
would give better continuity with other TBR institutions in the Board of
Regents system. Dr. Kemp MOVED approval of the request with Mr. Boucher
SECONDING. MOTION CARRIED.
Proposed Change in Policies and Procedures for the Outstanding
Professional Award
Darlene Wiegand, Chair, Outstanding Professional Award Committee, said
at the April 3, 1996 meeting of the Committee, it was agreed it would be
in the best interest of nominees and references to propose the following
addition to the policies and procedures:
The files of nominees, including the nomination form, reference
letters, and all other supporting documentation of the nomination,
shall be retained by the Payroll and Personnel Office and remain
active for three consecutive years, including the first year of
nomination. References provided by each nominee would still have the
option of submitting updated information each year.
Dr. Narrie MOVED approval of the proposal with Dr. Kemp SECONDING. Dr.
Semmes asked if this would be retroactive for people who were nominated
last year. Ms. Wiegand answered in the affirmative and said all files
last year were sent to the Payroll and Personnel Office to be retained
there until next year when paperwork is sent to all employees for
nominations. MOTION CARRIED.
Approval of Revision in the Publications Policies and Procedures
Ms. Monica Greppin, Director of Public Affairs, proposed a revision in
the Publications Policies and Procedures to allow for video and
digitized versions of the logo. Section 6.3.l, paragraph 4, would read:
Camera-ready, pre-screened reproductions of the logo are available from
the graphic artist and must be used for printed or paper-based
publications so that technical quality is maintained. To aid in
Internet, video, multimedia and computer presentations, sets of the logo
and other university images are available in video and digital formats
through the Office of Public Affairs. The use of other computer-
generated recreations of the logo or second-generation logos
(photocopied, cut out of an existing publication or scanned) is
prohibited.
Dr. Kemp MOVED to accept the proposed revision with Mr. Rector
SECONDING. MOTION CARRIED.
Class Scheduling
Dr. Kemp said Dr. Alan Slotkin, Professor of English and Academic
Advisor for English majors, had brought to his attention two concerns
during the past advisement period:
First, at least one department had scheduled courses through the "dead
hour." Since this creates difficulties for students who need to
participate in the various activities on campus, it would be good if
there were some means to prevent this from occurring. For example, ADP
083.005 is scheduled to meet ll-ll:50 on MTWR. The same is also true
for ADP 084.004.
Second, there are other scheduling anomalies that make it difficult for
students to find a schedule that works for all of their courses. For
example, MUS 20l.008 is listed this semester for l-2:20 TR, thereby
blocking out two periods (l2-l:20 and l:30-2:50). This makes advising
much more difficult for English
majors who already have to try to schedule lab sciences and 4-day-a-week
foreign language courses.
Finally, it appears that the College of Business Administration is
offering TR classes that meet for 75 minutes only and which are
scheduled that way in the bulletin. Since two 75 minute classes do
equal three 50 minute classes, he was not concerned with this practice,
except that it should be made a campus-wide matter, with all courses
listed as 8-9:l5, 9:30-l0:45; l2-l:l5, l:30-2:45, etc.
Dr. Kemp said a long time ago some scheduling policies were adopted and
one of those was that no classes be scheduled during the "dead hour".
This has been adhered to until recently when classes have been scheduled
during the "dead hour". Another agreement was not to schedule classes
at such unusual times as to make it impossible for students to schedule
classes in other departments. Dr. Kemp said it makes it very difficult
to schedule students in the traditional departments. Dr. Kemp also said
it is his opinion that we never rescinded the policy prohibiting classes
during the "dead hour". Dr. Kemp then asked for a response from the
Administrative Council relative to this concern.
Mr. Steve Coble, Director of the Academic Development Program, said his
department realizes they are in violation of the policy. He said the
reason for the violation is due to lack of classroom space. He said the
violation has generally been one class during the fall term each year
with no violations during the spring term. He also said the four-hour
ADP math classes are difficult to schedule and it helps students to
schedule these Monday through Thursday. Classes are scheduled in this
area from 8:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. each hour of that time. He said
while they did not get permission to do the above, they did inform
Academic Affairs that it was being done. Dr. Schrader said at one time
there was a subcommittee of the Administrative Council which was the
scheduling subcommittee to avoid conflicts. Departments would send in
their requests and only on the rarest of occasions was it more than a
rubber stamp so it was abolished and Hoyle Lawson said it would be done
out of his office. Dr. Narrie said the issue of structured class hours
goes beyond the dead hour issue. Dr. Ventrice MOVED that the
Administrative Council endorses the current university policy that
classes not be scheduled during "dead hour" and endorses the practice of
scheduling classes during standard periods rather than unusual times.
Dr. Schrader SECONDED the Motion. Dr. Narrie made a substitute motion
that an ad hoc subcommittee of the Administrative Council be appointed
by the Chair to develop formal policies and guidelines on class
scheduling and make a recommendation to the Administrative Council. Dr.
Schrader SECONDED the substitute motion. The substitute motion CARRIED.
Since the substitute motion was substituted for the original motion, a
vote was taken on the motion. MOTION CARRIED.
Advisement/Registration Procedures
Dr. Kemp said Dr. Alan Slotkin, Professor of English and Academic
Advisor, had a concern that at the current time, academic advisors have
relatively little control over a student's schedule once the initial
Academic Advisement Records is complete, since students now can alter
their schedules at will and without informing their advisors. Dr. Kemp
asked if it would be possible to implement a plan by which advisors
could input student course requests directly into the computer and by
which advisors could in effect drop and add changes directly. Mr. Rose
answered in the affirmative but said he is not convinced that it would
be a good idea. He felt it would not be popular among faculty members
and want to be sure we are serving the students' needs. Advisors would
have to be accessible to students for a period of time. Mr. Rose said
any faculty member can instantenously monitor what their advisees are
doing on the terminal. A student's schedule can be brought up
immediately. If a major change is made in a student's schedule from
what was approved, then a student should be called and the change
discussed with the student. Mr. Rose said Admissions could work with
individual advisors or departments. He said they could generate a
periodic report weekly if departments desired. Dr. Ventice expressed
concern that in some cases they do not want students registering for
certain courses. For instance, a non-degree graduate student is
required to have permission to register for certain courses but there is
no enforcement of the rule, so we could end up having graduate students
we do not want in classes go through the regular registration and turn
around and drop/add and take courses they do not have permission to
take. She felt it would be better in a computerized system to put
controls in on the front end instead of people checking schedules. Dr.
George asked if this is a question that should be referred to the
Academic Council. Dr. George MOVED that the Advisement/Registration
issue be submitted to the Academic Council for their consideration with
Dean Reynolds SECONDING. Dr. Narrie MOVED to table the request and let
Dr. Slotkin submit it to the Academic Council if he wishes. This action
died for lack of a second. Dr. Mason offered a friendly amendment that
the Administrative Council is concerned more with paragraph one of Dr.
Slotkin's memorandum than with paragraph two. The MOTION CARRIED.
Such Other Matters
The Chairman said Dr. Barker asked him at the opening faculty meeting to
appoint an ad hoc committee on the appointment and re-appointment of
department chairs. Serving on this committee are the following: Robert
Briggs, Chair; Charles Caldwell in Accounting; Larry Click in
Agriculture; William Brinker in History; Paul Stephenson in Political
Science; Alice Mason in Mathematics; and Gretta Stanger in Sociology and
Philosophy.
Dr. Volpe passed around two pieces of information: The Search Piece and
the Viewbook, which were compiled by Creative Consultants. He also made
the following comments: We have the final figures on enrollment, our
headcount is up slightly from last year, and the number of new and
transfer students is up. We also have the highest graduate enrollment
of the 90's in both headcount and FTE. Dr. Volpe commended Admissions,
the Graduate School, Extended Education, and all the academic and
administrative departments that worked so hard on enrollment. Mr. Rose
expressed his appreciation for everyone's help in the enrollment area.
He sees enrollment as an institutional commitment and is optimistic
about the future.
Dr. Wilson asked if Dr. JoAnne Clark's position as Director of
International Affairs would be filled. Dr. Volpe said that position and
the secretarial position in that office will be filled.
Dr. Volpe said we did have some difficult budget issues to address this
year and will have others next year, but he said there are many areas of
the university that are moving forward strongly. For example, last year
at this time we did not have the $800,000 that the College of Business
received to upgrade automation and computing in the College. We did not
have the $400,000 from the McDonnell Douglas Foundation for the College
of Enginering. We did not have Harry Stonecipher's personal gift of
$500,000 and we did not have the half million dollars donated to the
College of Education for the 21st Century Classroom. That is $2.2
million dollars we did not have at this time last year. While we
certainly need to address the budget issue, we don't want to get where
we do not do the things we need to do in order to move forward.
The meeting adjourned at 4:30 p.m.
______________________________
Patricia King, Resource Person
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