LA&S Assembly

Minutes - February 7, 2005

Jim Roach, Moderator, brought the meeting to order and established a quorum. Minutes of the September 20, 2004, LA&S Assembly meeting were approved as circulated (moved by Harrell, seconded by Youvaraj).

Jim Roach shared remarks regarding the work completed this year to date by the Dean’s Advisory Committee. Members worked with Nate Terrell as the search committee for the Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and also provided input to the Dean on several personnel issues. Jim acknowledged Dean Sobieski’s sensitivity to faculty concerns and efforts to be fair and equitable. All faculty were encouraged to respond to any member of the Dean’s Advisory Committee regarding the proposed draft regarding the replacement to the Dean’s Advisory Committee which was distributed at the meeting.

Dean Sobieski discussed several issues.
1. There is a change in how the College wide awards will be determined this year. In the past, nominations were anonymous and the nominator would create the documentation for the nominee. This year anyone can make a nomination (a colleague, student, or even a self nomination). Once nominations close, the Dean will send all nominees a request for information and details. When all materials have been submitted, the Dean, along with the Advisory Committee, will evaluate candidates

2. The scholarship drive for the Presidential Academic Awards has begun and faculty should have received an invitation to attend a reception on February 10, 2005. The ACT scores, on average, of entering freshmen under the PAA did rise from 20.9 to 21.8 while the KS average is 20.6.

3. At the Spring General Assembly, it was suggested that instead of student retention, the University should be considering issues of Student Learning, Academic Success, First Year Experience (FYE), and/or Student Transitions. Dean Sobieski discussed that resources are currently available on our campus to help with student learning, academic success, and student transitions in the form of Project Challenge/ AKA the Trio program which has as its clientele first generation, or low income or those that are disabled. The Dean will be a part of the FYE committee along with Jim Williams of Student Affairs. He stated that faculty need to continue to be concerned about retention as it impacts our reputation as a solid institution, but in addition, it becomes an element of institutional survival that some do not wish to speak of, namely the fact that unless we have enrollments to support our financial needs for faculty salaries, equipment and infrastructure, then we will need to evolve to a institution having a size that would only support a faculty size smaller than present. State support of institutions is being lowered yearly so that today we are needing to provide our own financial assistance (read tuition, endowments, fees) to support our operations. Dean Sobieski believes that we must evolve to meet the needs of the changing students that are recruited and at the same time address that they are not the students of yesterday and have different world views, expectations for higher educations, and social needs.

In meeting with Jim Williams to strategize about their new roles as co-chair of the FYE committee, Dean Sobieski learned that Jim’s office has an innovative experiment that has been launched but not completely detailed. Essentially Jim bought access to a web based student survey called the CSI, ‘College Student Inventory’, which asks all students prior to coming to a SWARM to take a WEB based survey. A report goes to the student, the advisor, and ESU gets a compiled report of all students. The report provides a narrative to the student which addresses topics like receptivity to Academic Assistance and personal counseling/career counseling/social enhancement to paragraphs on topics that include the students study habits/intellectual interests/verbal confidence/math & science confidence/desire to finish college and attitude toward educators. Academic advisors would get more details. This program would take 200 of the most at risk students to see if we can make a difference in their academic success/retention/learning. The goal is to have 5 of these students, along with faculty members, and utilize the ideas we know work with retention and try to make them success stories. There will be workshops to help exploit this information for the best student outcomes that will be provided later this semester. The Dean asked LA & S faculty to consider joining this endeavor. He acknowledged that this would be on a volunteer basis and that if faculty volunteer, it would be reflected under the merit category of service, however, the Dean is also going to seek funding for faculty for this project. His hope is to have faculty who might be interested in joining this project either receive credit on their service/teaching component or receive outright some professional development funding or a small bonus for meeting with these students during the semester.

4. Dean Sobieski acknowledged his support for reviewing the General Education Program at Emporia State University. However, he also acknowledged the ongoing work of the General Education Council which has spent considerable time and effort over the years to review the Gen. Ed. Program and goals. The Gen Ed program has been considered by the Council in many different approaches and faculty are encouraged to examine the Gen. Ed. Program via the Web or through the Dean’s office. It would be helpful to have the General Education Council facilitate a University wide forum regarding the General Education Program.

Rob Catlett, one of the LA & S faculty members to the General Education Council, presented a brief report. He discussed the reality that most general education courses are offered in LA & S and stressed the importance of orienting students to why general education is necessary for completion of any college degree. He explained that the General Education Council had explored general education programs at other universities and colleges and compared them to Emporia State’s program. He believes that it would be appropriate that a University wide forum be facilitated by the General Education Council to discuss the General Education Program at E.S.U.

Marvin Harrell, one of the LA & S faculty members to the Vice President of Academic Affairs’ Advisory Committee, presented a brief report. Efforts are being focused on the First Year Experience with various ideas being discussed. In addition, strategic planning remains an area of focus. Faculty are encouraged to continue participation in this process through the blackboard discussion.

The Moderator, Jim Roach, asked for remarks for the Good of the Order. Virginia Higgins announced that June Underwood is returning to E.S.U. in March for Women’s History Month and will have an exhibition at Euphoria. Rob Catlett asked that any faculty member who would like electronic minutes from the General Education Council meetings contact him.

The meeting adjourned at approximately 4:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Jean DeDonder, Secretary