Present: Ray Rodrigues (presiding), Victor Fuhro, Doug Ferrier, Sylvia Peña, Mimosa Stephenson, Betsy Boze, Marilyn Dyer, José Martín, Farhat Iftekharuddin, Carolyn Green

1. Enrollment Reports: Cindy Lerma reported that enrollment to date stood at 8,878.  Comparing Spring 1998 (official record date) and current Spring 1999 enrollments, Cindy reported the following:
Spring 1998 (ORD)  Spring 1999 (1/14/99)
? Undergraduate:
? TSC:   7,201    7,411
? UTB:   2,090    2,116
? Graduate:      745       749
? Total:    8,741    8,878

Cindy noted that the Spring 1999 enrollments are likely to be somewhat smaller by the official record date (12th class day) due to voiding enrollments for students who haven’t paid their tuition and fees as well as to students withdrawing from school.

The academic deans reviewed the enrollment figures for their schools and colleges.  Betsy Boze reported that undergraduate enrollments in the School of Business were up compared to Spring 1998.  Using the enrollment data from 1/14/1999, lower division semester credit hours were unchanged from Spring 1998, upper division semester credit hours were up 13%, and graduate semester credit hours were down 5%.

José Martín reported that college-level enrollments for the College of Science, Mathematics and Technology were up compared to Spring 1998.  Based on the 1/14/1999 enrollment data, developmental semester credit hours were down 8%, lower division credit hours were up 36%, upper division credit hours were down 3%, and graduate credit hours were down 18.8%.

Sylvia Peña reported that enrollments for the School of Education were down in several areas due to limited numbers of full-time faculty, issues related to admissions standards at the undergraduate level, and students’ concerns about ExCET preparedness.  Based on the 1/1/4/1999 enrollment data, developmental credit hours were down 11% compared to Spring 1998, lower division credit hours were up 9%, upper division credit hours were down 17%, and graduate credit hours were up 1%.

Marilyn Dyer reported that enrollments for programs in the School of Health Sciences are regulated by state board requirements (e.g., one instructor per 10 students in the ADN program).  The Radiology Technology program admitted the maximum number of students allowed under board regulations.  The RN to BSN program increased its enrollment by 33% due to a systematic recruitment effort.  The LVN program at Port Isabel saw a decrease in enrollment due to some applicants not meeting admission criteria.  Marilyn also noted that the program in Weslaco had been turned over to STCC.  Overall, enrollment data as of 1/1/41999 showed that lower division credit hours were down 22.8% from Spring 1998 and upper division credit hours were up 57%.

Ray Rodrigues asked the deans to prepare a written report after the official record date (January 26).  The report should summarize the enrollment picture in the school or college and provide an analysis of enrollment patterns.

2. Period Evaluation of Tenure Faculty Follow-up: Ray distributed a memo from UT System requesting a summary of the number of faculty members reviewed and general outcomes of those reviews.  They are requesting the information no later than March 1, 1999.

3. MLK Week Events: Carolyn Green provided an update on the MLK Week events, noting that the calendar had been posted in the announcements section of the Academic Affairs web page and that Letty Fernandez was working to advertise in local newspapers and media outlets as well as on campus.

4. Speech in General Education: Carolyn reported that the core curriculum would be presented in the afternoon meeting of the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee.  The only recent change to the recommendation was in the area of meeting the speech competency requirement for the core curriculum.  The task force had recommended that ENGL 1301 be changed to be a Rhetoric and Composition course that would meet for 4 hours a week for 3 semester credit hours.  Farhat reported that two consultants were coming in Friday and Saturday to review the current speech program and the core curriculum requirements and to conduct a workshop on teaching oral communication across the curriculum.

5. Department Head Compensation: Victor Fuhro reported that he had done some research on the “typical” role played by department heads and had found significant variety in their duties.  He distributed a new model of department head compensation for review by the deans.  Deans noted that implementation of department head positions would require professional development.  The deans will work with Victor to determine how to proceed.

6. Policy 7.4.7: Faculty Developmental Leave: Members reviewed UT System feedback and agreed with the suggested changes.  Ray will ask System for a copy of a developmental leave agreement they use.

7. Agenda Items for the Next Academic Affairs Partnership Committee (Feb. 17th, Wednesday, 5:30 p.m., S117): Members suggested that the agenda include the new core curriculum and a report on the assessment of one of the majors.