Deans Council Minutes
4/6/2000

Attending: Victor Fuhro, Sylvia Pena, Marilyn Dyer, Betsy Boze, Farhat Iftekharuddin, Jose Martin, Douglas Ferrier,  Jon Steingass and Raymond Rodrigues, Presiding.

Guest: Jose Garza

Graduate Courses - Rodrigues – John Ronnau has requested that UTB Graduate Courses be proposed that can be taught on High School campuses. As yet, no proposed courses have been received and Dr. Rodrigues requests that the Deans consider possible courses.

AAHE Post-Tenure Review Mini-Grants -Rodrigues – Included in your packets is a description for an AAHE program for Post-Tenure Review Mini-Grants, the deadline in May 1, 2000.

Proposed Educator Certification Meeting - Pena – Dr. Pena distributed information from the State Board For Educator Certification of the Coordinating Board. The information listed the proposed general core curriculum for the General Education Requirements for a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies, Composite Major with EC-9 Certification, Bachelor of Science Math/Science or Bachelor of Science in English/Social Studies. She informed the Council that a meeting will be held in Edinburg on April 10 with representatives from the Coordinating Board to discuss the proposal. It was suggested that the proposal need to come to the Deans/Chairs for further discussion.

Assessment of General Education - Jose Garza – Dr. Garza met with the Deans Council to explain and discuss the work that had thus far been done on the Assessment of the General Education Program. He passed out examples of the format that had been designed to accomplish this goal. The process is not neat but the end result needs to show how goals are being set and met. Lengthy discussion suggested several alterations that could possibly be done on the process to make it more effective and better able to meet the requirements of the Southern Association and the Coordinating Board. The process must be completed and approved by April 14, 2000.

Part-Time Faculty Handbook - Fuhro – The Part-Time Faculty Handbook was presented in an outline version as draft 2. One addition to the current list should be assessment. It was also suggested that an index and cross references would be a useful addition.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Title V Faculty Training - Steingass – Dr. Steingass discussed how the Title V grant had been partially used to train a small group of Faculty in using technology and improving teaching. The biggest problem was the number of Faculty being reached. Dr. Steingass proposed that instead of training a small number during the long semester that 30 Faculty be selected for a two week training session this summer. Goal is to bring some of our Faculty to be Certified Teachers in Cooperative Learning. Various possible dates and selection procedures were discussed.

Student Survey - Steingass – Dr. Steingass passed out a sample survey that will be sent to all developmental, freshman and sophomore students. The purpose of the survey is to identify possible dropouts and to find how the University is being perceived. It is hoped that the information so gained can be used for improving operations and for lowering the drop out rate. Discussion ensued on how the form could be improved.

11:50 AM meeting adjourned.