Department Chair Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, February 18, 2004

 

 

The bimonthly department chair meeting was held on Wednesday, February 18, 2004, at 3:00 p.m. in the IDEAS Center.  Dennis Meyers convened the meeting at 3:00 p.m.

 

Mr. Meyers opened the meeting and introduced Dawn Khoury who along with Ms. Jackie Adler discussed the following:

 

1.                  No Shows – Ms. Khoury and Ms. Adler discussed a planned change to more accurately reflect the status of No Shows on the 12th Class Day.  Students who receive grant money and never attend class, are a liability to the college that TSTC has to pay back.  For the spring semester, some 65 students were identified as No Shows.  This caused the college to pay back between $25,000 and $45,000. Besides trying to retrieve money from these students, the Records Office will send out requests for No Shows to be identified the by 5th Class Day.  Corrections can then be made on the 12th Day Class Roster.  Both Ms. Khoury and Ms. Adler discussed options, gave examples of ways to stop this fraud from occurring.  They stated that this new revision would be the least intrusive on faculty and hopefully eliminate students from collecting grant checks and then not attending classes.  The new process will involve faculty noting “no shows” on or before the 5th Class Day via WebAdvisor (including any student who has not attended a scheduled class up to that point).  After the 5th Class Day (and the student shows up in class and is no longer a “No Show”), corrections can be made by removing the “NS” designation [using WebAdvisor] prior to the 12th Class Day Rosters being run.  Questions were asked and answered, examples were given, and discussion ensued.  Note:  Ms. Khoury stated that an email message will be sent to all faculty  explaining the new process.

 

2.                  Faculty Senators – Department Chairs were asked by Joyce Spivey to include faculty senators in department chair meetings to insure information exchanges and updates.

 

3.                  Publications - Mr. Meyers reminded DCs that all publications going off campus regarding TSTC Waco are to be approved by Marketing before distribution.

 

4.                  Professional Development Day – Mr. Meyers announced that the next Professional Development Day is scheduled for October 15, 2004.  Topics and suggestions should be forwarded to Carrie Gayeske for information and review.

 

5.                  Purchasing – Mr. Meyers reminded all DCs that requisitions must be submitted before purchases are made.  Individuals that continue to abuse this process could lose purchasing privileges in the future.

 

6.                  Greta Hecker – Mr. Meyers announced that Ms. Hecker has been appointed to fill a temporary position as Interim Executive Assistant to the President for 90 days.  A campus wide email was sent out making this announcement.

 

7.                  Ron Sanders – Mr. Meyers announced that Mr. Sanders has been appointed to serve as interim Cluster Director for the Computer Graphics Cluster in Ms. Hecker’s absence.

 

8.                  Debbie Christian – Mr. Meyers announced that Ms. Christian will serve as the department chair for the Computer Science department effective immediately.  Mr. Buddy Shaw has returned to the classroom on a full-time basis.

 

9.                  External Funds - Mr. Meyers announced that President Stuckly is asking for suggestions for ways to raise external funds.  Any suggestions should be forwarded to Mr. Spradling by Friday, February 20, 2004.

 

10.              Miscellaneous:

 

Mr. Meyers stated that the continuing education department underwent an internal audit and felt that the process helped and cleared up some questionable activities.  Some minor changes will be made in regard to course offerings.

 

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:45 p.m.