April 5, 2011

April 5, 2011

Academic Council (approved May 3, 2011)

Present:  Barrios, Hinkle, Janzow, Lilly, McDougall, McGowan, Noe, Prater, Roeder, Rosati, Shaw, Starrett, Timlin, and Ustinova  

Guests:   Kevin Dickson, Kenneth Heischmidt, Elaine Jackson, David Probst, Ken Surendran, Janice Ward (for Don Jung), and Judy Wiles    

A.  MINUTES:
Upon a motion by McDougall; seconded by McGowan, the minutes of March 1, 2011 were unanimously approved.  

B.  ACTION ITEMS:  

1.  Adult Health Clinical Nurse Specialist/Care Manager Option – Deletion of Option from Master of Science in Nursing Program
Prater moved approval of the deletion of the Adult Health Clinical Nurse Specialist/Care Manager Option from the Master of Science in Nursing program; seconded by McGowan.  Elaine Jackson explained that there have historically been three options in the MSN program: 1) Family Nurse Practitioner; 2) Nurse Educator; and 3) Adult Health Clinical Nurse Specialist/Care Manager (CNS). The CNS option has been offered every other year, and has had low enrollments. Additionally, in order to meet accreditation standards, the curriculum for the CNS option would have to be significantly revised. The Department of Nursing feels the CNS option should be deleted from the MSN program and department resources should be used to emphasize the other two options in the program. Motion passed unanimously.  

2.   Biological and Medical Sciences Entrepreneurship – New Minor
McGowan moved approval of the new minor in Biological and Medical Sciences Entrepreneurship; seconded by Janzow and McDougall. McGowan explained that the minor follows the model of other Entrepreneurship minors that have been approved. Rosati questioned what employment options students would have by seeking the new minor; McGowan stated that students in programs such as Wildlife Management could potentially start a business. Further discussion followed. Motion passed unanimously.   Note: McDougall stated that two additional new Entrepreneurship minors will be coming forward in the following months, Fashion Merchandising Entrepreneurship and Health Management Entrepreneurship.  

3.   Computer Information Systems – Program Revisions
McGowan moved approval of the revisions to the Computer Information Systems (CIS) program; seconded by McDougall. Ken Surendran and David Probst explained the proposed revisions and the purpose for the revisions. The proposed revisions are to make the CIS program more applied and less theoretical, and follow the IS2010 Model Curriculum, which focuses on the application of computers in any discipline. Following this model will better position the program for seeking ABET accreditation in the future. The program will have a common core and four tracks. In three of the tracks, students will complete a minor in either Business Administration, Computer Networking, or Graphics Communications Technology. In the fourth track, students will complete 15 hours of coursework determined by a Computer Science advisor to suit the student’s area of specialization. The purpose for the revisions is based on a need to make the Computer Science program and the Computer Information Systems program more distinct. It’s also based on a high attrition rate, and the department’s intention to retain those students that are currently lost to other majors unnecessarily.  Discussion followed.  Motion passed unanimously.  

4.  Master of Science in Organizational Management – New Program
McDougall moved approval to bring the proposal back to the table from the December 2009 meeting; seconded by Noe. Motion passed unanimously.   In the initial motion in December 2009, McDougall moved approval of the Master of Science in Organizational Management; seconded by Janzow. McDougall explained that the initial proposal asked for additional faculty resources and had an implementation date that was two years out; for those reasons, Provost Stephens asked that the proposal be tabled until the new Provost was in place and resources were available. The current proposal no longer needs additional faculty resources due to restructuring that took place in the college. McDougall expects enrollments to be healthy for the program, especially to those who aren’t looking at the MBA option. Noe stated that she supports the proposal, but in the initial proposal she had concerns with the program not being open to business majors. McDougall explained that the new proposal is open to anyone meeting the admission requirements. McGowan questioned whether it is necessary for a student pursuing this degree to have the required three years of appropriate work experience; McDougall and Heischmidt confirmed that it is necessary. Rosati questioned the implementation date and it was decided that Fall 2012 should be the implementation date. Rosati also questioned what percentage of the courses in the program are online; Wiles stated that roughly 80% are already online. Further discussion followed regarding offering the program entirely online. McDougall explained that the department wants to offer the program as proposed to get a feel for the demand. It was decided that the possibility of offering the program entirely online, in addition to face-to-face, will be revisited after one year of implementation. Motion passed unanimously.  

C.  DISCUSSION ITEMS  

1.   Summer Session Update      
Rosati distributed a handout that showed 2011 summer enrollments as of April 1, as well as 2010’s summer enrollments for comparison. He pointed out that 2011 enrollments are higher, with the most growth being in online sections. He stated that there has also been some additional advertising for the summer session, particularly to high school students. The advertising was done through email and was only very recently done, so we can’t see how the advertising will affect the growth at this point. Discussion followed regarding the increase in revenue from the summer session. Rosati stated that he hopes to see continued growth in the summer sessions.  

 D.  OTHER  

1.  International Programs Issue      
McDougall explained that there are some issues with International degree programs going online and putting international students and Southeast in violation of federal regulations. McDougall questioned whether the issue should be addressed by the International Programs Committee or if there should be a subcommittee of Academic Council formed. Rosati asked that McDougall look into the regulations and violations before a decision is made to form a subcommittee.  

Motion to adjourn was made by McGowan; seconded by McDougall.  Meeting adjourned.