There was a motion and second to approve the minutes of the November 14, 2002 Academic Council meeting. The Academic Council body voted to accept the minutes.

A. PRESIDENT'S REPORT - This report was presented by Academic Council President Lenn Koederitz.

1. Academic Council is obligated to meet on selected Thursdays at 1:30 P.M. Changing the meeting time would require a bylaw change, despite the scheduling conflict arising from the change in class meeting times this semester.

2. A committee is being formed to review bylaw changes. Contact Todd Hubing (thubing@mst.edu) or Lenn Koederitz (koe@mst.edu) if you are interested in serving on the committee.

3. IFC will meet with UM System President Floyd for the first time on Friday, January 31.

4. The Curricula Committee presently has one Graduate Faculty member serving and feels this is sufficient. Curricula has agreed to distribute the meeting agenda to the Graduate Faculty.

5. Faculty input regarding the proposed changes to Policy Memorandums will be posted on the Academic Council website at http://academiccouncil.mst.edu//. The Chancellor will receive a copy of the comments.

6. The Administrative Review has been completed. The response rate was 42.4% for Chancellor Thomas; 42.6% for Provost Shah; 47.1% for Dean Mitchell; and 54.2% for Dean Saperstein.

Academic Council Officers and the Ad Hoc Committee on Administrative Review determined that numerical results would be distributed to the person being evaluated, their supervisor and participating faculty. Comments collected from the survey will only be distributed to the person being evaluated and their supervisor. The vote concerning distribution was not unanimous. Results will be mailed within two weeks.

B. PROVOST'S REPORT - This report was presented by Provost Y.T. Shah.

1. Connie Eggert is the new Vice Chancellor for Advancement. Debra Robinson has been named the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs.

2. Approval has been granted changing "Economics" to "Economics and Finance" and moving the department into the School of Management and Information Systems. "Chemical Engineering" is now "Chemical and Biological Engineering."

3. Presently, Governor Holden has not slated any cuts to higher education. State legislators will determine cuts based on state revenues and the results of negotiations between the governor and legislators.

4. Henry Wiebe has been named as the Vice Provost-Global. An Interim Chair in Engineering Management will be named while a search for the new department chair is underway.

5. The search for a Vice Provost for Undergraduate and Graduate Studies has been started with the formation of a search committee. The search will be internal.

6. Arlan DeKock is currently the Interim Dean of the School of Management and Information Systems. Approval has been received to conduct an internal search.

7. Price Waterhouse has been selected to do the technology audit for the campus. Three external candidates for the Computing Information Office position will visit the campus during February.

8. There is a 7% growth in enrollment over Winter Semester 2002. Graduate student enrollment is being adversely affected by immigration.

9. $16.9 million research proposals have been awarded. Shah thanked the faculty for their work. Increased research will change UMR's image, build revenue and improve ranking. Steve Tupper, FLW Liaison, will be in place March 24. Tupper's duties will include aggressively pursuing a relationship with FLW.

10. The Division of Undergraduate Studies is working to create an advising network and a center for teaching and learning.

11. Global is a $2 million revenue business. Financial growth areas include professional development and distance education.

A. CURRICULA - This report was presented by Thomas Schuman.

1. There was a motion and second to approve the reports generated from the December 2002 and January 2003 Curricula Committee meetings. The motion passed.

2. Experimental course forms that were submitted by University departments for courses to be offered in the near future were presented to Academic Council.

3. Don Madison, Graduate Faculty Chair, expressed concern that the Graduate Faculty is not fulfilling its responsibility stated in the bylaws with respect to changes in graduate degree programs. He requested that Academic Council establish a procedure that would improve communication between Graduate Faculty and Academic Council. It was observed that the bylaws provide for a member of the Graduate Faculty on the Curricula Committee. After discussion, it was decided that the Graduate Faculty should examine the matter further and propose a bylaw change if it deems it necessary.

B. STUDENT AFFAIRS - This report was presented by Mark Potrafka.

1. There was a motion and second to approve the constitution for "Women In Mining." The motion passed.

2. There was a motion and second to approve the constitution for "Chancellor's Leadership Academy Alumni." The motion passed.

C. AD HOC COMMITTEE ON CAMPUS REORGANIZATION - This report was presented by Jerry Cohen.

1. Cohen presented the final report of the committee. The committee gave its approval to the department name changes under consideration, i.e., renaming 1) the Department of Economics to the Department of Economics and Finance; 2) the Department of Chemical Engineering to the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering; and 3) the Department of Civil Engineering to the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering. He further recommended that a "Name Change Form" be created. He offered an example of such a form that the committee used to examine the current proposals for department name changes. He suggested the Curricula Committee and Academic Council use the form when considering future proposals for name changes.

2. There was a motion and second to accept the report and recommendations. After discussion, it was decided that the new form is consistent with other "change" forms and that the Curricula Committee would have ownership of the form, as it does with other similar forms. The motion passed.

3. There was a motion and second that the previous motion go into effect immediately. The motion passed.

D. AD HOC ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW COMMITTEE - No report submitted.

A. ACTION ITEMS

1. Academic Dishonesty Cases

4 NEW BUSINESS

A. ANNOUNCEMENTS - Todd Hubing will chair the Committee to Review Bylaw Changes. Please direct any comments to Todd Hubing (thubing@mst.edu) or Lenn Koederitz (koe@mst.edu).

B. STAFF COUNCIL - No report submitted.

C. STUDENT COUNCIL - No report submitted.

D. COUNCIL OF GRADUATE STUDENTS - No report submitted.

Respectfully submitted,

Michael Hilgers, Secretary
(electronically submitted, 2/5/03 - 10:19 a.m.)