A. PRESIDENT'S REPORT - This report was presented by Academic Council President Todd Hubing.

1. The IFC meeting will be November 21, 2003.

B. CHANCELLOR'S REPORT - This report was presented by Chancellor Gary Thomas.

1. The $100 charge to the International students is being protested by numerous organizations across the country. 60% of the Visa applications denied last year were from China.
2. The New Legislative Session will start in January and the tax receipts sales tax, which constitutes about 31% of the state's total income are up from last year, but are still below the Legislature's assumptions. The budget forecast is that it is potentially as much as $1B short but there will probably be no further withholdings this academic year.
3. Given the forecast level of appropriations, there are strategies by which the University can manage, but it will require changes in how we conduct business. Three specific areas include increasing retention, increasing the size of the student body, and increasing private giving. Increased revenue through indirect costs associated with research are also anticipated.

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

1. Academic Programs

a. There is a committee chaired by the President of Academic Council looking into new programs. They will report on December 15.

b. There are two new programs that were approved by the Board of Curators: Master of Engineering in Geotechnics and Master of Science in Biomaterials.

c. It is anticipated that in the future, the approval of new programs will be more difficult. However, development of new programs in appropriate areas is critical for growth on campus.

2. The committee has recommended 19 new faculty excellence awards; there were 40 people nominated. The teaching excellence award winner will soon be announced.
3. Enrollment

a. The use of PeopleSoft for student records keeping is being implemented.b. The number of new freshman students receiving Bright Flight Scholarship is increasing.c. We had an increase of about a 165 visitors on campus this year.

d. New SEVIS policies are affecting the enrollment of students from other countries. For example, the State Department has added additional charges for international students entering the US; there is a $100 SEVIS fee and a $100 state processing fee. In addition to these cost increases, the GRE and the TOFEL now cost $140 - $165, compared to the prior cost of $40. Because of the high percentage of international graduate students, this could have a significant impact on UMR's number of graduate students enrolled. We must be flexible with respect to admission and expeditious in our review of applications to maintain our number of international graduate students.

4. Research- Plus -Up proposals totaled $13.5M.
5. Undergraduate/Graduate Studies

a. Planning for the academic component of the Residential College is underway.

b. Dr. Collier is putting together an advisor recognition program, an advisor evaluation process, and documentation regarding best practices in advising.

6. Distance Education - We have about 800 international students attending UMR. The countries sending the most students are China, India, Thailand and Turkey.
7. IT - The IT department headed by Randy Tucker is making great progress to improve services on campus.

A. ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND STANDARDS - This report was presented by Mark Schlesinger.

1. Change in Transfer Credit Policy - There was a motion to adopt the changes in policy that was noted in a handout. The motion passed.

B. CURRICULA - This report was presented by Richard Hall.

1. There was a motion that Academic council approve the changes made to the DC forms. The motion passed.
2. There was discussion regarding the positive and negative aspects of two versions of the name change (NC) form. One justification provided by the committee for the shorter version of the form is that it would be more consistent with other Curriculum committee forms. There was a motion to adopt the shorter name change (NC) form. While this motion was under consideration, there was a motion to amend the form to add the statement to "Justify and address implications of this name change, including financial and curricula implications. " The motion passed to amend the form. The original motion was then voted on which was to adopt the new name change form as amended. The motion passed.

C. LIBRARY- No report submitted.

D. PERSONNEL - This report was presented by K.M. Isaac.

1. Intellectual Property Issues

a. The committee submitted a proposal describing IP rights for the individual faculty member.

b. There was a motion to amend the document by deleting the second bullet, which stated that the vice-Provost should review and ensure the permission was obtained by the author for use. The motion passed.

c. There was a motion to amend the document by changing the words in the third bullet to change "prevents unauthorized access" to: "limit unauthorized access" to the material. The motion passed.

d. There was a motion to adopt the document as amended. The motion passed.

E. STUENT AFFAIRS - This report was presented by Hal Nystrom.

1. There was a motion to adopt the constitution of the UMR Paintball Club. The motion passed.
2. There was a motion to adopt the constitution of the UMR Future Investors Club. The motion passed.

F. BUDGETARY AFFAIRS-This report was given by Don Myers

The committee has asked the Chancellor and the Provost if they could have a representative at the budgetary meeting to discuss issues.

3 UNFINISHED BUSINESS AND OLD BUSINESS

A. ACTION ITEMS - 1. Written Policy for Joint Appointments - Provost Shah
a. A preliminary document on the joint appointment policy was distributed for the purposes of review.
2. Written Policy for Distribution of Distance Learning Funds - Global a. No formal report was given but the committee indicated they were making progress.

4 NEW BUSINESS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

A. APPROVAL OF CHANGES TO REVISED BYLAWS
This report was given by -Mike Hilgers
1. There was a motion to approve the changes made by the UM system to the revised bylaws. The motion passed.

B. DISCUSSION OF COMPOSITION OF THE PROMOTION AND TENURE COMMITTEE - This report was given by Walt Evesrman.

Eversman introduced a motion to recommend that the Provost reconsider the composition of the Promotion and Tenure committee for the 2003 - 2004 academic period. The motion stated that future Promotion and Tenure committees should be composed of tenured full Professors.

Walt explained that the current committee was composed of several faculty members who were not Full Professor in rank including a faculty member who was up for promotion during the current academic year. During the discussion other issues regarding the composition of the committee, such as representation from SMIS and the inclusion of a female Full Professor on the committee were also brought up. The motion passed.

C. ELECTIONS
1. Grievance Hearing Panel committee needed two more members. RP&A nominated Frank Blum and Allen Pringle. There was a motion and a second to elect the above nominees to the Grievance Panel committee. The motion passed.
2. Student Scholastic Appeals Committee needed one more member. RP&A nominated Chris Ramsey. There was a motion and a second to elect the above nominee to the committee. The motion passed.

D. ANNOUNCEMENTS - None

E. STAFF COUNCIL -No report submitted.
F. STUDENT COUNCIL-No report submitted.
G. COUNCIL OF GRADUATE STUDIES- No report submitted.
H.the Composition of the Promotion and Tenure Committee was referred to committee.

Respectfully submitted,
(electronically submitted, 12/12/03 - 12:30 p.m.)
Robert Schwartz, Secretary