Minutes of the Academic Council Meeting
October 20, 2005

XXXVI, Number 2. The meeting was called to order at 1:30 p.m. by President-Elect Robert Schwartz. Roll call was taken and absentees noted were:

I. Call to Order, Roll, and Approval of Minutes

President Schwartz called the meeting to order at 13.30 and roll was taken. The following absentees were noted: Robert Mitchell, Jonathan Hines, Joseph Herdade. The following substitutes were noted: Ching-Nen Nathan Chen for Yue-wern Huang, Francisca Oboh-Ikuehobe for Eliot Atekwana, Greg Story for Michael Schultz.

Minutes of the June 16, 2005 and September 22, 2005 meetings were approved as submitted.

II. REPORTS AND RESPONSES

A. President's Report – Robert Schwartz

• IFC Retreat – Roles and responsibilities of non-tenure-track faculty is an issue that needs to have closure. Higher education funding, promotion, and tenure processes were also discussed.
• Board of Curators Meeting, 6 -7 October – Recruiting practices, building funding priorities, and tuition plans were discussed.
• A special meeting of AC will be held to discuss shared governance. A few breakfast and lunch meetings will be held with the Chancellor and some faculty members.

B. Chancellor's Report – John Carney III

• All of the constituencies queried have endorsed the 2-Page Strategic Action Plan. The Chancellor plans to work with faculty to finalize the complete strategic plan during this academic year.
• The capital campaign is still in its quiet phase. Two important financial goals of the campaign will be to raise financial aid support for our students and secure a series of fully endowed faculty chairs.
• Discussions are beginning with Missouri State University relative to engineering education.
• Discussions are ongoing about establishing a formula to help set tuition. There are also discussions about setting up a differential tuition structure.
• The state board of education has granted approval to umr to continue offering eight professional education programs for a period of five years from 2005-2010..

C. Provost's Report - Y. T. Shah

• The Board of Curators approved the nominees for Curators' Research Professor and Curators' Teaching Professor.
• The Faculty Committee for the Faculty Excellence Awards has been appointed.
• Accreditations in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering went well and we expect accreditation.
• Enrollment on campus is up as is retention (87% Freshman to Sophomore). The Campus would like to significantly increase its graduate enrollment.
• Research continues to be strong.
  

III. REPORTS OF STANDING AND SPECIAL COMMITTEES

A. Curricula Committee – Keith Nisbett

The written report of 8.18.05 was referenced relative to:

1. Five (5) program curriculum changes (DC) that were approved by voice vote.

2. Nineteen (19) course changes (CC) were approved by voice vote.

3. Eleven (11) experimental courses (EC) were noted. (AC approval not required)

IV. OLD BUSINESS

A. Election of Committee Representatives – Don Myers

1. The following slate of nominees, as approved by RP&A, were submitted and elected by acclamation.

Budgetary Affairs (1) Lance Haynes

Personnel (2) Neil Book, Donald Myers

Student Awards & Financial Aids (3) Mark Mullin, James Martin, Anne Cotterill

Curricula (2) Michael Schultz, K.S. Issac

Grievance (5) Barbara Hale, Levent Acar, S.N. Samaranayake, Halvard Nystrom, Paul Worsey

Facilities (3) Klaus Woelk, Balakrishnan, Robert Stone

Scholastic Appeal (3) Eun Soo Park, Maggie Cheng, Michael Meagher

V. NEW BUSINESS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

A. Strategic Plan – R. Schwartz

Resolution AC-0506R2 “Support of Chancellor Carney’s 2-Page Strategic Action Plan” was passed by voice vote.

B. Staff Council – Lee Ann Morton

The Council supports the Strategic Action Plan and new officers have been elected.

C. Student Council –

No report.

D. Council of Graduate Students – P. Shil

The GPA Workshop is currently being held. The Council has concerns about issues such as graduate student housing, access of Engineering students to the Writing Center, summer registration for resident students. It was agreed that Y.T. Shah would report back on the registration issue at the next meeting.

E. REFERRALS

none

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 14.30.

Respectfully Submitted,

Frank Blum,
Secretary

* Minutes of the Academic Council are considered official notification and documentation of actions approved.