CHANCELLOR'S MEETING WITH DEANS, DIRECTORS AND DEPARTMENT HEADS

Minutes of May 7, 2001

I.    Call to Order.  Chancellor Yackel called the meeting to order.

II.  Chancellor's Report and University Budget.  Chancellor Yackel announced that President Jischke will be at our Commencement on May 20 with PUC graduating 670, 500 of which are marching.

Chancellor Yackel reported on the budget of the legislative session that ended May 6.  The state added 1%for salaries and wages but other requests were not funded.  The funding for repairs and renovations of campus facilities will be provided at 75% of that provided the past two years.  The previous special appropriation for technologies was $1 million a year for labs, computer maintenance, etc., those dollars were also cut to 75% of the previous funding level.

The Board of Trustees meets Friday, May 18, with tuition and fees to be set at that meeting.  The budget levels to fund salaries and other items will depend largely on the new fee structure.  Salary improvements are being planned at 3% to 4% pending tuition fee increases.  S. Singer asked whether departments should have recommendations for increases ready; Chancellor Yackel suggested having evaluations and recommendations completed as usual.

Gloria Smokvina reported that a second visit to campus is planned for a chancellor candidate on May 21 and that the appointment should be in place by July 1.

III.           Strategic Planning and Assessment Update.  Chancellor Yackel reported on the progress of the Strategic Planning Task Force meeting weekly and keeping to the schedule set by the President.  The Mission and Vision Statements are in process and with no significant changes.   He said that the "setting goals" portion of the strategic plan was completed last week and submitted to PWL Director of Strategic Planning, Rab Mukerjea.  The Mission, Vision and Goals are on our website and the Chancellor welcomes input to this process from staff via ccmail or attendance at the weekly task force meetings.  He said the next step is to establish strategies to achieve the next two- to three-year goals, funded or not funded.  He recommended staying on top of this process with your comments, and giving input.  Chancellor Yackel said that there are no new or different goals than those that the committee of three years ago had established.  For those wishing to contribute input to this process the Task Force meets each Monday, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. in SFLC 150D.

Chancellor Yackel reported on the AQIP (Academic Quality Improvement Project) process and our continuing to work with NCA.  He attended the NCA annual meeting and met with other members of our colloquium for exchange of information and ideas.  He said this meeting has led to our inviting the colloquium to PUC June 3 and 4 to work on the next steps toward being accepted as an official member of AQIP.  Steve Spangehl of the NCA will be here for the June meetings and has requested an invitation be extended to another university in West Virginia.  There is a questionnaire on our website for input on strategies and most important factors in the assessment project.  Staff input will be important in the process and an upcoming planned retreat.  Formal application to NCA for AQIP participation is planned for the end of June.

IV.          Records Management Project Update.  Colleen Robison reviewed the progress of the Records Management Team of the last two months following a review of the project objective, i.e., to establish a protocol for records retention and reduction of space allotted to paper records.  Accomplishments by the team and subcommittees included the "before" space study; an inventory of current records; ongoing education sessions; cleanup campaigns in eight buildings thus far; the draft, approvals, and inclusion on the website of the Records Retention Guidelines; and a "lessons learned" session by the individual subcommittees for input to the Records Management Program Proposal Subcommittee.  Colleen reported that the space study included a 100% response rate consisting of the types of storage, the space utilized by types of records, and the total space currently allotted to records in each building.  Upcoming plans for the project include continuing education sessions, building cleanups, department coordinator surveys, an "after" space study in June, and the proposal for the future of records management.  The project sponsors have approved an ice-cream social for the campus community in appreciation for contributions to the project; some recognition and prizes will be awarded for specific accomplishments by departments.  On behalf of the records management team and sponsors Colleen relayed HELP WANTED; i.e., for all department heads to encourage their staff to get involved in the cleanup and use of the retention guidelines, resulting in a better understanding of the policies, regulations, laws and a more efficient record keeping process within the departments.  Chancellor Yackel reminded the staff that we do not want to keep personnel records in the departments; The policy for retention of those records is determined by Human Resources.

V.  "Schedule 25"  Software.  Gene Sullivan reviewed the Academic Facilities Management software.  It is a tool for a class scheduling system used to match teaching styles with classroom equipment, and to provide for BEST FIT between course size and classroom.  The application uses a powerful optimizing algorithm to maximize classroom utilization, maximizes the number of classes placed in appropriate rooms, and provides priority placement based on instructional needs.  For PUC it will match faculty needs to suitably equipped rooms, reduce the need for room changes, maximize room utilization, and reduce time spent placing classes in rooms.   Accomplishments to date are the successful run of fall semester through the process, attainment of 70+% utilization, 70% placed in first choice rooms, and 24% in second choice rooms.  Gene Sullivan reported that Scheduling was able to download Banner information into the program with completion and that work on documentation for the process at PUC is being accomplished.  The future of Schedule 25 includes a planned pilot for Fall 2001, rollout for Spring 2002, with room assignments occurring after the end of early registration.  The Model 25 includes a campus planner, provides for hypothetical scenarios, and provides a graphical display of scheduling variations.  Ed Andrews questioned whether the program emits bells and whistles when the schedule is overloaded.  Gene Sullivan reported that it will provide the major times students are on campus and that it requires more faculty information for proper utilization and that there are plans to solicit information from faculty.  Anne Severa said that this information may be included on the schedule of classes with a note of tentative, final to be provided.  Colleen Robison stated that changes in the registration and academics loop are included in the attributes.  Saul Lerner questioned whether we may extend to include the south county sites; Gene Sullivan responded that they are not as yet included.

VI.  Announcements / Q&A.  Doug Sharp reported that the Groupwise project to replace ccmail is in the hardware acquisition and storage stage.  More information will be provided later in May with FAQs on the web.  He said there will be a tool for migrating into Blackboard and that Blackboard will replace WebCourse in a Box.

Sandra Singer announced that staff and graduates should have received the invitation for the End of the Year Celebration scheduled 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on May 10 at The Center, an informal setting developed to instill a sense of community within the campus and to encourage attendance, "spread the word" about this event.

Chancellor Yackel announced that Senator Lugar, R-Ind., Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committee, will be on campus on Saturday, May 12, Alumni Hall, 11:45 a.m.,  to speak on foreign policy and international trade.  This visit was arranged by Harry Lepinsky and will include a Q&A session and is open to the public.  Sandra Singer requested we make the students aware of this visit by Senator Lugar and his coverage of the U.S. position on foreign markets, international trade.

Linda Baer announced the fall plans for a new electronic procurement system, ARIBA.  Representatives from each business area will be contacted.

VII.  Adjournment.  There being no other business, Chancellor Yackel adjourned the meeting.

Next meeting June 4, 2001