Administrative Council Meeting Minutes
Friday, July 15, 2011
Meeting began at 9:05 a.m.
Hardin Valley Campus/Faculty Dining Room
Presiding: Lois Williams, President
Members Present: Betsy Boyd, , Carolyn Carson, Dean Copple, Rachael Cragle, Kathy Douthat, Judy Gosch Maria Gregoriou, Lisa Guerrette, Heather Hatfield, Melbia Jackson, Karen Queener, Nancy Rasnake, Erin Simpson, Cindy Tanner, Fonda Vikery, Julia Wood.
President Lois Williams called the meeting to order, welcomed everyone, and introduced the officers.
Carol Luther explained how the idea of having a Common Book came to Pellissippi State. The goal is to provide students with a common academic experience so that students have a way to connect to the campus, faculty, staff and other students. It also allows for campus wide programming. Since the common books are designed to complement typical freshmen classes, free copies of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope, by William Kamkwamba, were distributed to students participating in New Student Orientation. Mark Friebus in our marketing department designed a remarkable display to introduce the book.
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is about William Kamkwamba when he was a fourteen year old boy in Malawi. There was great famine and no electricity in agrarian Malawi. The story is about a boy driven and determined to get electricity so that he can further his education and provide a resource for his family and his village.
TVA is coming to discuss windmills. The Film Festival will bring in aspects of Africa. Other activities coming: we want to build a windmill on campus. Mr. Kamkwamba will be on campus to speak September 1 for the President’s convocation.
Lois Reynolds presented on SACS accreditation and the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). The purpose of Pellissippi State’s QEP, Strong to the Core, is to improve student learning outcomes in targeted courses through increasing student engagement in core curriculum areas. The areas of focus are math, writing and oral communication. We want to increase active learning instead of lecturing. A design team is working on ideas. We will have a new QEP Director to implement more ideas. Faculty and staff are encouraged to learn more about QEP during in-service days. The SACS consultant will speak during convocation and leading a discussion afterward. The SACS on-site visit will be September 27-29.
Treasurer’s Report: Dean Copple reported that we have $400. We can’t use this money for refreshments. The money is to be spent on supplies and speakers.
June 2011 meeting minutes were approved. Rachael Cragle moved to accept the minutes and Dean Copple seconded the motion.
Electronic Voting- changes to the By-Laws. Question: Can we nominate people on-line? There was a great deal of discussion about nominations on-line and the willingness for those nominated to serve. Only 35 people voted on-line this year. Dean Copple moved to accept on-line nominations. Carolyn Carson seconded the motion. All agreed.
New Business
Meeting times: Currently we meet the 3rd Friday of the month at 9:00 am. It was suggested that we move to Wednesday or Thursday. Cindy Tanner made a motion to move the meeting to the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 9:00. Betsy Boyd and Judy Gosch seconded the motion. All agreed. The first Wednesday meeting will occur in October.
Benefit Fair: August 17 – Katrenia Hill put together stress packs. She may need some assistance with this project. Lois Williams has a signup sheet for the table. Rachael Cragle is looking to order stress balls with our QEP logo Strong to the Core.
Community Service: Nancy Rasnake spoke about the Race for the Cure. We will have a team again this year. She also recommended that we consider participating in Buddy’s Race against Cancer, to create awareness of all types of cancer. Carolyn Carson will pick up some information for this event. Maybe we can participate in both events.
Internal Campaign: Support staff always wins. Last year 74% of the support staff participated and only 72% of administrative staff participated. We want to WIN. It’s about the percent of participation not the amount. We only have 83 members so we need to get everyone to contribute.
Cindy Tanner recommended that we rotate refreshments- discuss at the next meeting. Cindy Tanner and Nancy Rasnake will bring refreshments to the next meeting on September 14th.
Drawing was held; T-shirts were won by Lisa Guerrette and Rachael Cragle. Nancy Rasnake won a bag.
The meeting adjourned at 10:08 a.m.
Recorder: Heather Hatfield
