University of Hawaii Council of Deans and Directors Meeting, March 1, 2005 Minutes
Meeting called to order at 1:30 p.m. Present: Hemmes, Don; Hirokawa, Randy; Hora, Steve; Komenaka, April; Okinaka, Alton; Sakai, Bill; Sakai, Marcia; Silva, Kalena
Note: Steve Hora was informally welcomed by the Council on his first day as Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at UH Hilo.
AGENDA Item 1. Approval of Minutes. Minutes from January 4, 2005 meeting were approved as written.
Item 2. Coursework in Counseling Psychology Cancelled as an item.
Item 3 Creation of Evaluation and Testing Center Proposal to create a university Evaluation and Testing Center headed by a psychometrician was discussed. Purpose for the proposal: Currently there is no place on campus that’s central where multiple choice exams, especially those from large classes, can be scanned, graded, and returned with an item analysis to the faculty member. Students need a place to take many different kinds of exams that is open much of the time. As we move our campus toward a greater emphasis on assessment, we need someone who can help departments with this task. Some questions regarding the proposal and other issues that emerged: Who would be in charge of the center? Where would the center be housed? Once the UH Hilo testing center is closed in April, where will UHH students go to be tested? Is it possible to utilize the Manono campus to take up the vacuum created by the closure of the current testing center at UHH? Could this center be combined with Institutional Research position? Is there enough work to justify a center and a position? Could this center/position be combined with an advising function? Could this center also be used as a testing facility for students with disabilities that require extra time or a different environment for testing? Some comments regarding the proposal and current UHH testing situation: We should have a testing center at UHH. Assessment seems to be heading away from individual testing toward more project-based testing in group format. In April the UHH Testing Center will be closed to make room for new equipment. To move the testing center to Manono requires changing the contract with ETS and entering a new contract with Prometric. We need to talk with HCC to see how talks are progressing with ETS and Prometric. We need to take a look at the benefit of having a combined advisor/psychometrician position. In regard to the testing center, there are both short term and long term plans and concerns to be discussed in the future.
Item 4. Projects to be undertaken by the VCAA Office A. Substantive change request for Fast Track Status with WASC. B. Promotion and Tenure. Clarity of processes/procedures/criteria for Promotion and Tenure Slight differences in way we consider tenure and promotion should be reflected in our procedures and processes. Clear delineation of roles of college, division, and department chairs needs to be in place. Schedules for each faculty member’s progress along the tenure/promotion path should be in a database, including date of last personnel action taken and date of next time for action. Re-visiting of post tenure review. C. Augmenting advising program. D. Faculty governance. Consultant to do a review of the current system followed by recommendations. Need for clearer definition of relationships and responsibilities of all the roles in the university. E. Flow of Document System. Look at ways to make approval processes more efficient. Use an electronic system to track the progress of approvals in order to expedite results. F. Program Reviews. Standardize format for program reviews. Publish schedule for reviews seven years out. G. Assessment/Performance Measures Randy has been meeting with Nina Buchanan and Lynne Stamoulis every two weeks to discuss assessment and data and is meeting with the Congress on this issue. The UH Foundation has agreed to let UHH use the alumni database for the purpose of assessment of programs. Alumni traditionally have been an untapped resource because of the difficulty of accurate ways to contact them. H. Budget Schedule Process People are OK with timing the way it is. There is some optimism that UH Hilo’s budget requests will be received favorably. I. Graduate Programs Graduate catalog will be forthcoming, possibly as soon as fall, 2005. Policies regarding compensation for teaching graduate courses need to be discussed and agreed upon. There need to be guidelines for how we utilize funds for buyouts.
Item 5. Reorganization Steve is looking at merging the Council of Deans and Directors with Academic Council. Steve will hold regular meetings with administrators to discuss department, division, and college issues. Steve plans to hold regular meetings with research and graduate program participants as well. Kenith Simmons was introduced in her new role as (title yet to be determined) to assist with special projects and assignments.
Meeting adjourned at 3:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Steve Hora, VCAA