SKIP TO PAGE CONTENT Scroll to Top

CAAC Minutes: 2016-09-20

  PDF this page

CAAC Meeting Minutes, Sept. 20, 2016 – 2 p.m.

Members Present:

Paul Allen, Howard Bushart, Keith Coleman, Vicky Hart, Charles Thomas, Karen Guthmiller, Stewart Edwards, Charlotte Mueller, Paul Arrigo, Sarah Tidwell, David Jaroszewski, Joe Ganakos, Ingrid Wallace, Rod Hellyer

Members Not Present:

Andy Miller, Jim Dobberstine, Tex Woodall, Layton Childress, DeDe Griffith, Rosemary Coffman, Sharon Lockett and David Sholmire

  1. Approval of Minutes
    Motion made by Rod Hellyer, Seconded by Vicky Hart to approve the Minutes from the April 19, 2016 meeting. Motion passed unanimously.
    Minutes to the July 19, 2016 meeting were approved unanimously.
  2. Informational Items
    1. Scott Bennett

      Preferred Name Policy –
      A Dear Colleague letter from the Department of Education, May 2016, addressing students gender identity and preferred name. The recommendation was to start doing this as soon as possible. We would allow the students to use a “chosen” name rather than what is on their birth certificate. On the instructor’s side, only the “chosen” name would be visible. Eventually we will require for the students to photo ID’s in the system.

      Some issues in the catalog that need to be addressed:

      Grade Change Policy
      Would like for the instructor to make an “End of Course Grade” and then include the grades that can be changed. Also would like to take out about where they are delivered. Policy states that an instructor can change a student’s grade for any reason what so ever with in the last 12 months. It puts the integrity of the College in question.
      Currently Certificate Graduates have to complete 50% of their class work at Lee College in order to obtain the Certificate were as an associate degree earner only has to complete 25% at Lee College.

      Prior Learning Credit
      To get credit for Prior Learning the catalog indicates the student should see the Counseling Center. There really isn’t a process for Prior Learning Credit.

      Graduating Students
      Spring 2015 Graduates – We graduated more students than we ever had in a semester.
      There is only about 20% actually requesting to graduate. Is there anything the instructors can do to help Admissions to increase this percentage?

      None of the issues mentioned can be addressed until someone sponsors the issue. Joe Ganakos recommended that Sarah Tidwell be that advocate.

    2. David Jaroszewski

      The Committee that was compiled to look at the Core has determined that our Core is fine. We made changes at the State, it was how hours were allocated among the different components that make up the Core. Dr. Jaroszewski spoke with the State and had them review what he and Dr. Griffith had put into the system. The State said we were fine, but made some suggestions on how we could “strategically” make some Core choices.

  3. Old Business
    No Old Business
  4. New Business
    1. Evan Richards
      1. New Course: PHYS 1417 (998)
      2. New Course: PHYS 1417 (999) [may be duplicate item]
        (998 and 999 are combined)
        David Jaroszewski spoke on behalf of Evan Richards. Dr. Jaroszewski read an email sent from Evan Richards to Jim Dobberstine:
        “Hi Jim, just wanted to let you know that I have submitted 3 CAAC items.1) Add the second physical science course, PHYS 1417 that is in the ACGM to our catalog
        2) Add PHYS 1417 to the Core
        3) Update the title and course description to our existing physical science course PHYS 1415 to be consistent with the above changes.

        The big picture here is that I am developing our physical courses with two separate emphasis:

        a) Education Research version for Education majors to not only learn the science but also learn how to teach the science.
        b) A Sci-Fi version for non-STEM majors who simply need a science elective where I am trying to get them fascinated and appreciate the sciences through popular media and science fiction.”

        Karen Guthmiller motioned to approve, Paul Arrigo seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.

      3. Change/Update Course Description: PHYS 1415 (1000)
        Course Description – This is part of a sequence of physical science courses, designed for non- science majors, that surveys topics from physics, chemistry, geology, astronomy, and meteorology. This course will emphasize topics from physics, meteorology, and chemistry.
        Paul Arrigo motioned to approve, Stewart Edwards Seconded. Motion passed unanimously
    2. Charlotte Mueller
      1. Miscellaneous: Consideration of adding MUSI 1301 to Core (1005)This is a fundamental of music course. It was under the number 1301 for decades, and then the ACGM came along and they created two semester set of numbers 1301 and 1302, and said 1303 should be a one semester format. So we switched 1301 to 1303. This went along for a few years, then we submitted the Outcomes and we got slapped down on that. Dr. Hernandez-Perez was able to hunt up all of the old emails and such, which enlightened us as to why we were denied to teach the course as a core, and also that we were given 30 days to rectify it, but we were not told. So with finding out what the problem was the outcome was rewritten so that they would be in line. In the research it was found that other colleges were calling their course 1301 even though they didn’t have a two semester sequence. Looking at the ACGM which says that 1302 is being discontinued in spring 2017. So now according to ACGM they have both 1301 and 1303 which are both going to be one semester courses. So in putting this proposal together it was decided to use the number that the other colleges are using. The hope is that we can get approval to ask the State if they will now consider this as a Core with the new Outcomes.
        Some semesters back the number 1301 was switched to 1303 in the catalog. Does a Curriculum Maintenance Request need to be entered to switch the number back to 1301? Yes, just to establish a paper trail.
        This request will have to be tabled until the next meeting which will include the request to change the course number to 1301.
  5. Open Forum
    Scott Bennett – Core Curriculum Options

    We only have one core, but in the catalog it has core curriculum options and then down below it has associate of science core curriculum. So, in essence, we have 2 core curricula, which again, we don’t.
    This was put in for the purpose of if you are an ASCE student these are the math classes that are going to be put in the degree, but essentially what we have told students is that we have two cores. In the degree we list what classes are specific or if it’s an AS degree we can specifically state which courses are needed or in our listing of Core put an asterisks next to the class stating AS degree.
    So again someone should request to change the notations and then just cut out the idea that we operate off of two cores here at Lee College, which we don’t.

    Debate —
    The Debate Team just hosted our annual Mendoza’s Debates at Lee College. We had some great help from faculty. Dan Mendoza did nearly 8 hours of judging.
    If you have any students that show any potential send them to Joe Ganakos. There is still a few scholarships remaining.
    Adam Key at the Huntsville campus is working on creating a Prison Debate with Texas A & M debaters. Joe will be writing the topics forums.
    Note: ( ) indicates the number of the item in the Curriculum Maintenance System.