AEG Department Meeting Minutes

February 2, 2024 10:00AM 12:00pm Via Zoom 

Attendees: Felicitas Adu-Acheampong, Luke Armstrong, Jason Briggeman, Sarabjeet Bedi, Iris Diamond, Daniel Eljuri, Stuart Greenfield, Kelsie Hart, Sherry Heiden, Nick Jenkins, Lei Ji, Don Jonsson, Livingstone Kumassah, Anthony Lee, Paul Lehman, Patty Leo, Caleb Miller, Stephanie Mundine,  Eduardo Piedra- Gonzalez, Carleen Sanchez, Gloria Sellers, Mehrdad Setayesh, Cassie Smith, James Sondgeroth, Jeff Stice, Brianna Teague, and Daniel Waktola.

Welcome

Approve minutes from 11/3/2023

Approve agenda

Spring Semester

Data Summit- All full time faculty and staff are required to attend the Data Summit at Cedar Park Events Center on March 27th 10:00am-2:00pm (lunch included). All daytime classes will be cancelled on 3/27 and instructors are encouraged to provide online work for students to complete. Evening classes will still be held on 3/27 (any after 4pm). Adjunct faculty will be warmly welcome; however, as ACC won’t pay for your time, attendance is not required. Please email Carleen with any questions.

Spring 2024 Enrollment data-

Program Reviews-  

SWOT feedback is being collected. Please participate! 

Anthropology- program review completed last year.

Economics- Deadline to complete Economics SWOT is 2/2. Feedback and participation is needed to complete the Program Review. 

Geography- Daniel stated that the Geography SWOT has been completed. 

Carleen reminded faculty that the information collected SWOTs is often included in the Program Review. This information is helpful when asking for full time positions, additional classes, additional departmental funds, etc.

Syllabi- Student input to Chancellor indicates students need:

 each syllabi to list the campus name (spelled out in entirety), 

-the building the class is located in (large campuses can be difficult to navigate),

-the room number that class is located in. 

Students have requested that faculty publish their syllabi prior to the first day of class. Carleen encouraged instructors to publish their syllabi a minimum of a few days prior to the start of the semester. 

Daniel mentioned that the college policies verbiage was still listed on instructor syllabi and perhaps it would be better to refer students to that link in Blackboard where these policies are discussed at length. Rachel will remove College Policies verbiage from master syllabi.

New Chancellor- Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart

Prepare for changes@ Institutional flux. There will be a period of change with opportunities and challenges. 

Fall 2024 Free tuition initiative- Plan to begin Fall 2024. All incoming students that graduated from our service area will have tuition and fees covered. Textbook fees and out of area fees not covered. About 3,600 new students entered ACC this past fall. No real way to know how many new students will register. A min of 500 additional students are anticipated. This might translate to the need for more sections. 

OER/ZTC- Expect a greater push for Zero Cost texts and OER. If interested in adopting free materials this will be greatly appreciated as more than 50% of students that withdrew stated they did so due to financial reasons.

Dual Credit revamp in the works. Department Chairs have received very little information on this but a workgroup is being set up to make significant changes to the way dual credit is managed. Main issues include difficulty staffing numerous dual credit sections in all disciplines. Keep an eye out for emails regarding dual credit. 

SBS department chairs will meet with the Chancellor on 2/29. If you have a concern you would like for Carleen to bring forth to the Chancellor please email Carleen csanche1@austincc.edu. 

In May all Liberal Arts faculty will be invited to meet with the Chancellor at HLC. More information to follow.

Reminders

Absences- last minute class cancellations- please post an announcement and email your students in Blackboard to let them know class is cancelled as soon as possible. Email/ call the campus manager or high school contact and coordinator listed on your dual credit welcome memo to let them know. Always email Carleen, with a copy to Rachel, to alert of an illness/unexpected absence or anticipated future absence. The department will do its best to find substitutes for your class to prevent class cancellations (when given notice). Call or email with any questions or timely concerns regarding missing classes.

Travel- request for travel funds/ conference fees need to be emailed to the department chair 6 weeks prior to the conference/travel date. The request will need to list estimated expenses and a proposal that details benefits of conference to faculty member/student outcomes.

Grants and Proposals- Working on a grant or project? Email Carleen first to keep the department apprised of any support that might be needed.

Study Abroad in England- presented by Paul Lehman- an email was sent to the AEG on 2/2 to ask for a time sensitive message to be sent to students in blackboard. Paul is hoping to get the minimum number of students by the 2/8 enrollment deadline 

Strategic Scheduling- Divisions and departments will schedule classes for the entire academic year. Goal is to facilitate planning for students and faculty.Those classes that had 65% enrollment last semester will be “bubble wrapped” and be on the schedule for the year. Min to make = 3. Phase I went live on 1/31. Phase II now in process with department chairs reviewing data and any consistent need for sections in our annual schedule. All proposed additions will have to be data driven and have a justification.

Northridge 8 week initiative-NRG classes are protected for min of 5 students (except for this summer). 

8 week initiative is a ‘success’ for ECON with 3 times enrollment in Fall. Last time I checked, it was at 2.2 times for Spring (but incomplete data here). Economics paired with business administration majors at NRG boosted econ success. 

We will not be scheduling 8 week classes for ANTH or GEOG. DC might try to get 16 week Anth classes added back at NRG if data supports.

8 week initiative at Round Rock Campus no longer being protected from low enrollment cancellations.

Student success and FIF

FIF due on 2/12 for adjunct faculty

FIF due on 3/4 for FT faculty 

Faculty that taught a class in fall 2023 were emailed the grade distribution and student success data for their courses. Reminder that the college and department student success rate is a minimum of 70%. Student success is based on D, F and W grades (withdrawals prior to the census date are not added in this count). 

When completing your fif, feel free to notate small classes or other facts that might have affected the numbers. Lower data is a time for reflection, not discouragement. Carleen mentioned that when her grade distribution reflected lower success rates, she signed up for TLED Pilot project to work at different ways to assess students and increased communication to students not progressing. 

Q+A

Stuart asked about MOU’s with the high schools where we offer dual credit classes. Initially there were issues with having to wait for the classroom to be unlocked, not having access to the elevator, and not being issued badges or keys to use facilities. Instructor has to hope students rushing out of prior class manage to leave the door open or find the assigned teacher with the extra key. Nick confirmed some initial issues he had at the same school with access to facilities and classroom, also internet access issues.

Carleen reminded that all instructors teaching dual credit can email her (and copy Rachel) with facility concerns or other issues. We can speak to the ACC dual enrollment partner for that school and try to resolve the issue. Please email if you are not given proper classroom setup or access to facilities which impedes teaching. These issues should be included in the Econ SWOT. 

There was inquiry as to the full time economics position and shortage of adjuncts. Carleen thanked Luke and Lei for all of the interviewing of potential adjuncts with these last two position postings. Unfortunately the majority of those potential adjunct faculty were not available during the day and or were only interested in distance learning. 

Motion to adjourn

Approved