Academic Advisory Council Minutes

Tuesday, February 6, 2001

Approved 03.06.01

Members Present	Sheryl Hruska, Chair, Dave Barkan, Kay Carlson, Vern Dooley, Duane Fish, Virginia Fish, Mike Masterson, Ronda Peer, Gary Sturmer, Richard Wilson, Floyd Young
Members Absent	Kay Crosby, Jim Elias
Liaisons Absent	Linda Newell
Call To Order	The Academic Advisory Council met on Tuesday, February 6, 2001, at 8:00 a.m. in the Trapper Room. Sher Hruska, Chair, presided as the meeting was called to order, and the recording secretary was present.
Agenda	Action: MSP (vote was unanimous): Agenda was approved as written.
Minutes	Action: MSP (vote was nine in favor, two abstentions): Minutes from the January 10, 2001, retreat were approved as written.
Academic Calendar for 2002-2003	Virginia explained the draft of an Academic Calendar for 2002-2003 and asked members for comments. Items of discussion were: is a week-long break necessary; should there be a 4-day break at Easter; how evening classes should be scheduled; Scholarship Day timing and process. This draft will be edited and forwarded to Administrative Staff for review with final approval being given by the President.
Schedule	Virginia reminded members that sheets for entering summer schedule will be done soon. The importance of submitting on a timely basis was discussed. Virginia also told members that she is planning a campaign to let the campus know that "Thursday, April 12, is really a Monday."
Course Fees	A summary of requested course fees will be reviewed by the Board of Trustees at their February 12, 2001, meeting. Members discussed which courses should have pass-through fees as opposed to regular fees. It was agreed that the BOT summary will have a message at the bottom indicating which courses have pass-through fees. These courses will not be listed in the schedule as requiring fees. The total cost for courses with pass-through fees will be paid equally by the number of students enrolled in the courses.
Web Advisor	Sher told the Council that a pilot group for training of Web Advisor will be put together. Depending on how well Web Advisor works, it is hoped that it will be up and running prior to pre-registration.
Instructional Capacity	The Board of Trustees has asked Sher for a projection of anticipated enrollment capacity. The Board is interested in the relation of enrollment to the college's finances and target statements. A table entitled "Student FTE Capacity Calculation" was distributed for members review. Sher asked members for comments so she can write a summary to be attached to the table for review by the BOT. The final copy will be attached to the next agenda as an "FYI."
Studio Art course loading issues	Mike Masterson told members that the Art Department has prepared a proposal which will be presented to Curriculum Committee at their meeting later today. He distributed a memo (see attached) which detailed the reasons for requesting that the Art Studio classes be changed from four hours of contact per class to six hours of contact time while credit hours stay the same for students. The explanation memo said the primary reasons for the change involve pedagogical improvements, national standards and articulation. Proposed changes meet national standards, better serve student practice needs, and stop threatened articulation problems. Faculty will now have more contact hours with students per week, per class. The changes are strongly supported by the Art faculty for these reasons. A lengthy discussion about the pros and cons of the proposal ensued. Some of the concerns raised were: course schedule conflicts for more students; questions about availability of enough art seats for interested students; a possible decrease in the number of students taking art courses as electives; what impact the change would have on the institution and other departments; would the change make the Art department vulnerable and look too expensive; the fact that credit hour would not match load hours could cause a ripple effect across the other divisions and a fairness issue could arise; what long-term costs will be. There was agreement that the change would improve the quality of the classes and articulation. Impact of the change on enrollment and program costs will need to be monitored.
Adjournment	The meeting adjourned at 10:15 a.m.

Respectfully submitted by Becki Rodriguez, Recording Secretary

Memorandum

To: Curriculum Committee

CC: AAC, Dean Hruska, Dean Fish

From: Mike Masterson, Visual and Performing Arts Division Chair

Date: February 5, 2001

Re: Requested change in Art Studio Classes from 4 hours of contact per class to 6 hours

This is a summary of the Art Department proposal to add two more hours of lab time to their studio classes.

Their primary reasons for this change involve pedagogical standards and articulation agreements. Proposed changes meet national standards, better serve student needs, and stop on-going articulation problems.

The National Schools of Art and Design ask that studio art students work under faculty supervision a total of 6 hour per week. Our Art faculty want to meet these standards.

Presently, NWC studio classes meet for 4 hours with faculty load defined as 2 hours lecture and 2 hours lab for a total three-hour load.

Studio classes went from 240 minutes contact time per week to 200 minutes with the class schedule change back to 50 minute classes.

With the proposed change, studio courses will have 2 hours lecture and 4 hours of lab. Contact time per week will be 300 minutes. Faculty load per studio course will be 4 hours.

Faculty course load will become 4 courses rather than 5.

Faculty/student contact time will increase from 20 to 24 hours per week.

Articulation problems with regional and national universities will go away.

Our Art faculty will achieve a curriculum goal they've desired for years.

An adjunct will be needed for the Intro to Art classes and perhaps Design 2D if Renee Tafoya teaches a course in the Graphic Arts Dept. We already use 1 adjunct a semester so this is a minor change.

With more lab time more students can be accommodated in several classes so student capacity actually increases slightly. FTE potential remains the same. The Art Department served 482 students this year for a total of 129 FTEs.

As expected, IPED numbers do change when load numbers for faculty change. Using Fall 2000 enrollments for the adjusted schedule rotation, faculty load hours change from 53 to 60; full time equivalent faculty moves from 3.53 to 4.00 and faculty to student ratio moves from 18 to 15.

Total student contact hours grow from 72 to 92 hours a week.

Casper College, a NSAD accredited department, uses this model in their Art Department. A full load there is 7 studio classes per year.

Though not accredited through NSAD, LCCC and Sheridan College follow this model.

WWC follows this basic model but gives 1lecture and 5 or 4 lab hours depending on the course.

EWC has 1 lecture, 3 lab hours.

CWC has 3 lecture hours for the faculty, and a 3 hour lab with lab techs doing some of the supervision. The new art instructor prefers the national standard model and knows that they have articulation problems too.

UW expects this model for transfer courses and has been critical of our curriculum. Enclosed is a letter from UW Art Department chair, Mary Jane Edwards, advocating this change.

Our Art Department will become more attractive for hiring and retention.