CAS Meeting Minutes

March 23, 2006

Rose Parlor

12-1:15 p.m.

The meeting was called to order at 12:03 pm.

I. Approval of Minutes: The minutes from the February meeting were amended and approved.

II. Academic Support Services and INT 115: Dean Harris discussed ways in which to integrate academic skills and support services in the newly structured INT courses to be offered in fall 2006.

She handed out a document entitled A New Definition of First Year Success (From Upcraft & Barefoot, Challenging and Supporting First-Year Student. Jossey-Bass, 2005). She also shared her experiences at the conferences she had attended recently and reported that Trinity was steps ahead of many other institutions in the following ways:

· The First Year Seminar offering

· The service learning component in many of our courses

· Many other schools offer a student success model; however, Trinity also emphasizes the importance of teaching students content from various disciplines.

Harris explored ways that we could successfully integrate academic skills in the first year seminar.

She pointed to a syllabus from Dickinson University that showcased a model in which faculty and library staff were invited to the class to share various resources with students. She then explained the resources that were available to our students through Academic Support Services:

· L. Irwin specializes in learning skills, learning styles, time management, and study habits.

· F. Turner is very familiar with the Discover program and could discuss career paths with students.

· M. Earnest from Disability Support Services would be prepared to explore ways to help students identify study strategies for their academic success.

· T. Griffin from the Future Focus program can help students develop strategies that are useful for student success.

· D. Peppin specializes in intercultural communication and study abroad options. She would be a great resource to help students find support with respect to English as a second language, adjustment to U.S. culture and so on.

· K. Rowan would focus on developing writing skills in the First year and throughout college.

· K. Gaypen and the library staff could address library skills and information technology.

D. Harris also pointed out that the staff from the Health and Wellness staff was another resource. Academic Support Services would very much like to work with CAS faculty in the curriculum development phase of the INT 115 offering.

Shafer responded that with all the resources from Academic Support Services there seemed to be no room left for course content. She suggested that a schedule be developed to address the areas that the students needed to know.

Harris clarified that the Support Services staff would be invited in bi-weekly.

Hayes posed the question: “What’s the point?” and volunteered to work towards the development of a content-oriented course, which would be part of a comprehensive 1^st year program. She asked what the goal of the new INT format was.

Ocampo, Co-Chair of the CAS-CAP committee explained the two goals based on the feedback from the Roundtable Discussions at the December 2005 CAS meeting:

1. Community building among first year students, bonding students to each other, CAS, and the university; and

2. Increased academic preparedness.

Ocampo noted that faculty indicated that they were not interested in a theme-focused seminar. She also reiterated that this format would be utilized only for the next academic year and then it would be evaluated. The new format would be a first year seminar at the introductory level in students’ disciplines. The shared experience would occur through the academic content and service learning.

Rampolla stated that there were skills that students needed to acquire in the first year, and they needed to be taught across the curriculum. She stated that it seemed that we were creating the previous INT model.

Ocampo explained a possible model that would be employed in the future: A Critical Thinking course would be offered in the Fall and then a seminar in the Spring with more preparation.

Blanshan shared the discussion from the CAS-CAP committee and pointed out that the new format would not focus on a shared topic but allow faculty to choose their own focus with some infusion of academic skills that the academic support staff would help to design.

Hayes stated that there was a shared previous understanding across disciplines about what outcomes would be.

D. Harris explained that the INT 115 seminar was not intended to do everything for the first year students. The new format would provide some of the goals in INT as one course.

Farnsworth supported M. Rampolla and Hayes. She contended that the same problems would occur even with the new format. She suggested a smaller enrollment of about 15 students. She asked how the Academic Support Services staff would accommodate the new schedule of 13 INT sections.

Oyewole noted that the conversation was very rich and important. She noted that we were in the process of revising the FLC and that this new INT format was a “stop gap measure” to continue what is currently a critical part of the FLC.

Tomkins stated that faculty would have to design a course, syllabi, and assignment models that would be needed before summer 2006.

Harris stated that she would like to meet with all the faculty teaching INT to continue the conversation.

III. Community Based Learning and INT 115

Moayedi stated that much is in place to support the INT, such as the assignments and service learning. Moayedi and B. Mc Crabb will help faculty identify those goals and objectives for the course. B. Mc Crabb will match INT class with good organizations that are compatible with the focus of the seminar.

Moayedi stated that honoraria were available for faculty who want to participate in service learning workshops. Student manuals are also available and adopted by CoRal to train other faculty in the area.

She explained how faculty could access service learning resources. From the Trinity webpage, go to Academics then Service Learning. She encouraged CAS faculty to search under “faculty” for syllabi in multiple disciplines that could serve as guides for the new course. Moayedi noted that this was the end of the grant to Trinity and although the university would re-apply it was unclear whether it would be given. On June 30, 2006, the university would learn if it qualified. In the event that the grant is not renewed, students would be asked to volunteer using their own funds for transportation.

McCrabb stated that there had been great success in the service learning component of the INT class and suggested that she and D. Harris meet with the entire INT faculty to discuss the issues that had been raised earlier in the meeting.

She stated that finding the right partner was based on the goals of the course. She urged faculty to clearly articulate those goals so that she could facilitate a match for the course. She then encouraged faculty who have worked with various community partners to share their experiences with the larger group.

Harris-Obrien, Chance and Parsons all shared positive experiences they and their students had with their community partners. All agreed that effectively linking the academic content to the service sites’ mission was critical.

IV. VPAA Updates

General Education Reform - In April after the Middle States visit Blanshan stated that she would work with the CAS-CAP to develop the membership of the Task Force. Stipends would be available for summer work. She stated that there could be one faculty development seminar to explore ways to meet the needs of the learner.

She mentioned that her office was involved in writing to the AACU to participate in two institutes. The first would be focused on general education and the second on greater expectations. The Office of Academic Affairs was involved in the process of getting faculty to participate in these institutes.

Blanshan also stated that upon the faculty’s return in August the faculty planning day would focus on general education reform.

CAS-CAP had been scheduled to meet with the Middles States team, and she noted that the team was interested in what the committee had learned through self-study around curricular issues.

Update on Searches – With respect to the CAS Dean Search, she stated that she was in the process of making brief phone calls. Résumés and letters would be placed in boxes for faculty review. She noted that the position description had been placed on Trinity’s website, the Chronicle of Higher Education, www.highered.com and other listservs.

The searches for the Director of the Center for International Security and the candidates for the Clare Luce fellowships were also underway. Presentations from the Math applications would also take place soon.

Shafer asked about the status of the Institutional Research position and the position of the Registrar. Blanshan stated that President Mc Guire was not sure if she would hire someone to fill the IR position. However, the Registrar’s position had been filled by C. Garcia who came from George Washington University as the Associate Registrar. He would later hire an Associate Registrar and there would be 2 positions left to fill.

She commended C. Geier for the tremendous job she performed as the university was making the transition in the Registrar’s office. Josh was also commended for his work in the absence of a full staff.

R. Easby noted that transfer student evaluations had not yet been done and stated that it was difficult to appropriately advise them. Blanshan stated that that was high on the priority list.

Hayes announced that on April 21, 2006, the 19^th Annual Capital Area Association of Peace Studies would be held. Students were invited to give presentations in areas of justice, peace and other areas. Several area universities would participate: AU, GW, CU, and Trinity.

Hayes stated that Timothy would put the conference information on the web. She urged the CAS faculty to recruit students. They would be required to make a 10-minute presentation on environmental, political international justice. Students would need to turn their work in to Hayes and then Hayes would work with the organization from there.

Summer schedule -- Henderson stated that it was being entered into the campus database. It would be ready for everyone’s review by the last week of March.

Fall schedule – Henderson mentioned that it was still being finalized and that more INT sections were needed.

D. Harris announced that the career fair was March 23 from 4-8 pm with 50 employers who would be present. She encouraged faculty to share the information with students.

L. Losada noted that students had noted that there were not many representatives from Natural Sciences.

R. Mc Guire announced the April 11 Annual Colloquium sponsored by the Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence.

Harris-Obrien announced that spaces were still available for students interested in attending a conference on Social Science perspectives in Health Care. It would be held at Temple University and students would leave that Saturday morning and return in the evening.

Blanshan reported on a trip to the CIA that she M. Rampolla and S. Farnsworth attended with a few students. It was a marvelous opportunity to meet persons in the Intelligence community, such as, spies, HR professionals, all of whom interacted well with the Trinity students in attendance.

K. Gaypen also organized a visit for the group to the Library of Congress to meet the third highest ranking official at the Library.

Respectfully submitted,

Diane A. Forbes Berthoud