February 24, 2005

Members Present:
Stephen Tomasovic, Ph.D., Committee Chair
Michael Ahearn, Ph.D.
Dr. Toya Candelari, Dr.PH.
Justin Faye
Donna Hemphill
Kathy Hoffman
Robert Jenkins
Victoria Knutson, Ph.D.
George Stancel, Ph.D.
Jon Wiener, Ph.D.

Members Absent:
Shaun Caldwell
Marilyn Greer, Ph.D.
Weldon Gage
Shreya Kant
Marvin L. Meistrich, Ph.D.
George Stancel, Ph.D.

Justin Faye of the Radiation Therapy Program and Joint Student Affairs Council has joined the committee as the new student representative for SHS. Robert Armand of the Education Research and Assessment department attended the meeting as a guest to discuss the status of the SACS website. Robert has been working with Internet Services to create the website and establish a site map and style. The site consists mostly of HTML and web pages for easy navigation. Dr. Tomasovic inquired about when the Core Requirements can be uploaded for public review. Robert has indicated that a temporary site can be set up to allow public interaction. To avoid excessive work or duplication, Dr. Tomasovic suggested uploading the official site for public review without direct access and add a caveat informing reviewers to forward revisions or comments to Robert Armand. Once the revisions are received they would be reviewed by the appropriate staff to determine if the changes are applicable.

Dr. Tomasovic asked the committee to review the minutes of the February 9, meeting. All corrections were noted and will be recorded as stated.

Dr. Jack Allen discussed the dates of the visitation with Dr.'s Tomasovic and Greer. Dr. Allen is currently seeking a chair for the accreditation committee and members from other institutions to serve on the site team the week of August 8th - 11th. All key persons have been asked to reserve this calendar week. Although this week is reserved, it will not be all day or everyday for everyone. Once the actually dates are confirmed, additional correspondence will be provided regarding the agenda and departmental visitations. Dr. Tomasovic discussed the potential arrival of the site team. The Chair, which is usually the CEO or president of another university, may come one day prior to the team to review details and initiate preliminary conversations with the president and others. It is also possible that another member of the site team may arrive one day early to visit one of the distance locations in Dallas or Science Park. A group of MDACC staff are currently scheduled to visit Smithville and Bastrop on April 25th to bring the site current on the SACS accreditation process and determine any areas that may need to be addressed or improved. The information obtained from the distance site visit will be compiled along with other MDACC documentation and forwarded for review by Dr. Margaret Sullivan. Dr. Sullivan is tentatively scheduled to visit the institution on April 27th. Dr. Allen and an additional representative discussed with Dr.'s Tomasovic and Greer the transferability of the AAS terminal degree individuals to MDACC. Dr. Ahearn has indicated that they will no longer accept AAS terminal degree individuals, but may conduct the courses themselves in the fall. Dr.'s Tomasovic and Greer also discussed with Dr. Allen potential sources for site visitors. The compiled list of visitors included the University of Tennessee, The Medical College of Georgia, Emory University, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, and the University of South Florida - Moffett. In response to the inquiry ofadvance notice, Dr. Tomasovic responded at least a couple of months.

Dr. Tomasovic discussed recent revisions made to the Core Requirements.

• CR. 2.1 Revised narrative and changed exhibits due to Board of Regents change in numbering system.

• CR. 2.2 Revised narrative and changed exhibits due to Board of Regents change in numbering system.

• CR. 2.3 Revised to include citations in Board of Regents rules as well as biographical information for the president.

• CR. 2.4 Minor revisions as suggested by Dr. Sullivan.

• CR. 2.5 Documentation will be updated after meeting with Management Committee.

• CR. 2.6 Minor revisions.

• CR 2.7 Prepared matrix for general assessment and academic profile. Components of each educational program still in progress.

• CR. 2.7.1 Need to change text to indicate that a minimum of 24 hours is required to graduate for a masters degree.

• CR. 2.8 Revisions applied that address how the school can operate independently of the UTHSC-H. Dr. Wiener suggested a

• CR. 2.9 Kathy Hoffman has revised narrative and provided a substantial amount of detail.

• CR. 2.10 Revised narrative; provided table of documentation; and a demographic assessment per Dr. Sullivan's request. A matrix will be developed by Dr. Greer consisting of staff credentials.

• CR. 2.11 Revised narrative and will be forwarding 28 PDF files.