October 09, 2003

Members Present:
Michael Ahearn, Ph.D.
Shaun Caldwell
Marilyn Greer, Ph.D.
Donna Hemphill
Kathy Hoffman
Shreya Kant
Patrick Martin
Robert Jenkins (permanent replacement for Lois Monroe)
George Stancel, Ph.D.
Stephen Tomasovic, Ph.D., Committee Chair
Jon Wiener, Ph.D.

Members Absent:
Weldon Gage
Victoria Knutson, Ph.D.

The minutes of the meeting on September 24 were approved as recorded.

As stated in the September 24 meeting, an application for accreditation has been submitted to SACS. Once SACS reviews the information, they will schedule a staff visit to discuss the compliance report. The in depth documentation of the of SACS processes initiated by Dr. Tomasovic, Dr. Ahearn, and Dr. Greer, has the committee operating ahead of schedule to complete the compliance report as opposed to waiting until after the visit to begin. This decision has proved beneficial because no official date for the staff visit has been determined. The initial application submitted in June 2003 led to the assumption that a site visit would occur this fall, however, after receiving communication from Ann Chard, the Associate Director, and senior person handling our application, the site visit may not occur until the winter or spring. This does not negate the desire of the committee to have the compliance report completed in early Spring 2004.

Email communications indicated that attempts to complete current assignments using the previous template led to reduced formatting capabilities and complications using .PDF files and protected tables. Dr. Greer has formatted the SACS Application Submission into a Microsoft Word document file. Committee members were advised to use the new CD labeled "SACS Application Microsoft Word Format." The new CD contains all Core Requirements (1 through 11). Using the new CD each member can pull up the Core Requirement assigned at the last meeting and print out or view on screen the information submitted in the original application. If the information on the CD is not up to date, it can be edited and updated with more current data. Once the Core Requirement(s) information has been entered by the committee member it can be forwarded in an email attachment to Dr. Greer. It was advised for departments submitting vast input to the Core Requirement to submit via diskette.

Robert Jenkins, Associate Registrar for The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, will replace Lois Monroe, Registrar for The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

Handouts were distributed to all committee members outlining assignments by date for the Comprehensive Standards. Dr. Greer led the discussion and asked that all committee members review the schedule. The assignments were distributed as evenly as possible. The goal is to have both the Core Requirements and Comprehensive Standards completed by the December 17 meeting. The December meeting is expected to consist of catching up on any documentation and verifying that all information has been submitted. The actual website information should be available in December for committee feedback and any requested changes.

A folder of SACS Core Requirement documentation was distributed to each committee member at the beginning of the meeting. Dr. Greer opened the floor to committee members to review and provide updates of their assignments.

1. Review of Core Requirement 8 Documentation: Shaun Caldwell, faculty representative for SHS, addressed Core Requirement 8 which deals with faculty credentials and committee assignments. Mr. Caldwell wrote a narrative that addressed the number of full-time professors, assistant professors, instructors, assistant instructors currently at SHS, as well as adjunct faculty that are teaching, student faculty ratio, pass rate by national certification, and employment rates. Shaun suggested that more justification may be required because some areas may have a higher student/faculty ratio (above twelve students per faculty member). Dr. Ahearn responded to the suggestion and indicated that the student/ faculty ratio at this time is sufficient. Dr. Ahearn also suggested that it would not be beneficial to add additional faculty that do not currently have credentials on file.

Shaun suggested that a narrative should be added to the report that would help SACS understand that SHS is promoting faculty development through several projects, including Classrooms for the 21st Century as well as the MDACC tuition reimbursement program. Dr. Tomasovic requested that Shaun add narrative documentation about the Faculty Development program and list some of the other 40 events provided by the institution such as Time Management, Office Organization, Balancing Career Life, Dealing with Difficult Situations, How to Hire and Fire. There are a vast array of MDACC sponsored faculty programs that are free and available to the faculty. Janice Apted, Director of Faculty Development, can be contacted to provide a table of faculty development events that have occurred in the past two years.

Mr. Caldwell provided approximately one paragraph of documentation, and updated all the faculty tables.

Dr. Greer is currently recruiting a faculty member that would be able to review the GSBS faculty rosters and verify all faculty credentials. The GSBS representatives requested that Ms. Cheryl Spitzenberger be contacted to verify faculty information.

2. Review of Core Requirement 9 Documentation: Kathy Hoffman is currently working on Library Resources, Core Requirement 9. Ms. Hoffman requested advisement on whether the narrative submitted should be condensed. Dr. Greer will contact our SACS representative, Dr. Ann Chard, as to the preferred length of the responses. Dr. Tomasovic will be attending a SACS workshop on the 1st of December in Nashville and requested that the committee maintain a list of questions that can be presented to representatives at the workshop.

3. Review of Core Requirement 10 Documentation: Dr. Ahearn, Patrick Martin, and Shreya Kant are working on Student Programs. Dr. Ahearn indicated that the documentation previously submitted adequately outlined the information for the response. Dr. Ahearn feels that their area is adequate. Patrick Martin voiced only one concern regarding students having difficulty with deciding pricing for the Recreation Center. Mr. Martin was referred to Mr. Charlie Figari, Vice President and Chief Auxilliary Enterprises Officer at The University of Texas Health Science Center - Houston, to address the concerns and verify the SHS student price for use of the recreational facilities.

4. Review of Core Requirement 11 Documentation: Donna Hemphill is the committee member assigned to Core Requirement 11. Ms. Hemphill had one recommendation which included drafting in the financial information from the application previously submitted and inserting current audit information from the independent audit prior to the submittal of the compliance report. Dr. Tomasovic concurred with her recommendation.

5. Review of Core Requirement 7 Documentation: Dr. Stancel reported for GSBS on the graduate degrees awarded by GSBS. This report addressed parts a through d. GSBS is in compliance with all requirements applicable to the GSBS program.

ERA has a target date of October 16 to develop an on-line, real-time input screen for all compliance committee members to use. Members may postpone data entry until the online system is available. Members are asked to edit submittal on local desktop and then plug into online system. The information from the online system will be used to complete the Compliance Report.

The meeting adjourned at 1:53 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for:
Wednesday, October 22, 1:30 - 2:30 P.M., HMB10.103
Submitted for review by Maxine Stredic, Education Research and Assessment

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