Review of Core Requirement 5 - Weldon Gage
Mr. Weldon Gage reported on the status of Core Requirement 5. The major portion of the Requirement is the Financial Plan. The source for the Financial Plan is the Economic Forecasting Model which is updated annually. Mr. Gage expects to have an updated Economic Forecasting Model available in January or February.

The Strategic Plan section of the Requirement was the latest document submitted to UT System. Mr. Gage indicated although the editing could be completed in sections, editing was not recommended. Mr. Gage will contact the Coastal Facilities Division before the next meeting to obtain any appropriate updates on the Campus Master Plan.

Review of Core Requirement 8 - Spitzenberger/Stancel
Ms. Cheryl Spitzenberger (Spitz) reported for GSBS on the status of Core Requirement 8. A copy of the updated GSBS faculty list was provided to all attendees. Spitz pointed out specific revisions made to the list which included the deletion of duplicate faculty records, removal of former MD Anderson faculty, the addition of new faculty and the addition of faculty from the Smithville off-site location. Ms. Spitz indicated that she did not double check the numbers for the loads and duties. It was her recollection that Dr. Nelson had already performed the task in December of last year. Ms. Spitz concluded that she would be able to provide documentation explaining reasons for terminations as well as any documentation needed for all new faculty. In addition, Ms. Spitz submitted a file containing biosketches of all faculty added since June to Ms. Maxine Stredic, administrative assistant. Dr. Greer inquired about a very large file that Dr. Nelson had submitted in December that included faculty loads and duties. Ms. Spitz agreed to forward a hard copy of the file.

Dr. George Stancel added that it may be worthwhile to add a sentence that states all GSBS faculty members are reviewed by a Faculty Membership Committee of Peers and re-reviewed every 3 to 5 years; to avoid giving the impression to an outside reviewer that GSBS faculty member credentials are not reviewed. Dr. Stancel also wondered if faculty who are in the graduate school, but not in MD Anderson, should be included on the list. Dr. Greer will contact Dr. Ann Chard at SACS and inquire if GSBS faculty in the UTHSC should be included or the submission should be limited to the GSBS faculty at M.D. Anderson.

Review of Core Requirement 9 - Hoffman
Ms. Kathy Hoffman reported on the status of Core Requirement 9. Core Requirement 9 confirms that we provide an extensive library and learning technology infrastructure that more than adequately supports student and faculty. In verifying Core Requirement 9, Ms. Hoffman has summarized the eight pages in the original application into one page with an emphasis on resources as well as provided links to a number of sites on the webpage to obtain more information. Dr. Greer suggested that work that Ms. Hoffman had performed this summer concerning tracking usage of online library services by Distance Ed students may be beneficial to add more discussion on the subject.

Dr. Ahearn suggested for Comprehensive Standard 25 that more narrative be provided about the availability of resources. Per advisement from Dr. Ahearn, Ms. Hoffman will provide additional narrative on the availability of library resources. Kathy explained that the type of access made available to the students via the proxy server includes access to online collections and electronic research. She also agreed to provide more information on how this access is provided.

Ms. Hoffman inquired if she needed to include anything in the Core Requirement or Comprehensive Standard on Library Resources. Dr. Greer commented that similar information was already available in the application.

Ms. Hoffman stated that the A&M documentation had a separate report for each library. She asked if the same would need to be performed for MD Anderson. Dr. Tomasovic suggested that the narrative could point out that the current facilities are adequate and as the institution plans to grow, M.D. Anderson's capital campaign will include plans to expand the library facility to meet the student growth.

Following discussion, it was suggested that summary information from students concerning their perceptions of the Research Medical Library would be included in the responses. Additionally, Spitz would provide a disk from a recent UTHSC Student Survey which included questions about the Research Medical Library. Dr. Tomasovic stated that all graduating students were asked to complete a survey in the exit interview; certain questions in the survey referred to the library and could be referred to if needed.

Comprehensive Standards, Governance & Administration (4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 15 ) - Greer
Dr. Greer stated that her computer crashed and consequently she was unable to provide an updated list for the meeting. She provided a hard copy of the Regents Rules and stated that she knew where to obtain the information but was unable to access the internet to copy and forward the information.

Comprehensive Standards, Governance & Administration (13) - Hemphill
Ms. Hemphill stated that she has begun entering the text for the Core Requirement and that most of the text entered was then copied to the Comprehensive Standard. She requested guidance because everything they do relates back to the financial stability of the institution which is supported by the audit and the management letter and she is unsure of what other information can be included. The Core Requirement will cover the budgeting portion and will be fairly lengthy. The Standard is a duplication of the Core Requirement, but the financial information was loaded into the response for the Comprehensive Standard because Ms. Hemphill felt it was better to have more information than to have too little information. The Standard can be edited to delete the duplication if necessary.

Dr. Greer suggested that Ms. Hemphill reference the audit and management letter. Because the audit was not available on-line, a copy would be provided as documentation for the Core Requirement and Comprehensive Standard. Online documentation included the financials which are in .pdf format. Ms. Hemphill indicated that all financials are addressed thru the audit which is currently being performed for fiscal year 2003. The audit should be complete in December at which time it can be updated in the report.

Comprehensive Standard, Governance & Administartion (14) - Hemphill/Gage/Greer
Dr. Greer will format information she has in regard to Government Administration and will then meet with responsible parties to discuss how to formulate the responses.

Comprehensive Standard, Library & Other Learning Resources (25,26, 27) - Hoffman
Ms. Hoffman provided narratives to the committee for three Comprehensive Standards that related to the library.

1.     Comprehensive Standard 25: Explains that the library provides facilities, services and other learning resources that are appropriate to support teaching, research and service mission; describes the physical facility; summarizes the resources; provides detailed information on library access, and provides additional links.

2.     Comprehensive Standard 26: The library ensures users have access to regular and timely instruction in the use of the library and other learning/information resources; describes the classes the library provides at no charge to the students; mentions the increase in the use of the library's classrooms within the last year and provides additional links.

3.     Comprehensive Standard 27: Library has sufficient number of qualified staff and appropriate education and experience; first paragraph summarizes staffing levels and degrees held by librarian; some detail provided on the services provided. The library provides a full scope of services. Links will also be provided in the application for all the position descriptions, CV's and resumes of professional and support staff as well as the organizational chart as soon as all the names are compiled.

Educational Programs (3, 4, 6, 8, 11, 29) - Jenkins
Mr. Robert Jenkins provided written documentation to the committee.

1.     Comprehensive Standard #3: States that the institution publishes admission policies which are consistent with its mission. Mr. Jenkins researched what was done in the 2000 Health Science Center Review and included items within the catalog. In each statement the catalog will serve as the documentation. A link had not originally been included in the write-up, but Mr. Jenkins will provide a link for the GSBS and MD Anderson catalog. The write-up mentioned qualitative and quantitative requirements which are also published in the catalog. The write-up also included specific topics such as GPA, degrees earned, previous education, and previous work experience; all items that the Admissions Committee uses to form decisions.

2.     Comprehensive Standard #4: States that the institution has a defined and published policy for evaluating, awarding and accepting credits. The write-up indicated that the only courses accepted for credit for GSBS or Anderson were those courses that have come from an originally credited institution. A comment was added to the write-up that no credit is awarded for experiential learning or advanced placement with the exception of the SHS programs.

3.     Comprehensive Standard #6: States the institution has sound and acceptable practices for determining the amount and level of credit awarded, regardless of format or mode of delivery. Mr. Jenkins requested assistance from the programs in this area because those actions are not performed in the registrar's office.

4.     Comprehensive Standard #8: States that the institution awards academic credit for course work taken on a noncredit basis. Mr. Jenkins indicated that the only program they had was Grad Tech which is cited in the catalog. He will include an online link to the catalog.

5.     Comprehensive Standard #11: States that the institution protects the security, confidentiality and integrity of student academic records. Mr. Jenkins indicated in the write-up how the records are physically secured within the office. Office security includes motion detectors, and a safe which is located in a vault. Microfilm records from the past are kept off-site at another facility. All computer records are backed up nightly on the SIS mainframe. Mr. Jenkins said that transcripts are kept on file indefinitely in both paper and electronic (imaged) format. The paper format is kept on file with the state for the useful life of the document or until imaged. The last paragraph of the write-up talks about being FERPA compliant and following FERPA guidelines. There is not currently any documentation available on the retention policy, but Mr. Jenkins will include information along with link.

6.     Comprehensive Standard #29: Student Affairs Activities. Mr. Jenkins also requests assistance from programs in this area. He indicated that he would do the write-up and place online.

Determination of Compliance
A question was posed as to who determines if M.D. Anderson is in compliance with the Core Requirements and Comprehensive Standards. Dr. Tomasovic responded stating that each committee member was the authority for the standard for the institution. Dr. Tomasovic indicated that SACS is trying to move away from strict critieria because the standards can be accomplished in different ways.

M. D. Anderson's Strategic Vision Document and Education Strategic Plan
Dr. Tomasovic made mention of Dr. Kripke's Leadership Team which is currently working on Dr. Mendolsohn's Strategic Vision document. The overall bullets include: institutional strategy for the next 5 to 6 years; a strategic plan specifically for Education, Core Research Prevention, Care and Education as well as some subset goals. The draft of these items will be circulated for comment to the Education Council. Dr. Tomasovic indicated that M. D. Anderson is building specific references to education and the graduate program into the institutional documentation.

Dr. Tomasovic stated that there would be a separate Education Strategic Plan and the area that the Compliance Committee would need to focus on is the financial part of the outcome matrix. Mr. Gage indicated that the Economic Model should be updated in January or February 2003. During this update, it would be appropriate to be thinking about some measures and metrics to be included in the report.