The Citadel Faculty Council Meeting Minutes

I. Call To Order

Chair Mailloux called the meeting of the Faculty Council to order.

II. Attendees (substitutes shown in parentheses)

III. Approval of Minutes from Last Meeting

The draft minutes of the September meeting were sent out prior to this meeting. Comments or corrections were requested. The minutes were approved without changes or corrections. Chair Mailloux pointed out that the next meeting will be November 18, 2010, which conflicts with Graduate Council.

IV. Report from LTGEN Rosa and BGEN Hines

Before introducing the speakers, Chair Mailloux thanked LTGEN Rosa and BGEN Hines for raising faculty research monies back to original levels. LTGEN Rosa pointed out that the stock market has rebounded allowing the levels to be restored. LTGEN Rosa also said that the library renovation was done with private money and that the library staircase looks great. LTGEN Rosa went on to explain South Carolina’s Budget Control Board including Sen. Hugh Leatherman’s approach to tuition increases. The Citadel is unique with its all-in costs; in actuality, the tuition increase is 6.3%, not 13%.  LTGEN Rosa pointed out that it’s possible that bigger legislative issues may affect us such as the cap on out-of state enrollment, cap on tuition, financial transparency requirement, creation of a Board of Regents across all state colleges, and implementation of regulatory reform.  LTGEN Rosa discussed the executive vice president search. Dennis Bergvall has been named vice president for institutional advancement. The alignment of support organizations and new academic support (for three new faculty members) from The Citadel Foundation will allow us to plan in conjunction (rather than in parallel) with the Brigadier Foundation and the Alumni Association.

A question was asked about the original justification for the executive vice president position allowing BGEN Hines to focus on academic areas, and what BGEN will do or not do in the future after the executive vice president position is filled. LTGEN Rosa said that BGEN Hines is the #2 person at The Citadel, serves as the chief academic officer and the person in charge when LTGEN Rosa is away.  The transition from the old chief financial officer model to the executive vice president model will allow each vice president to be given operating funds. The President will control where funds go. Budget decisions have to reflect strategic initiatives.

A question was asked about the risk of losing quality due to online courses. LTGEN Rosa said it was important to balance online teaching with other teaching, and gave the example of a Citadel cadet taking Citadel online courses to improve his GPA and add credits. Fifty percent of MBA students are online. Faculty need the right tools and equipment, and the Foundation is being asked for money to support these efforts. BGEN Hines pointed out that online courses are faculty driven, cited that Norwich has some 100% online graduate programs, pointed out that new faculty are familiar with distance learning, and that these efforts meet the community needs described in strategic initiative #8.

A council member asked for clarification about running the school like a business. Did this mean the academic side or just the financial side?  LTGEN Rosa said antiquated day-to-day systems made financial analysis take days, not hours.

A question was asked about adding a few days to Parents’ weekend to create a fall break.  BGEN Hines said that a change like that would conflict with retention goals.  There was some discussion about the value of the long Thanksgiving break. LTGEN Rosa said perhaps they could revisit the idea of adding another day with parents.

A council member echoed Chair Mailloux’s appreciation for the restoration of travel funds and asked about restoring last year’s grants to full levels. BGEN Hines said that they need permission from the Foundation to keep the rollover that would allow that. New scholarship funds were hurt by the stock market downturn.

A question was asked about looking at student data by gender to determine why female students decide to enroll. The focus on science, math and engineering could be used to attract more females to The Citadel.

A council member said that there was discomfort in his department about faculty not receiving raises in three years. LTGEN Rosa said that faculty/staff need pay raises in the next two years.  LTGEN Rosa also mentioned that two dean searches are ahead for Science and Mathematics, and Engineering.

A comment was made by a council member about the college losing sight of its core purpose. BGEN Hines said that we have not lost our touchstone. The council member went on to say that the blueprint has too many words and that it is difficult to keep track of more than three purposes.

Chair Mailloux made a point about the delicate balance between academic and military demands and asked why more and more students dropped courses. LTGEN Rosa talked about why four-year graduation rates weren’t higher than 60%, why students carry such high academic loads each semester, why students drop out after junior year, why getting the ring is bigger than graduating, and how we can help students balance academic and military demands. BGEN Hines said that student engagement data will be taken to each school.

A council member said that juniors get more disciplinary actions against them than other students. LTGEN Rosa commented on knob-mores, sophomores who are not part of the leadership team and are not prepared for junior/senior roles. It is hoped that CIT201 will help to give sophomores responsibility for freshmen. Other comments were made about upperclassmen falling behind academically and ROTC responsibilities being time consuming.

LTGEN Rosa concluded by saying that they plan to pay attention to the budget but address other issues, too.

V. Adjournment

Chair Mailloux adjourned the meeting at 12:25 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Elizabeth Connor, Secretary