Date: 9/01/2015
Called to Order: 1:00
Present: Lorna Nelson, Brittney Cochrane, Kimberly French, Tim Roads, Deborah Bauer, Joy Adams, Vicki Bowman, Stephanie Keener, Ume Kalsoom, and Matthew Godsoe
Absent: Dexter Smith, Emily Muniz, Nancy Mitchell
- Lorna opened the meeting by having everyone introduce themselves. Welcomes new members, student members. Made sure everyone signed up for active members.
- Brittney volunteered to chair the committee; she will send out an appeal for a new recorder. Since Brittney no longer works in the Admissions & Records Office, Brittany Smith will now be the representative from the Admissions & Records Office.
- Student Snapshot was discussed. Lorna asked members to share, especially with new faculty.
- Kimberly reported on the Mentor Program for new students, with Student Ambassadors.
- Deborah reported that through her technology trainings offered for students at the library, she has recognized that students are woefully unprepared for the basic use of technology, including Windows, printing, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. She also said that it’s nearly impossible to get students to attend the voluntary workshops.
- Kimberly noted that she also struggles with attendance at the HELP Workshops we offers.
- Joy noted that there is an ITE tutor at the SSC now. Other possible options were discussed to provide and require basic training for students.
- After discussion, Tim suggested a survey be sent out to faculty, with Kevin Riley’s help, to ask how critical these initial technology skills are for students in their classes. Brittney will send out an email to the committee with survey questions and once agreed upon, work with Kevin to get the survey created.
- Stephanie mentioned that maybe Workforce could possibly help with offering some sort of IT training class. She said she would follow up with what she is able to find out.
- Matt mentioned how a reason for low attendance at the HELP Workshops might be because of the name and suggested that the name gets changed. He mentioned that, as a student, he feels that the term Workshop comes off as intimidating. Kimberly and Matt discussed some other possible options for the name.
- Brittney reported that the Enrollment Support Center is up and running in Counseling; students can drop/add, work on financial aid, and a variety of other tasks—with help. Hours: 8-6 M-TH and 8-5 F.
- Tim suggested to make faculty syllabi available to students as they are trying to decide which courses to take. Members unanimously agreed on the value of this so that students can get basic course information up front, including textbooks and general course requirements. This could be done via Counselors, or perhaps in a more streamlined way. Tim Rhoads agreed to take this issue to the next Faculty Association meeting. It was agreed that we would need to map out the channels of communication to try to bring this change about. We will wait to hear back from Tim talking with the Faculty Association. Lorna will send an email to Muriel about the suggestion as well.
- Joy reported that the SSC has hired new tutors. The Committee discussed the importance of the SSC for student success.
- Questions were raised by Vickie about the horrid traffic situation, as well as parking tickets at the beginning of the semester. It was suggested that both items should be referred to the Safety Committee. Brittney will send an email to the Safety Committee about the possibility of having better signage for parking, especially during the first week or two of classes.
- The meeting was adjourned at 1:43