HeadsUp

YOU MAKE IT HAPPEN!  I really appreciate the time and effort you put into our faculty meetings. Your insightful comments and positive feedback lets me know that we are discussing important issues.  Keep it up.  Below I've provided summary comments of issues we discussed at Wednesday's meeting as well as some news and notes that I promised.  Happy reading!

ACTION ITEMS

1) Char began the meeting with three proposals relative to certificates and MSAS options in conflict. 

• A motion was made to consider a new MSAS option in conflict management. Discussion centered around making this option distinct from the applied com option, for students not to substitute from one to the other, and staffing of the two new conflict courses. Motion passed unanimously.
• A motion was made to consider changes to the graduate certificate in conflict and dispute resolution. Discussion centered around two key changes: 1) addition of 1 course COM 611 and 6 hours of electives and 2)  an increase in the credit hours being tied to a change of 1 to 3 hours of COM 695: Internship. Those changes move the certificate from 16 to 18 hours. Char and Isabelle will coordinate the supervision of those placements.  Motion passed unanimously.
• A motion was made to reconsider the undergraduate certificate in conflict and dispute resolution. Discussion centered around issues associated with advisement of students into the certificate, optimal number of students we should admit, and double counting courses in certificate and the major and accelerated MA in COM. This discussion prompted the need to develop an advisement sheet for the certificate and a small committee to review applications and advise students.  Motion passed unanimously.

2)  Next we moved to discussion of changes to the Merit Plan suggested by Dean Adams. I reviewed the minor changes he requested and handed out an updated copy of the plan with those changes in bold.  The one item needing discussion and possible change was the point values associated with teaching the MO/London and China programs.  After a brief discussion about the original intent of assigning 20 points to each item, the faculty agreed to leave the points as they are.  The reasons revolve around getting due credit for the innovation and preparation for teaching internationally while still requiring points from another area to qualify for a 4 or 5 and providing assistance for additional points in teaching where service and research points may be disadvantaged during the time away from campus. I will forward the decision to Dr. Adams.

DISCUSSION ITEMS

1) I passed around a sign up sheet for COM 100 faculty visits. Thanks to those who signed up. I'll need Deborah and Janis to sign up, so they can come by the office and do that with me. Next I announced the formation of a COM 499 revision committee who's work will involve making recommendations for improvement to the current portfolio requirements. Next, I reviewed some advising issues relative to filing the degree plan (back side of the green admission to the major sheet). It's important that you develop the plan collaboratively with your advisee. You need to review it closely before submitting it for approval.  You should be checking for number of hours, pre-requisites, and all relevant coursework.
 

2) Finally, we spent some good discussion time on responses to Jim Applegate's site visit report.  I had asked everyone to compose a few comments to the report and we shared them as a group.  My plan was to get initial reactions during the meeting, but to have a more focused discussion at a subsequent meeting to flesh out specific ways we will respond in writing to the report. Thus, I have called another faculty meeting for Wednesday, October 24 at 3:00 in Craig 337. Please put that on your calendars. I'll have some drinks and snacks to keep us going!  Here are a few of the issues we discussed.

Best ideas:  we need to strategically focus on what our priorities will be, need to increase our recruitment efforts, the Basic Course is doing fine as is, our major numbers are okay and we should look for ways to increase minority recruitment, liked the idea of the culture of commitment, we need to incorporate our students in our research more strategically, the valuable role our instructors play

Issues to address/concern:  we need university support to continue the work we do specifically related to the CDR and online programs.  One mention was made of needing assistance with donor relations to facilitate the CDR's work.

The overall sentiment was that we've got a lot going on now and we need to strategically prioritize those key areas of success, while balancing our service obligations on campus and requesting university support where necessary.  There was concern for how to do that, while also being sure everyone's work is valued and supported.

**So, your assignment for next week's meeting is to consider the areas we discussed (and those that weren't and are important to you) in order to identify a priority YOU can get behind during the discussion. For instance, if you liked the issues associated with recruitment, I'd like you to develop some ideas for how frame that issue.  If instead, you were interested in identifying what our research priorities will be, you might develop some ideas there, etc.  I'm thinking that we might divide into interest groups to delve further into those areas listed above.  At the same time, as a whole group, we'll work to identify 3-4-5 areas of priority we will focus on in our report. We won't deal with specific action steps next week, just the bigger ideas. ** 

COLLEGE NEWS and OTHER NOTES

• A couple of announcements:
• The LPH induction ceremony will likely be November 28 at 2:00 in the PSU. Most everyone indicated they could attend at this time. And it was suggested I bring the COM 100 class to participate. I'll speak with Janis about that.
• November 1 is the deadline for you to complete the online health assessment to reduce your monthly health premium by $15. Go to the my information page on the website for that link.
• Just a quick note about watching use of transparencies as they are expensive.
• I will begin to include a link to the InCommon student blog for you to review at your convenience. I will do that in the email I send notifying you of a HeadsUp blog post.
  
• I've submitted our travel requests to the Dean's office and you've received a memo with your yearly allocation.
  
• I forwarded 3 major equipment request to the Dean's office. Those requests for the college have been prioritized and submitted to the Provost. We won't likely hear anything on that until early November. I requested additional DVD cameras for 115, 1 DVD duplicator for COM 115 speeches, and 2 sets of digital recorders and transcription equipment to support faculty research. The departments are now required to cover 10% of our total request and for us that's about $310. Not bad.
• Last month Char, Isabelle, and others submitted a Future's Initiative Proposal to support their Common Ground project. I'm happy to report that among all the college proposals, it ranked among the top 2 and has been forwarded to the Provost. That means the dean really supports it. The futures committee is currently reviewing all proposals.
  
• The Provost's office is also working hard to find creative ways to support external grants funded research projects. For instance, if you attended the all faculty luncheon in August, you saw that the top grant getters on campus received cash incentives from the Provost/President to the tune of $3,000-9,000.  She has asked each college to brainstorm ways to support and incentivize external grant applicants and funding.  Dean Adams is supportive of using college funds to provide grant writing support, cash incentives, and the like to encourage us to apply for and win grants externally. If you have an idea of how the college research coordinator (Carol Anne)  can develop such incentives, DO drop her a line.
• As of October 31, the News-Leader will no longer be available for free on campus. I guess the financial sponsor of the program is pulling out.
  
• Thanks to the Provost’s Research Incentive Program and the Asian Arts and Letters Initiative of the College of Arts and Letters, the Student Research Grants for Asian Studies are now available to students at Missouri State University. To support students’ travel and research in Asia, undergraduate and graduate students at any college are encouraged to apply. The deadline will be February 1, 2008. For more information, please contact Weirong Yan, Asian Arts and Letters Coordinator. Reference:
  http://coal.missouristate.edu/resources/StudentResearchGrantApplication.pdf
  

Again, thanks for your participation and attention.

Kelly 

Hey there, just wanted to drop you a quick note about some events this week and notes for advising as you begin to meet with advisees.  There really is no connection I intended, it was just an attention getter

Remember, Faculty Meeting, Wednesday, October 17, 3:00 in Craig 337. 

Trapped in the System: Diversity Dialogue
Encourage your students to attend a diversity dialogue taking place tomorrow night. It's a panel discussion surrounding issues of immigration and it includes: a Missouri State Representative whom chairs the House Committee on Higher Education, a local City Councilman, two community leaders one from Springfield and one from Kansas City, the MSU Diversity Outreach Coordinator, Associate Provost for Faculty & Chairperson of the President's Commission for Diversity, a Equal Opportunity Officer & Member of the President's Commission for Diversity, The Student Body President, and four student representatives.

The Panel will be held on October 10th in the Parliamentary room in Plaster Student Union from 7-9 p.m. Refreshments will be available and please encourage all you can to come and participate at this event. 

Advising Notes

The key role of COM 100 in course selection and advising.  COM 100: Introduction to the Major/Minor in Communication is a perfect course for all new majors and transfer students. Please strongly recommend this course to your advisees. I'll be team teaching this course with Sam Dyer this year.  We review all the majors, discuss course sequencing, include visits from all the faculty, and generally introduce students to the discipline of communication.

There is still time to register for it THIS semester, MW 2-2:50, second block begins tomorrow. Otherwise, as you are planning for Spring 2008 scheduling, include it in the list of courses planned.

Upcoming Advisor Forums:

This Friday, October 12, Harry Cook will be presenting a session on “Listening Skills for Advisors.”  Harry’s session will be in PSU 313 (Traywick Parliamentary Room) from 12 to 1 p.m.

Friday, November 2, the topic will be “Highlighting Advising Accomplishments” and presenters will be George Connor, Mike Carlie, Tammy Jahnke and Randy Dillon.  This session will focus on information that will be helpful to nominators and nominees for the “Excellence in Advising” awards and those who wish to emphasize their advising skills for applications and promotions.  The panel presentation will be in PSU 313 from 12 to 1 p.m.
 

That's it. 

How's everyone doing? It's mid terms, and Fall Break is right around the corner!  Hope you have plans to relax and rejuvenate during that time. My sister in law Maria (she's a marketing professor at Miami (OH) University) is visiting us that weekend, so I'm actually taking that Friday off!

REMINDER: Faculty meeting, October 17 at 3:00 in Craig 337.  Next Colloquium is Monday, October 8.

Post Consultant Visit 

Thanks to each of your for participating so actively in Jim Applegate's site visit last week.  As those of you who attended his exit feedback session experienced, Jim's initial feedback and recommendations were all very positive. He cast our department as having a clear "culture of commitment," and I think that aptly describes us and our work.  We should have a formal set of recommendations from Jim within the month. In fact, he told me we would have it before NCA in Chicago.  Further, the Provost was so impressed with how we handled the entire process (self study and external consultant visit) that she's going to use us as an exemplar department for others to model who  currently going thorough the process. She even wants to bring Jim back to campus early next year to do a series of workshops on effective program review practices.  Yeah for us!  Of course our next step will involve collectively digesting his recommendations and revising our strategic plan to identify the 2-3 sets of priorities we wish to develop as a department for the next 3-4 years.

Extreme Display Case Makeover

Jerri Lynn's PR class is at it again--Project Hallway. Teams of students are working to "makeover" Craig Hall's bulletin boards. Other departments have been included in this semester's project.  For COM, I've asked a team of students to redo the display case next to Craig 375. You know, that glass case with a mish-mosh of our publications and awards. They are going to make it more student/visitor friendly by creating a faculty register, if you will, with pictures, short bios and fun facts. You should have received an email from Laura Whitney asking for information, PLEASE respond so they can complete their work this semester.   We need this faculty directory, so help them out with the information requested as soon as possible.

ADVISORS UPDATE

 1) Mid Term Grades are here.  All grade rosters must be submitted by 10:00 a.m. on October 10.. How do you know if you need to submit mid-terms--go to your MY GRADES link on the F/ARC. Here's another way to know:  Only undergraduate first-semester students, those on academic probation, and those enrolled in the Partners in Education (PIE) program will have mid-semester grade reports produced.  With the current obsession with student success, the Provost is insistent that we submit ALL mid terms grades on time. It's hard to believe but some people don't turn them in.  Let's be the first department in COAL to have a 100% rate of posting grades.

Mid term grades are an opportunity to provide some assessment of student performance thus far. Advisors who have students receiving mid term grades will be notified to contact their students to review the grades.

2) They're here!  The Spring 2008 schedule has been released to students. So you know what that means--advisees will want to meet with you, get your advice, and get your signature.  I just posted to the InCommon blog reminding students to contact you for an appointment well in advance of their registration date. A good rule of thumb I go by is to meet with the student a week before their registration date. You can find that on their advising notes page, just below the top of the page.

3) Note about the new BS/BA requirements. For each of the 6 tracks, the new degree audits read something to the effect that "advisor approval is required for the list of electives." That is not entirely the case. Students need your approval in this major only to take COM 397 or 597.  In those cases, you need to submit an "advisor approved" electives form.  Otherwise, they pick from the list of courses provided.  Easy.

4) Attend Master Advisor Sessions to keep up to date on advising practices. The session on Tuesday was about legal issues for advisors. Plan to attend the next one if you can:

Listening Skills for Advisors

Presented by Harry Cook

Friday, October 12, 12 to 1 p.m.

Plaster Student Union 313, Traywick Parliamentary room*

That's all for now. More to come later, I'm sure.

Kelly