Major's Fair, teaching classes, meeting with department heads, President's address, COM Week--so much going on these days! September was never so busy before...or was it and I just blocked it out? 
Below is a list of items that we'll be reviewing and discussing at the faculty meeting tomorrow at 3:00. In particular, I want to call your attention to a few items that need your review before the meeting. NOTE: Since this is coming to you the day before, if you have to choose an item to focus on, pay attention to #1 regarding the minor and what our strategy for a minor should be.
1) Attached are two versions of the minor in Ethical Leadership proposal (original plan alternative plan). Please review each and come prepared to discuss their merits tomorrow. This item will be couched in a discussion about how the department may position itself relative to infusing the 3 themes of the public affairs mission into major/minor programs (see #3 below).
2) Also, I'll provide a couple of items for curricular "clean up" for discussion and possible vote. I'm not attaching the forms here, but I'll have draft copies of the forms tomorrow. There will be two items:
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A proposal to revise the pre-requisites for COM 436 to include COM 115 and 60 hours completed.
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A proposal to include a number of courses in the various COM Studies program options electives that were recommended at our August meeting (e.g. adding COM 360 to the org com major, and other classes to health com, etc.).
And 3), see the attached worksheet that the dean has asked that we draft regarding what we do now (and can) to infuse the 3 public affairs themes into our undergraduate experience more intentionally. This is related to the priority of the President and Provost to shore up the how public affairs is infused into student academic experiences now that GEP 397 has been put on a two year hiatus. The worksheet is not an assignment for you to complete, but as orientation to what we may consider in infusing the three themes into the experience that every one of our majors should have.
Finally 4), I had asked you to provide me with travel and equipment request by this September faculty meeting. So, please bring those requests with you to the meeting tomorrow. Please put in travel requests for conferences during this academic year. Karen has copies in the office of these forms.
Essentially these are our main agenda items tomorrow, with additional items noted below too.
Items for discussion and notices about upcoming events
1. Advising Workshop for COM Advisors: Wednesday October 1, 12-1 in Craig 337. If you need a refresher or are new to advising, please plan to attend this interactive workshop. In addition to a number of topics, we will briefly discuss how the new Banner system will require a change in how we process major requests.
Don't forget about a few upcoming Academic Advisor Forums: Connecting with Diverse Students, Thursday, 12-1, PSU 313 and Identifying Students in Distress, Monday, Sept 29, noon-1, PSU 313
2. Major equipment requests ($5000 or more) from all departments in COAL were recently forwarded to the college/provost. Attached: Equipment Prioritized FY09 Requests.xlsx is a list of those items sent to the provost in priority listing. Notice the two COM items (SMART Classroom upgrade and Color Laser printer) were listed in the top ten--this rating bodes well for us getting these items. Word of caution though, the provost will say grace over these items next.
3. I'll share with you efforts to co-host an NFA tournament with Drury next April. National Forensics Association is a collegiate tournament for debate and individual events. Curt Gilstrap from Drury approached me about this and I will brief you on what would be involved in co-hosting the tournament on campus next April. No final decision has been made yet, but we are investigating the opportunity. If we agree to it, there could be a significant financial gain for the department.
4. At the faculty meeting we will revisit the discussion about writing in the majors that was developed at the August faculty meeting. I will likely request that those folks constitute an ad hoc committee to develop the writing project ideas further.
5. Finally, I'll also share efforts by Randy Dillon and I to host Dr.Scott Titsworth in October as our invited scholar. You'll recall we had Dr. Lynn Harter here last spring for a visit with graduate students and faculty. We've invited Scott to do the same thing this fall. Please put these dates on your calendar, Oct 19-22. We will host various events that everyone is invited to.
See you Wednesday at 3:00.
Kelly