28 September 2009

From MWCSWiki

Department meeting 28 September 2009 3:00 pm

Present: Ernie Ackermann (Ernie), Karen Anewalt (Karen), Aaron Clemmer (Aaron), Stephen Davies (Stephen), Jennifer Polack-Wahl (Jennifer), and Ron Zacharski (Ron) Absent: Schli Hamadi, Marsha Zaidman

1. Jennifer made a motion to approve the August 31th minutes. Karen seconded. Motion passed.
2. Senate motions/issues. We don’t have an agenda packet yet, but Karen knows that the faculty governance model is coming back up as well as the motion to accept ROTC credits. One motion before the Senate, is whether to accept ROTC courses as transfer credits. We are the only state institution that does not accept these credits. Jennifer is in favor of accepting ROTC credits.
3. Another Senate issue is the new faculty governance model. Ernie explained the current proposal. With the three college model, there would be the senate for CAS and some similar bodies for the other two colleges. Then there is another layer with 8 representatives from the senate and 4 representatives from each of the other bodies. This would be the representative body for all the university faculty. Karen asked whether there was any discussion of where the Council of Chairs would fit in. Ernie says they are advisory to the various Senates.
4. SWOT Analysis. Rosemary requested that each department circulate their SWOT or an updated version of the SWOT as a starting point for discussions department chairs will be having about the CAS Strategic Plan. Karen asked if everyone happy with the current SWOT. Stephen says it should specify where we want to be in relation to other programs that have the word 'computer' in them. Jennifer recommends putting in more about computer information systems. Stephen says we need to defend our department's position in CAS and not in the college of business.
5. Update on spring 2010 staffing. We got all the adjuncts we requested approved. Now we just need to find people to fill the slots. We are particularly looking for someone to teach a section of 125.
6. Minors. Stephen sent out email outlining our proposed minor. Karen had a few minor edit suggestions. Stephen says we need to have in the proposal some statement that we have the resources to support this minor. Stephen wonders if we will get a ton of new students or if students who normally would major in computer science now just go for the minor. Karen doesn't believe that we will attract additional students to 220/230 with the minor. She believes that people who are already taking these courses would minor in cs. Aaron thinks that students would be interested in pursuing minors. He himself is interested in a minor in business.
7. Karen asks if there are any updates on interdisciplinary minors. Jennifer says no at least related to business. Karen thinks math is still excited about this.
8. Karen asks if we want to bring up any issues when she and Marsha meet with Rosemary. Ernie suggests asking her about her views on how we fit in with the college of business.
9. Summer school. Karen mentioned that the due date for proposed summer school offerings is Nov 2 so now is the time to decide if you want to teach summer 2010.
10. Karen asks how the new lab rooms are working out. Stephen says the B7 the right side of the board has a blind spot. Aaron likes the digital whiteboard, but he doesn't like you can see it at once. Aaron likes the physical lab. He doesn't like how the monitors are on top of the CPU. He also doesn't think the walkways have sufficient space to walk without bumping into the people that are sitting. There was a suggestion about putting blinds on the windows facing the corridor.
11. Social Events. Thanks to Ernie for planning the lab warming social and the security guest lecture. Ernie reports there were about 30 people at the evening talk.
12. Karen asks if we want to do something for the homecoming weekend.
13. Update on clubs. Perl trip to Belvedere Plantation. ACM is having a Halo contest. There is a Peter Silberman talk on rootkits on October 15th. Ernie wonders whether we should have an advising party for majors around the time of registration. Aaron says that the math department has a come eat pizza and solve math problems party. Karen asks whether we want to have an October Wednesday student get together? We agreed on the 14th of October at 3pm.
14. Karen asked about how we should publicize department events. Perhaps a different wiki page. Karen asked Aaron where would he like to see information. He thought we should push the info by using email and possibly text messaging. There was discussion about the function of our web presence.
15. Karen asks if we want to order USB drives. We decided not to proceed on this. Aaron suggested a open source CD to distribute. We need to solicit ideas.
16. Karen said the Admissions asks whether we would like a table at Discovery Days. There appears to be no department interest in this.
17. Stephen says we need to decide whether someone taking 110 could graduate in 5 additional semesters. Currently this works for those taking 110 in the Fall but not for the Spring. Stephen wonders if this is something that should concern us. Ernie thinks we don't need to change anything to deal with this.