VP Council Minutes

VP Council Minutes

October 9, 2007

PRESENT: Christal Albrecht, Cher Brock, Cynthia Casparis for Judy Murray, Bill Coppola, Julie Leidig, Gary Liebst, Linda Luehrs-Wolfe. Larry Rideaux

GUESTS: Lea Campbell, Christina Todd

1. Curriculum Proposals (Christina Todd) – The VP Council approved the consent agenda.

2. Core Curriculum Recommendations (Christina Todd) –The VP Council approved the Core Curriculum Committee’s recommendation to add SPAN 2313 and 2315 to the core as a humanities/multicultural course. However, the DRAM 2366 course was returned to the committee for further analysis to specify what colleges will accept this new course and exactly how it satisfies the multicultural requirement. The DRAM 2331 course was not recommended for inclusion in the core.

3. PLA Issues (Christina Todd) –The VP Council considered the following items:

1. The current PLA policy requires 6 hours of coursework prior to transcripting credit. Does AP credit count toward the six hours? Decision: AP credit will not count toward the 6 credit hours of non-developmental coursework required prior to posting PLA credit except for HS articulation which is in the ATC rules.

b. Normally there are no fees for external exams such as CLEP or placement exams such as CAPE unless additional assessments are required such as oral exams or portfolio reviews. Colleges are currently charging different amounts for these assessments. The VPs concluded that the $25 fee could be charged when there are additional assessments conducted but this fee should be charged per assessment not per course. Thefeeshould also be noted in the footnotes to the exam fee schedule listed in the NHMCCD catalog on pages 50-51.

1. CE to Credit Option and Six CR hours in residency –Students wanting to articulate CE to credit for ESL courses so that they can continue to the college level courses, typically will not have already earned the 6 hours in residency required. Without these hours there are limited courses they can take. Decision: Determine if CE ESL can be equated to credit ESL for prereq purposes. Can colleague read equivalencies between CE and credit? Can the CE ESL curriculum be cross-walked to the credit ESL? If the crosswalk can be done, equate CE to credit even if the process is manual.
2. The exception list for CE linked courses that do not require the credit prerequisites will be posted again. The VP Council stated that students must meet the prerequisites for CE to credit articulation; however, students do not have to meet the prereqs for the exception classes until they apply for articulated credit.
3. Articulated credit for coursework from a non-regionally accredited TX college or university –This recommendation establishes a fee ($ 25.00) and a procedure toassess a student’s eligibility for credit transfer from a non-accredited college or university. An official transcript along with course syllabus is needed to be eligible for articulated credit. This statement must be placed in the requirement to be eligible for articulated credit: All workforce programswill need to be approved by the THECB as an AAS degree to be considered for articulated credit.

4. TSI SSI Issue (Linda Luehrs-Wolfe) – The VP Council considered the scenario of a nursing student that transferred in her biology classes which here require a prereq of MATH 0308. The student took the Asset test and received a score of 40 which placed her into 0308. She would need a 43 to go into 0310; however, a score of 40 meets TSI (TSI met is 38). If the student is TSI met with an ASSET score of 40, does the student need to take MATH 0308? (NHMCCD defines TSI met with an ASSET score of 38.) The VP Council decided if a student is considered TSI complete with an ASSET score of 40, but enrolls in a course that requires MATH 0308, then they must take the prerequisite MATH 0308 course, otherwise, the student is TSI complete and does not need additional math courses.

5. TSI PLA Issue (Linda Luehrs-Wolfe) –The VP Council considered the issue of a student who had CLEP score placing her into calculus, but her assessment score placed her intoMATH 0306. Based on the PLA manual, the student must meet all admissions and TSI requirements at the colleges in the North Harris Montgomery Community College District and not have previously taken or attempted the course.

The VP Council concluded that this issue should be handled by the appropriate dean on a case by case exception basis. The VP Council re-stated the requirement for TSI with PLA credit, since this is about entry-level evaluations.

6. Workload (Clinical/Co-op) (Linda Luehrs-Wolfe) - The workload evaluation has been divided into four distinct areas for compensation: Internships, Co-ops, full teaching (paid strictly by contact hour) and the preceptor model. The workload recommendations was presentedto the deans’ council in September for review and has been given to the faculty workload committeefor review. The workload recommendations will go through the workload committee and then return to the VP Council for consideration.

7. CCSSE Data (Lea Campbell) –Lea presented information on the longitudinal summary of the CCSSE data which excludes ESL, DL, and dual credit students.

8. Search Locations (Linda Luehrs-Wolfe) –We have been directed to create one search tool for our web site. We currently have four search tools: My Records, Easy Search, MC Plan-It, and the TC open class listing. The registration committee chaired by Jade Borne will address the search tool issues.The VP Council considered the inclusion of local high schools in the easy searches, and decided that CFC does not want local high schools included, but KC and MC do. Linda will submit these requests to the IT department.

9. Students with <55 SCH (Linda Luehrs-Wolfe) – The VP Council considered the NHMCCD October 5, 2007 memo regarding students with 55 SCH or more who have not graduated in Texas. Some of the issues discovered were students withGPAs of almost zero, some students had most credits from outside NHMCCD, and other students are currently enrolled. The VP Council recommended forwarding this memorandum to the graduation specialists through SSC for consideration and request a report on their findings.

10. IRB (Linda Luehrs-Wolfe) – The next meeting is scheduled for Friday, October 26, 2007. The IRB members will be confirmed by EC, after initial recommendations from the VP Council. The proposed structure is five college committees and one district-wide IRB.

11. IPS Committees 2005 – 2007 (Linda Luehrs-Wolfe) –The proposed IPS committee structure was presented to the VP Council for the 2007-2008 academic year. The VP Council recommended combining the study abroad and academic support committees into IPS. The VP Council also recommended combining Professional Development with the Conference committee. The CE Leisure Travel committee was recommended to remain separate.

Next agenda: Faculty credentialsand appeals process for faculty who feel they meet requirements.

Welding program expansion for MC.

Reverse Transfer

Next Meeting: November 13, 2007