Faculty and Staff Meeting

February 8, 2006 @ 12:00 PM

 

1. Dr. Monk called the meeting to order.

 

2. In attendance: Joyce Barnes, Dana Brown, John Byrd, Glen Cooley, Catherine Eaglin, K.L. Henderson, Debbie Hickman, Martha Koury, Pat Martinez, Judy McNeely, Larry Monk, Linda Nichols, Paralee Norman, Joe Pope, Leeann Sticker, Thomas Tilley, Betty Westerchil, and Angel Negron

 

3. 2006 desk calendars are available from Catherine Eaglin.  Please come see her if you would like one.

 

4. Dr. Monk asked for assistance in boosting enrollment.  He mentioned that the Leesville campus enrollments as well as main campus enrollment numbers are down.  We are not the only college suffering; colleges at Fort Polk are down as well.  Active Duty Military students and their dependents are coded incorrectly on SIS.  This also contributes to low enrollments.

 

5. AED training refresher is necessary.  Coordinator, Linda Nichols, recommends that eight people should be trained in all.  The following are volunteers and their training status:

Dr. Larry Monk-refresher

Tommy Tilley-refresher

John Byrd-refresher

Corinne Pearce-refresher

Linda Nichols-current

Hilda Brown-current

Debbie Hickman-current

Martha Koury-initial

Dana Brown-initial

 

6. Instructional Technology Advisory Council (ITAC) Grant proposals were submitted with the following results: Leeann Sticker & John Byrd (Funded- Notebook computer $1714.13; 3 computer workstations for the Science Lab $499.98; PhysioEx Software- physiology software $192.00; Multimedia Cabinet with equipment $9532.95; Multimedia Cabinet with equipment $13601.95; Adam software, Interactive Anatomy $3950.00; Not Funded- Automated Scantron $9838.20).  Juanita Darby (Funded- SMART Classroom A multi-media cart with Sympodium and wireless computer and overhead calculator $9950.00; Funded- To update the vending machines to scan the One Card system $7634.00.)  Debbie Hickman (accepted- Creighton Owen Scholarship.  Debbie has chosen to use her scholarship toward enrichments for nursing students).  Grant proposals awarded approximately $47,075.01.

 

7. Betty Westerchil asked the group to provide her with information so she can advertise what we are doing at NSU.

 

8.  Joyce Barnes reported on a successful Juniors & Seniors Financial Aid Workshop held Monday, February 6th at Leesville High School.  There were 50 parents and students in attendance.  The majority of the students will be coming to the NSU-Leesville campus.  Students had a lot of questions. 

 

9. Scholarship Parties are not unusual in the college system; however, we are unique in that we host an alumni dinner that includes scholarship opportunities.  Dr. Monk encourages faculty and staff to attend the one held at Gene Koury’s on March 2.  This is a great opportunity to talk up the Leesville campus.  One of the bonuses of the Leesville campus is the lack of excessive fees for the different departments on main campus.

 

10. Leesville 3 which is Room 5 (DLL) has been having trouble.  Equipment is being upgraded, once upgraded should turn into teaching lab as well.  Should be getting one more distance learning classroom.  Right now it is project out one year for room 7.

 

11.  Funds in the Pine Beetle account are about depleted and will be depleted with the upgrades to the distance learning rooms.  Dr. Monk talks about the history of the account and how NSU-Leesville came into the money.  Dr. Monk further describes where the largest part of the money has gone to sewage projects, as well as some re-occurring costs.  Normally this money is not used for re-occurring costs.  One way to avoid some of the costs depleting the Pine Beetle account is to have a licensed operator run the sewage plant.  However, with budget constraints, the person would need to already be working at Northwestern State University.

 

12.  Faculty members now only need to carry seven hours per week for office hours instead of ten as compensation for picking up extra courses this semester.

 

13. B-Term schedule is out.  Please let Martha know if there are any changes.  Very few course offerings for B-Term, but we are limited by the course load of the full-time faculty and lack of adjuncts.

 

14. Virus protection update from Tommy Tilley.  Information systems personnel are enforcing policies towards the user.  The new virus protection is slowing the computers.  Tommy now does not have administrator privileges; doesn’t know why he has lost them.  He does not have control over the program so the process is slow. Tommy will notify you when he is ready to work on your computer.  He cannot get help from main campus because they are down to one technician in Natchitoches.

 

15. Martha Koury reminds the faculty that there is no permanent staff member at the front desk.  The student workers are not there full-time.  Please ask them if they are working before giving them work to do.  The student workers feel uncomfortable telling a staff or faculty member “no”.

 

16. Meeting adjourned.