Attending:

Frank J. Garrahan, Chair; Stefan Haag, RVS, Hugh Moore, RGC, Glen Hunt, NRG, Cecile Durish, CYP, Lynn Lehle, RGC, Jim Fowler, RGC, Amber Archuleta-Lucero, NRG, Judy Nwachie, RGC, Gaye Lynn Scott, NRG

Brown Bag:

Our brown-bag seminar this month was under the direction of Jim Fowler. Jim reported on the recent Southern Political Science Association meeting. He shared insights he had gained from some of the panels, and provided copies of one of the papers that particularly impressed him ("An Examination of Structural Change in State Legislature Standing Committees", by David W. Prince, University of Kentucky). Thanks, Jim &endash; it was very informative.

1. Committee Reports.

The Academic Development Committee reported on the results of the assessment pretest. A copy of the results as well as Stefan's memo to the Task Force is attached. The results are in line with previous pretests, and it was suggested that we no longer need to administer a pretest. The post-test will arrive in mailboxes immediately after Thanksgiving and should be administered the last week of the semester.

The Faculty Committee reported on the current state of evaluations. All faculty should have received and administered student evaluations by now. Faculty submissions will again be part of the evaluation process in the Spring. While the college is moving to a full portfolio system, there is still considerable debate about the nature and content of portfolios. While those question are being resolved, all faculty will be asked to submit a portfolio similar to last year's: syllabus for each course taught, all handouts from a representative unit of each course (quizzes, learning objectives, test, etc.), paper. In addition, faculty will be asked this year to submit a 250 word narrative for one course describing what they did and why they did it. More details will be forthcoming early next semester.

The Faculty Committee also reported on the continuing need to document professional development of all Government Faculty. The Task Force must submit to the Dean a list of what we will accept in faculty development. After some discussion, the following list was agreed upon:

Attending political science conferences, lecture series, etc.

Attending in-house brown-bag seminars

Graduate courses (including discipline-specific continuing education)

FDO offerings related to effective teaching (this will be accepted from adjunct faculty only)

Publications

2. Chair's Report.

The Chair provided copies of the first draft of the summer schedule. Classes in summer 2000 will be 5 1/2 weeks (first and second sessions) or 11 weeks (long session).

Two new full-time positions in the Government Department should be posted in December. These positions will begin in Fall 2000.

3. Report on the 2000 National Model United Nations Conference.

Judy Nwachie provided us with an update regarding her progress in organizing ACC representation at this conference. ACC students will represent Bhutan next spring. Garvin Holman, adjunct faculty, has joined the Model UN project.

4. Announcements.

The NISOD 2000 conference will be May 23-31 at the Austin Convention Center. This will be an international conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence. If you would like to present a paper, contact the NISOD office.

The Texas Government Internship course will be offered in the Spring semester under the direction of Ed Mullen at the Pinnacle campus. Contact Ed (or send students his way) at 223-8136, 415 PIN.