Minutes from Social Sciences Task Force Meeting of April 11, 2008

The Social Science Task Force met Friday, April 11, 2008 from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM at Rio Grande Campus in Room 125. The following faculty members were in attendance:  Geoff Andron, Karen Bell, Jake Bloom, Mary Beth Booth, Jack Bucco, Mary Chipley, Catherine Farris, Tod Hamilton, Carol Hayman, Sherry Heiden, Tony Lee, Thang Nguyen, Lizzie Pintar, Michael Petrowsky, Mehrdad Setayesh, Marianna Sidoryanskaya, James Sondgeroth and Don Tompkins.

1. The agenda for the meeting was approved.

Agenda:

1. Approve agenda.

2. Approve minutes from last meeting which can be found at http://www.austincc.edu/SOCSCI/Minutes/meet_02_08_2008.htm.

3. Departmental update by Department Chair.

4. Discuss, and take action on if need be, requiring ANTH 2373, Archaeological Field Methods, and/or ANTH 2389, Academic Cooperative in Anthropology, as part of the Anthropology AA degree. 

5. Adjourn

2. Jim mentioned that each Social Science Task Force member should review the minutes and report any inaccuracies to rdayton@austincc.edu. Also please make sure to ensure that you are listed as attending each meeting. Voting task force members that attend task force meetings are paid a small stipend of $20.00 per hour at the end of the academic year. The attendance sign up sheet at the meeting is used to process stipends. Mary Beth pointed out an error in item #6 of the February 8^th meeting minutes. The minutes were amended to include that the task force had approved the name change for Advanced GIS to be GIS II. The minutes were amended to include a better description of the link that was provided to the handouts that Mary Beth had provided to the task force members at the 02/08/08 meeting. After this amendment, the minutes of the last meeting were approved.
3. James Sondgeroth, Department Chair, made several general announcements to the task force. The department will be distributing the post tests for SACS/THECB to be completed by students in all 16week in class Physical Geography, Physical Anthropology and Microeconomics classes. Please watch your mailbox for these exams and materials and have the students complete them in the last two weeks of class. Please then return all completed exams and materials used to Rachel at Pinnacle. Jim mentioned that the Rachel would be sorting through the completed pre-tests to take out any students that had since dropped the course. We would then compare the pretest and post test results to see how much the scores improved.

Jim mentioned that there was a major campus improvement project that would be taking place at Rio Grande in the fall semester that could affect enrollment at RGC. ACC will be building a new parking garage and new faculty and part time faculty offices. The current faculty parking by the old skill center will be removed and the skill center building will be taken down. Geoff mentioned that students should somehow be informed that parking will be that much more difficult at RGC so that they can consider other parking alternatives. Jim mentioned that the parking garage will be three floors high. Lizzie mentioned that Capital Metro should arrange something with ACC so that students could have a place to park and ride. Jim mentioned that if you will be teaching at RGC in the fall you should arrive for your classes extra early to get a parking spot. Jack mentioned a top secret place that faculty could always find parking but that it was about a five block walk to and from campus. Jim mentioned that attendance at a lot of the campuses seems to have suffered since UT changed their policy about not allowing co-enrollment during the fall and spring semesters.

Jim mentioned that there was an upcoming election in Round Rock some time next month regarding approving property taxes to fund the possible new Round Rock ACC campus. Jim was invited to present our disciplines classroom space and office space needs to those that are planning the needs for the new campus, when it is approved. If this election passes, ACC is projecting that the Round Rock campus will be the largest campus with the most student enrollment. Don Tompkins mentioned that he had served on the finance review committee for Round Rock before and that their seemed to be a great support system for the new campus. He said that the school district sent out various things to residents in the area that seem to be supporting ACC’s round rock campus proposal. A task force member asked if having the new campus at Round Rock could possibly mean more faculty positions would become available and Jim said yes that was possible.

Jim mentioned that the classrooms provided for our ECS classes often are in portables or without proper facilities and or supplies. He had observed a class at the Lake Travis High School that was in a portable. Jim mentioned that if you experience problems or lack of proper facilities or supplies to please let us know so that we can help take care of the issue.

4. Discuss, and take action on if need be, requiring ANTH 2373, Archaeological Field Methods, and/or ANTH 2389, Academic Cooperative in Anthropology, as part of the Anthropology AA degree. Mike Pool had asked that this item be included on the agenda at the Feb meeting. However, he was not in attendance.

In Michael Pool’s absence, Jim tried to explain Michael’s objection to this requirement. Jim explained that Michael thought that the AA in Anthropology was a general liberal arts degree and wasn’t specific like the Archaeology degree. He didn’t think they should be required for the Anthropology degree. Mike Pool asked that the degree requirement be changed to a general elective with a footnote that the Academic Cooperative and or Field Methods were strongly recommended.

Lizzie explained that she was not sure what the problem was with requiring the Academic Cooperative or Field Methods. She questioned whether it was because they are both offered in Mexico or in the summer. Lizzie mentioned that she too thought it was unfair to require students to travel abroad to complete a degree plan due to the extensive costs involved. She felt it might be beneficial to students to offer year round Field Methods class.

Mary Chipley asked about the possibility of teach Field Methods here in Austin since we have resources available here. Mary Beth mentioned a student that was majoring in Archaeology that was in a wheelchair and was concerned he would not be able to make the rigorous travel in buses and by foot in Mexico.

Jim mentioned that he and Rachel searched the minutes to find out how the requirement for ANTH 2389 and or ANTH 2373 got approved or put in the minutes. As far as we can tell, this was either a suggestion for the Archaeology degree plan or a requirement for the Anthropology degree plan that had been labeled as Archaeology in the minutes. If this was an error, the problem is that it was approved by the Curriculum Committee and was already in the catalog for both last year and this year.

Mary asked what it would take to put Field Methods on the schedule for the fall or spring. Karen Bell mentioned that the department used to offer Field Methods in the fall on Wednesday nights but that it was difficult to get the class to have enough students enrolled to make. One task force member mentioned that by putting Field methods on the degree plan you could be increasing the enrollment in fall and spring if offered because the class would now be required. Or perhaps they would see that Field Methods was a requirement and simply find another degree that is less difficult to obtain. Geoff Andron mentioned that when you offer a choice of classes it automatically reduces enrollment in those classes.

Don Tompkins made a motion to table this item until Michael Pool and Clint Davis were in attendance.

Jim mentioned that he had received an email from Clint Davis saying that he did not disagree with Michael’s proposal.

Mary Chipley inquired about those classes that were set at a limit of 9 and wandered if perhaps Field Methods could be set at that limit if it was taught in the fall or spring so that it would be easier for the class to make. Jim explained that the Mexico class had a limit of 15 students. The criteria for a class to make and not get cancelled are either 70% or 14 whichever number is lower. If Field Methods is taught during the semester if would have a class limit of 36 just like other sections. A task force member inquired as to the limit for the Academic Coop and Jim explained that the Academic Coop had a lower student limit but that the leh was loaded according to student and that the class only met for one hour a week unlike the Field Methods class.

Tod Hamilton asked about the costs that students would incur traveling to Mexico for the Field Methods class. Jim explained that the student would have to pay for food, airfare, and temporary housing along with the price of the course. Tod inquired as to the transferability of the course to a four year institution since the student is expected to pay so much out of pocket. Jim explained that the Field Methods course is a tour in a bus for 10-12 days and that he was not sure how much lecture time was involved rather more hands on experience. He was not sure how this same class could be offered in a classroom setting and if the classes would be at all similar.

Michael Petrowsky asked if there could be some sort of incentive provided to the students that enrolled in the Field Methods course. Jim explained that Lizzie Pintar had taught Field Methods in the past at Northridge and had simulated an Archaeological dig for her students. Karen Bell and Lizzie Pintar explained that it was very difficult to take students on excursions because most could not meet at the same times. Jim explained that a professor could not have field trips during class time nor could they offer one outside of class time that was mandatory for a grade. Lizzie suggested removing the Field Methods course from the Anthropology degree since it was an Archaeology course and not an Anthropology course. Jim mentioned that if the motion to delete the Field Methods from the Anthropology was withdrawn then we could approve a motion to table the items until Mike Pool and Clint Davis could be present.

Sherry Heiden asked about the original plan for the Archaeology degree which was to include one of our adjuncts offering internships to the students. Jim mentioned that money was put into the budget for the part time director of this internship program but that the dean and Vice President of Academic Affairs did not feel that the program would have a high enough demand for an internship program. The Dean mentioned that any instructor that wanted to start up the internship program could do that on their own accord. If the position had been approved then it would have had to have been advertised and open to all qualified applicants. It was not necessarily going to be a current Anthropology or Archaeology adjunct that would be directing the internship program.

Mike Pool was unable to attend the task force meeting but was supposed to present an item on asking for an AI position. An AI is an Associate of Instruction adjunct faculty member that would be hired for 19 hours a week doing anything from administrative work to working in the learning labs. The dean has already said that the money will not be in the budget next year. If this was proposed and approved by the task force we would need to act soon before the next fiscal year. A second was finally asked for on the motion Don Tompkins had made earlier to table the discussion until Mike Pool and Clint Davis were in attendance and given could discuss the item. A motion was made to table the discussion until Mike Pool was in attendance to present the item. This motion passed. This item will appear on the Task Force first complete meeting in September.

5. A motion was made to adjourn at 8:05 p.m.