Instructional Support Committee

Attending: Shuchi Kapila, Bob Cadmus, Katya Gibel Azoulay, Mark Schneider, David Ellison, Susan Ireland, Bill Francis, Jon Chenette, Terri Phipps

Minutes of 24 November approved.

Spam update from Bill: ITS is installing a spam appliance which detects and quarantines spam, sorting it into a separate folder. ITS will seek advice from ISC on the level of sensitivity to set as the default for spam identification.

ITS hiring report from Bill: Ralph Helt has been appointed to a temporary position overseeing the AV lab for the remainder of this academic year. ISC has also hired a new blue team staff person and has completed interviews for a green team staff member. Interviewees for the green team position were selected from two other finalists for the blue team position who had been strong contenders for that position.

Faculty-faculty tutorial proposal on "Two and Three Dimensions: An Interface of Art and Chemistry": The idea is intriguing and hard to conceptualize, but the possible impact on classes warrants support. ISC members agreed to fund up to $1,375, a $650 honorarium for each participant plus up to $75 in expenses.

AMS workshop proposal: ISC previously approved up to $400 for books for this workshop. Normally, refreshments are not provided in addition to books as per ISC guidelines. This proposal requests an exemption to those guidelines. Since developing the American Studies Concentration is a current initiative of the college, and the goal of this workshop is to raise awareness of and draw faculty to this Concentration, ISC members agreed to fund up to $150 for refreshments for this workshop.

AMS proposal: Craig Howe, former and upcoming MSIR, will be on campus in February 2005. He will speak with five classes during his three-day visit, as well as act as consultant to the American Studies Concentration as they begin to develop an American Indian track. ISC approves up to $625 for travel and lodging, in addition to $200 honorarium.

AV Center Update: Planning committee is looking at both short-term and longer-term goals. Bill distributed an update on the committee's short-term progress, which deals mainly with the operational aspect of the Center.
- 90% of the day (8 am -5 pm) a member of either the Blue or Green team is on site
- Ralph Helt has been appointed to a temporary position to help cover afternoon, evening, and weekend staffing
- Student staff have received training and will be tested on their job knowledge. Members of the Blue and Green teams will meet with the students to discuss the test, as well as expectations of job performance
- The facility for P-Card access to the Center is nearly complete
- "WebCheckout" has been purchased and installed and should be operational in January. This system will help control and track inventory.
- AV processes are being revised and streamlined
- AV Resources webpages have been reviewed and updated

Concerns:
- Student morale is somewhat lower due to testing/job retention stress, and not being able to do homework on their shifts.
- ITS has received very little feedback from faculty on the quality of service they are now receiving.
The AV Planning Committee is planning to draft a written charge to help clarify long-term goals for the Center. They hope to have this statement complete before the end of Spring 2005 semester.
- Committee members include Todd Armstrong, Bill Francis, Fred Hagemeister, Shuchi Kapila, Karen McRitchie, Mickey Munley, Tom Crady, Rick Whitney, and Gail Bonath

Concerns were expressed about WebCheckout.
- Not compatible with Library system. Eventually the Library and AV Center inventories will be integrated into one system. The language departments would like to make clear that even though items are listed in the Library catalog, the system should indicate that they are located in the AV Center; the items should not be physically moved to the Library. ITS and the AV committee are looking at cataloging options. The Center's inability to locate or track items has been a major issue, especially for the language departments. The current checkout system was done on hard-copy. Often the forms were left incomplete, lost, misfiled, and were not followed up on. WebCheckout fills this emergency need to control inventory.
- There was also concern about a perceived lack of communication with the Library before this system was purchased. Bill assured the committee that he is in frequent communication with Library staff and will request their input before purchasing cataloging software.

Discussion of Funding Proposal Guidelines draft
Mark distributed a document addressing several ongoing concerns of ISC:
- Priorities used to judge proposals and awards
- Time spent by ISC to discuss proposals
- Role of Concentrations and Committees in solicitation and evaluation of proposals
- Stability and legitimacy of procedures loosely defined in Faculty Handbook
- What constitute appropriate faculty development projects for ISC funding

ISC members agreed that areas of concentration and priority should be set by the College and communicated by the Executive Council as faculty representatives. It is up to ISC to set funding policies (dollar amounts, deadlines, etc).

The suggestion was made for ISC to send a list of priorities to the Executive Council each fall for comment and revision according to the College's priorities.

Discussion will continue at the next meeting.