February 21, 2002
Present:
Ahearn, Buchanan, Brown, Duttera, Gulley, Harrison, Hartman, Hearn, S. Johnson,
S. Mallory, McClanahan, McCoy, McMullen, Rowe, Sauter, Simmons, Slay, and
Pirrman.
President
Gulley welcomed the Council and discussed recent events in the community. Dr. Johnson led a prayer to begin the
meeting.
President
Gulley’s opening remarks were focused on recent events on campus. Dr. Harrison shared that she has met with
Jennifer Davis (Bishop Lindsey Davis’ wife) about a joint effort for LC
Education students and the UMC in Honduras.
Dr. McCoy reminded the Council of the kick-off luncheon next Tuesday for
DASH, Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity, will be the speaker. Dr. Ahearn extended gratitude to all that
were involved in Scholar’s Weekend for a flawless job. Sixty-four excellent students were on campus
competing for awards; the average SAT score of the visiting group is 1221. Of these, three Presidential scholarships
were awarded; two females from Alabama and one female from Florida are the
recipients.
President
Gulley moved on to budget issues.
He reminded the Council that the budget would be presented to the Board
on Monday for approval. An update of current
enrollment and projections is attached.
The enrollment count for spring term adds $78,255 to the projected
shortfall; however with savings in operations and a milder winter, it is
projected that we will end the year with approximately $4,000. President Gulley adds that departments need
to continue monitoring expenditures very closely. Projections for next year’s enrollment are encouraging at this
point. We are ahead of last year’s
numbers at this time in the term for room deposits. Dr. Buchanan reminded the Council that faculty involvement in
advising and the quality of advising is critical to retention of current
students. President Gulley stated that
the Board would review a request to increase tuition and room/board charges by
7%. This will allow the hiring of three
new faculty members and the 3.5% increase in salary pool, but no increase in
program budgets. The tuition increase
may become a retention issue for current students; the annual cost will increase
approximately $1,000 per student. Faculty salary increases will be merit based using the new
evaluation system. Dr. Harrison moved
for adoption of the budget as presented to go to Board on Monday. Dr. Johnson seconded the motion. The Council approved the budget as
presented.
Dr.
McClanahan reported that we are moving within two months of the Self Study
visit. The Self Study document has
been printed and is on its way to the visiting team members. The Copy Center has been excellent in
helping get this done. The Steering
Committee will meet on Monday, Feb. 25th to begin the addendum,
which will be completed by the second week of March. Dr. Sauter reminded the Council to check with their units to be
sure all Institutional Effectiveness forms are completed and turned in. Dr. Harrison stated that time is pressing
toward the visit and that all documents for the library need to be in place
before Friday, March 22. President
Gulley complimented Dr. McClanahan and the Steering Committee on an excellent,
high quality document for the Self Study.
The Council reviewed the Mission Statement, as adopted in 1997. Comments were that premier is a singular word, should not state “one of the premier”, “the premier” is correct wording. Current degrees (M.A.T.) need to be added.
President Gulley distributed a report from Ms. Whitney on the Campus Master Plan, #4.3.1 of the Gateway to Excellence. A copy is attached.
IPC Meeting Minutes
February 21, 2002
Page 2
A
report on the Deferred Maintenance Plan, # 4.3.2 of the Gateway to
Excellence, is attached.
President Gulley stated that the document is available for review, but
that it sets a timetable for repair and replacement of things such as
mechanical systems. Ms. Whitney’s
office will by updating and reviewing this plan annually. Dr. Johnson questioned the criteria for
fitting into this schedule, if the equipment in the fitness center would
qualify. President Gulley stated that
it is his judgment that equipment upkeep and renewal need to be planned for in
the budget through annual requests.
This should be discussed further after Ms. Whitney returns.
The
next meeting date is March 14th. Topics include preparation for the SACS visit.
Respectfully submitted,
Shirley Harrington