COTA-Advisory Council Minutes

Meeting Minutes 7/17/07

Members in attendance: Jamie Carpenter, Doug Couch, Kathy Davis (for Cindy Fiedler), Artie Fowler, Hillary Fuhrman (DHE ex-officio), Rita Gulstad, Melissa Hattman, Sarah Larson, Bruce Miles, Kandis Smith (COTA ex-officio), and Yvette Sweeney

Members absent: Cindy Fiedler

Reading of official charge from DHE/COTA: The COTA Student Advisory Committee (SAC) is to act as an advisory committee to COTA. Its primary role is to review proposed revisions and initiatives to statewide transfer and articulation policies and to assess, evaluate, and provide feedback on the feasibility of implementation of said proposals. Additionally, the SAC will bring forward to COTA any issues or emerging trends that will effect the transfer of students and/or post-secondary credits between institutions in this state. The structure of this standing committee will ensure that all post-secondary educational providers have representation. (Hillary will check with COTA to confirm the exact working of the charge).

Update from Hillary Fuhrman: The DHE web site is being revised and will be available in July or August. It is found at www.dhe.mo.gov, COTA is located under academic affairs. The COTA AC page will be located under the COTA page, and will include the official charge letter. COTA AC can update their page by sending changes to Kandis Smith, who will work with DHE to ensure that changes are implemented. An official announcement to inform Presidents/Chancellors, Chief Academic Officers, and Chief Student Affairs officers will be sent by Dr. Evelyn Jorgenson (COTA chair) and Dr. Robert Stein (Commissioner of Higher Education). (Hillary will follow up) These officers will be encouraged to distribute the information to all interested parties at their respective institutions. These officers may also be contacted by COTA AC, encouraging active participation of interested parties in bringing issues/challenges/ideas to this group and in voting/participation in upcoming elections.

Mission Statement: A brief discussion regarding the charge from COTA and the mission statement of COTA AC commenced. It was decided that these two documents were related, but could be separate. Further work on the mission statement will occur at the October meeting. Items for inclusion:

• Statement about students being the focus
• Futurism, anticipating and proactive mode, emerging trends

Official Title: The official title of this standing committee was discussed. The group considered a number of other titles. After extended discussion, COTA AC (Advisory Council) was selected and will be advanced to COTA for official recognition.

Election of Officers: Job descriptions were reviewed and an election was held for this year?s officers.

Chair: Melissa Hattman
Chair Elect: Rita Gulstad
Secretary: Yvette Sweeney
Membership Coordinator: Cindy Fiedler

Discussion was held regarding the rotation of one, two, and three year terms, to get the rotation cycle started. After this initial cycle, all future terms will be three years. The following members will serve one year terms: Doug Couch, Melissa Hattman, and Bruce Miles. Two year terms will be served by Jamie Carpenter, Rita Gulstad, and Sarah Larson. Three year terms will be served by Cindy Fiedler, Artie Fowler, and Yvette Sweeney. It was agreed that Hillary Fuhrman would serve as ex-officio from DHE and that Kandis Smith would serve as ex-officio from COTA.

Concern was raised that the original committee structure did not allow for the past chair to serve as a consultant to the committee. It was agreed that an additional member at large category should be added to the group, past-chair. This will increase the total membership to ten; the term of service for any member that serves as chair will increase to 4 years.

It was also agreed that future elections and membership information would be housed on the DHE/COTA web site, which provides a neutral location.

Meeting Schedule: A face to face meeting will be held each July, so that newly elected members can meet the committee. Kandis Smith agreed to coordinate the reservation of a meeting room and to provide lunch at this meeting. Monthly meetings were coordinated and will be held a week after COTA meets, to provide timely response to issues raised. It was decided that most meetings would be held via conference call, since all member sites did not have access to ITV. After discussion of the cost of conference calls, Hillary suggested that the calls might be hosted through the state. (Hillary will follow up) The following schedule was agreed upon for the 2007/2008 academic year:

October 4	2 ? 4 p.m.
November 1	2 ? 4 p.m.
November 29	2 ? 4 p.m.
December	No meeting, notes from the COTA meeting will be distributed
January 30	After the Transfer and Articulation Conference
March 6	2 ? 4 p.m.
April 3	2 ? 4 p.m.
May 1	2 ? 4 p.m.
May 29	2 ? 4 p.m.
July 17	2 ? 4 p.m.

All meetings will be on Thursdays, except for the meeting following the Transfer and Articulation Conference.

Planning of the Transfer and Articulation Conference: DHE requested COTA AC to assist with the planning of the annual conference. It was decided that January 30, 2008 would be suggested as the date, that Columbia Missouri be suggested as a central location, and that the time would be 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Hillary will send notes from the 2007 conference discussion groups to the secretary for distribution to group members.

Topics were discussed, considering current statewide issues. Themes considered were next steps, connections, back to basics, and awareness of current issues and initiatives (revisit what is currently in existence). The following two themes will be advance to DHE:

Transfer and Articulation: The Next Steps
Transfer and Articulation: Making the Right Connections

The general session topic selected included revisiting the policies that are currently in existence (the end of the 39 hour block; the current 42 hour block) and to look at current issues and initiatives.

Break out work group sessions were discussed. The following topics were suggested:

• P-20 initiatives, to include grade level expectations, curriculum alignment issues, entry level competencies, voluntary system of accountability (VSA) work through National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC)
• General education and proprietary institutions, share conversion systems and challenges in transfer both directions
• Common currency for course evaluation; can all post-secondary institutions provide information in a timely fashion to ease the evaluation of credit (such as course descriptions, textbook, course syllabi, faculty credential) and can it be added to the college website; can institutions change from a case by case evaluation basis to a proactive approach where the curriculum is evaluated programmatically
• Ask K-12 what they would like post-secondary to address regarding student preparation, transfer issues, preparation
• What is the next AAT-like program area and start the discussions with interested parties
• Best practices in articulation: fulfill a general education ?category? instead of requiring that a transfer course must equate to a course offered by that institution (for students transferring without a degree or the 42 hour block); reverse (upside down) articulation work with career programs, recognizing certificates, diploma?s, various associates, and bachelors degrees, regardless of regional/national accreditation

The committee recommends these session for inclusion this year:

• P-20 initiatives, to include grade level expectations, curriculum alignment issues, entry level competencies
• General education and proprietary institutions, share conversion systems and challenges in transfer both directions
• Best practices in articulation: fulfill a general education ?category? instead of requiring that a transfer course must equate to a course offered by that institution (for students transferring without a degree or the 42 hour block); reverse (upside down) articulation work with career programs, recognizing certificates, diploma?s, various associates, and bachelors degrees, regardless of regional/national accreditation
• Ask K-12 what they would like post-secondary to address regarding student preparation, transfer issues, preparation

Timeline for conference sessions:

9 ? 9:15 - Welcome and introductions
9:15 ? 10:30 - Back to basics and current trends
10:30 ? 10:45 - Break
10:45 ? 12:00 - Concurrent breakout Part 1
12:00 ? 1:15 - Lunch and 4 questions regarding breakout sessions
1:15 ? 2:30 - Concurrent breakout Part 2
2:30 ? 3:00 - Feedback from breakout sessions and closing remarks (next steps)

Goal: Develop ongoing work groups.
Break up audience into 2 groups; have participants sign up in advance and have them agree to participate in a work group for future work/actions.
Continue assigned seating in general sessions

Mid-term elections: If there is need for a mid-term election, first evaluate the committee distribution and fill the slot with the necessary constituent group. The committee members would select members based on the previous candidate slate from the most recent election. Candidates would be contacted to see if they were still interested and willing to fulfill the term. If so, the full committee will vote for the replacement candidate.

Term elections will be managed by the membership coordinator as specified.

Web Site for COTA AC:
Items suggested for inclusion:

• E-mail site ? how might we receive questions from our constituents? Best practices, share items
• Mission statement and/or charge letter from DHE/COTA
• Names/addresses of the 10 member committee
• Conference link
• Link for announcements (mid-year elections, work groups, etc)
• Post minutes of each meeting
• Meeting schedule, welcome input and how constituents would give input during a meeting
• Centralized site for transfer course information (list the web site location per institution for transfer equivalency database)
• List of all current articulation officers in the state
• Dialog area ? to discuss current issues with any interested party in the state. (This would be the only blog location that we are aware of for this type of conversation)

We can start sending Kandis information to appear on the web site.

Voting privileges: Who should be included in the membership list? Ask Chief Academic Officer or Articulation Officers to post meeting information to appropriate persons at their respective institutions. The individuals would provide contact information of all appropriate individuals to membership coordinator. Individuals should be allowed to unsubscribe. Could also ask Hillary to send e-mail blasts often to said individuals so that they could opt in (self-select). This approach would require DHE and COTA approval. Also, use list-serves from statewide organizations to explain the mission of the group and request members to sign onto web site.

Items for discussion for next meeting:

• Update on AAT from COTA/DHE on signatories and response to MACTE; perspective on how this process is going
• Continue planning conference
• Work on web site items for inclusion
• Determine who can attend various state conference to spread information about COTA AC
• A rotation system for meeting note taking. Please contact Yvette if you are willing to take notes at the next meeting in October.

Minutes submitted 7/19/07 by Yvette Sweeney