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TF agenda 2/ 20/04, HBC room 410, Attending: Marlette Rebhorn, Chair, Zoe Van Sandt, Al Purcell, Bill Montgomery, Suzanne Summers, Philip Cochran, Larry Willoughby, Howard lane, Pat Goines, Terry Thomas, Ronald Helfrich, Gerald Hauck, Laura Hague, Luther Elmoe, Brian Walter, Mariano Diaz-Miranda, Nancy Biehler, Andres Tijerina, Melissa Bonafont, and Pat Goines,

HBC room 410 on Friday Feb 20, from 1-2:30pm.

1. election of TF chair-Marlette cnfirmed her decision not to stand for re-electiona s History Department chair. Al Purcell was the only one who agreed to serve. Marlette will send out ballots this week.

2. update on FT hire committee- Marlette explained that the committee, consisting of Al Purcell, Andres Tijerina, Zoe Van Sandt , Melissa Bonafont and heself, had begun the review of applications. The TF unanimously passed a motion made by Terry:

“One of the most important responsibilities of FT faculty is to hire FT faculty. The expertise, authority and autonomy of the search committee must be respected in the hiring process. The Search committee must make the final decision on names of finalists to be sent forward to the administration.”

The TF further uanimously voted to send a copy of this resolution to the Faculty Senate, Adjunct Faculty Association, the AVP and EVP as well as the Dean to put the TF on record as opposing a simple list of three names in alphabetical order as currently required from which the adminsitration then chooses one.

3. 2341s- Marlette explained that enrollment in the Special Topics courses, 2341, is sagging, especially in the spring semester. The TF discussed ways to increase enrollment in these courses, including faculty advertizing with posters in history rooms, verbal reminders by history faculty on the campus where the couurse is offered, and greater coordination between the department and the advsing centers.

4. consideration of adopting less expensive Divine edition- the TF voted to add the less expensive version of the Divine text, the so-called Penguin edition, to be used by instructors who want to save students money. The OPC courses will continue to use the more elaborate and thus more expensive Divine text.

5. New Western Civilization text-Melissa asked that the TF approve a different Western Civilization textbook for use in her classes. It is the Kishlansky text.
ISBN: 0321143213 includes: Kishlansky “Civilization in the West, volume I” with “Sources of the West, volume I”.

ISBN: 0321160681 includes: Kishlansky “Civilization in the West volume II” with “Sources of the West, volume II”.
6. team teaching experiment at CYP- Howad lane asked TF permission to pursue a “learning community” team taught history and government course next fall. The TF approved unianimously, and then offered suggestions on maximizing this project at CYP. Howard will draft a report indicating what he and Greg Harrison are planning and whether they intend to offer the curses in fall or spring.

7. PD for guided reading group- Melissa and Suzanne plan to start a guided readings group and want to hold their oganization meeting soon. They willc contact the TF directly when a suitable date is decided.

Terry wanted to commend Jason Dikes for his preparation of the 1301 reading lists now availablle on the history department web site. All instructors are encouraged to consult it for help in assigning book reports or for further reading by themselves.


From: Marlette Rebhorn, History Department Chair

Date: October 13, 2003

RE: A Proposal To Meet Student Needs and Increase College Revenue

Background: Last summer, the history department filled all allotted seats in our Open Campus courses, and still turned away 2358 students in HIST 1301(US I), 2703 students in HIST 1302 (US II), 45 in HIST 2301(TX History), 47 in HIST 2311 (Wes Civ I) and 15 in HIST 2312 (Wes Civ II), for a total of 5168. Of course, these were probably “hits” on the website rather than different students, but if even 10% of that total were individual students ready and willing to take these courses, we turned away
518 students.

Assuming the section was full at 36 people, all of whom were in-district students, each student would pay $135 in tuition and fees, plus the college receives about $150 from the state per student, for a total of $285 x 36=$10,260 in revenue per section. Even the highest paid history instructor would cost only $5400 or so, giving the college a net bump in revenue of $4860 per section. This figure would be much more if the instructor taught at adjunct rates ($10,260 -3747= $6513 revenue increase).
518 students divided into 36 seat sections is about 14 sections needed. So the total potential income lost to the college, at a minimum, was 4860 x 14 =$68,040.

Given cut-backs in state appropriations, the college cannot afford to refuse such a revenue increase. Therefore, the history department suggests the following pilot program for summer 04:

In addition, as the “Closing the Gap” study so ably demonstrates, an increasing number of disadvantaged students will be dependent on ACC to meet their educational needs. This proposal, which increases the opportunity for those students to attain their educational goals, will graphically illustrate ACC’s commitment to meeting our community’s needs.

Proposal: 1. The history department determines how many seats we were able to fill last summer 03.
This number is
1301 482 seats
1302 600 seats
2311 60 seats
2341 12 seats
2380 36 seats
2381 36 seats
1643 48 seats
1663 24 seats
2301 96 seats
2312 36 seats
total:1406

2. We turned away many students because we did not have enough seats in
Open Campus courses, and our inclass courses were full as well. Thus, let
us be conservative and add in another 10% or 140 seats to account for growth.
Total: 1546

3. Let the department chair divide those 1546 seats among the sections we have now (31 sections), as the chair sees fit, PROVIDED NO INSTRUCTOR GOES OVER THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF LEH PER INSTRUCTOR ALLOWED BY COLLEGE POLICY.

4. This would be done and locked from the minute registration starts, rather than dribbling in seats in 12 seat increments throughout registration, a practice that hurts both students and faculty.

5. This would be done without reference to the section limits imposed on OPC courses.

If all these seats are filled, the college may wish to consider adding a few additional seats in what I describe as the dribbling manner. If sections regularly do not fill, the number of seats allotted would be given over to sections that still see demand, maximizing the college’s investment.

To minimize the impact on testing centers, the history department would agree to stagger test deadlines so that approximately the same number of students had deadlines on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. We would have no Friday or weekend deadlines.

Conclusion: Since each and every student enrolled in a history course produces a positive cash flow for the college, this proposal is a guaranteed revenue generator for the college. There is no possibility of losing money on this proposal.
Therefore, this proposal will without question meet demonstrated student needs and generate additional needed revenue for the college.

Professor Marlette Rebhorn
History Department Chair
Austin Community College
512 223 3399
Office hours, fall 2003
MWF 8-9, 10-12 noon
TTh 8-9, 10:30-12 noon
RGC Attache 216

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