Olson commended the Strategic Plan committee for working diligently on creating the College’s plan and said he expected a draft of the plan to be distributed to the College community for review by this week. He congratulated the College on the success of its Hall of Fame inductees, 19 of which were honored last week. The reorganization of the College’s computing resources into the single unit CAS-IT was explained, and the staff mentioned a new ticketing process is among the changes enabled by the consolidation. Olson updated the group on the three chair searches currently underway.
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Dean Olson talks to
Carol Morton Schmidt at the AP forum
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Bob Wazienski from CAS-IT asked about the results of the NCA Accreditation, and Olson was delighted to report that the officials’ visit was successful: the College’s accreditation was extended for another ten years without need for any changes. Olson commended Jan Shane and Paul Borg for their efforts in preparing the campus for the visit.
Sarah Walczynski from LILT of CAS-IT asked how the Governor’s recent budget announcement would affect funding in the College. Olson explained that if the state legislature follows the Governor’s budget, there will be no more cuts to higher education funding this year. Stable funding will be difficult, Olson added, as the University's costs continue to rise; the College is still trying to fill the gaps from the last budget recession, during which the College office absorbed the cuts, asking for only minimal cuts at the department level.
Vance Laine, Psychology Academic Advisor, asked about the summer school pilot experiment this summer and if there would be a commitment of the part of the University once its success was evident. Olson explained the differences between the former model for summer school scheduling and the new “entrepreneurial” model—namely the new model being more profitable and giving department chairs more latitude in scheduling. To illustrate the benefits of the new model, Olson explained the Communication department is able to offer 28 courses this summer as opposed to the eight courses it offered last summer.
The next AP forum will be held in the fall.