August 27, 2004 Meeting Minutes

Lincoln, Nebraska- University of Nebraska- Lincoln East Campus Union,

10 AM - 3:00 PM

I. Attendance

Chadron State College	Deena Kennell, Robert Stack
Clarkson College
College of Saint Mary	Jennifer Reed-Bouley
Creighton University	Penny Boykins
Dana College
Doane College
Hastings College
Metropolitan Community College	Cynthia Gooch
Midland Lutheran College
Nebraska Methodist College	Anita Lee
Nebraska Wesleyan University	Janelle Andreini
Peru State College	Steve Sylvester
University of Nebraska-Kearney	Geraldine Stirtz
University of Nebraska-Lincoln	Dr. Linda Moody
University of Nebraska-Omaha	Nora Bacon
University of South Dakota	Jacquie Lonning
Wayne State College	Dawn Hirschman, Jean Karlen

II. Introduction

Geraldine and Jean Karlen introduced new MCSLHE Director Gary Heusel (pronounced High-zuhl). Gary then gave a brief introduction of himself including his accomplishments and experiences. To further acquaint himself with the group, Dr. Heusel then requested a brief introduction from the attending representatives.

Geraldine also briefly discussed the steering committee meetings which had taken place over the summer. A suggestion toward the future agendas was made by Stephen Sylvester proposing that a segment of time be allotted to address problems everyone was facing in their own SL activities. One problem he mentioned was identifying what exactly qualifies as SL and what does not. It was agreed that this should be a regular agenda item. It was also suggested that requesting ideas and solutions to problems be done via email as needed.

A request to send out an updated list of new representatives, new member institutions and their corresponding information. Christie will follow up on this.

The group broke for fifteen minutes.

II. Compliance with the original grant narrative- Update

Geraldine quickly went over the list of obligations that the Consortium has for the Federal Grant Narrative updating the group as to current status for each item. A steering Committee has been formed and the list of members will be sent out to all representatives and put on the web. The steering committee is still working on setting up guidelines for this body.

The Colloquium is in the works. This will be discussed later in the meeting.

FURCOs have all been addressed. All current members have sent in their FURCOs and Evaluation Baselines. The steering committee must decide if the FURCOs will need to be renewed annually or not. A report on changes in an institutions FURCO ratings may become part of the annual report of progress toward goals.

Mentoring is on schedule. Current match-ups are: UNO-MCC; UNK-Hastings; UNK-CCC; Wayne- Chadron; Creighton- Peru; Creighton-Iowa Western; USD- SDSU; USD- Morningside.

The newsletter has been published monthly. Some representatives requested a hard copy in addition to the e-copy. We agreed that we will send only electronic copies unless there is a specific request for hard copy. Geraldine also mentioned that there is too much black on the newsletter making it difficult to print and photocopy. Christie will work with the webmaster on this.

Jean Karlen gave an update of the Research RFP. Jean reported that the RFP was ready to send out and would be arriving sometime around Monday, August 30th. There was considerable discussion as to the needs for the Research RFP and making sure that faculty understood the focus of SL in their research. There was also discussion about giving the option of priority to collaborative efforts (inter-University rather than intra-University). This would include granting more than the allotted $2000 per grant to a collaborative project. The Research SC will discuss this prior to distributing the RFP. The proposals will be awarded by December.

A question was raised related to the Evaluation Baseline devised by the hired Evaluator. The Evaluator was hired for $4000. There is some question as to whether he was hired solely to devise the questionnaire or to also analyze the submissions. Nothing has been done of yet to analyze the results of the Baseline Evaluations.

A question was asked regarding the reviewing process. Various members were asking where the Consortium stood as to the possibility of finding outside reviewers. It was suggested that the Consortium seek a cooperative agreement with another group to exchange reviews.

Additionally, reps were wondering if the Consortium office had been given the go ahead with advertising RFP prior to being funded in October so that they might get started earlier this year to prevent the problems of last year. We will advertise the RFP prior to October 1 with a statement that the funding is contingent upon the federal budget being passed.

LUNCH BREAK 12:20PM

III. SubGrants

The only thing mentioned for the next year's Alternative Break sub-grants was to make sure that the RFP clearly states that institutions should take care with their matching. We will request that matching be 1:1 and state that matching beyond the 1:1 will not help an RFP be approved.

Nora Bacon has agreed to chair the Faculty Sub-grant sub-committee.

Linda Moody has requested that any comments from last year's Institutional RFP be sent to her for assisting in the design of next year's RFP.

The research sub-grant was discussed earlier.

The Recognition Plan sub-committee has plans for the Colloquium.

IV. Colloquium

The Colloquium sub-committee gave a presentation on all aspects of the upcoming Colloquium including: budget, awards, prizes, registration, speakers, etc. There was discussion regarding the plan to provide $2,000.00 sub-grants to individuals who complete a proposal abstract as part of the grant writing workshop. A vote regarding that plan was taken and the results were 3 for and 7 against. The plan was removed from the program.

V. Next meeting date

The next Consortium meeting will be October 15, 2004 from 10:00AM-3:00PM at Nebraska Wesleyan University.

XI. The meeting adjourned at 2:30 p.m.