Henry Brown, Committee Chair, called meeting to order at 1:35 P.M. on Sunday, September 30, 2001.

Welcome and Introductions

Attendance: Atinuke Akinbade; Gregory Ardrey; Lindsay Bagnall; Myron Biddle (ex-officio); Mary Bird; Don Brackhahn; Henry Brown; Harvest Collier; Kevin Fort; Lawrence George; Jay Goff; Floyd Harris; Tyronna Johnson; Mecca Liddell; Steve Malott; Gregory McClain; Robert Mitchell; Zebulun Nash (ex-officio); Wendell Ogrosky; Lee Saperstein; Y.T. Shah; Greg Skannal (ex-officio); Neil Smith; Margaret Stockdale; Gary Thomas; Claudia Tutt; Christian Washington; and Frank Winfield, Jr.

Chancellor Thomas handed out a report and discussed changes to UMR. Chancellor Thomas introduced the University's new Provost - Y.T. Shah. All Deans of the Colleges now report to Provost Shah. Chancellor Thomas shared what he considers a success story for UMR. UMR's Model Community Colleges Transfer Program in St. Louis and Kansas City were discussed. Emerson Electric Company is the corporate sponsor for the St. Louis program and Sprint is the corporate sponsor for the Kansas City program. Discussions are currently underway with Atlanta, GA area colleges regarding graduate opportunities at UMR. Discussions are also underway with Johnson County, KS and Peoria, IL area representatives about developing model community college transfer programs. Chancellor Thomas stressed the need for companies to support students on both ends (local area and UMR).

Zeb Nash moved that the Minutes be approved. The motion was seconded and passed. President Brown asked for comments on the new format of the meeting. Lawrence George suggested that committee members send their input on the meeting format to the committee chair.

Campus Climate

African American Student Representative Report - Christian Washington presented the results of a student survey on the campus environment. The survey was distributed to 175 students and 28 participated.

African Student Association (ASA) Representative Report - Atinuke Akingbade presented the African student perspective. She inquired about the campus reaching out to the International Students community because of the different cultural backgrounds. She indicated that she planned to conduct a similar survey of the ASA members. She also discussed the North African students concerns with the World Trade Center incident because of their Muslim faith.

Campus Update

Provost Y.T. Shah reported that state budgetary concerns have impacted the campus. As a result, the campus is focusing its efforts on increasing student enrollment and the external research funding levels. Another objective for UMR is to become one of the top 50 schools in the country. To achieve this goal, UMR will need to modify it's profile and broaden it's programs to include a School of Business Management and Information Systems while reducing engineering from 70% to 50%. These proposed changes may enhance recruitment and retention efforts and assist with achieving a more diverse student body. UMR has set targets for 6000 students and appropriate faculty and increased external research dollars. Increasing diversity will also be an emphasis area, as UMR needs to recruit more underrepresented ethnic groups and women faculty and staff. In this regard, the Provost's Cabinet is setting goals and processes for the various schools and college. Growth is paramount. Provost Shah introduced the Dean of Enrollment, Jay Goff.

Jay Goff talked about recruitment and retention. We need to move from crisis mode to an aggressive approach in managing enrollment. We need to get away from "one of the best kept secret" mentality and practice. A new Recruitment Team will be formed, as well as an Enrollment functional team, and a marketing approach. Vital in-state territories will be recaptured, and the St. Louis metro area will be divided into thirds. There will be Regional recruiters for other areas of Missouri. Our student body currently consists of 25% percent women; we would like to expand that to 35-40% by 2011. Jay also discussed the new UMR brochure and pre-college application programs. Minorities and women are an integral part of the recruiting efforts. There will be a new database implemented for admissions. UMR is the first University of Missouri campus on the PeopleSoft system. Retention was discussed; 5,000 to 10,000 dollars is lost in revenue for each student that leaves. Overall student quality and recruitment are negatively impacted. 52% currently graduate. 65% to 72% graduation is expected by external publications when rating schools. We need to focus on areas where students are not being successful and develop programs to help them be successful (e.g. math: Brain-Trax is an on-line tutorial being used to tutor at high school level [8 - 12 grade]). We are following up with each student that didn't return, and we are tracking those reasons. We need to survey students at the time of departure and six months later. Of those students who leave, we lose most in their freshman year. 85% of the sophomores are retained, and 90% of our students are retained by junior and senior years. Greg McClain asked about intervening in the pipeline of students at a point earlier than 8th grade. Dr. Shah acknowledged the need to focus on younger students. However, our first focus will be on freshmen and sophomore students.

Campus Aesthetics

Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services, Steve Malott, indicated that the physical facilities staff is working to make campus a showpiece to improve the initial visual impressions of potential students and visitors to the campus. He has been reviewing the existing campus 5-year plan and a 25-year concept campus plan was presented to the University of Missouri Board of Curators. The presentation included a Residential Concept Plan and Landscape Master Plan also.

Divisional Reports

Provost Shah indicated that UMR is committed to building diversity on campus everywhere. The lost of women faculty last year resulted in Chancellor Thomas establishing a Women's Task Force to look at issues that affect the recruitment and retention of female faculty and professional staff.

College of Arts & Sciences- Dr. Harvest Collier reported for the College. Arts & Sciences has several programs designed to enhance student success: Hit the Ground Running (HGR) is a 4-week experience in chemistry and math; Science Olympiad; and Discover the Connection. In the program, Discover the Connection, 200 students participated in a mystery hunt while learning and they found it to be an enjoyable and beneficial experience. The College is also developing programs to introduce undergraduates to research through NSF funds and a graduate student program is evolving for students who want to become college professors. Louis Stokes, a master's degree student, works with undergraduate students. Dr. Lokesh Dharani, Lawrence George and Dr. Harvest Collier traveled to New Orleans, LA to meet with Xavier University officials to discuss the possibility of developing a transfer agreement between Xavier University and UMR and a campus visit by Xavier officials to UMR. In addition to activities to enhance the retention of students, the College has hosted luncheons with teachers, counselors, and school administrations to increase their awareness of our programs; provides opportunities for teachers to obtain certifications through UMR; and is focusing on resources for teachers at pre-college levels. The College is searching for a new Dean and the Faculty Recruiting Team is formed. The College will also use its Web page as a recruiting tool.

School of Engineering- Dr. Robert Mitchell, Dean of the School of Engineering, reported that he received an email and a follow-up phone call from UMR alum Robert Henry requesting UMR explore the possibility of sponsoring a chartered school in St. Louis. Robert serves on the Confluence Academy Board, which is collaborating with Edison Schools, the largest private manager of public schools in the country. A meeting was held with representatives from Confluence, Edison and UMR on August 20, 2001 to discuss the procedures and responsibilities of sponsorship and the submission of a formal proposal to UMR. Dean Mitchell has kept Chancellor Thomas and Provost Shah informed of these discussions.

Floyd Harris, MEP/WEP Director discussed several of the items that were included in the MEP/WEP Summary report, which was emailed to committee members the previous week. He specifically noted the following:

• MEP will sponsor a weekend Transfer Student Orientation program on October 19-20, 2001. The transfer students will have the opportunity to tour the campus, visit with currently enrolled students, and speak one-on-one with key faculty and staff members.
• Frank Mack of Florissant, MO has been named Coordinator for the UMR MEP St. Louis Satellite office. Frank will work with UMR and the St. Louis Alumni Chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) to attract and recruit more underrepresented students into engineering, mathematics, and science. At this time, Frank has been assigned to visit over twenty high schools, community colleges and/or college fairs to represent UMR/MEP.
• Eight University faculty & staff including Chancellor Thomas attended the Emerson Dinner in St. Louis on September 19th to welcome eight newly inducted transfer program scholars.
• The MEP Freshmen Summer Enrichment program was held June 10 - July 22. Of the 17 scholars, 17 enrolled at UMR this Fall 2001. Nine students received the in-state $9,000 scholarship package, two students received the out-of-state $13,000 package, and five students received partial scholarship packages.
• 49 undergraduate and graduate degrees were awarded to underrepresented minority students in 2000 compared to 52 in 1999. African Americans received 31 degrees in 2000 down from 36 in 1999. The total degrees awarded for the campus was also down from 1113 in 1999 to 1093 in 2000. Twenty-seven students are expected to graduate in December 2001.
• MEP/WEP has received notification within the last 30 days of the following grants:

Boeing $18,000

Alcoa $40,000

• Michelle Schoenborn was selected as the UMR WEP Coordinator and began her official duties on July 1, 2001.
• The second annual Expanding Your Horizon's (EYH) conference for 7th and 8th grade girls will be held on Saturday, October 13th, for over 350 students. Sandra Magnus, NASA Astronaut, and UMR graduate, will give the opening presentation.
• Michelle has joined the conference planning committee for the St. Louis EYH program that reaches over 900 high school girls in the 7th - 10th grades.

Floyd also distributed a packet that included: 2001-2002 MEP/WEP strategic action items; a profile of over 425 minority students who received BS degree programs from UMR during the period Fall 1990 - Winter Semester 2000; data from the Annual Report which ranks UMR 27th from among 350 engineering schools in the total number of engineering degrees awarded in 2000. UMR ranked 26th for women and 27th in total engineering degrees awarded to African Americans. Harris commented that UMR may drop in ranking due to recent enrollment declines.

School of Mines & Metallurgy- Dean Lee Saperstein reported that the School of Mines & Metallurgy consists of six departments offering seven "earth-related" degree programs-one science degree (Geology and Geophysics) and six engineering degrees. Enrollment is at 554 students, less than the desired 800 students. Research is at an all time high of $5.6 million with a goal of $12 million. Mines and Metallurgy has two new named chairs: Dr. David Rogers, Hasselmann Chair in Geological Engineering, and Dr. Von Richards, Wolf Professor in Metallurgical Engineering. The Nuclear Engineering program is the 4th largest in the U.S. with 46 students. Sixty-four high school students will attend Nuclear Summer Camp.

Date of next meeting is February 16, 2002.

President Henry Brown will fill out committees

Vacancy of A & S Dean - Tonye Number was added to the committee.

Agenda for next time:

1. Scholarships

MEP

MLK

George

2. PCI