University Forum Meeting

January 27, 2005

University Union, Room 205

Attendance for January 27, 2005 was:

Padma Anand, Richael Barger-Anderson, Brandon Blauser, Jude Butch, Gayle
Brosnan-Watters, Andrew Colvin, Thomas Deems, Steven Doherty, June Edwards,
Susan Hadley, Richard Marchand, Augustin Martinez, Michael Matambanadzo,
Colleen Neubert, Sara Novak, Nathan Otis, Christine Pease-Hernandez, Alison
Plessinger, Darla Shields, Jon Shumway, David Skeele, Robert Smith, Jeffrey
Taylor, William Williams, Hayley Zanella

1.                  Meeting opened by president Steven Doherty

Announcements

I.  Next meetings will be on February 24 and March 31, both in 204 of the Union

II.  Rich Marchand noted that next weekend was a math modeling contest.  The students will be involved from Thursday at 8pm til Monday at 8pm.  If you would like to put in a team, please contact Rich, and if you have students involved in your class, please be understanding.

III.  Jeff Taylor announced that SRU Symposium for Scholarship and Research abstracts are now being accepted

SRU Symposium for Scholarship and Research
Thursday March 31 – Friday April 1
Abstract deadline: Monday February 7
Submit on line at http://robo.sru.edu/symposium/input.asp

2.  Ideas for this semester

I.  Have Lori Zulauf in to discuss the smoking policy

II.  Some discussion of how to handle students who have to leave due to military service

-         Provost Williams noted that short term leave can be handled at faculty’s discretion, while long term leave usually involved withdrawl, but with a return of money to the student

-         President Smith noted that main difficulty was students who go on service leave without discussing it with the University

-         Cathy Lake of Veterans Affairs was identified as the person who should be contacted

-         It was suggested that syllabi contain a line reminding students what to do in the case of military leave

-         It was suggest that Cathy Lake come to a future meeting

III.  The issue was raised that SRU should be doing something to assist ‘less prepared’ students at SRU.  The general consensus was that such assistance should be color blind, and that many programs exist.  The problem comes down to awareness by faculty and students alike, and the willingness of the student to seek help.  The idea of having something related to this at a future Professional Development day was raised.

IV.  There was some debate as to how to best assist students.  Many good ideas were raised, including more mention in class, the FYRST program, a longer orientation period, and faculty providing more quality advisement.  All were recognized as valuable, the question was how to improve and assess each.

END OF MEETING