Committee Meetings
November 3, 2016

The College Council met on October 21, 2016 (Friday morning).   Minutes from the previous meeting were approved.

COMMITTEE AND TASK FORCE UPDATES

• Sustain Champlain:
  • Champlain College was listed for the 5th year running in the Princeton Review’s Guide to Green Colleges (#26) with a score of 97/100.
  • The Emergent Media Center will be highlighted in the 2016 AASHE Sustainable Campus Index (Public Engagement).
  • Writing a Civic Action Plan for the Campus Compact 30th Anniversary Action Statement of Presidents and Chancellors.  Includes planning for the new Center for Service and Sustainability.
  • UVM offers a Sustainability Faculty Fellows Program – invitation for 1 to 2 Champlain faculty.
  • Student EcoReps are up and running.
  • 6 students attending/presenting at the Student Sustainability Leaders Symposium at UMass Amherst in early November.
  • Next deadline for the Green Revolving Fund is November 1.
• Transportation Committee:
  • Meeting on an as-needed basis.  Looking for new members.
  • Parking permit fee instituted for residential students at Gilbane. 16-17% decrease in cars in the lot, has reduced pressure and made administration easier.
  • Champlain College employees won the Way-To-Go Challenge this year – our first win!  Special effort by commuter students.
  • CATMA Employee Survey happening right now.  Check your email, including spam folders.
  • Working on a county-wide bike share with UVM and Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission.  Champlain and UVM will pilot the program, hopefully coming in Spring.

DEPARTMENT UPDATES

• Student Government:
  • SGA is in full motion now.
  • CPR/AED/First Aid class created by EHS Senator Haley Parent – for 8 students
  • Haley also co-sponsored Debate Night (watching 3rd Presidential Debate in the auditorium). 50+ students showed up!  Collaboration with the Women’s and Gender Center.
  • Occupy Hearthstone project underway, looking for ideas
  • Grant fund went up $10,000.  $40k total for the semester, $9k already approved with $6k pending.
  • Next meeting will have Director of Finance present a briefing.
• Staff Council:
  •  Met on October 19, 2016.  Subjects included:
    • Women’s and Gender Center
    • Commencement 2017
    • Sarah Ramsey iLab
    • SGA Structure and Goals
  • Bylaw change voted on: faculty now invited to pop-up events, such as the S.S. Splash Staff Social.
• Faculty Senate
  • Bylaws being actively worked on, hope to be up-to-date by the end of the year.
  • Reorg of evaluation committee.
• Deans
  • Looking to reach out to students with insufficient midterm grades, making sure everyone has been contacted.
  • Open House was well-attended.  4 applicants so far to Data Analytics major, looking for more.
  • BTV Ignite event went well, part of Innovation Week.  Tech demonstrations and talks on data analytics.
  • Road Pitch finalists gave their pitches.
  • Vermont Tech Jam caps off Innovation Week.
  • Proposals for integrating VR into the curriculum are being investigated.
• Admin
  • Call for Flu Shots!
  • Exploring newer, cutting-edge technology in cooperation with the Green Mountain Higher Education Consortium; vendor presentations beginning in the coming days.  Great work across all the Consortium campuses.
  • Best ways to interface with the GMHEC at Champlain: Shelley Navari represents Finance; Ted Laskaris represents Technology;  Mary Lee represents People Center.  In Admin, Laruie Quinn would also be a contact.  Corinna Noelke is the Executive Director of the GMHEC.
  • Board of Trustees Retreat was successful.
    • Mika Nash and Mary Beth Sykas (Continuing Professional Studies) presented on academic quality assurance practices in CPS.
    • Conversation about Strategic Plan 2020.  Great feedback from trustees.
    • Freeman Foundation programs in Shanghai were featured at previous night’s Board of Trustees Dinner.
  • Vermont Women in Higher Education annual dinner also went well.  Great Champlain representation.
  • Senate project: small group of faculty is continuing an exploration of the fundamentals of institutional finance.  Co-facilitated by Shelley Navari and Laurie Quinn.
  • There were presentations at Shelburne Museum from Champlain’s Graphic Design (Publication Design) program students, presenting to the Museum as a client.  The project was led by Jonathan_Mikulak.
  • Grad programs being re-invented and shifted around.  Lots of changes coming.
• Admissions 
  • 15 Discovery Day events just completed at various locations across the country.
  • Open House was well-attended.  Applications are up – recently passed over 1000 applications.

General Announcements

• Proposal to create a 3-member committee to update College Council bylaws, which have not been touched since 2007.  Christina Erickson, Logan Rice and Ciaran Buckley volunteered.
• Memorial services for Connor Glassett are planned, including reading of his poetry, singing Maori songs, a video and a photo montage.  These events will take place on Wednesday, November 9.

Meeting was adjourned.