Academic Affairs Committee Meeting April 14, 2023 - Christopher Newport University

Board of Visitors

Academic Affairs Committee Meeting April 14, 2023

Present from the Board

  • Steven S. Kast, Chair
  • John R. Lawson, II
  • LTC (R) Boris G. Robinson
  • The Honorable Ronald L. Tillett

Present from the University

  • Quentin Kidd, University Provost and Lead Staff for Committee
  • Anton Riedl, Associate Professor of Physics, Computer Science and Engineering
  • Nannette Washington, Executive Administrative Assistant to the Provost

Board Members not Present

  • Sean D. Miller

The regular meeting of the BOV Academic Affairs Committee of Christopher Newport University was called to order at 10:43 AM on April 14, 2023 by Steven S. Kast, Committee Chair.

Chairman Kast introduced our new board and committee member, The Honorable Ronald L. Tillett. He was welcomed by all the committee members.

At this point, Chairman Kast turned the meeting over to Quentin Kidd, University Provost.

Due to an unforeseen delayed start, Provost Kidd was unable to present this meetings faculty member and students to meet the board members on the committee. The faculty member and students are part of the Luter School of Business.

Topics that were discussed by the Provost are as follows:

  1. Grants are Good!
    1. Associate Provost Lynn Lambert reports we have gone over $3,000,000 in annual external grant funding for the first time since 2008.
    2. External funding has been awarded to faculty across all colleges.
  2. Faculty/Academic Accomplishments (briefly discussed because of time)
    1. Dr. Jon White has been named co-winner of the 2023 Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History’s Lincoln Prize for his book A House Built by Slaves: African American Visitors to the Lincoln White House. He shared this award with historian Jon Meacham of Vanderbilt.
    2. Dr. Jon White’s book To Address You as My Friend: African Americans’ Letters to Abraham Lincoln, has been selected by the American Library Association as on of the Best Historical Materials published in 2021 and 2022.
    3. The Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities ha named Distinguished Professor and President Emeritus Dr. Tony Santoro and Dr. Ted Reiff 2023 Humanitarian Award recipients for their lifetime of work drawing attention to the horrors of genocide and the Holocaust.
    4. Many faculty and staff, led by Professor Lori Throupe and PLP Director Lacey Grey Hunter, organized an excellent Global Followership Conference in late March on campus. This brought over 100 participants from 9 countries.
    5. The History Department has released the inaugural episode of their new podcast, Past is Prologue? This is a history podcast that provides the public with the background behind the day’s headlines. You can listen on Spotify.
    6. Dr. Anton Riedl has been awarded $24,499 for “Collaborative Capstone Projects with the Army C5ISR Center Research & Technology Integration Directorate.”
    7. Dean Nicole Guajardo, Dr. Leslie Rollins and Vidal Dickerson have been awarded $288,000 by the National Science Foundation for “ADVANCE Catalyst: Self-Assessment to Establish Equity Among STEM Faculty at a Public Liberal Arts Institution.”
    8. Dr. Dae-Hee Kim has been awarded the O’Hara Leadership Award in Education by the Direct Marketing Association of Washington and its Educational Foundation.
    9. The Center for American Studies, led by Dr. Elizabeth Kaufer Busch and Dr. Nathan Busch, hosted the first in-person Homeland Security Symposium and Expo in several years. The keynote speaker was FBI Director Christopher Wray.
    10. Coal Blooded, a documentary short on the community impacts of the coal terminal in Southeast Newport News has won first prize in the 2023 Virginia Environmental Film Contest. The documentary short was made by Brandon Davis (’22 marketing major and photography and video art minor) under the mentorship of Dr. Linda Manning (Communication)
  3. SACSCOC - Accreditation
    1. 5th year report has been officially submitted.
    2. SACSCOC will review the report at their June meeting and we should have a response from them in mid-July.
  4. New Laptop Requirements for Students:
    1. A new laptop requirement has been instituted.
    2. Over the next several years we will begin to phase out some of the open computer labs on campus, but the open library labs will remain (as will any of the course or program labs).
  5. Budget Reduction Planning
    1. Academic Affairs is planning for budget reductions.
    2. We will hold faculty and staff lines open to accomplish the - worst case scenario - $2.5 million in cuts.
    3. 10 faculty lines and 8.5 staff lines open in addition to making $500,000 in cuts to non-personnel expenses.
    4. Faculty search will continue. Currently there are 11 open searches with the majority being in the departments of Physics, Computer Science and Engineering and the Luter School of Business. The decision has been made to put a pause on them instead of a hold. With a pause, they can function as normal but, when they get to the offer stage, that will be held until the budget has been resolved.
  6. CNU/Riverside BSN Program
    1. Meeting to discuss the development of this program.
    2. Could potentially add 50 students to the Nursing Program.
    3. There should not be much needed to gain approval from SCHEV.

  7. Appointments To The Instructional Faculty – New Hires Since Last Board Meeting

A vote was held to approve the previous meeting minutes. Chairman Kast called for a motion, which was made by John R. Lawson, II and seconded by The Honorable Ronald L. Tillett. The minutes were unanimously approved.

The next Board of Visitors meeting will be held at 10:00 AM on June 9, 2023 in the Madison Room of the David Student Union unless otherwise announced.

With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:22 AM by Chairman Steven Kast.

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