Academic Affairs Committee Meeting September 9, 2024

The Committee on Academic Affairs of Christopher Newport University met on September 9, 2024 in Meeting Room 201 of the Freeman Center with Chair Brentley K. Archer, presiding.

Present from the Committee

Brentley K. Archer, Chair
Jennifer Dunn
Daniel M. Gade, Ph.D.
Christy T. Morton
Sean D. Miller
C. Larry Pope
The Honorable Ronald L. Tillett

Present from the University

Quentin Kidd, University Provost/Chief Academic Office and Lead Staff for Committee
Michael Mulryan, Professor of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures and Faculty Senate Representative
William G. Kelly, University President
Robert Colvin, Vice President for Strategic Initiatives
Justin Davenport, Chief Information Officer
Benjamin (Shane) Leasure, Deputy Chief Information Officer
Jennifer Major, Office Manager for Physics, Computer Science and Engineering
Kevin Hughes, Vice President of Student Affairs
Lori Underwood, Vice Provost
Lisa Duncan Raines, Vice President for Enrollment, Student Success and Institutional Effectiveness
Rob Lange, Dean of Admissions
Nicole Guajardo, Dean of the College of Natural and Behavioral Sciences and Professor of Psychology
Julianna Wait, Associate Vice President for Enrollment Services and University Registrar
Ashleigh Andrews, Senior Associate Vice President and Chief People Officer
David Salomon, Director of Research and Creative Activity
Emily Gingrich, Coordinator of Curriculum Management and Course Evaluation
Jason Lyons, Associate Provost for Assessment and Accreditation
Kayla Faulkner, Director of Internal Audit
Martin (Jordon) Minot, University Counsel
Rachel Holland, Professor of Performing Arts
Lynn Shollen, Associate Professor of Leadership and American Studies
Mackensie Hurley, President, Student Government Association
Nannette Washington, Executive Administrative Assistant to the Provost

At 1:45 PM Chair Archer called the meeting to order and welcomed all present. He recognized Lee Vreeland as past Chair and thanked her for her leadership. He then introduced and welcomed the new board member and committee member, Jennifer Dunn.

Chair Archer called for a motion to approve the minutes of the Committee on Academic Affairs from June 6, 2024. The motion was provided by Christy T. Morton and seconded by C. Larry Pope. The minutes were approved by a unanimous vote of the Committee.

The Committee guests were introduced by Chair Archer. First was Dr. David Salomon, Director of Research and Creative Activity. The ORCA is quite a busy place. Just a few recent highlights:

43 Summer Scholars in 2024. 37 funded by CNU; 4 funded by a generous donation; 2 funded by external grants.
35 Research Apprentices working with faculty.
33 pieces were published in the 2024 Cupola.
Our new Certificate in Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity is now available.
Our students continue to do amazing things.
Dr. Salomon continues to be chair of the board for the Network for Undergraduate Research in Virginia (NURVa), a consortium he cofounded a few years ago.

The second guest was Dr. Jason Lyons, Associate Provost for Assessment and Accreditation. He spoke on the first steps towards the 10-year Reaffirmation (Decennial Review) with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), which is launching this fall. This comprehensive review includes the submission of two documents: the Compliance Certification Report (CCR) and the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP).

The Compliance Certification Report: Due September 2026 – estimated
The Quality Enhancement Plan: Due January 2027 – estimated

Chair Archer opened the floor for a discussion on the Committee charge as currently written in the Bylaws. A change was submitted so the committee responsibilities could be more descriptive. Chair Archer called for a motion to accept the revised committee charge, which was moved by The Honorable Ronald L. Tillett and seconded by Christy T. Morton. It passed unanimously.

Resolution 3: Emeritus Status for Thomas D. Berry was discussed. Provost Kidd mentioned that normally Emeritus Resolutions are presented to the board in the Spring. However, Dr. Berry was a late retiree. The question was raised about what it means to be awarded Emeritus status. Provost Kidd said it gives them continued access to resources on campus. Since they don’t retire as scholars, being able to use the facilities for research, writing and publishing is a benefit to them. Additionally, the question was raised as to why the Board needs to vote on these resolutions. It was decided to have a more detailed discussion about revising the committee charge again to address the committees need to vote on Emeritus Resolutions in the future. For now, Chair Archer called for a motion to accept the resolution and bring it before the full board. It was moved by The Honorable Ronald L. Tillett and seconded by Daniel M. Gade. It passed unanimously.

Provost Kidd gave the following year-end highlights:

We are starting the year with a few nice grant award announcements…

Dr. David Heddle and Dr. Ed Brash have been awarded $570,000 from the National Science Foundation.
Dr. Josh Patterson has been awarded $184,839 from the National Science Foundation.
Dr. Darlene Mitrano has been awarded $412,429 from the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Alberto Accardi has been awarded $130,000 from the U.S. Department of Energy.

We administered the COACHE faculty satisfaction survey last spring (February to April) and received our results at the beginning of August. We had a 73% response rate and, based upon comparison between our faculty's responses and those of our peer institutions and cohort members, we had 19 areas of strength and no areas of concern.

We have had several programs approved by SCHEV since the June board meeting:

Organizational change to establish the School of Engineering and Computing, effective Oct. 4.
Organizational change to establish the Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance located in the College of Arts and Humanities.
Baccalaureate Certificate in Professional Ethics.

Provost Kidd continued with year-end initiatives:

The Center for Effective Teaching – led by Dr. John Nichols and Dr. Jessica Kelly – has leaned into helping faculty with AI. They are also getting ready to roll out a small grant program to incentivize proper AI assignments in existing courses.

The Luter School has just submitted their AACSB reaccreditation report. A site visit is scheduled for November, and we anticipate no issues with reaccreditation.

He ended with year-end budgets:

We are starting the academic year in a better budget condition than the prior two academic years. We are:

budgeted for 275 faculty lines and we are staffed at 275.
We balanced in the rest of our academic affairs budgets.
We continue to look for efficiencies and cost savings
1. Focus: faculty travel and professional development budgets
2. Departmental support budgets
3. Dean’s office support budgets
4. Adjunct wages

The Provost discussed a handout that highlighted trends on student majors over their four years. It detailed many categories such as what major they started their four-year journey in (if they declared), if they graduated in that major, changed to a different major or left the university, along with many other valuable pieces of data that helps to show the effectiveness of the offerings at CNU.

The Provost presented the report of the Appointment of Instructional Faculty (Informational Only). Six faculty members have been hired since our last meeting.

The next Board of Visitors Committee on Academic Affairs meeting will be held at 1:45 PM on November 7, 2024 in the Freeman Center, Meeting Room 202, unless otherwise announced.

Chair Archer called for a motion to adjourn the meeting which was moved by Christy T. Morton and seconded by The Honorable Ronald L. Tillett. It passed unanimously.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:02 PM.