Meeting Minutes: Committee on History
Minutes
Academic Advisory Committee on History
North Georgia College & State University
April 3, 1998
William Mugleston, Chair-Elect of the History Advisory Committee, called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. Ray Rensi, representation of North Georgia College & State University, introduced the Interim President of NGCSU, Dr. Sherman Day, who welcomed the committee to his campus and gave a brief history of the institution. The Minutes of the previous meeting were approved as distributed, and the roll was taken by sign-in sheet. Those attending included:
| Albany State University | Veula Rhodes |
| Atlanta Metropolitan | Grady Culpepper |
| Augusta State University | Wayne Mixon |
| Clayton College and State University | John Kohler |
| Columbus State University | John Lupold |
| Dalton College | John Hutcheson |
| Darton College | Royce Shingleton |
| East Georgia College | John Derden |
| Floyd College | William Mugleston |
| Fort Valley State University | John Rhodes |
| Georgia Southern University | Georgina Hickey |
| Georgia State University | Diane Willen |
| Georgia Southwestern State Univ. | James Bagwell |
| Gordon College | Hutch Johnson |
| Kennesaw State University | Kay Reeve |
| Macon State College | Joan Huffman |
| Middle Georgia College | John Ricks |
| North Georgia College and State Univ. | Ray Rensi |
| South Georgia College | Richard Reiman |
| Southern Polytechnic State Univ. | Charlie Weeks |
| State University of West Georgia | Mel Steely |
| University of Georgia | Ronald Rader |
Mugleston explained that Tim Crimmins, Chair, was unable to attend due to a conflicting meeting. John Lupold was nominated as the Chair-Elect for 1998-99.
Mugleston next reported on the meeting of the Executive Committee of the Academic Advisory Committees held in Macon in October 1997 and presided over by Vice Chancellor Muyskens. Some of the topics discussed included developing common course number and descriptions--which the History Advisory Committee completed last year, gathering data on majors and job availability, advising the System on peer review, new programs, and faculty development, and curriculum development and review. In addition, Muyskens also addressed the issues of transferring credits, maintaining quality in the absence of national standards, recruitment and retention of faculty and students, placement of students, and the need for faculty in the System to share ideas and mentor each other.
Muyskens also reported that Teacher Education and Teacher Preparation were the special "themes" of the System for this academic year. Finally, he asserted that there should be "no faculty loads that diminish quality."
Most of the meeting was spent discussing faculty course loads under the semester system and other matters of concern brought up by advisory committee members. In light of the wide variety of course load practices in the System, the history advisory committee agreed to survey the representatives of all the schools in the system via e-mail and distribute the findings to all members. Secondly, it was decided that a committee from the membership should frame a statement expressing our concerns about the quality of teaching given the heavy course loads and other initiatives being implemented by the System. The Committee membership will include John Kohler, Joan Huffman, John Hutcheson, Diane Willen, Lester Langley, and Ann Pullen. The committee should be able to draft a statement via e-mail conferences. A deadline of May 15 was suggested for the statement, which will be forwarded to Dr. Muyskens.
Other items of concern which were discussed were the greater use of adjunct faculty, salary disparities for adjunct faculty among System institutions, the increased travel which the semester system will impose on adjunct faculty, academic freedom concerns for faculty forced to teach from an imposed syllabus, and the low standards and lack of supervision regarding the legislative requirements in history.
John Kohler from Clayton State made a special internet presentation of on-line courses offered by his institution. The consensus appeared to be that such offerings do not diminish the need for faculty but rather that faculty workload is considerably increased since faculty must work individually with each student in the class.
Joan Huffman presented a resolution of appreciation to Ron Rader, who has represented the University of Georgia at all but two or three of the meetings of the History Advisory Committee during his 33-year tenure at UGA. Huffman reported that resolutions were also prepared for two recent retirees, Ed Cashin and Hugh Rodgers, which will be mailed to them.
With no further business to discuss, Mugleston adjourned the meeting at 12:15 p.m. after announcing that next year's meeting will be at Savannah State University.
Respectfully submitted,
John Kohler and Joan Huffman
For William Mugleston, Chair-Elect