Attending: John M. Crisp, Mike Gadell, Homer Garza, Dolores Huerta, Mattie Marcum, William Mareth, Jim Pierce (Chair)

Not Present: Noe Guerra, Vickie Natale, Mary Peña, Lisa Welch.

Principal Committee Chairs Attending: Mac Aipperspach, Manuel Flores, Maryann Williams.

Chair's Remarks: Chair Jim Pierce announced that the last two meetings of the Steering Committee this semester will be April 22 and May 6. He said that the committee would continue to review the responsibilities and the progress of each of the Principal Committees and that committees that are not reviewed this spring will be reviewed in the fall. He said that this summer each Principal Committee should review its sections of the Criteria and determine what documents it will need to examine. He said that Vickie Natale would be putting together a questionnaire and that the Principal Committees should be considering questions that are appropriate to their areas.

Pierce added that by the beginning of September, the Principal Committees should have analyzed their responsibilities and should begin their responses; reports are to be turned in by the end of the fall semester. The Steering Committee will work on the reports in the spring. The Self-Study will be published in the middle of the fall of 1999. The administration will then have two months to make a formal written report, which will be sent to the visiting committee in February.

Review of Principal Committees' Membership Rosters: Pierce reported that most of the Principal Committee chairs had received positive responses as they made initial contacts with their memberships, with no more than one or two exceptions per committee.

Initial Principal Committee Meetings: Pierce said that the Principal Committees should meet as soon as possible to begin organization and to begin to acquaint their members with the "must" statements in their sections of the Criteria. He and Mattie Marcum have been working on a PowerPoint orientation for the Principal Committees. Marcum will make copies of the orientation and send them to the Steering Committee and to Aipperspach, Flores, and Williams.

The Faculty Committee: John M. Crisp presented an overview of the work of the Faculty Committee (Section 4.8 of the Criteria). He said that of the 47 "must" statements of concern to the Faculty Committee, the first 20 have to do with evidence of faculty qualifications. He pointed out the considerable variety in the ways DMC and other institutions have responded to the "must" statements in the past. As an example, he mentioned "must" statement #2, which involves methods of recruiting and appointing faculty. In its last Self-Study, DMC used three pages to describe its faculty selection process in detail; other institutions used smaller amounts, ranging down to as little as one-quarter page.

Crisp noted several "must" statements that may be of concern to the committee, pointing out that many of the "must" statements represent requirements that policies be clearly stated and published or distributed. "Must" statements of particular concern are some of those having to do with part-time faculty, with distance learning, with the role of the faculty and its committees, with faculty load, and with the criteria and procedures for evaluation.

Manuel Flores, chair of the Faculty Committee, said that his main concerns were the policies regarding part-time faculty, academic freedom, distance learning, and the location of documentation, particularly for proof of faculty credentialing. Pierce noted the difficulty of reviewing every transcript file and suggested a system of random checking.

Mike Gadell pointed out the difficulties the committee may face regarding faculty load and Mattie Marcum and Homer Garza noted questions related to establishing and documenting work experience in lieu of academic credentials.

Next Steering Committee Meeting: April 22, 1998, noon, Century Room. On the agenda: a review of Principal Committee membership; planning for the orientation of the Principal Committees; a review of the Self-Study Plan; and a review of the responsibilities of the Financial Resources Committee.

Minutes prepared by John M. Crisp.