Attending: John M. Crisp, Mike Gadell, Homer Garza, Noe Guerra, Dolores Huerta, Mattie Marcum, William Mareth, Mary Peña, Jim Pierce (Chair), Lisa Welch.
Not Present: Vickie Natale.
Also Attending: Jo Ann Luckie, Chair of the Institutional Effectiveness Committee.
The Principal Committees: Chair Jim Pierce announced that the chairmanships of all of the Principal Committees had been filled. He pointed out that Jo Ann Luckie, Chair of the Institutional Effectiveness Committee was in attendance to participate in the Steering Committee's discussion of her committee's part of the self-study. He said that Pat Shufelt, Chair of the Special Educational Activities Committee, would be attending the March 11 meeting in a similar capacity. Pierce asked the Steering Committee members to review Sections 4.5-4.7 and 4.9 of the Criteria for the March 11 meeting, and Mike Gadell agreed to lead the Steering Committee's discussion of those sections. Additionally, Pierce said that he would invite the chairs of all the Principal Committees to the March 11 meeting.
Addendum to the 1996 Edition of the Criteria: Pierce distributed a copy of the changes made to the Criteria at the 1997 SACS Conference and pointed out that a change in Condition Ten (which adds the requirement that general education courses "include at least one course" from several subject areas) may have implications for associate's degrees that don't currently require a course in each listed subject area. He advised committee members, particularly those in A.S. or A.A.S. programs to inform their chairs of the change.
Section III of Pensacola Junior College's Self-Study: The committee discussed Pensacola's systematic, quantative approach and compared it to DMC's more qualitative approach to its own self-study during its last reaffirmation of accreditation. The committee generally agreed that a combination of these two approaches might be more effective, that is, a careful point-by-point check off of compliance with each "must" and "should" statement, combined with qualitative evaluations that consider overall strengths and weaknesses of the institution.
Additional Discussion: Noe Guerra suggested that the visiting committee will inspect the DMC Catalog thoroughly. Pierce pointed out that the Self-Study Manual and the Self-Study Plan have to be submitted to SACS Liaison John Dwyer by July.
The SACS Handbook for Peer Evaluators: Mattie Marcum gave a report on the Handbook for Peer Evaluators, referring particularly to the lists of questions that visiting peer evaluators may ask. Pierce noted that the Handbook is organized by the same sections used in the Criteria and pointed out that some of the questions are designed to determine compliance with "must" statements. He said that, at a minimum, DMC needs to be prepared to answer the suggested questions in the Handbook. He also pointed out that one element in each section involves institutional effectiveness and said that each committee should take particular notice of each section's list of "Additional documents to be reviewed."
Steering Committee Liaisons to the Principal Committees: Liaisons from the Steering Committee to each Principal Committee were developed and are as follows:
Next Meeting: March 11, 1998, 12:00 noon, Century Room
Minutes prepared by John M. Crisp.
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