Attending: John M. Crisp, Mike Gadell, Homer Garza, Noe Guerra, Dolores Huerta, Mattie Marcum, William Mareth, Vickie Natale, Mary Peña, Jim Pierce (Chair), Lisa Welch.

Not Attending: None.

Also Attending: Charles McGrew.

Calendar: Chair Jim Pierce distributed copies of the 1999 Self-Study Calendar and mentioned that the mid-point report is due to SACS on March 15. August 1 is the target date for the completion of the first draft, including the first section and introduction, which will be written by the Steering Committee. The publication date is October 1. Considerable opportunity will be provided to all College personnel for feedback on the draft as it develops.

Reports on the Principal Committees: Pierce reported that to date seven principal committee reports had been submitted: Institutional Purpose, Institutional Advancement, Financial Resources, Physical Resources, Special Educational Activities, Student Development Services, and Educational Program.

• Mattie Marcum, liaison to the Institutional Effectiveness Committee, reported that the committee's report is about 95% completed and would be submitted in approximately a week.

• Lisa Welch, liaison to the Educational Program Committee, said that most of the committee's report had been submitted in December and that the rest of the "must" statements would be submitted by February 1.

• Noe Guerra, liaison to the Organization and Administration Committee, said that the committee's report was being finetuned and would be submitted by January 22.

• Guerra, liaison to the Educational Support Services Committee, further reported that the committee's chair had said that the report would be mailed immediately.

• William Mareth, liaison to the Computer Resources and Services Committee, said that he was uncertain regarding the status of the committee's report.

• Pierce, liaison to the Faculty Committee, reported that the committee was still working on the report and that it would not be submitted for another couple of weeks.

  Vickie Natale asked whether the principal committees had Board members in their membership. Pierce said that during DMC's last self-study, only two committees had had Board members. He said that some committee chairs had submitted requests through the administration for participation by Board members, but that so far they had received little response.

  Marcum asked if the new Board members had been contacted regarding membership on the principal committees. Pierce said that Manuel Flores had asked one new Regent, Chris Adler, to sit in on meetings of the Faculty Committee.

  Regarding student input, Pierce said that open hearings on each section of the self-study were planned for late spring and early fall.

  Subcommittee Analysis of Draft Reports: Pierce referenced the division of the Steering Committee into subcommittees of three members (see Minutes, 12/1/98), one for each principal committee report (the Educational Program subcommittee will have five members). Either Pierce or Crisp will be on each subcommittee, plus the committee liaison, plus at least one other Steering Committee member. Each subcommittee will review the drafts and compare them to the SACS Criteria. The subcommittees will meet with the principal committee chair and then present to the Steering Committee a detailed, step-by-step analysis of the draft and produce a written response, three working days later, for the principal committee.

  Pierce distributed directives for the subcommittees, including the following points: the drafts must follow the requirements in the Self-Study Plan, which has been distributed to the principal committees and is available on the self-study homepage. He pointed out that many of the drafts already submitted have neither an introduction nor a summary. He said that each "must" and "should" statement, or equivalent, must be displayed and addressed with a narrative. References to documents must be complete and clear. He said that the section "Committee Finding:" must be regularized, according to the Plan. Finally, he said that some drafts used acronyms like TASP, which will be unknown to the members of the visiting committee, all of whom will be coming from outside the state of Texas.

  Mike Gadell asked if "should" statements require a committee finding, as "must" statements do. Pierce said that they do, referring to p. 20 of the Plan.

  Pierce said that the narrative response must be sufficiently detailed and that Margaret Sullivan, SACS consultant, had advised providing more relevant detail, rather than less. He said that some of the drafts previously submitted were spare in their analyses.

  Pierce said that most of the drafts would benefit from the inclusion of tables and charts, but that the committees must ensure that their narratives analyze the information in the tables.

  He said that the reports must include some discussion of the 1988-89 Del Mar College Self-Study Report.

  Schedule for Subcommittee Reports: The first subcommittee (Institutional Advancement, made up of Mattie Marcum, Dolores Huerta, and John Crisp) will report to the Steering Committee at its next meeting, January 27, and will produce a written formal response within the three following days. Pierce reviewed the guidelines in the Self-Study Plan and also suggested that all of the sections of the Self-Study Report could benefit from an appropriately limited organizational chart. He advised the subcommittee to look for statements not supported by data. He said to assure that titles of departments and offices are correct and consistent. He said to assure also that the narrative responses carefully focus on the Criteria. He reminded the subcommittee that institutional effectiveness is emphasized throughout the Criteria and the subcommittee should review the institutional effectiveness questions in the Handbook for Peer Evaluators.

  Vickie Natale asked if other Steering Committee members could forward responses to the subcommittees. Pierce said that they could.

  The Financial Resources subcommittee will report on February 3; the Student Development Services subcommittee will report on February 10.

  Pierce said that all Steering Committee members should print the Institutional Advancement draft from the self-study homepage and review it before January 27.

  Vickie Natale requested that the Steering Committee be notified via email when new drafts are added to the homepage.

  Other Discussion: Pierce mentioned that a self-study newsletter would be issued near the end of January in both an electronic and paper form.

  Marcum asked when the Committee will begin to write the section on "Conditions of Eligibility." Pierce said that the writing of this section would be more straightforward than some of the other sections and that he would produce a date for beginning by the next meeting.

  Marcum inquired regarding the "Executive Summary" of the Self-Study Report, which SACS consultant Sullivan had suggested producing for the visiting committee. Pierce said that generally this document is a condensed version of the Statistical Profile and that it was a project for College Relations rather than the Steering Committee. He said that he would contact College Relations regarding the project.

  Crisp pointed out that the principal committees should be encouraged to continue to review and revise their drafts even before they had received a formal response from the Steering Committee.

  Next Meeting: The next Steering Committee meeting will be Wednesday, January 27, in the Self-Study Office, at 1:30 p.m. The Committee will meet every Wednesday, except on Wednesdays when the President's Cabinet is meeting.

  Minutes prepared by John M. Crisp.

  The Self-Study Homepage

  The DMC Page