CODRE

Minutes 09-14-07

Page One 

Present:  James Brown, Vaquita Doss-Bunton, Nannette Bertram Dix, Robin Harris, Bryan Hicks, Vicki Hines-Martin, Harvey Johnson, Irving Joshua, Barbara King, Sharon LaRue, Ed Laster, Georgette Moore, John Ralston, Wendi Sachs, Gerald H. Tolson, Mordean Taylor-Archer, Andrew Williams, Linda Wilson (Guests: Bradley Pearson)

Absent: Joy Carew, Aris Cedeno, J. Blaine Hudson, Kathy Pendleton

Call to Order/Minutes:  Vice Chair Laster opened the meeting and formally introduced the Commission to Dr. Thomas Jackson.  Dr. Jackson spoke to the Commission about his tenure at Texas A&M Kingsley, his diverse heritage, as well as creating a vibrant campus life and engaged student body here at UofL.  Dr. Jackson articulated the following aspects of his vision for Student Affairs:

• Student Affairs should begin to celebrating traditions, creating a sense of purpose, and enhancing services to meet all students’ needs. 
• Student Affairs has invested in the Counseling Center which identifies student with problems and helps them through crisis situations. 
• He noted that the Career Center has a new location in the Houchens Building.  Career development specialist will manage and deliver services, such as career counseling, full-time job placement and co-op and internship placement.  Plus, they will address job finding skills, cultivate student ability to determine lifelong career planning.  He noted that parents expect the outcome of a college education to be better quality of life for students. 
• There are plans to expand and renovate the Student Activities Center.
• Another objective will be to transform Student Affairs theory into practice that supports student learning.

During a brief Q&A session, Dr. Jackson briefly addressed the following issues and concerns:

• Mechanism to reach non-traditional students.
• Ways to keep traditional students engaged and on target.
• Ways to keep older and non-traditional students engaged and on track.
• How diversity might be addressed in Student Affairs, despite not tracking ethnic data.

Finally, Dr. Jackson wanted to know how Student Affairs and the Commission could assist each other in making the campus a better place for students, faculty, and staff.

Diversity Listserv:  Commissioner John Ralston reported that Human Resources (HR) had developed a "diversity e-mail" plan that will enable e-mails to be dispersed using the self-identifying data in PeopleSoft while maintaining the security and privacy of that data.  The HR staff gave a brief demonstration of the system.

Minutes:   A motion was made to approve CODRE Minutes from August 10, 2007 by Commissioner Linda Wilson and seconded by Commissioner Irving Joshua.  The motion passed after vote.

LGBT Update:  Dr. Taylor-Archer reported that a search committee is now in place to fill the manager position of the LGBT Office.  The committee is inclusive of people from the Faculty and Staff for Human Rights (FSHR) group and commonGround.  The announcement for the manager position should be in the Courier Journal on 9-16-07 and will also be posted on HR Career Ops.  Dr. Taylor-Archer further noted that no ads for the position will be posted in national journals.  The hope is that the position can be filled by the end of the Fall semester.  She also informed the Commission that Mr. Bobby Plienis of the Disabilities Resource Center will be acting as the Program Manager of LGBT Services until the position is permanently filled.

Faculty Concerns:  No report

Staff Concerns:  No report

Student Concerns:  Commissioner Andrew Williams reported that the Student Concerns Committee has scheduled their first meeting Friday, September 21, at 12:00 noon in 340 Gardiner Hall.

Announcements

• 40th Anniversary of Open Housing in Louisville:  Commissioner Robin Harris announced that the Law School's Diversity Committee will present "Forty Years of Open Housing: The Louisville Experience” on Tuesday, October 2 at noon in the Cox Lounge.  Featured speakers are former State Senator Georgia Davis Powers, Councilwoman Cheri Bryant Hamilton, and history professor, Dr. Tracy K'Meyer.  A question and answer session will follow the speaker’s remarks.  The Law School has invited forty students from Central High School to be their special guests.  This event is co-sponsored by the Black Law Students Association, the Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research and the Metropolitan Housing Coalition.  The event is free and open to the public.

• NETWORK Lunch:  Commissioner Linda Wilson reported that the new JCPS Superintendent, Dr. Sheldon Berman, will discuss his vision for the growth and enhancement of the educational issues facing JCPS, including economic and social disparities impacting the academic success of students of color and the poor at the Network Lunch scheduled on April 17, 2008.

• BFSA:  Commissioner Irving Joshua reported that the Black Faculty Staff Association will have their first meeting of the year on Tuesday, September 18th, from 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. in the Jefferson Room (Grawemeyer Hall).

Meeting adjourned.