Dean Gunter reported on the items covered at the deans' council meeting held yesterday. There was much discussion about the commencement proposals. Dean Gunter distributed a handout with three options; each option provided different arrangements for splitting the university commencement ceremony into individual college ceremonies. For Spring 2007, the following option will be used: the COE and ROTC ceremony will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday; the College of the Arts and College of Business, at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday; and the College of Arts and Sciences, at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. The ceremony for the College of Nursing and Division of Social Work will be held on Friday night. This recommendation must be approved by the Faculty Senate.

Drs. Reffel and Gerber reported on the meeting of the Renaissance Group which they had attended this past weekend in Washington. The Renaissance Group is composed of 34 institutions, with a focus on increasing the number of teachers in science, mathematics, and technology. At the meeting, the various schools shared what they were doing to increase this number of teachers. The spring meeting of the Renaissance Group will be held at Kennesaw State University.

Dr. Reffel reported that she attended a GACE content advisory panel for the interrelated special education/early childhood program last Friday. The GACE II assessment for this area will not be available until spring semester. Dr. Reffel distributed a "site participation form" for faculty who might want to have their students participate in field testing the GACE assessments for the following areas: behavioral science, birth to five, computer skill competency, early childhood special education general curriculum, educational leadership, and Latin.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 10:21 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Donnie J. McGahee