AFA Committee Minutes for February 9, 2007

Present: L. McClusky, C. Patella, J. Schnurr, A. Staples


1.    Meeting called to order at 8:40 am. Minutes from Nov 16 were approved, and Laura will get the minutes from last semester up on the web.

2.    Christina Wahl requested some information about the history of diversity initiatives at Wells for the newly formed Diversity Strategic Planning Subcommittee of the President's Committee on Diversity. Jackie will point her towards the documents on the website and will email past chairs of AFA to see if there are other documents that were created but never posted.

3.    Cathy filled us in on the progress of the PILC in the library. It was moved to the second floor because of better lighting and increased presence of staff. It is a very exciting place to be right now - the printing lab is under construction and the writing center has moved in. EMT will continue to focus on the PILC, especially moving tutors into the space.

4.    Because of the recent focus of EMT on the PILC, they will continue to meet on Tuesdays at 2:30, without AFA, because that is when Lynn Brown is on campus.

5.    Finally, we discussed what AFA should focus on for the current semester. There are 2 main subjects: 1) scholarships and how they are awarded (which impacts the topic of shaping future classes, and 2) the first-year program, as was requested by Dean Miller-Bernal and Associate Dean Cindy Speaker. To being working on the first point we'll need to do some research - especially before the Open Meeting with the faculty to discuss this subject.

ACTION ITEMS:
·    Can Cathy and Susan pull together some data on the current demographics of our students, so that we can see where we are starting?
·    Jackie will write a letter to the President asking if the consultant's report about how scholarships are awarded can be released to the committee.
·    Jackie will also contact Dean Miller-Bernal and Dean Speaker about how to proceed with the first-year experience request. Are they looking for our input on the retention piece?

Respectfully submitted,

Jaclyn Schnurr
Secretary Pro-Temp