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Dean’s Circle of Engagement

May 13-14, 2021

Patton College of Education – McCracken Hall 105 - ��������

Summary of Activities

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Supporting Students and Impacting Communities

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Attendees: Timothy Binegar, Mary Frances Bryja (remotely), Michelle Connavino, Maureen Coon, Shirley Drake, Dan Evans (Vice-Chair), Ellen Goldsberry, Chris Hayward, Sara Helfrich, Gail Houk, Marc Houk, Linda Fife, Renée Middleton, Joan Motheral, Robert Murphy, Lindsey Ladd, Connie Patterson, Linda Reed (Chair)(remotely), Helen Watson; Department Chairs: Bruce Martin, RSP; Dwan Robinson, ES; Beth VanDerveer, HCS; Dianne Gut-Zippert, Interim Co-Chair, TE; Danielle Dani, Interim Co-Chair, TE
Absent: Ray Asik, Kate Mattison

Thursday, May 13, 2021
Greetings, Introduction and Overview of Agenda
Linda Reed, DCE Chair, called the meeting to order at 8:49 a.m. Dan Evans, DCE Vice-Chair, began introductions of all in attendance. Linda Reed then reviewed the meeting agenda.

Sustaining Higher Education During the Coronavirus (COVD-19) – Crisis: Lessons Learned for the Future
Each of the PCOE Deans and Department Chairs reported out on how their area/department adapted to functioning remotely over the past year. 

• Dr. Bruce Martin, Chair, Recreation and Sport Pedagogy (RSP) introduced Dr. Annie Olcott, Coordinator of the Physical Activity and Wellness (PAW) Program and she talked about how they were able to maintain physical and wellness activity courses remotely. She pointed out key items – some they had already been doing, such as weekly readings, and others that were entirely new, such as weekly physical activity assignments. Office hours were also continued via Teams for students who had questions. She indicated that they had learned a lot and a lot of changes had been made – some that will continue once back in the classroom.
• Dr. Dwan Robinson, Chair, Department of Educational Studies, reported that she focused on what she called “the three C’s” – Communication, Collaboration and Caring. Communication - to share information, be transparent, and to listen. Collaboration - to make sure that we worked together. We have systems currently in place that are effective, and we built on those. We wanted to make sure that we looked at the things that could continue to happen and the things we could continue to do, but also be innovative and creative in terms of new ideas for doing them in new ways. Caring - To make sure that we didn't forget the human side of what we were doing. Faculty and staff had to relearn things and do things differently from how they had done them for years, and so how do we do that effectively, letting our colleagues, our students, our community members and the people around us, feel that we care for them, that we want to adapt to what they need and what their needs are? The ethic of care with a human touch was something that was very important. Many of our international students felt an extra layer of isolation because of their distance from home and being isolated in Athens. Basic needs had to be addressed – food, shelter, clothing kinds of needs. These were things that we all tried to embrace. Going forward, those three tenants are essential if we're going to be effective leaders in education.
• Dr. Beth VanDerveer, Chair, Human and Consumer Sciences (HCS) reported that what she saw among faculty and students over the past year was grit, determination, and resiliency, and this was not easy in the current environment. New and innovative strategies had to be learned in order to remain connected. In HCS, there are a lot of hands-on experiential learning, so there were challenges to redesign courses through videos and other methods, and students indicated that these were awesome learning experiences. The student learning is always at the forefront. Dr. VanDerveer agreed with Dr. Robinson’s mention of the 3 C’s and the ethic of caring, in particular.
• Drs. Danielle Dani and Dianne Gut-Zippert, Interim Co-Chairs, Teacher Education (TE), reported out and Dr. Dani began by indicating that an email was sent to faculty within the TE department asking for information on some of their experiences during the pandemic. A couple of things came up repeatedly. One being the use of simulations. Some open access simulations were able to be used that did not require any additional investment to give our students some of the same experiences that they would have had in our college labs. This is something that is going to continue. Second, the use of videos. This is old technology, but now it is online and easily accessible. In our work with teachers and professional organizations, we were able to leverage what we knew were videos of effective, high-quality practice and use those as instances for modeling for analysis of practice and often providing our students opportunities for reflection in their learning to teach so that they were developing their content, their knowledge, their skills, their disposition, anywhere.
  Reflection on learning - self-assessment/self-reflections were done by students halfway through the semester on what have you learned and then also on what resources they need to continue on. One thing that we had been aware of prior to the start of the pandemic was that sometimes our partners in the schools or our students are telling us that there is a disconnect between the applications that we use in our courses and the ones that are in use in the schools. Schools are usually way ahead in terms of their technology use. Our faculty were trained some time ago and we focus on our discipline and our research in our professional development and might miss some of the innovative technologies or applications that are out there. The pandemic has presented us with an opportunity where we really had to figure this out. Technology was integrated into all of our courses and faculty spent a significant amount of time learning how to use Cloud based applications, whether it is in the Google suite or other. We ended up being able to address this need that we had had prior to the pandemic.
  Dr. Gut-Zippert continued regarding the clinical experience saying that Dean Middleton was proactive early on in speaking with the superintendents on ways that teacher candidates could work remotely to support teachers in the schools. They became very savvy in classroom and some of the applications that were mentioned earlier were utilized. Some of these experiences were super innovative, very creative. An interesting thing is that, in some cases, the teacher candidates became the mentors to their mentor teachers in terms of the technology.
  The importance of social emotional learning become very apparent. A lot of our teacher candidates were struggling, and we started to pick up on this. They were expressing things during office hours or chat times, and the amount of on-demand availability was increased. The faculty were being responsive to the teacher candidates, doing check-ins, how are you, what do you need support in? Whatever you need, let us know and we can jump on Teams/Zoom and we can have those conversations.
  Our work engaging in research in the department was a bit of a challenge because a lot of our research occurs in schools in collaborations with teachers and students. Another challenge was working with institutional policy, for example, institutional review boards, to ensure that we are conducting ethical research and ensuring the safety of the participants. The university wanted to connect some research participants in research subjects, and this made a process very difficult for us. We have to think about ways instructionally to think to support our students.
  And finally, in terms of our department processes, we have learned a lot about how to be more efficient and also improve our ability to collaborate. Tech applications have made us able to record communications and also collaborate in real time and have records of those collaborations.
• Christina Bhat, Incoming Chair, CHE reported that they really learned so much about how to engage with their students, keeping them at the forefront of their work. As we close out the year, most of our graduate students are walking into jobs - college student personnel, higher education, counseling in the fields of school counseling, clinical mental health counseling or rehabilitation counseling. We are delighted to have the largest number of PhD program students applying to our program in counselor education.
  We will continue to focus on how to leverage technology professions. One example is the use of counseling teletherapy that has gone through the roof this past year, and that is not something that we had trained our students for previously. There are a lot of exciting new opportunities that lie ahead of us.
  Peter Mather, Chair, CHE, joined the conversation and noted that several of our faculty have published this year and there are many other distinguished recognitions within the CHE faculty. The CHE faculty stepped up to support students this year from outside of class, as well as inside, by supporting their needs - delivering meals and cookies, fundraising, as well as emotional support, etc. Support of our students outside of the classroom was discussed regularly at department meetings. He mentioned, as Dr. Robinson did earlier, the additional challenges that international students face during a pandemic.
• Connie Patterson, Associate Dean, Academic Engagement and Outreach – Associate Dean Patterson indicated the lessons she learned during the past year were more process oriented. We worked to get as many of the courses as possible hosted asynchronously with the intent that students, no matter where they were or what was happening in their lives, could participate asynchronously. This worked very well for graduate students, but the overwhelming consensus from faculty and the research revealed that, for undergraduate students, they preferred synchronous courses. This was what they were used to (from being on campus), and this provided more structure. I think that what the university learned was that we were trying to accommodate one need and had unintended consequences on the other, and so that was something that we really continue to think about. Dean Middleton asked Dr. Patterson to provide the definition of asynchronous and synchronous, as some may not know. Connie stated that, asynchronous courses don’t have any meeting patterns, the content is posted, there's still engagement between the faculty and the students, but it's more that the information is there, the lectures may be recorded, but the students can log on and participate at a time that works best for them. Synchronous courses, everyone has to be there, or login, at a specific start time and they are participating live.
  Another lesson learned was that when pulling together big groups of people, the instantaneous feedback that the chat feature can provide on Teams/Zoom really increases participation among people who maybe otherwise wouldn't participate in meetings. So, not only as was mentioned earlier with the increased access and better attendance, but we also had more participation for those big group meetings. I'm thinking, as we move forward, to consider that as an opportunity again for increased access for those who are traveling and all the other logistics that go with meeting in person. Associate Dean Patterson’s last item, as Dr. Robinson mentioned previously, the ethic of care. Everyone has touched on it in some way, but with this reality being thrust on all of us, it wasn't just the focus on the students, they were certainly the primary focus, but it was the focus on each other, both in our professional worlds and in our personal lives. Extending each other grace when on a Teams/Zoom meeting our kids run through the room or the cat crosses over your laptop. Our students and our faculty were living those realities. Some of those nuances might not continue as we move back to more in-person meetings, with the acknowledgement that all of those realities are still happening in our lives even though we are face-to-face.
  Maureen Coon, Assistant Dean, Student Affairs and Academic Advising, began by talking about one of the things that she thinks about often is something that Dean Middleton said when all of this started and that was that “the work continues…it will look different, but it continues”, and that was just kind of the guiding theme for her, and a reality check, and then motivation, all at the same time. How do we continue the things that we must do and to impact our students lives and learning?
  She went on to talk primarily about academic advising and that they have a really wonderful advising team of professional academic advisors who have had to be nimble, agile, and able to make changes quickly, to learn to use technology. Pre-pandemic, all students had to come in each semester for a face-to-face meeting and we were very inflexible about that unless there were extenuating circumstances – hospitalization or a death in the family – and in those instances we would do an email or telephone appointment. Now everything is done in some remote fashion via Teams/Zoom or by telephone, whatever works best for the student, and what she has heard from the advisors, as others have mentioned, there is much more engagement. Assistant Dean Coon was not sure what the percentage of missed appointments was pre-pandemic, but now most all students are making their appointments because all they have to do is log on, they can use their phone, they don't have to be in a certain spot, or they don’t have to walk down Jeff Hill. This flexibility will continue. Advising will take place in whatever format works best for the students. We would certainly like in-person meetings as much as possible, but to require that could impact retention.
  Another unexpected, unintended outcome that's been really good is that our office has been able to go paperless and that has been a goal for many years. Now everything is in the Cloud. We also continue to have our Recruitment and Retention advising team meeting every two weeks via Teams. With the chat, the meetings can be more fun, with all the gifs and memes, so it's just the collaboration and the camaraderie that has happened as we're having this shared experience professionally and the support that everyone has given each other to best meet our students’ needs. Another thing, in the past, if, for example, a distressed student has been visiting our office, one of our staff may have walked them up the hill to Counseling and Psychological Services. During the pandemic, obviously that is not a possibility, so we've had to avail ourselves to become more knowledgeable about all of the resources that are available and direct students to these new resources, such as the telehealth type things that were mentioned earlier.
  Those are some of the big takeaways and lessons learned and moving forward.
• Sara Helfrich, Senior Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Studies – Dr. Helfrich reiterated some of the things already mentioned. In addition, we have been able to build a community remotely over the past year. With the OneOHIO initiative, in particular, it is now not only the regional campus faculty/staff that are calling in for meetings, everyone is, so we’re all the same. It is wonderful to see the Athens and regional campus faculty coming together to talk about things they all have to do and really becoming a group that wants to help one another that I know will continue, as well as coming together physically to work.
  She went on to say that, as Associate Dean Patterson mentioned previously, it is easier to come together via Teams, especially for early meetings, than driving long distances to physically be there. People can also record sessions and have them posted later. The chat remains accessible, and you can go back and look at that at any time.
  Senior Associate Dean Helfrich also mentioned that over the past year, PCOE research did not slow down. Specifically discussing the research fund that awards money to students and faculty, approximately $21K was awarded this year to 22 students, both doctoral and masters, to assist them in getting their research done. The funding amount was a little more than usual because a bit more was graciously added to the pot so that everyone that applied was able to be funded, at least partially. One of the obligations for the funding is to come together for a celebration. It seems funny that you're obligated to celebrate, but it's a wonderful thing, and in the past, it would happen face-to-face. Because we couldn’t this year, we did it online. Dean Middleton spoke, everyone was recognized whether or not they attended, but so many students were able to come and share just a little bit about their research, and the faculty that support them, whether they were their direct advisors or chairs, or they just knew them because they worked with them, they were there, which isn't always possible when we're face-to-face. We are considering continuing it in that way or at least continuing it with that element in the future.
  Finally, the Research and Graduate Studies Committee that oversees this work are thinking about what we're going to do in the future for engagement activities. Through offering different things each semester, one thing that we thought about, knowing that we're probably going to be able to come together face-to-face, is virtual events. This would open things up to students in a way that coming together face-to-face maybe couldn't, so how can we develop that and have that presence forward? I'm really excited to see the work that continues to come out of that group in particular.
• Lindsey Ladd, Director, Data Analytics and Academic Technology Center – Lindsey provided data from the student surveys that were sent out in the Spring of 2020 and again in the Fall of 2020. All slides were provided in the member folders for today’s meeting. These surveys were sent out because teaching remotely was something new and we wanted to be sure that students were getting what they needed, and if they were not, changes could be made.

Spotlight on Human and Consumer Sciences: Retail and Fashion Merchandising Program, Lisa Williams, Associate Professor of Instruction – Dr. Williams began her presentation by having the group play a game - Is this a Textile? She first provided the definition of a textile as any flexible material that is composed of thin films of polymers or of fibers, yarns, or fabrics or anything made from films, fibers, yarns or fabrics. Lisa showed pictures of various items and the group was to indicate if they are textiles or not, i.e., jeans, vacuum, luffas, chair with fabric seat, paper towels, money, etc.
Retail and Fashion Merchandising (RFM)
Lisa provided information on current faculty and on enrollment. She noted that there has been a fairly steady enrollment decline over the past few years. Changes have taken place and the hope is that enrollments will begin to increase this year. Students are primarily white females, but we are hoping to attract more young men. Graduation rate – Fall 2014 – 57.1% at 4, 5, and 6 years. Time to graduation – around 4 years. Program Challenges–Enrollment – nationwide. Suggestions – more remote classes.
Chris Hayward asked if the race and gender is the same across the country or just at OHIO? Lisa was not sure. Campuses where there is more of a design element, there are more men. Our urban environment is also a factor.
Michelle Connavino asked about 2-year colleges. Lisa indicated that there is a school in Fairfield County, a high school, where coursework can be done and then they can transition here.
Dr. Bruce Martin mentioned the Provosts Academic Planning and Strategy Group on collaborations – Lisa indicated that business, communications, and marketing would be suitable for our program to collaborate with.
Ellen Goldsberry added that the limited number of faculty have done a wonderful job of placing in internships.
Lindsey Ladd asked how many other programs there are in ��������, and if they, too, are experiencing declining enrollments? Lisa answered that �������� State University had been declining but are adding programs. Bowling Green State University has a tract with students’ ability to go and study in New York. Kent State is well known for their design program but has a merchandising program. The University of Cincinnati has an architectural program and Akron closed their program. The atmosphere here in Athens appeals to students.
Ellen Goldsberry added that the University Arizona introduced a fashion program and are having quite a bit of success with this.
Connie Patterson stated that what some people - high school students and their parents - think RFM is, according to Lisa’s introduction, it encompasses so much more. What job opportunities are there – not just the high-profile New York or Milan jobs. We need to get out there and let people know that this is what you can do with this career.
Lindsey Ladd noted an article in Higher Ed on refocusing to the primary outcome to employability. We should all keep this in our head.
Lisa continued with Program Structure – 93-108 credit hours – room for a variety of minors and/or certificates. Business Minor – Marketing Minor – Communications Studies – Minor – Journalism Minor – Social Media Certificate – Entrepreneurship Certificate – Schey Sales Certificate.
Business focused with high touch content.

Creative and analytical components.
Community Engagement – Ornery Vets Café on West State Street, Athens – Dr. Thom Stevenson worked with alumni to open, and the Department has been involved in all aspects of opening this café.
Accreditation – OHIO is the only university in �������� accredited by TAPAC (Textile and Apparel Programs Accreditation Commission) and American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (AAFCS). There are 28 retail programs affiliated with TAPAC.
A suggestion was made to put the accreditation information on the department webpage.
Program Restructuring – went through curriculum change over the past few years.

Lunch & Engagement – A Focus on Development, Tim Binegar, Senior Director of Development

• $2.69 million was donated/raised last FY for the PCOE
• Engagement with alumni has increased by 35%
• Tommie Radd has established the first ever endowed professorship in the PCOE Department of Counseling and Higher Education, the Dr. Tommie Radd Professorship in School Counselor Education, will provide annual research funding and other financial support and intellectual property to the Department of Counseling and Higher Education faculty member who holds the professorship. Incoming Department Chair, Dr. Christine Bhat, is the first recipient of the professorship.
• John DiVincenzo, BGS ’88, sought to honor the memory of his late wife, Lisa Donovan, BSHEC ’89, MSHCS ’93, through a gift to ��������’s Child Development Center (CDC), where Donovan worked while earning her master’s degree.
• Giving Day 2021 – 2nd one as an institution. Raised over $430,000 as an institution. DCE members indicated that they were not very informed on Giving Day and stated some issues. Tim agreed that there are lots of way it can be improved - the online process is cumbersome – but there is a lot of merit to the event. The goal for Giving Day was to get 1804 donors. This is less than 1% of all alumni.
• Forever OHIO branding – have received positive feedback from alumni and others. Suggestions from the DCE: 1804 Group - $18.04 donated per month (OU founded on February 18, 1804); Founder’s Day and Giving Day might coincide.

The Chronicle of Higher Education – Trends Report 2021 – Renée Middleton – Trends are discussed and predictions are made for what is coming and preparation for what is coming. Challenges we are facing today and how we can prepare:

• Increased monitoring of student behavior. Regarding COVID, institutions have been asking that students self-monitor during the pandemic. If faculty and students are on campus, OHIO is asking us to pick a Pathway – being tested monthly, weekly, etc.
• Taking classes remotely - How are you sure a specific student is the one taking an exam? Many software companies providing ways to monitor cheating.
• One institution in California developed software on whether students are depressed, etc. Wanted to be proactive. They worked with the student leadership.
• Another institution had BIO Buttons – checked temperature, respiratory rate, heart rate – could tell if someone nearby was testing positive for COVID. Students couldn’t come to campus unless they had a BIO Button. They received negative feedback and dialed it back to no longer mandate, but highly recommended.
• Should students have to have the vaccination if they come back to campus? It is difficult for us to place our teacher candidates in classrooms if they are not vaccinated. OHIO is not going to require vaccinations. We are working with CORAS for agreement to communicate with students and language will read that if they are in a district where it requires students to be vaccinated, they will be required to be vaccinated. We can’t mandate the vaccine if OHIO is not. We can only say what our districts are saying.
• Reduction in faculty and staff number in colleges is likely not going away. It has certainly affected our Institution – the Colleges in particular. Are we the right size as enrollments are dropping? Faculty understand that these questions have to be asked. Faculty understand that institutions of higher education are undergoing change. How we make those changes and how we listen to faculty as we make those decisions is key and making them in a transparent way to those individuals who are being impacted. Balancing and understanding that the reason we are here is to serve students. How do we make these decisions to be student focused and balance for how we function as an institution? There has to be a process or procedure so that one area is not impacted more negatively than another. These decisions have always had to be made, but particularly now in downsizing. OHIO has done some of this, and likely are not done. Institutions all around the country are having these discussions. Ivy League institutions are not as challenged.
• As if a global health crisis weren’t enough, social and political upheavals have impacted higher education. Students now don’t want us to just say the right things, they want us to do the right things. They want action. They are going to expect it. Young people now are very vocal in the kind of country they want to live in. The Patton College is not one that wants to sit on the sideline. We want to LEAD.
• Leader public universities and smaller private colleges are likely to trim their program but also expanding their employee duties.
• Stronger town and gown relationships. Having leadership at the university to understand and respect the town and our responsibility to the town, is essential.

This is a College that Leads the way!

Brothers RISE and HOPE Curriculum – Jason Rawls, Associate Professor of Instruction, Teacher Education, Educational Studies, Institute for Democracy in Education; Maureen Coon, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs and Academic Advising
Assistant Dean Maureen Coon began with the PCOE Journey – the ODE Task Force; Diversifying Education Profession Brief; Clemson Visit (Call Me MiSTER program); Brothers RISE
There are 16.8% black non-Hispanic students in ��������
African American Males make up less than 1% of all teachers
Brothers RISE – steering committee meets monthly and always looking for ideas

Jason Rawls continued with:

• Why do you think most students choose education? Mark Houk answered that a teacher may have impacted them; Michelle Connavino added that maybe someone in their family is a teacher.
• We are missing the mark on potential African American students – so what do we do? Who is protecting their dreams? Bob Murphy stated that he lives under this premise – “I hear what you say, I watch what you do.”
• Danielle Dani - Talk about youth culture. This will begin this fall. The youth culture hook might be one way to get students in. She suggests that it be played up a little more. Chris Hayward wanted more details and asked if this is just one course, is it just on the Athens campus or regionals, as well. Dr. Dani indicated that there will be one online and one face-to-face section. Chris stated that this is culturally responsive teaching. Dianne Gut-Zippert suggested sharing Dr. Rawls video to other students across campus at Bobcat Student Orientation (BSO). Or put it on the BSO website and on social media. Jason noted that they are working on a plan for social media. Dianne stated that if it could connect with BSO, that would be really good. Marc Houk also stated that there should be a push out to student athletes. Dean Middleton said that she could talk with the Athletic Director.
• Dr. Rawls stated that they are looking at recruiting 5 men from the Brothers RISE program – they have put down their deposits! We are recruiting them the way the football team does – we are going to their homes and talking with them and their parents on how we will coach them through their academic experience. Hoping this will help grow the Brothers RISE program.
  Marc Houk added that maybe we could get ideas from coaches to get their input. Dean Middleton again said that talking with Athletic Director and basketball coaches may be helpful. Chris Hayward said that he is on another board where he is in contact with these coaches, etc., where they could hand deliver some of these students. Dean Middleton said that we want to convince prospective students that they can make a good living being a teacher. Dan Evans stated that when he was in high school, two people told him that he should be a teacher. It is because of those two people that he became a teacher. They planted the seed.

Linda Reed adjourned the meeting for the day.

Dinner and the DCE Dean Middleton celebration at the �������� Inn at 5 p.m.

Friday, May 14, 2021
Chair Linda Reed called the meeting to order at 9:15 a.m. and provided a few opening remarks

Patton College of Education Dashboard and US News and World Report Rankings: A 3-Year Overview,
Lindsey Ladd, Director, Data Analytics & Academic Technology Center – Lindsey provided a presentation on the US News and World Report rankings. A copy of this information was provided in each DCE members’ packet. This document shows the rankings over 3 years. 438 schools were surveyed with 277 schools providing data. The PCOE is currently ranked #125 compared to other colleges of education with graduate program/doctoral programs.
Dan Evans asked about the University as a whole – the ranking. Lindsey indicated that he would provide that information to everyone.

Senior Associate Dean Helfrich provided information on research processes and faculty who have recently obtained funding. Dean Middleton added that the strategic plan goal is to get to $3 million in research funding. Dr. Helfrich also noted that an application had been submitted to AACTE to be one of the members of the AACTE CREA, Consortium for Research Based and Equitable Assessments, and notification has been received that the submission had been chosen. Twenty public and private universities will join us as the lead – those from the PCOE who put the application together are Assistant Dean Maureen Coon, Associate Dean Connie Patterson, Wendy Adams, and Senior Associate Dean Sara Helfrich.

PCOE Dashboard – Lindsey reviewed the PCOE dashboard with a visual presentation. He reminded everyone that they can access the dashboard and see this data.
Discussion took place on PCOE retention rates, currently at 80.5%. Dean Middleton indicated that she would like to maintain at least an 80% retention rate. Dan Evans asked about The Patton College retention rate in comparison to other peer colleges. Lindsey does not have this information available but may be able to report out on this in the Fall, stating that it is difficult to get comparison data from other colleges.
Michelle Connavino asked if that is because they don’t want to share data or is it building the dashboard? Dean Middleton answered that it is not building the dashboard. Some can’t get the information from their institutions, but they can all get retention rates. We have difficulty getting the data from the Office of Institutional Research. It is obtainable though, especially with our peer institutions. Some do not want to make the data public because they are uncomfortable with what the data shows. Also, some institutions don’t have the personnel to do this work. Michelle suggested making it an open source so that all institutions can plug in their information. Lindsey indicated that this is a possibility, but again, some institutions are reluctant to share their data unless they can share their stories along with it.
Dean Middleton indicated that we do need benchmark data to which we can compare ourselves.
Chris Hayward asked if there is data available on the black male retention rate? Lindsey answered that we can get that information from the University. Chris also asked about employment data.
 

Advances in PCOE Online Learning, Lisa Dael, Assistant Director, Online and Outreach Programs; Tasha Attaway, Digital Graduate Recruitment/Retention Manager
Lisa Dael and Tasha Attaway began by explaining the student services available through Online and Outreach Programs – digital recruitment and retention; graduate student lifecycle tracking; social media marketing. Tasha Attaway then talked about digital recruitment and retention. She indicated that she was hired in Fall 2019 to focus on online graduate programs – master’s degrees, certificates and endorsements. Lisa and Tasha then both provided information on Slate – CRM Software by Technolutions; exclusively for higher education; used by undergraduate admissions; automated solution for messaging; and allows communication storage in one place with gateway emails. Slate was chosen because university support helps as an early adopter; all messages are branded to show authenticity; messaging topics follow the entire Phase I student lifecycle; supplemental messaging encourages prospective students to apply; custom branded responses can be generated; new messaging can be added as needed; Gateway email. They then went into further detail to show what Slate can do and what it looks like, such as student profiles, admission communication, text communication, reports, and finally the next steps.

After a brief break, Dean Middleton provided information on the composition of the DCE. Linda Reed has been Chair since the inception of the DCE and Dan Evans became Vice Chair shortly thereafter. Linda and Dan are both stepping down from the DCE, this is their last meeting. Mementos will be provided to both for their service to the DCE, a symbol of their commitment. This is specific to DCE, and we want to acknowledge the service of both.

In addition to Linda and Dan, Shirley Drake and Kate Mattison are both stepping down from their roles on the DCE.

This group will continue, with a new Chair and Vice-Chair, and member seats to be filled.

Linda and Dan will remain chair and co-chair until these positions are filled.

Old Business
Dan Evans, DCE Vice Chair

• Review of Fall 2020 DCE Minutes
• By-Laws – A copy of the By-Laws with revisions shown is located in the DCE Member folder. There were minor changes, specifically number 11 on emeriti status. The first sentence should read as “Members of the DCE who are in good standing will be given automatic Emeriti standing upon the end of their term appointment.”
  Those leaving the DCE today will receive Emeriti status. Emeriti members want to be included in future events – football tailgates, etc., and encourage others to participate.
  A formal vote took place. Linda Reed moved to adopt the revised by-laws; Robert Murphy seconded; the DCE members voted unanimously to change the by-laws.
  Michelle Connavino suggested staggered two-year terms for DCE student representatives. A junior and a senior.

New Business
DCE Chair Linda Reed made several announcements at this time:

• A nominating committee will be formed to fill the PCOE Dean position. Correspondence was sent to the Provost from the DCE requesting that there be DCE representation on the search committee (2 members). Michelle Connavino and Robert Murphy have agreed to serve in this capacity. The Provost has indicated that she will take this into consideration.
• The Fall 2021 meeting dates are October 7-8, 2021, during Homecoming week. Any suggested topics for the fall meeting should be directed to incoming Interim Dean Helfrich and/or Helen Watson. Hopefully by fall, the pandemic will all just be a bad nightmare and behind us and the meeting will be fully in-person.
• Relayed the recommendation announcement from the CDC yesterday that everyone who is fully vaccinated is no longer required to wear a mask inside or outside.

Linda Reed then introduced Dr. Sara Helfrich as the Interim Dean and asked that she say a few words. Dr. Helfrich thanked everyone for their warm welcome. She is looking forward to spending time with everyone in this role over the next year. There is a lot of good that we can do and good things that will come out of this group.

Dan Evans, Vice Chair, then announced that there will be a Nominating Committee for the positions of Chair and Vice Chair of the DCE. If anyone has an interest in serving in either of these capacities, please contact the members of the Nominating Committee - Shirley Drake, Linda Reed, Ellen Goldsberry, or Joan Motheral. Per the DCE By-Laws, the Nominating Committee will review all candidates and provide the names to the Dean who will then make a recommendation for the DCE members for approval. This process will take place via email.

Linda Reed then turned the meeting over to Dean Middleton for closing remarks. Dean Middleton indicated that she did not have any additional remarks only that she is looking forward to her golf trip.

Linda Reed then took a few minutes to talk about her time as DCE Chair. She indicated that it has been an honor and a privilege to work with Dean Middleton over the last 12-13 years, since she met her in California over dinner. Over the last 15 years, what Renée and her team have accomplished in The Patton College of Education, and for ��������, is absolutely amazing. The room we are sitting in would not be possible without Dr. Middleton. A heartfelt thank you to Renée for giving of yourself, your talent, your time, your passion, to The Patton College.

Associate Dean Connie Patterson gave a reminder to all of the celebration in Dean Middleton’s honor at the Athens Country Club 3-5 p.m. today - it is an Open House format.

One final note from Dan Evans that he was Dean at the Southern Campus when �������� hired Dean Middleton in 2006. He asked her to come down and visit the campus. Normally when he asks this of someone, he never hears from that person again, but Renée was down within the next few months. She visited all of the regional campuses early on. She was a delight to work with and I’ve told her often that she is my favorite Dean. It has been a pleasure and an honor to work with you.

Dan Evans announced that boxed lunches were available for all attendees following the meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 11:50 a.m.