Minutes

February 5, 1999

Media Center, Willard Room 005

Present: Don Adams (Philosophy), Paul Altieri (Economics), Catherine Baratta (Sociology & Social Work), David Blitz (Honors Program), Tom Burkholder (Chemistry), Jim Conway (Psychology), Thom Delventhal (Theatre), Rae Schipke (English), Li-Ning Huang (Communication), Antonio Garcia-Lozada (Modern Languages), Peter LeMaire (Physics & Earth Sciences), Roy Temple (Media Center), Ann Gargula (Media Center), Steve Cox (Criminal Justice), Clayton Penniman (Biological Sciences), John Harmon (Geography), Robert Wolff (History), John Rutherford (Library), Rob Glarner (Music), Joan Calvert (Computer Science), Bill Sherman (Academic Affairs)

Paul Altieri, Committee Co-chair, began the meeting at 2:05 p.m.

1. The minutes of December 4, 1998, were approved (Harmon/Wolff).
   
   
2. Announcements:
   Jeff Thompson, VP-Information Technology at CSU, has expressed an interest in meeting with the members of the committee. We will invite him to one of our meetings this semester. Some of the topics that the committee would like him to discuss are the upgrade to Internet-2, the timetable for changes in the computer system and network, and other intiatives.
   
   There is a proposal for a cooperative venture with UConn for faculty training to use technology in the classroom. Carol Jones has attended the meetings for this proposal. We will ask her to come to the next meeting and report on the progress to date.
   
   John Rutherford explained a method to receive articles through interlibrary loan in tif format. At the moment the library receives the article, then forwards it to the faculty. Eventually faculty will be able to make a request via a web page, and the article will be returned directly to the faculty member's mailbox. He has posted a tif viewer, DOCVIEW, on the library webpage for PC users to download. Dave Blitz will make a Mac viewer available.
   
   John Harmon mentioned that the GIS viewer is being funded by CSU and is running in his lab. If faculty are interested in learning how to use the program, he will conduct training sessions.
   
   Roy Temple introduced the new Assistant Director of the Media Center, Ann Gargula. She will be in charge of video teleconferencing and will assist faculty. Also, the closing date for applications for the University Webmaster position is today.
   
   
3. The committee debated the proposed Arts and Sciences web policy in detail. Changes in the draft proposal will be distributed to all committee members, chairs and others on the distribution list. The revised version will be presented at the next meeting of the Committee and a vote will be taken at that time.
   
   
4. Bill Sherman talked about the possibility of a pilot program using laptops in instruction. Faculty in the pilot would be issued a laptop in place of a desktop computer (either PC or Mac). The purpose of the pilot would be to see how a laptop would change the way the faculty teach their courses. The faculty would meet as a support group and exchange ideas and provide a general assessment of the change. Approximately 20 faculty will be involved in the pilot study.
   
   Bill also confirmed that a new statistic lab for the Mathematics Department has been approved. A classroom in Maria Sanford will be completely redone and 25 student workstations will be installed.
   
   In addition, eight to ten classrooms on campus will be upgraded with new computers, furniture and one gig ethernet connections.
   
   
5. Motion to adjourn (Blitz/Wolff). The meeting was adjourned at 3:30 p.m.