TASC MEETING
Minutes
September 15, 2006

Call to Order
Mike Duff called the meeting to order at 3:50pm. Members present were Michael Graham, Janet Woolman, Ashley Berken, Patrick Eustis, Wayne Fetter and Michael Duff. Others in attendance were Shannon Davis, Chad Thibodeaux and Brenda Gallow. Members absent were Dr. Todd Furman, Marcus Stein and Nick Kohrs.

Minutes
Mike Duff accepted the August 2, 2006 minutes by acclamation.

CITO Update
Michael Graham began by explaining the TASC budget. Handouts were given to each committee member for their review and Mike gave a brief explanation of each, ending with the ’06-07 TASC Budget’ handout showing $1,134,000 for the year.

Mike Graham stated the committee is required to adopt a budget for the year. This proposed budget will first be submitted to the president, with the chair’s signature. The President will sign and forward to the Board. Mike had a proposed budget expenditure breakdown prepared for review and possible submission. After a short explanation of the expenditures, Mike Duff offered the ’06-07 TASC Budget’ up for a motion to accept as the ‘2006-2007 Proposed TASC Budget”. Dr. Fetter motioned to accept and Ashley Berken seconded. The Committee approved and motion carried.

Mike Graham suggested the committee talk about ideas for this year. First, he felt the $50,000 per college worked out very well last year. He suggested the same for this year. Secondly, the monitors should be active in another few weeks. Shannon will address in his CoTASCO report.

There are a couple of projects that Mike brought to the committee’s attention. He was not asking for funds at this point, just wanted to make the committee aware. The Banner System Portal servers required may need additional funding and Mike will have a breakdown of money spent at next meeting. He also said the university will kick in more money for this.

Mike Graham stated he was approached by several people (in the Physics Dept) about the Observatory at the Coliseum. Presently the Observatory is not usable. Would the TASC committee be interested in purchasing a refrub.24” telescope that would be completely re-fitted? This telescope would be the finest in Louisiana, better than the one at LSU. It would cost around $180,000 for just the telescope with other pieces required at an additional cost. If TASC would be able to come up with $180,000 and a little more, Mike feels sure the university would pick up a portion of about $50,000 or $60,000 so that it would be a partnership and the students would always have free access to it. And, if they wanted to invite the community as well, this could be possible. Mike also stated that if TASC agrees and this happens, he has requested the project gets named after TASC -- so that it becomes ‘The TASC Student Observatory at McNeese State University’. Mike feels this project has great potential. Mike Duff stated there could be fundraisers to possibly raise enough money for each year. Other committee members had additional positive comments. Mike Graham said in all TASC is probably looking at a total of $200,000 to $220,000 for the project. Mike Duff stated he liked the idea, but would like to get better concrete numbers in terms of cost and more information before committee discussed whether or not to approve. Mike Graham agreed and said he would invite Dr. Stinnett (with the members approval) to come in and give a detailed explanation. Members agreed.

Committee also discussed how much to commit to the TASC funding for TASC Proposals. There was a motion and second made to approve the $50,000 per college and an additional $50,000 set aside for Other projects. Committee voted to approve and motion carried.

Michael Duff asked the committee to decide when and how they wanted proposals submitted. Committee discussed as the colleges submit their proposals, they could be reviewed at the following meeting. Other departments could be done at one time after the deadline. Deadline to have all proposals turned in was proposed for November 3, 2006. Dr. Fetter motioned to set deadline at November 3, 2006 and go over individual college proposals as they come in, but any of the Other proposal categories will be discussed after the deadline. Motion was seconded by Ashley Berken and approved. Motion carried.

Dr. Wayne Fetter asked the committee if they were ready to consider a TASC Proposal from the College of Education. The committee agreed and Dr. Fetter handed out the proposal. Dr. Fetter stated that his committee has already met and have come up with a Drew, 3-Gaming and a TASC proposal all related in their requests. College of Education submitted a TASC Proposal for the purchase and installation of 9 Promethean Interactive Boards from Visual Images and Sound. This Proposal will accommodate about half of the classrooms in Farrar and the equipment will make available to McNeese students the latest technology in classroom management. Furthermore, the potential of this equipment explained Dr. Fetter would make McNeese ‘the model for the nation’. Mike Graham stated how impressed he was by the proposal and how it is a well planned, focused approach of the proposal. Mike Duff said he was also impressed.
After a brief discussion, a motion was made to approve funding for the College of Education TASC Proposal. Motion was seconded and approved. Motion carried.

Mike Graham gave brief update on the Holbrook Expansion. After speaking to Richard Rhoden, he told committee, cost were about 35% higher than last year and now they are down to 25% to 30% higher. What does the committee want to do? Mike Duff suggested waiting another month or 2 before making a decision to see if cost would drop some more. Mike will continue to check with Richard Rhoden for updates.

Mike Graham gave brief update on Myspace. There is a bandwidth problem. More bandwidth has been ordered and should have been here by the beginning of school. Since it was not, by the end of October it should be doubled and turned on. Mike said, “We are also looking into rate controlling it, but have not found a timer yet to turn it off and on”.

Janet Woolman asked the status of the monitors. Shannon gave a short explanation of what remains to be done and by November the monitors should be up and running. Mike Graham said they would have ticker display and eventually some sort of video presentation and an announcement section.

Old Business
-

New Business
-

CoTASCO Update
Shannon Davis reported he had a student approach him after checking with other universities with open access labs and found they are open until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. Is it possible for Holbrook to offer these hours? Mike Duff asked, “How feasible would it be budgetarily to do this”. Mike Graham stated, “Budgetarily it would be tight”. Mike Duff suggested maybe looking at doing something similar during finals and week before finals. Mike Graham agreed that these times are reasonable to look at extending the hours at Holbrook. Janet Woolman suggested looking at the Library Lab as an alternate site for the late hours.

Mike Graham asked the committee if they still wanted him to look into print control.
Mike Duff said yes. Check into how much it would cost for ‘X’ amount of copies per semester. Right now it is out of control.

Committee members discussed scheduling the following Fridays of September 29, October 20 and 27, November 2 and 10 and December 1, each at 3:30pm.
Janet Woolman will confirm which room in the Library the meetings will be held.
Ashley Berken motioned for the following meeting dates of -
September 29
October 20 and 27
November 3 and 10
December 1
- at 3:30pm in a room to be determined at a later date in either the Library or other room on campus.
Patrick Eustis seconded. Motion was approved and carried.

Patrick Eustis introduced himself as the new member.

Adjournment
Motion was made for meeting to adjourn at 4:50pm.