TASC MEETING
Minutes
October 27, 2006

Call to Order
Mike Duff called the meeting to order at 3:37pm. Members present were Ashley Berken, James McDonald, Marcus Stein, Janet Woolman, Dr. Todd Furman, Michael Graham and Michael Duff. Others in attendance were Rod Lauderdale, Shannon Davis, Chad Thibodeaux and Brenda Gallow. Members absent were Patrick Eustis, Dr. Wayne Fetter and Nick Kohrs.

Minutes
Mike Duff accepted the October 20, 2006 minutes by acclamation.

CITO Update
Mike Graham reported to the committee the bandwidth has been doubled. He gave a special thanks to Chad Thibodeaux for his technical abilities, his patience and most of all his perseverance in working to get the bandwidth up and running. He said they will run for one week to see how much bandwidth is actually used. Once it is determined that the bandwidth is running approx. 65%, there will be discussion about the myspace issue and then try it. Mike said right now, we are at the point where we have a functional network. Mike stated the university is maxed out in terms of cash expended on the network, so if there is a need to increase it, TASC may be asked to supply more funds.

Old Business
Marcus Stein stated although he is fired up, he does not get a feeling of interest about the observatory from the entire student body. Mike Duff would like to see what other projects may be of interest. Several committee members agreed that the observatory, although great for the university, would not be of direct benefit (hands on) to the students as a whole. Mike Graham said he felt this could be a good student benefit, activity wise, because there is not a whole lot to do, and it could benefit students if they would take advantage of it, but doesn’t know if that would happen. Mike Duff and Mike Graham both agreed their biggest fear would be to purchase the telescope and it not get used. Dr. Furman suggested looking into renting time on a remote telescope to see what kind of interest it would generate from the students. Mike Graham said he would find out. Ashley Berken suggested if the physics dept and the university could raise enough money to purchase the telescope without TASC help, then if the students are using it, TASC could fund the continuous upkeep.

Mike Duff asks the committee to come with ideas for a big ticket project at the next meeting.

New Business
Rod Lauderdale spoke to the committee about the children of the Governor’s Program. He explained, these are gifted students of middle school to sophomore high school age involved in a summer program that enhances the sciences and the arts. They are registered McNeese students with McNeese IDs but are not taking credit hours. In the past, the university has allowed the students to use the facilities and equipment, but now due to the fact that a lot of the equipment belongs to TASC, only McNeese students who are taking credit hours are allowed to use the equipment. Dr. Lauderdale asked if it is possible to make some kind of arrangement to allow the summer students to use the TASC facilities/equipment, perhaps thru some sort of fee arrangement.

Dr. Lauderdale answered several questions from the committee before leaving.

Several committee members agreed they do not want to give full access to all of the TASC equipment. Chad Thibodeaux pointed out there are other camps at the university that would expect the same benefits. Mike Graham stated if the committee wanted to allow this request they could define what the rules would be. Mike Duff would like to see some sort of list of what is being asked to use. Janet Woolman wondered how far in advance the program is planned. She agreed with Mike Duff and suggested getting a list request of what TASC equipment would be used so the decision could be made yearly. The committee agreed and Mike Graham will request an equipment list from Rod Lauderdale and ask how many students (percentage wise) of the Governor’s Program end up attending McNeese.

The committee also discussed the massive amounts of students wasting paper and asked Mike Graham to get information about paying for paper.

CoTASCO Update
Shannon Davis said the TV monitors are approx. 95% completed. All is progressing quickly.

Adjournment
Meeting was adjourned at 4:28pm.