McNeese State University

Call to Order
TJ Moore called the meeting to order at 2:30pm. Members present were TJ Moore,
Clayton Moreau, Morgan Verrette, John O’Donnel, Bill Mungai, Dr. Nikos Kiritsis and Mike Graham. Others in attendance were Patrick Eustis and Brenda Gallow. Members absent were Timothy Rye, Raphiel Heard, Dr. Todd Furman and Chad Thibodeaux

Minutes
TJ Moore approved the 16NOVT07 minutes by acclamation.

CITO Update
Mike Graham presented the committee with a handout of the SPSS Renewal.
He asked if the committee wanted to renew. Mike said TASC has purchased licenses for SPSS that is used in a number of labs. TJ asked what is SPSS. Mike responded it is a statistical package used by a variety of departments such as Economics, Mathematics, Psychology, etc… Clayton Moreau motioned to approve the renewal of the SPSS contract. Motion was seconded. The committee voted to approve and motion carries.

Mike informed the committee the Lite Center will not be opened on January 2nd, but they will be opened the following week on January 9th. He said he booked January 9th and wanted to confirm if the committee will be able to go on this day. The committee agreed.

Mike stated at the last meeting there was a suggestion by Dr. Nikos to reduce the number of modems used to figure out the number of students using the dial up service. He said Structure X is unwilling to cutback on the number of modems because this would reduce their revenue, so the internet service will have to be renewed as is and then only use part of the modems or not renew the service. Mike asked the committee what to do. TJ asked how much it would cost to renew. Mike stated about $110,000. Clay Moreau wondered how many students would be effected if the contract was not renewed. Mike said he did not know. The committee had a lengthy discussion and decided to have Mike Graham send some type of notification out to the students about discontinuing the dial up service via email, using the TV boards and flyers.

Old Business
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New Business
TJ Moore received a TASC proposal from General and Basic Studies to be reviewed with the “Other” Departments proposals at a later date.

CoTASCO Update
Patrick Eustis reported the computers will be ghosted in Holbrook and the Library over the holiday break.

Mike Graham informed the committee that the cost of computers are estimated to drop from approx. $1700 to $1050 per unit.

Dr. Nikos presented a proposal to the committee and asked them to accompany him to Drew Hall where he gave a presentation on an idea to build a small scale pilot chemical plant in ETL 105 (chemical engineering lab). He said this would be Engineering’s niche and they have been working on the idea for about 3 years. Dr. Nikos spoke about several units, such as the Honeywell DTS 300 Distributed Control System, that would be essential for the operation of the pilot plant. He explained the benefits to the MSU students would be as follows: it would be used by the entire engineering college, simulates real-life chemical plant environment, better preparation for students, more competitive graduates, hands on experience and sets us many steps ahead from Sowela. Dr. Nikos said they are asking for funding not only from TASC but from other sources as well. Dr. Valentine and Dr. Griffith were present to answer questions. After the presentation, Dr.Griffith gave a short tour of the area that would contain the equipment for the pilot chemical plant. The Engineering Department is requesting $500,000 from TASC.

Adjournment
Morgan Verrette moved to adjourn and John O’Donnell seconded. The committee voted to approve and the meeting was adjourned.

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