Commission on Public Service and Extension Minutes of Meeting on September 16, 1994 Members Present: Ralph Badinelli, Deb Williams, Pat Edwards, Bob Martin, William Swecker, Connie Kratzer, Donna Dunay, Patrick Liverpool, Doug McAlister, Thomas Hohenshil, Brenda Olafsen, Fred Krimgold, James Jones Alternate: Gerald Cross for Fred Lamb and Judith Jones for Bill Allen Not represented: Ted Settle, Gregory Brown, Jerald Robinson, David Johnson, Bill Mashburn, Heather Pert, SGA 1. The meeting was convened and chaired by Ralph Badinelli, who presented the agenda for approval. There being no requests for alterations, the agenda was adopted. 2. As the minutes for the prior meeting were not available, no minutes were approved. 3. Deb Williams agreed to share the responsibilities of Commission secretary with Ralph Badinelli as these individuals are responsible for reporting Commission activities to the Staff Senate and Faculty Senate, respectively. 4. The Committee assignments were presented by the Chair who then solicited comment. Several Commission members said that they had not recieved the assignments via e-mail prior to the meeting prompting the chair to promise to send the committee document via e-mail after the meeting. Patrick Liverpool expressed his desire to be removed from the position of Chair of the International Porgrams Committee. The Commission Chair agreed to this request. Bob Martin asked the Commission if his serving as Chair of the Committee for the Coordination of Total Outreach Activities could be considered a conflict of interest as he also serves on the Outreach Task Force . There was general agreement that his dual appointment would be an asset to the Committee. 5. The charge of the Commission was read by the Chair in order to clarify the role of the Commission as a body within the governance system that generates proposals for consideration by University Council that would affect the University s ability to carry out its mission in Outreach and Extension. The chair expressed the opinion that this charge excluded the use of the Commission as an advisory group to Outreach or Extension unit managers and that the oversight of Outreach and Extension activities should be restricted to that which is germane to an issue being considered by the Commission. A discussion of how agenda items and policy changes could be recommended to the Commission proceeded. The recommendations can come from a multitude of sources, not limited to Commission members, other University Commissions and committees, University Council, etc. 6. A proposal for the electronic revision and approval of meeting minutes was presented by the chair. Some discussion followed. No motion was made in connection with the proposal. The Chair agreed to modify the procedures outlined in the proposal and to experiment with the electronic dissemination and review of minutes in parallel with the conventional method. Minutes will be sent out electronically to all CPSE members. Changes may be returned via the listserve. We will continue to do the final approval in the Commission meetings, but this procedure should shorten the approval process significantly. 7. Several action items were presented by the Chair as suggested topics for Commission deliberations in the coming year. There was general agreement that the following topics were worthy of the Commission s attention. 7a) The connection between VCE, CE, PS and other outreach - One-stop shopping : This issue subsumes several ideas for expanding the role of extension offices throughout the Commonwealth through their involvement in various activities that are administered through non-extension offices such as those of Continuing Education, Public Service or academic departments. There is potential for high growth in the CE and PS areas, while VCE is very important to the state. The goal is to connect all these areas and make the extension office more accessible. This plan is only in the preliminary discussion stages. Judith Jones said that she and Ted Settle had discussed this concept several times. She said that the basic idea is to have each extension office act as the front door to the University . In order to play this role, she suggested that the extension offices could provide for electronic admission requests, dissemination of University Catalogs and other literature, downlink sites for televised Veterinary-Medicine continuing education courses, connection to Telstar, logistical support for off-campus credit programs, etc. Judith pointed out that additional resources would be needed if the extension offices are to carry out expanded duties such as those described above. Patrick Liverpool indicated that there are many different points of contact with Virginia Tech and folks are not sure whom to call. Extension, however, is a known entity. The 107 extension offices form a vast resource for points of access by the public to Virginia Tech. There are many options being discussed. Gerald Cross stated that such advances in outreach programs cannot be implemented until the University adopts a common understanding or definition of outreach activities and the evaluation of those activities. The discussion then spilled over into the questions of the clarification of the roles of outreach, extension, research and teaching and the question of the involvement of faculty. The Chair stated that he would charge the Committee on the Coordination of Total Outreach Efforts to identify the significant issues related to this proposal. 7b) Credit programs through Continuing Education Patrick Liverpool stated that Penn State has a program that offers credit programs through its Continuing Education unit. This unit generates revenue of $26 million, half of which is due to credit programs. Gerald Cross raised the question of the potential for the Commission to work at cross purposes with the Outreach Task Force sponsored by Patrick Liverpool and Len Peter s task force on the extended university. In response, Patrick Liverpool clarified the role of the Task Force and agreed to share the charge of the Task Force with all members of the Commission. The Chair stated that this issue would also be sent to the Committee for the Coordination of Total Outreach Efforts for better definition. 7c) Proposal for the Academy of Public Service Excellence Commission members agreed the title was possibly obsolete, but agreed not to waste time arguing about a name. This was being addressed by other task forces and committees within the university. Also, after discussion, we agreed for the same reason not to discuss changing the name of the Commission. Committee members for the Academy of Excellence Award were charged to begin the review process and "get the job done!" It is an idea that has been around a long time and was to have been implemented in 93-94. The goal is for the award to be ready for Founder's Day. As a result of the name discussion Ralph Badinelli will issue a statement prior to next month's meeting outlining that, for the Commission members' purposes, we should consider the term Public Service in the broad sense of Outreach. 7d) Faculty rewards The committee on Outreach and Promotion and Rewards was charged to, once again, look into faculty rewards. The Chair stated that his charge to the Committee will ask for ideas that are concrete and innovative. The Commission also agreed that a system of evaluation and a measurement process is needed. 7f) COTA: Ralph Badinelli and Patrick Liverpool explained the status of COTA and its history to the best of their abilities. COTA appears to have been created in connection with the Hotel Roanoke project. The Chair expressed his desire to put any considerations of COTA on a back burner as this program area reports to the Provost and not to Patrick Liverpool. 7g) Provost search: Will Commission have a role? We want to have a voice. Commission members were requested to send Ralph Badinelli their suggestions for questions they want asked in the interview process for the new provost. The Commission agreed to request that the chair participate in the interview process. Ralph was to check on this and respond back to the Commission members. There being no additional business the Commission adjourned. The next CPSE meeting will be October 14 from 1-3pm in 210 Burruss.