Minutes

I took these minutes on my 39th birthday, which was the day the University re-opened after the flooding of the city. What a strange day. We’d seen our city on the brink of annihilation, and the future was very uncertain. We came into our conference room, sat around the table, looked at each other and wondered, “What now?” That was five year ago today. I’ve edited this a bit to obscure individual identities and remove any information that might be considered sensitive.

CAT Staff Meeting: January 17th, 2006

In attendance: D— L—, J— F—, B— E—, T— S—

The minutes from our last staff meeting before Katrina (August 22nd, 2005) were reviewed and approved.

We no longer have an administrative assistant, therefore we will need to rotate certain duties. D— will pick up our mail on Tuesdays; B— on Wednesdays; T— on Thursdays; J— on Fridays or Mondays. We will also rotate taking minutes at staff meetings.

Facilities: There is mold in the student lab and J—’s office. We have too many chair/desks for rooms 501 and 502. B— and J— moved a dozen chair/desks to the hall for temporary storage. J— will contact M— B— regarding the extra chair/desks and the mold problems.

T— and D— reported some announcements made at Faculty Institute.

Student Lab: Dr. B— has indicated that if we can open the student lab, we should do so. We discussed logistics regarding how this might best be accomplished. First, the mold problem must be remediated. Second, we need work-study students to supervise the lab. J— will pursue both issues; if the mold problem is remediated before work-study students are available, J— and B— will work together to provide coverage for the lab, though perhaps at a reduced number of hours.

Strategic Plan: We agreed to review the goals of the CAT Strategic Plan and report back on their post-Katrina relevance. B— will review goals 1-4; T— will review goals 5-8; J— will review goals 9-12; D— will review goals 13-15.

D— reported that a faculty member suggested CAT could help facilitate a discussion among professors teaching AFAM subjects and related courses across the curriculum.

We discussed the possibility of a workshop or panel discussion on “how to handle being overloaded.”

T— and D— will review the “small group instructional diagnosis” service for post-Katrina relevance.

D— will craft an e-mail message to faculty asking what CAT might do to best serve them, or their department.

J— will inquire about using X-Cards for student printing fees.

Minutes respectfully submitted by B— E—