The SCIE Asia Council

Minutes of Meeting

April 8, 2005

The spring meeting of the Asia Council was held at Macon State College on April 8, 2005. In attendance were Jonathan Leightner, Augusta State University; Traci Provost, Middle Georgia College; Salli Vargis, Georgia Perimeter College; George Vargis, Georgia Perimeter College; Marc Gilbert, North Georgia College and State University; Ed Gorsuch, Georgia State University; Gul Ghutai Najeeb, Kennesaw State University; Dan Paracka, Kennesaw State University; Ryan Thornton, Board of Regents; Tom Dolan, Columbus State University; Baogang Guo, Dalton State College. Housekeeping. After introductions, approval of minutes suspended due to temporary loss of minutes by Chair.

1. SCIE Update. Ryan Thorton drew attention to the success of the continuing on-line language courses in Japanese, Chinese and Russian. He also noted that any news of international programs or projects may be sent to Carrie Sloan (carrie.sloan@usgoie.edu) for inclusion on the USOIE events calendar.

2. Nominations/Elections for Officers. This spring meeting marked elections of officers according to the Council by-laws. Nominations were solicited but not forthcoming. A motion was offered to re-elect the current slate of officers (Dan Paracka, as Chair, T. Chris Jespersen as Vice-Chair and Marc Gilbert as Secretary) and passed without a negative vote.

3. Budget Update. As of March 23, 2005, the Asia Council was carrying a balance of $13,000. The Board of Regent’s contribution to council operations remained at $1000.00.

4. The itinerary for the Faculty Development Seminar in India June-July, 2005 was presented by Marc Gilbert and Salli Vargis. Due to a late very large rise in airfare from $1000 to over $1750 per person (out of advertised total cost of $2900), this program had to retrenched by a variety of stratagems, though without sacrificing quality. However, the directors expressed concern that the budget was too lean to provide for any unexpected contingencies, such as the need to book airfares in case of monsoon rains upset train schedules or the need to provide honorariums to take advantage of unexpectedly available speakers. As a result, they asked the Council to approve of a pledge of $2000 against such contingencies, which was granted.

5. Faculty Development proposals for Summer 2007 were announced as due December 1, 2005. The Council discussed a variety of possible programs, but urged the submission of as many proposals as possible by the next Council meeting (9 September 2005).

6. Study Abroad Updates. The India (14 students) and China General Studies (22) Study Abroad Programs were reported as on track by their directors. Enrollment for the Chinese language group (6) has suffered due to Paul Foster’s sabbatical and this generated discussion on recruitment patterns.

7. The Japan Study Abroad program failed to attract sufficient interest and was cancelled by its director Dwight Call, who questioned whether an independent USGOIE program was viable or necessary, given existing exchange programs, such as that managed by Ritsumeiken University in Kyoto, that would simplify recruitment and not require Georgia faculty participation

8. An early announcement was made regarding the upcoming Year of China Program at Kennesaw State University and its forthcoming extensive program of speakers and activities.

9. Other Business/Next Meeting The Council considered arriving early for meetings and having lunch together at nearby Asian buffet restaurants. Marc Gilbert drew attention to the Korea Society’s fall fellowship program for American faculty (see http://www.koreasociety.org/). The next meeting of the Council will be at Macon State University, 9 September 2005.