IHETS internal review team

Meeting notes, September 30, 2005

Present: Bill Kramer, Ivy Tech, Chair; Patrick Alles, ICI; Karen Bonnell, USI; Don Kaufman, VU; Ed Kinley, ISU; Vic Lechtenberg, PU; Lee Lewellen, CICP; Kathy Ross, IUK; O’Neal Smitherman, BSU; Dave King, Tim Fisher, Rauf Khalid, Susan Scott, Kevin Siminski, and Lynn Ward, IHETS staff

Kramer called the meeting to order at 10:15 a.m. with introductions.

Key discussion points:

Subcommittees. Lechtenberg reported that the Governance Subcommittee would hold an organizational meeting immediately following this Review Team meeting. Kinley stated that the Services Subcommittee had been waiting for survey information and plans to meet early next week after members have had a chance to review the data.

Questions for the External Review Team. Referring to a telephone conference with the External Team chair earlier in the week, Kramer explained the importance of helping focus the External Team appropriately so they can be most helpful. Several members pointed to the value of having additional perceptions of what’s happening across the country, what other state organizations are planning for, what their processes for planning are, and what political, economic, and State expectations others face. Indications of exemplars or good models would be helpful, along with reflection about what opportunities are on the horizon that need collaboration—even whether a single entity can continue to meet the multiple needs of higher education in a complex technology marketplace. Other suggestions included: reflections about how well IHETS is constituted to deal effectively with change, how well IHETS communicates and receives feedback.

Further solicitation of comments from Board members and partners. Noting that few responses had yet been received from executive stakeholders, Kramer asked for suggestions about how to improve the response. The consensus was to use other communications vehicles to remind people that we would still welcome their advice.

External Review Team visit. King reported that he and Kramer have discussed with Louis Fox a couple of different ways to structure the visit and that he would begin soon to lock in specific times and dates for different groups to meet with the External Team. If needed, it may be feasible to split the External Team for concurrent sessions.

Self-Study document. King asked for advice now that Team members have a sense of the shape of the document. Suggestions included: including in the body of the document a description and perhaps a chart of the historic funding mix and how that may have shifted over time; organizing the service descriptions in order of impact (user base or service reach); articulating the scope of e-learning services and emphasizing the extensive reach of ICN; and appending or incorporating some analysis of survey results.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:50 a.m.

Follow-up actions:

• Subcommittees will begin their work as indicated previously.
• Additional questions for the External Team may still be forwarded to King, who will consolidate and revise per today’s discussion before sending them to the External Team along with the self-study report.
• Staff will forward to Internal Team members on Tuesday, October 4, the self-study document at whatever stage it exists for members to provide final comments and suggestions by close of business Wednesday, October 5. The target for completion remains Friday, October 7, in order to give External Review Team members sufficient time to prepare for the visit.
• Weekly Monday 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. meeting times for the Internal Review Team (from November 7 through December 5) will remain on the schedule to be available as needed. If the committee of the whole does not need to meet on a particular Monday, the video bridge reservation can be used for a subcommittee meeting. Meetings on December 12 and 19 were lengthened to run from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. in order to allow sufficient time to formulate recommendations. Scott will schedule for the group using Outlook.