Present: Jim Oliver, Derrick Parkhurst, ChiuShui Chan, Julie Dickerson, Brian Mennecke, Steve Herrnstadt, Matt Heying, Pam Shill.
Elections for student group officers will take place soon. Matt will ask for nominations. The students will hold Usability Relays during Veishea on Saturday, April 21. Pam did not receive any comments from faculty or students on the curriculum proposal that was presented at the last meeting.
Jim Oliver met with Chitra Rajan, Charlotte Bronson, and John Brighton to review the program's accomplishments over the last year and since the initiative began. Discussion was held about bringing VRAC and HCI closer together. No commitment for next year's funding was made, although they were complimentary and positive about the program. Jim Oliver may meet with Dave Holger to discuss how the new budget model will affect interdisciplinary programs, particularly HCI. The committee discussed the ongoing issue of how departments support HCI students.
ChiuShui received a suggestion from a faculty member to have an awards committee determine HCI award winners in the future. The committee felt that the process this year led to community building, with 17 faculty and 28 students voting. Jim Oliver also mentioned the commitment of the Supervisory Committee to help reduce the administrative role of the HCI faculty. A special, one time award was discussed and it was determined that all nominees will be recognized at the forum and the award winners will be announced at that time.
The REU program received 32 applications for the 15 positions available for the Summer 2007 program. A matrix of applicants was discussed. Pam will create offers to the top 15 students. If any of the students decline the invitation, she will send another matrix out to the committee with the rest of the applicants for recommendations of which students to invite next. One applicant that participated in the REU program last year will be invited to help as a mentor.
Jim Oliver announced that Derrick Parkhurst will not be here in the fall to teach his course HCI/PSYCH 521. Options for offering this core course were discussed. The first choice is to teach the course as is, either with another instructor or having Derrick teach it from a distance. The second choice would be to offer substitute courses to students for the fall semester. Pam will work with Psychology to have them re-open the PSYCH/HCI 521 section so that we can get an idea of how many students are interested in taking this course in the fall. Curriculum discussions will take place in the future to determine more than one option fore each core course so that the curriculum is not threatened when faculty members leave.
Brian announced that although the Business College asked that their Behavioral Lab is used by Business students only, any HCI student wanting to use that space should contact Tony Townsend or himself and they will help them make arrangements to use the lab.
Brian also announced that he will be teaching MIS 534 this summer through distance education and using Second Life.
Next meeting is Wednesday, May 2 at 9 am in the VRAC Allbaugh Conference Room. Submitted by Pam Shill