NJEDge.Net
The New Jersey Higher Education Network |
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Attending: Tony Bruzaitis, Bruce Byrne, Edward Chapel, John Farrell, Michael Mundrane, Neal Sturm, Peter Teklinski, David Ullman, Jay Zahner George Laskaris (Ex officio), Stacie Nicole Lyons (Recorder). Acceptance of Minutes A motion was made to accept the minutes from the May 8, 2001 NJEDge.Net Network Advisory Board Meeting. The motion passed unanimously. Report from the Presidents' Council D. Ullman reviewed the acceptance of the resolution concerning in-kind equipment donations in lieu of annual fees as well as the issue of vacancies on the NJEDge.Net Network Advisory Board that were brought before the Presidents' Council at their last meeting on May 14th. Network Board alternates were also discussed as being the responsibility of the sector organizations and N. Sturm informed the Board that Leslie Maltz from Stevens Institute of Technology will be the alternate representative for the independent higher education sector. D. Ullman proposed that the Network Board follow the Presidents' Council's model of rotating the Chair every two years. This issue will be discussed in more detail at the next meeting of the Board. T. Bruzaitis agreed with the two-year model as it promoted consistency. The Board reviewed the proposed meeting schedule for FY 2001/02. A brief discussion ensued regarding meeting locations. N. Sturm suggested that all meetings be held at Rutgers in New Brunswick. The Board agreed. NJEDge.Net Budget FY 2002 G. Laskaris reviewed the budget for FY 2001, 2002 and commented on the budget notes (included in the Board folders) indicating that the FY2001 fund balance was primarily attributable to the vacant staffing positions which will soon be filled now that NJEDge.Net is in the implementation stage. A motion was made by N. Sturm and seconded by J. Farrell to accept the NJEDge.Net Budget FY 2002. NJVU Sheri Prupis, NJEDge's Educational Technologist, reported on the present status of the NJVU web site catalog of courses and faculty center concerns, notably accuracy. A brief review of the core mission of NJVU, followed by a brief discussion of short and long-term objectives took place. Sheri Prupis then reported on the critical role that existing initiatives like the New Jersey Virtual Community College Consortium will play in the future of NJVU. Also she reported on activities in other states such as the Kentucky Virtual University and the California Virtual University. It was noted that much could be learned by examining these existing models in planning the future direction of NJVU. Plans for four discipline specific Faculty Showcases were then reviewed. B. Byrne recommended that the NJVU be a resource catalog as opposed to a course catalog. David Ullman then organized a team that would meet to discuss institutional needs and provide some strategic planning for the future direction of NJVU to be led by B. Byrne as Chair, and included G. Laskaris, E. Chapel, and J. Farrell. Mark Kassop from Bergen Community College is the liaison for the Virtual Community College Consortium and has since agreed to participate in this group. EATF J. Zahner reported on the Educational Activities Task Force (EATF) activities and meetings, noting the need for redefining the focus to best serve the membership of NJEDge.Net. G. Laskaris agreed that the role of EATF needs to be reshaped as the new network is implemented and it was recommended that the Board lead a process of strategic planning in the Fall as a means of facilitating the incorporation of NJIN activities groups into the NJEDge.Net. Executive Director Report G. Laskaris reported on the organizational membership status (included in the folders) and requested suggestions on collecting unpaid fees. Several Board members suggested second invoicing and later, reminder billings and phone calls. The Satellite Uplink at William Paterson University was discussed. J. Gaboury has questioned the size of the circuit that NJEDge will provision into the uplink. Following some discussion, a suggestion was made that we request that C. McMickle from William Paterson and the VRG survey the number of Institutions who will be using the Satellite, gather data on past levels of usage, and provide estimated projections on the frequency of future use of the Satellite Uplink for the Network Board to review. Based on the request of a "for-profit" institution, G. Laskaris conveyed a request for Board consideration that "for-profit" institutions be given the option of one-year NJEDge.Net subscription contract instead of three-year contract. Following general discussion, there was agreement that this was not in the best interests of the general membership would were contractually bound to three year commitments. G. Laskaris reported that weekly status meetings have been arranged with Verizon to develop the implementation and scheduling of the new network strategies. An update will be sent to the membership in July. A focus group from the Board, representing the higher education community (M. Mundrane, J. Zahner, J. Farrell, and T. Bruzaitis), was selected to participate in a Ford Foundation Grant awarded to Tom Lancaster and others to study the current state of telecommunications taxes in NJ and to consider the recommendation of a telecommunications trust fund that could potentially provide some measure of future support for NJEDge.Net Other Business NJEDge.Net partnership with IDT/ TV.TV and Net2Phone were briefly reviewed. Due to time constraints the Board was asked to review the documents included in the Board folders for future discussions. The next meeting of the NJEDge. Net Network Advisory Board will be held on July 26, 2001 at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. |