Meeting & Agendas

Department Chair Bill Woodhull called the meeting to order at 11:03 am, advisory board member Mark Daughn connected to the meeting via Skype. Faculty member Yam Tolan came in to make a brief hello and to say he was unable to attend due to classroom/student demands. 1. Departmental Updates, Bill Woodhull made the following announcements: Robert Payne will be retiring at the end of this semester. Kat Watts-Martinez has been promoted to department program specialist (print show, ATPI, ACCme Studio (student run photo for the college) A new administrative assistant, Kate Johnson, was hired to replace her. He (Bill Woodhull) will be stepping down as Department Chair at the end of this academic year. He hopes that one of the current 3 FT faculty members will be able to step into the role of DC The department is in the process of hiring a replacement IT person who will take over some of the duties Robert Payne was performing. This position will be a half time position, but we are waiting for final paperwork to go through from HR before we can make the announcement. Enrollment Bill reported to the board that we are seeing our enrollment stabilizing. The Sp 2018 semester has 29 sections offered, which is more than last year and means we are starting once again to see our students moving forward. Part of this is due to the combining of Intermediate and Color I but the other has to do with economic ebbs and flows. He also detailed the current numbers in our classes and what is being offered in the Spring. Kirk Tuck asked about the new structure, Bill explained some of the recent changes (New Dean and that we are now under the Arts and Digital media umbrella.) Both this inclusion and move to Highland are both positives for our department and the others as it puts the creatives under one roof and allows for more across the board networking. Bill introduced Sean Perry to discuss and introduce the new End of Semester Review and Print Show procedures the department has adopted. And how this will benefit the overall education for our students. Board member thoughts Adding professionals, alumni to be part of the review process and make the pool much greater, stronger and give the students the ability to present their work at professional level and they gain the responsibility and investment  forces students to talk to folks about their work and get them ready. allows them to “sell” present their work. Kat - discusses ATPI (Association of Texas Photographic Instructors) every other year we host it in austin, so we can use the state capitol on Friday and on Saturday we open up our dept.  400 high school students and teachers from across the state, (other states also participates. Teachers sign up and bring students with and there are workshops and lectures throughout the day.  The classes run the gamut of what they can take.  Our faculty create the classes that we offer and we would love to get more volunteer faculty. Instructors become members and bring students with them to learn new techniques.  It is held in Austin and Arlington  Feb 24 (Saturday) One of the directions we would like to move is hosting/having summer classes for high schoolers to take to get them set up for starting at ACC

1. Bill presented a virtual tour of the proposed facilities at Highland, which once complete will give ACC a world class photographic studio. The tour detailed the labs, classrooms, main areas, Lightbox P, the upgrade in space, storage facilities for equipment, check out room, fashion portrait studios (including the dressing/prep and restrooms for this area the latter of which Bill fought for so that models doing nude or body paint shoots have a protected space in which to prepare and/or clean up) full kitchen, proper storage space for equipment, props as well as an area outside the of classrooms to hang prints utilizing Lightbox P. Faculty member, Sean Perry then explained Lightbox P; a sophisticated print viewing light source balanced for true viewing check prints. This will be utilized by students and faculty giving all a dedicated space. Bill then asked if there were any questions regarding Highland? The question was asked about the “mall space” and Bill explained that the college is currently working on and with photography to create Green Spaces in and throughout the mall to allow for more photography opportunities.

1. Global/Future Direction & State of the Industry Bill discussed how the new tax laws, and lowering unemployment rates continuing are two of the most pressing issues in regards to the global future of our program. Park Street brought up the notion that the idea of without tax benefits for education, it might push from the top down forcing prospective students to start at ACC rather than a 4 year institution. Bill then opened up the conversation of the board to Industry Standards, starting the conversation with: “Is there still a place for photography” overwhelming YES.  the market is actually better than it was 3 years ago.  There is still the use of photos, but a lot more streaming is required.   Mark explains - lots more opportunity for social media based photography as well as amazon types (new market)  its both video and stills. Kirk - combination media streaming, stills and some live shots, that get sent back to another person to post them concurrent with content.  (much more layers) Park - have a wireless stream Kirk asks if we have anyone that does weddings/retails and if the business is still profitable. Consensus - Yes and Mike brings up the the “Wedding Album” is making a comeback and head shots are also seeing a surge due to demands from social media users (which are a mix of portrait and landscape styles, although in corporations its mostly landscape) Mike - are you looking at doing online education? Bill - No when you talk about the program and facilities hands on instruction is unique. Yam not being able to be here because of his class today is a perfect example, if he was here and not physically in the room teaching his students he would leave the meeting with 75 emails requiring immediate assistance.   The only class we thought about being online is history. We feel “in class” keeps us unique.  Also you deal with an equipment list that could break students trying to start out. Chuck - this is what is going to make ACC unique for this. because you get interaction/feedback.   Bill - Any last words of wisdom in regards to the program or what we teach overall? Mark - Reaffirm ever increasing product business out there (amazon)  Kirk - hammer the marketing , this is what people need to know because most folks have lowered photo standards, but that person needs to be able to market and understand concepts of marketing Doug - in the amateur field close up/macro landscape birds and animals are the hot spots.  But the trend seems to be in how these courses are now named a simple change can bring more people in Robert - a lot of young photographers seem eager to make things happen overnight and don't use the best business practices.  so learning the business should be stressed Park - we have the best program in the state - but we need to do more marketing and if you can t do so through traditional sources then you need to find the free sources. Chuck -  what Kirk was talking about Marketing and with Robert and the community element, students must know how to build those professional relationships. At 1:18 pm Bill thanked the members for their input and called the meeting to close