Meeting & Agendas

The meeting was called to order at 10:00 a.m.

The meeting was opened with a welcome and introduction of Deborah Benavidez as the Interim Department Chair following Jane’s retirement.

Deborah began the discussion to review the minutes from the Spring 2020 meeting. Referring to the previous minutes, Deborah shared that the addition of POFT 1127 to all of the degrees and certificates is complete and presently reflected in the department Award Plans and Program Maps. The change to the Internship POFT 2286 from three hours to two hours is now complete and reflected in all online materials. Deborah also shared that the EDUC 1100 or the POFT 1171 courses have been added to the remaining certificates in the program and this addition is now complete and reflected in all online materials. Deborah shared that the Software Applications Certificate has been retired and is no longer offered through the department. The committee unanimously approved the Spring 2020 minutes.

Deborah began the discussion by explaining that the Provost, Dr. Cook, has expressed his desire that the department change its name to Business Technology in order to align more closely with the Houston Community College (HCC) Business Technology Office Administration program. Gretchen Riehl, the Associate Vice President of Workforce Education, and the Dean of the Business Area of Study, Lorlie Ellis, are in agreement with this suggestion. Mary Joy offered the insight that changing the name of the program to Business Technology might attract someone looking for technical training in addition to clerical office training, but expressed concern that someone looking for office administration training would not find it if the department name is only Business Technology. She thought that more advising might be needed to assist students to understand what the department offers in office administration courses. Deborah mentioned that Gretchen and Lorlie have discussed offering Google Suite certification for students as part of the program to meet current and future demands of employers and to address another aspect of office technology skills. The main concern is that prospective students interested in office administration courses are able to locate our program if the name is changed to Business Technology and that the name expresses the core values of the department. Juanita agreed that a name change to Business Technology was not precise enough to describe the office skills that the program offers, which include instruction in managing administrative office workflow as well as technical skills. She suggested including the word “Office” in the name to more clearly represent the nature of the courses offered in this program and to facilitate search efforts by interested parties. Jane expressed concern that the change in name was coming from the Provost and not from within the department itself and noted that any changes to the program must be approved through the advisory committee. Roberto asked if the department would be setting an unfavorable precedent in this situation without thorough consideration and exploration of the effects of such a change to the successful implementation of the department program. The committee then compared the HCC program to ACC’s office administration program by visiting the HCC Business Technology program website and noted that it is similar in course offerings. The committee continued to discuss the concern that instruction for clerical office administration skills was not readily apparent in the first several searches of HCC’s website. The concern was expressed that an older returning student could be intimidated by an emphasis on technology, which might imply Computer IT skills such as programming or coding instead of office technology skills like Microsoft Office applications such as Word, Excel, etc. Matilde contributed the idea that the department name should convey a program that offers office administrative skills as well as office technology skills for the student that aspires to build on technical office skills as a foundation to proceed further to administrative management skills if desired. Darrell then spoke to the consideration of current business trends and the skills that are needed in the Central Texas area and thought that the name Business Office Technology clearly defined what the department offers and recognizes the direction ACC and the Business AoS is going in the future. He also strongly agreed that the word “Office” should be included in the name so our students can find the program during their initial searches online and the rest of the committee agreed. He mentioned the importance of accurate and clear advising for students interested in the program. The committee agreed that students might think the name Business Technology is more related to business management than office administration and technology. The committee decided that the name Business Technology is somewhat vague and does not clearly express what the program offers and strongly feels that the name needs to include the word “Office” in order to clearly communicate the core of the program and to facilitate prospective students’ online searches to find the program. The committee unanimously approved the department name change to Business Office Technology.

Meeting was adjourned at 10:30 a.m.