Meeting & Agendas

Attendance for Meeting

Adjunct Faculty- Carol Hitzfelder, Claudia Rodriguez, Jeffrey Brennan (ZOOM) , Tracie Miller-Nobles(ZOOM), Stacey Peterson ( ZOOM), John Naranjo ( ZOOM), June Geppert ( ZOOM), Virginia Hauser,

Full-Time Faculty-  Dr. Reed Peoples (ZOOM) , Larry Stephens, Kristy McDermott, Jay Thibodeaux, Yolonda Holland ( ZOOM), Kimberly Cameron, Johnny Howard,  Germaine Randolph, May Wang

( ZOOM), Okera Bishop, Kelli Blount ( ZOOM)

• Sharing of Good News

In the meeting, Larry Stephens shared positive feedback from a local employer, Yolonda Holland, Accounting Computer Lab Technician, about the accounting program's effectiveness in preparing students for the profession. A student expressed gratitude for the program's instruction and support, highlighting the exceptional teaching skills and dedication of a staff member. The group also shared personal updates, with Stacey Peterson, ACC adjunct Faculty attending her first departmental meeting, and Tracie shared the status of her father's cancer treatment. Larry had informed the faculty about Denise White having a procedure the other day, and when she would be released from the hospital.

• Approve the minutes from the February 28, 2025, meeting

There was no opposition to approving the minutes from the February 28th, 2025, Accounting Task Force Meeting.

• Larry spoke about a concept called Distributive Leadership, which means getting more people or faculty involved and helping with the leadership of the Department with helping move things forward. The topic about the Grading Policy ties in with the concept of Distributive Leadership.

• Larry shared that next year, he wants to continue the same grading policy. For the fiscal year 2026, the committee wants to look at the Accounting Technician Level. Larry suggested forming subgroups for bookkeeping and tax, and aligning work groups with the CPA exam core sections. If teaching classes that fall within the groups, the faculty will work to talk about whether they are covering everything that's on the blueprints, are there things that are missing, where is the appropriate place to teach this information, and are they being effective in the modalities and scheduling of classes.

• A preference that Larry would like to see for the Fall, courses that are part of the core CPA exam, that are in the Category 1 classes; intermediate class, tax class, accounting information, or accounting data analytics, is to offer the classes synchronously.  Larry expressed concern over the low CPA pass rates and the need for a synchronous option for upper-division courses.

• The faculty discusses offering both synchronous and asynchronous options for classes to meet student demand and provide flexibility. Larry mentioned that May Wang's asynchronous class for ACNT 2332 is filling up and the synchronous class is not. Jay, stated that maybe we should offer the class as asynchronous and let the students know that the course is also synchronous. Tracie shares the approach of having weekly live sessions that are recorded, with alternative assignments for those who cannot attend live. The group considers implementing a similar model, potentially using Panopto for recording lectures and creating quizzes. They also discuss the challenges of transitioning courses and the importance of adapting to students' preferences for online learning. Larry spoke of discussing a group about creating a solution to increase attendance in synchronous classes. The faculty discussed the issues of their students not watching the lectures that are important to succeed in the class.

• Department personnel update
  • adjunct faculty (2), adjunct interviews (4)

Larry announced the departure of two adjunct faculty members, Ardra Alexander and Jaqueline Childress, due to family obligations and retirement. Four new adjuncts are in the hiring process, with one already teaching. Larry requested that full-time faculty members mentor the new adjuncts.

• Assistant Department Chair

Kimberly Cameron will step down as Assistant Department Chair, and a replacement is needed.

• New Faculty Advisors

Two new faculty advisors, Lawanna Brown and Lillian Spell, have been trained and will assist with advising and student support.

• Curriculum changes for the Fall of 2025 were approved, including updates to the Accounting Technician program and the Professional Accountant Advanced Technical Certificate Program. For transfer courses (ACCT 2301 and ACCT 2302), there will be no changes.  May Wang, ACC Full-Time Faculty. The course ACNT 2332 is now officially QM Certified. A lab has been added to the course for Fall 2025.  For the prerequisites for ACNT 1373 Accounting Data Analytics, ACNT 2332 Accounting Information Systems will no longer be a required course to register for ACNT 1373 Accounting Data Analytics. Students who are taking classes for the CPA exam will have the option to take either ACNT 1373 or ACNT 2332.  The course title ETWR 2377 Advanced Business Communications has been renamed to " ACNT 2345 Technical Writing for Accountants."

• Changes for the Accounting Technician Programs were discussed. La Tasha Roberts, who currently teaches the course ACNT 1303 Intro to Accounting I for Non-Business Majors. The name has been changed to ACNT 1375 Introduction to Accounting for Non-Accounting Majors. The 2 Intro to Accounting courses, instead of 1403, the course will be ACNT 1303, and instead of 1404, the course will be ACNT 1304.  The department is also considering offering dual credit classes for high school students in the future, probably in the Fall of 2026.  Another change was that the course ACNT 1426 Managerial Accounting will now be ACNT 2311.

• Discussion on the importance of syllabi posting before registration opens and the need for course scheduling updates. Larry mentioned the upcoming registration for Fall 2025 and the assignment of courses to adjunct faculty. Larry mentioned that it's beneficial to the student to have basic syllabus information on how their grades are determined. The Summer 2025 Semester schedule is already open. Larry shared that the Accounting Faculty is 100% compliant with their syllabus for the Summer. Some Curriculum Vitae are missing for some of the instructors' courses. Registration for the Fall 2025 Semester begins May 12, 2025. Larry has advised the Accounting Faculty instructors to have their Lighthouse updated for their Fall courses by May 12, 2025. Larry mentioned that next week he will be assigning courses to the adjunct faculty. 

• Larry also introduced the concept of a base schedule for course scheduling and the upcoming Business Studies Calendar with administrative dates that all the faculty will have access to. Larry informed the Accounting Faculty that the baseline schedule has been posted for the Spring 2026 and the Summer 2026 semesters.

• • • Summer 2025 (Registration starts June 2nd, 2025)
    • Fall 2025 ( Registration starts May 12th, 2025)
    • Spring 2026 ( Registration starts October 13th, 2025)
    • Summer 2026 ( Registration starts March 30th, 2026)

• Everyone should have completed their training by now; document it in Workday

• Larry discussed the conversion to Blackboard Ultra, emphasizing the need for faculty to complete their training and understand the new system. He highlighted the faculty support hotline for assistance and the deadline for course conversion by May 1st for the instructors who are assigned to teach a course for the Summer 2025 Semester.  Larry also mentioned the importance of documenting training in Workday and the need for summer 2025 courses to be in Blackboard Ultra format. If any of the faculty did not know how to document their Blackboard Ultra Training in Workday, they should ask Germaine to give them instructions on how to document any of their trainings.

• He encouraged faculty to use the available resources and training sessions for a smoother transition. Larry says that for ACCT 2301 and ACCT 2302, the courses should have already been converted, and he had mentioned Kimberly Cameron had already done so. Kimberly Cameron shared that Yolonda Holland is the one who should take the credit for converting both of the transfer courses. Kimberly explained to everyone that the template that was used had been moved over to Ultra.

• Larry discussed with the faculty that if their courses are not converted to Ultra, they will not be able to teach. Some faculty members shared helpful dates for upcoming training sessions and resources available for converting their courses to Ultra Blackboard. Larry mentioned that Germaine has created a Spreadsheet for the upper-level accounting courses and has given the instructors of the upper-level accounting courses access to update if their courses have been converted to Ultra Blackboard.

Faculty/course data collection (Germaine)

• The meeting involved discussions on the creation of faculty folders, with Germaine leading the process for the Dean to help the ACBSP team get everything uploaded to the folders. Larry discussed the Faculty Evaluation process. A handout was provided. The evaluation process will start for the Summer 2025 Semester for all the faculty. Last Fall, Larry shared that he had given a list of information that would need to be submitted from each of the faculty, based on their teaching portfolio year.  Late October or early November, the Dean will review the summary evaluation forms before they get distributed to the faculty. November 7, 2025, the evaluations will be distributed to the faculty after being approved by the Dean before November 21st, 2025, and the Dean will sign the forms by December 14, 2025. Kimberly mentioned for the ACSBSP that Germaine had already uploaded everyone's transcripts to their faculty folders. Germaine explained to the faculty that there will be an email sent on the items that will need to be added to the Portfolio Folders for the faculty. The deadline to have everything uploaded to the faculty folders is September 2025. Dr. Reed Peoples shared that the Dean approved how the folders for Accounting were set up. Stacey suggested creating a document with clear instructions and links for the portfolio requirements, which was appreciated.

• Kristy shared an update about a student from the CPA candidate apprenticeship.  Kristy mentioned the student is currently in his 2nd Semester. The student's mentor from Rally Austin is impressed by the improvements the apprentice has made with his professionalism. Kristy shared that Stacey is an integral part for the CPA candidates, because the student has taken a professional writing course.

• Larry discussed the next topic, regarding the Grading Policy broken down for the Transfer courses (ACCT 2301/2302), Accounting Technician Courses, and Professional Accountant courses. Okera has volunteered to do some research and provide an update for a future meeting.

 Additional Questions and Feedback

• The faculty discussed the pros and cons of allowing students to view their exams after taking them. They consider making the policy course-dependent or program-dependent, as some courses have more robust question banks that can be easily changed. The instructors agree that consistency across courses would be beneficial to avoid student complaints. The Accounting Faculty explore various approaches, including requiring students to review exams during office hours, using algorithmic questions, and providing recorded reviews of commonly missed questions. The discussion also touches on the challenges of managing individual exam reviews and the potential for cheating. The group acknowledges the importance of exam feedback for student learning while balancing the need to maintain test integrity.

Department policy/master syllabi language

• Larry discussed the need for a master syllabi language. Larry shared that he will get an email sent out to the accounting faculty during the Summer of 2025, so that the instructors will have something before they do their physical syllabi for the Fall of 2025.

• Larry also proposed monthly faculty meetings for the department that will be scheduled early. He confirmed that there will be a total of 8 Faculty Meetings scheduled, which will be in August, September, October, November, January, February, March, and April
• Pre-semester meetings with/ Business Studies Division (August, January)
• Accounting Task Force (September, November, February, April)
• Larry mentioned he does want to combine the Department Task Force Meetings with the Monthly Faculty Meetings for September, November, February, and April.
• Accounting Advisory Committee (November, May)
• Accounting Student Events

Larry discussed scheduling and planning student events (Meet the Firms, Career Fair, and Resume and Interview Workshop) for upper-division accounting students before the year starts, so he can inform other state CPA representatives.

• Accounting Advisory Committee meets on Friday, May 2, 2025, at HLC

The next Advisory Committee Meeting is scheduled for May 2, 2025. Larry mentioned that it is required for the full-time accounting faculty to attend the meeting. He says the meeting will be in the Make It Center or at the Eatery, located downstairs at the Highland Campus