Legislative Branch

2016-2017

Date: Monday, July 11, 2016 @ 6:15pm

Location: Online meeting through Skype for Business

2nd Academic Affairs Standing Committee Meeting Minutes

I. Call to Order

 Senator Ernesto Farias calls meeting to order at 4:18 p.m.

II. First Call of the Roll and Recognition of Quorum

 The following senators were present during the first call of the roll:

a. Senator Farias

b. Senator Castillo

c. Senator Fierro

d. Senator Escalon

e. Senator Gomez-Palacios

 Quorum has been established.

III. Adoption of the Minutes

 Senator Castillo entertains a motion to approve the 1st Academic Affairs S.C.

minutes.

 Senator Escalon seconds the motion.

 There was not debate or discussion.

 All in favor, none opposed, and any abstentions.

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Brownsville Edinburg sga@utrgv.edu
 Legislative Branch
2016-2017

 The 1st Academic Affairs S.C Minutes were successfully approved

IV. Guests

 There were no guests at the meeting.

V. Old Business

 Committee Goals

o The committee began to decide what the committee’s goals were

going to be for the upcoming term.

o It was agreed that students at the university needed to know more

about the school, and to do so, we need to reach out to them via the

use of surveys. Senator Escalon pointed out how we need to make

information more accessible to students. Senator Farias entertained a

motion to establish “Making information more accessible to

students” as the first goal for the committee, and it was successfully

seconded by Senator Fierro. There was no debate or discussion. All

senators voted in favor, and the motion passed.

o The second goal that the committee agreed upon was the need to
make workshops to understand how to use online resources for the

students. Senator Gomez-Palacios entertained a motion to make

“holding workshops on online resources” as the second goal for the

committee, and was successfully seconded by Senator Escalon.

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SUNI 1.28 UCTR 218 utrgv.edu/sga
Brownsville Edinburg sga@utrgv.edu
 Legislative Branch
2016-2017

There was no debate or discussion. All senators voted in favor, and

the motion passed.

o It was also discussed that the committee must work towards

establishing a relationship with the school’s resources such as

UCentral or the library. Senator Farias entertained a motion to make

“Starting to create relationship with the academic colleges, and the

directors from the division of Academic Affairs” as the third goal for

the committee, and it was successfully seconded by Senator Escalon.

There was no debate or discussion. All senators voted in favor, and

the motion passed.

 Meet the Deans event

o During the meeting we had agreed to approve of Senator Farias’

email to the Deans. Senator Farias entrained a motion to approve

the email and was seconded by Senator Castillo. There was no

debate or discussion. All senators voted in favor, and the motion

passed

 Questions for surveys

o We then shared our suggested questions for the surveys.

a. Senator Castillo questions:

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Brownsville Edinburg sga@utrgv.edu
 Legislative Branch
2016-2017

i. Do you know what are the requirements for your

college?

ii. What library services have you used in the past

semester?

iii. How often do you go to UCentral?

b. Senator Fierro questions:

i. Does your college have information posted about

research opportunities?

ii. What are your feelings on online resources in

regards to UCentral? How easy is to find the FAQs

on Assist?

iii. Do you know where the services of the library

are/where are they located?

c. Senator Gomez Palacios questions:

i. Do you know that the college of Health Affairs

hosts workshops?

ii. Do you know that you can pay tuition over the
phone?

iii. Do you know your library resources?

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SUNI 1.28 UCTR 218 utrgv.edu/sga
Brownsville Edinburg sga@utrgv.edu
 Legislative Branch
2016-2017

d. Senator Escalon questions:

i. Do you know the Dean of your college and your

department chair?

ii. Do you know that you can sign in to UCentral

online/UCentral online waiting line?

iii. Do you know that there are online databases for

books?

e. Senator Farias questions:

i. Do you know if your college/department offers any

type of internship or program that complements

what you learn in class?

ii. Do you think a chatroom with UCentral staff would

help you get information quicker than through

phone?

iii. Did you know you can check out books that are

primarily stationed in either Edinburg/Brownsville,

and get to your primary campus within 2 business

days?

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SUNI 1.28 UCTR 218 utrgv.edu/sga
Brownsville Edinburg sga@utrgv.edu
 Legislative Branch
2016-2017

o Due to Technical issues, the committee couldn’t continue working

on deciding what type of questions were best for the survey. The

members of the committee agreed on continuing this task in the

next meeting

VI. New Business

 Questions for Academic Deans

o Due to technical difficulties, we were unable to work on the rest of

our agenda, but we were able to agree that we must come up with

three questions for the Deans of the university. The questions can

be about oneself or about other students.

VII. Comments and Announcements

 Email to Academic Affairs division officials

o We also agreed to meet further during the SGA retreat on July 15th.

VIII. Second Call of the Roll

 The following senators were present during the first call of the roll:

a. Senator Farias

b. Senator Castillo

c. Senator Fierro

d. Senator Gomez-Palacios

e. Senator Escalon

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SUNI 1.28 UCTR 218 utrgv.edu/sga
Brownsville Edinburg sga@utrgv.edu
 Legislative Branch
2016-2017

IX. Adjournment

 Senator Escalon entrained a motion to adjourn the meeting

 The motion was seconded by Senator Fierro.

 All senators voted in favor, none opposed, and any abstentions

 Meeting was adjourned at 5:30 p.m.

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SUNI 1.28 UCTR 218 utrgv.edu/sga
Brownsville Edinburg sga@utrgv.edu