1. The Council minutes of 6 December 2008 were approved.

2. Dean Vikas Chandhoke kindly joined the Council to discuss several topics including the following:
a. Declining enrollments particularly at the undergraduate level. COS has only achieved 91.6 % of the target for spring semester. The low enrollments are a financial problem for the College requiring a return of funds to the university.
b. There are quite a few classes (~50-60), mostly at the graduate level, with very low (<5) enrollments.
c. There are academic overlaps between departments.
d. There are considerable differences in the teaching loads by department within COS and for some units, teaching loads should be reduced. Similarly there are differences in research productivity.
e. Space is limited for the college but there are opportunities in the future. COS will have activities on all campuses and some departments will be split between campuses. COS needs both wet and computational labs. COS will be leasing space at Prince
William.
f. Reorganization of academic units is under discussion including a merger of Geography and ESGS and also Climate Dynamics and the Earth Science Faculty of ESP.
g. There are three new academic programs under development; Forensics, Geospatial Intelligence and Conservation Biology.
h. COS will no longer use enrollment targets as reward and punishment. Faculty will be encouraged to teach in programs outside their primary academic unit but within COS.
i. There is a need to continue to attract more funded graduate students and increase the stipend and package for them to be competitive with other universities.
j. A stated goal was that all departments have similar profiles in teaching and research.

3. Dean Chankhoke asked the Council to consider examining the following issues:
a. Academic programs, are they overlapping, sufficient, unnecessary etc.
b. Does the administrative structure appropriately support the academic programs (What reorganization might be appropriate).
c. Enrollments and thus financial issues.
d. Space.

4. After the Dean left, the Council members discussed how the Council might proceed including:
a. The directive by the Dean is very broad and may need clarification and prioritizing.
b. It may be appropriate for the Chair to meet again with Vikas for clarification.
c. A starting point might be to specify the perceived, or real, problems for COS.

5. Meeting adjourned.