A. Enrollment
          87 declared funeral service majors (one year ago, this number totaled 97)
          A 10 .3 % drop from one year ago.
     B. National Board Exam Results:

  2004      Arts B 80.3 %                                                            Arts B 94.7 %
                 Sciences B 66.5 %                                                    Sciences B 76.4 %

   D. Practicum Update/Changes
     1. Bill Lewis is our new adjunct instructor.  He is currently employed at Bill Eisenhour N.E.
        Funeral Home in Oklahoma City.  We are VERY thankful that Bill has taken on this task for
        our department.
      2. Preceptor Training (with training manual) - We now are providing onsite (at your funeral home)
         training for all funeral directors and embalmers serving as preceptors.   Click here to see our
         training manual for Summer 2007.  This will be revised again before the summer session begins
      3. Students are now working 7 hours per week (fall & spring) and 14 hours per week (summer)
         in Oklahoma City metropolitan funeral homes. The minimum hours will increase in 2007 - 2008
         and are likely to increase for the summer 2007 semester.
         a. Embalming - 10 case reports; first 4 to 6 weeks (spring & fall semesters) served at Bill Eisenhour
            NE Funeral Home.
         b. Funeral Directing - 10 case reports; remainder of semester; at a participating OKC metro
            funeral home selected by the student.
      4. Currently, students attend classroom sessions every other week for two evening hours on the
         UCO campus. The goal is to A bridge the gap@ of theoretical knowledge and practical hands
         on experience.  Topics include: letter writing, with emphasis on grammar and punctuation,
         calculating  pre-need discounts, mock funeral arrangements, and arranging cremation services.
         Beginning summer 2007, this requirement may be eliminated from the course.
      5. Check out our Practicum forms and information by clicking here.
      6. National Board Exam Requirement - Before any student graduates, he/she must take the national
         board exam, as required by ABFSE since January of 2004.
         a.  Students may take the exam up to 45 days prior to graduation, assuming they meet other practicum
            course requirements. 
         b.  Before students are considered eligible to take the national board exam, they must pass three
            comprehensive Arts and three comprehensive Sciences exams with a minimum score of 80 %
            each.  We require this to insure that students are prepared.  The aforesaid Arts and Sciences
            exams are created by our department and are delivered online.
         c. Students that do not take the exam by the end of the semester will receive a grade
            of incomplete (I), and will have one year to finish the work. Failure to do so results in
            a course grade of " F."
     7. Hepatitis Vaccination - Before a student begins practicum work, he/she must have the series of shots
        taken at their own expense or sign the refusal form.
     8. Medical Insurance - Students must carry their own medical insurance or be financially responsible for
        their own health care.
        a.  Click here to see the University policy.
        b.  Click here to see hold-harmless agreement.
     9. Malpractice Insurance - I have bad news to report on the status of malpractice insurance that students
         would be required to purchase.  I received a message from our insurance agent today (4-4-07).  He
         informed me that our chosen insurance carrier will no longer insure mortuary students.  So, I am now
         looking for another insurer.  I will keep you posted.
    10.  One goal of practicum is to engage students in the process of making funeral arrangements with
         client/families.  We ask for your ideas in achieving that goal.  Tom Demuth suggested that we could
         require a student to work five funerals and assist in the arranging of five funerals, for a total of 10 cases.
         Bill Lewis had the same idea and has begun to make this course change.
         Further, we could generate a different case report form to document the funeral arranging tasks. 
         This is a very good idea that will be discussed with the instructor.
         Do you have any other ideas?  If so, please forward them via email to gsokoll@ucok.edu

   K. Faculty/Staff Activities:
      a. Currently we are in a review process for candidates to fill a full time tenure track
          position to replace Ken Curl. We hope to have the position filled for the Fall 2007
          semester.
       b. Karen Starkey - Karen serves as co-Building Captain for the Coyner Health Sciences building. 
           In addition to staying on top of facility issues for this building, she meets annually with campus-wide
           captains to be briefed by administration officials on current and long-range campus projects.
           Karen chaired the 2006 Employee Recognition Committee, overseeing a budget of $7,000. 
           Their event in September honored 95 UCO staff for their length of service to the university.
           Karen is a regular fund-raiser for UCO’s participation in United Way and the AHA Heart Walk.
       c. Gary Sokoll - Gary has taken on the duties of department chair.  He now teaches Embalming
          Chemistry and Counseling in Funeral Service.  Last summer and fall (2006), Gary converted
          said courses to 100 % online delivery.  Last summer, Gary completed production on a bone
          and tissue recovery video and embalming video for the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation. 
          Gary continues his commute to California's bay area.
       d. Chris Burkey provided the following information on his activities
In spring of 2006, with me as the principle investigator and Stacy Southerland (Professor of Modern Languages) as the co-investigator, we were awarded an interdisciplinary $10,000 research grant by UCO’s Jackson College of Graduate Studies and Research. The grant’s title is “Spanish for Funeral Service Practitioners.” The purpose of this study is to tag along with other professionals who need to have a rudimentary understanding of the language spoken by the Hispanic population. For example an EMT technician may need to know how to say, “Where does it hurt?” and a funeral director may need to know how to say, “At what time and day would you like to have your loved one’s funeral?” The planned outcome is to develop a continuing education course for Oklahoma funeral directors.
In the spring of 2007, along with Ms. Joselina Cheng from the College of Business Administration, we have submitted a proposed interdisciplinary $3,000 research grant from UCO’s Jackson College of Graduate Studies and Research. The proposed title of the research is, “Relationship between the quality of online courses and students’ learning outcomes.” The purpose of this quantitative research study is to compare the correlational relationship between the quality of online course and online students’ learning outcome to student attrition at the University of Central Oklahoma. This work may provide insight for UCO based upon the eLearning evaluation rubric recently created by the university’s Distance Education Task Force.
As for another major activity, I am the one of the College of Math & Science members of the university’s Distance Education Task Force. This group has been engaged in a year-long endeavor to write the university’s strategic plan and evaluation rubric for all distant education courses. These courses include those delivered 100% online, those of the hybrid category, and the traditional correspondence. The outcome of this year’s work is expected to be presented to all stakeholders of the campus in the near future.

       e. Joe Grzybowski - Joe continues to serve on the Oklahoma State Anatomical Board, a Board dispensing
          cadavers to educational institutions in Oklahoma supporting qualified instruction in cadaver anatomy. 
          He services the University at large on various committees, including Curriculum, Tenure and Promotions
          Task Force, and Neally Teaching Award.  His research on avian population biology continues with field
          work in the Wichita Mountains and Blaine County, Oklahoma, and also entails effects of newly emerging
          wind-industry turbines on migrating birds and bats, as well as development and distribution of analytical
          modeling procedures.  Recently, he participated in a panel developing a comprehensive research and
          management program for the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge.  He attended ornithological conferences
          in Vera Cruz, Mexico last October, and served on a panel making recommendations for wind-farm
          construction in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to the Mexican government.
       f. Angela Knight - Angela is our current full time temporary faculty.  She teaches both Psychology of
          Grief and History courses.  Angela is interested in developing an undergraduate research group
          devoted to a literature review on the empirical study of grief.
       g. Larry Morgan - Larry continues to teach both Statutory Law and Mortuary Jurisprudence
       h. Bill Lewis - As mentioned above, Bill designed and instructs our practicum course
       i. Jana Trello Jana will be back teaching Embalming and Restorative Art in the Fall 2007.  For several
         years , Jana was our Psychology of Grief (online) and Practicum instructor.
       j.  Ken Curl - As an adjunct professor this spring, Ken is teaching the Embalming and Restorative Art
          courses.  Ken will return next fall to teach the Orientation to Funeral Service course.

    L. Sigma Phi Sigma
      a.  Click here to visit the Sigma Phi Sigma website
       b.  Service Projects
          (1). Feb. 2007 - Sigma Phi Sigma volunteered services to Habitat for Humanity.
              They painted (primer) on window sills and interior trim pieces. Their biggest thrill
              occurred when they met a future recipient of a Habitat for Humanity home.
          (2). Sponsored four children for Christmas though " Citizens Caring for Children"
       c. Fund Raising
         (1). Bake sales
         (2). Non- Event Fund Raiser (Mailing will go out very soon)
         (3). T-shirt sales (will have order form at convention)
       d. Educational Activities
         (1). Fall 2006 tour of Pierce Chemicals in Dallas, Texas
         (2). We hope to raise money for a Fall 2007 trip to Batesville, Indiana
       e. Social Events
          Three " movie nights" on the UCO campus this spring.