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Meeting Minutes – Class Advisory Senate, 13 April
2021
1. Call to Order: Randy Helms ’79, called the (virtual “Zoom”)
meeting to order at 1800.
2. Members in Attendance: See Attachment 1
3. Others in Attendance:
Brig General Linell A. Letendre ‘96, USAFA Dean of Faculty
Bob Lowe ‘71, Vice Chair, USAFA AOG Board of Directors
Lt General (ret) Mike Gould, ’76, USAFA AOG & AFAF CEO
Marty Marcolongo ’88, AOG President & COO
Corrie Grubbs, USAFA AOG Senior Vice President, Operations
Raychel Blocher, ’18, USAFA AOG Alumni & Constituent Relations
Coordinator
Tony Capistrano, AOG IT Support specialist
4. Previous Minutes:
Previous minutes posted here: https://www.usafa.org/AOG/ClassAdvisorySenate
5. Opening Remarks:
Randy Helms, ’79 opened the meeting and explained the new procedures
on attendance and approval of the minutes, and how they will shorten the
meeting. He then introduced the Air Force Academy Dean, Brig Gen Letendre,
‘96.
6. Brig General Linell A. Letendre, ’96, Dean, USAF Academy:
Brig Gen Letendre first thanked all Class Senators for what they are doing
in support of the AFA. She then described what they have been doing since
2020.
• Pandemic Math Team – thinking of how to execute the mission
on a pandemic;
• Modeling within the biology lab – processing over 2,000 tests
per day;
• AFA is the first institution of higher learning to bring back the
entire student body;
• Pandemic has “Silver Linings” - is a value of being able
to bring in distinguished speakers for the Cadets: HR McMaster, Honorable
Jay Johnson, Emily St John Mendell;
• Implemented “One book, One USAFA” program;
• Expanded the summer research program with Air Force Research Laboratory;
now have 457 Cadets in the program; Summer course participants now total
1,200 (worldwide in the summer), with over 300 in Astro 310;
• Implemented “Lecture Capture” – uses remote capability
technology to keep Cadets from falling behind;
• “On Boarding” Cadet Program – what you have to do
as instructors to move basic Cadets into ‘how to become a 4-degree’;
• The Faculty is working hard to improve both remote and on-line
learning; they have had a number of off-site meetings to include Lessons
Learned in the last Spring Semester and recovering best practices;
• As yet, there is a lot that they don’t know about “assimilation”
from remote learning; But they are learning fast on how to close that
gap;
Honor Code:
• There was an increase in Honor cases last Spring, for cheating,
and the AFA has made several adjustments/improvements in on-line learning
processes; there have been many, many faculty discussions on how to do
this;
• The Dean said that she thought that the honor numbers stem from
“our taking our eye off of the ball of Honor instruction”; they
all agreed that they need to spend more time on this;
• They had several faculty seminars on assessments: how to clearly
communicate to Cadets, and how we talk about it to Cadets; she believes
they have improved this;
• She believes they need to improve the “development piece”
– they believe that Honor has become a “functional stovepipe”,
however she sees the whole picture as really a Leadership issue; They
need to “pull it back into the Cadet Wing.”
• They also came to the conclusion that they need to improve the
suspected Honor violation processing time – make it more timely;
• The Supt affirmed just today that Honor is a Priority at USAFA!
And said we are making great strides.
Institute for Future Conflict (IFC):
• This is a USAFA priority and needs to be! It is focused on developing
the leaders of tomorrow;
• There are six planned seminars so far, including Space Control,
Cyber, and Artificial Intelligence;
• The USAF Chief of Staff recently gave the Academy four Fellows
slots for IFC;
• So far, they have started the hiring process on three post-doctoral
candidates for this coming summer;
• Lt General J. “BJ” Shwedo (ret), will be the first Director
of IFC;
• They have recently established a new Academic major: Space Warfighting.
• They have created a “multi-domain Lab” to demonstrate
the ‘art of the possible.’
STEM statistics:
• For the Class of 2020, STEM Cadets have increased to 45%;
• For Class of 2023, it is actually 61%;
• They are now progressing through Round 2 of the Academic Majors
Classification Guide.
Brig Gen Letendre stated that we don’t know how long this On-Line
environment will last.
In the Fall, classes will be 100% in person, but there is still a question
about having to wear masks in the classroom.
The Faculty has scheduled a Professors meeting for this Fall about what
we want to keep for on-line instruction.
She is extremely proud of the Faculty’s work this past year to keep
the academic mission moving forward despite the pandemic!
Brig Gen Letendre concluded by saying that there will never be another
snow day for the Cadets!
Questions and Answers:
1. Randy Helms, ’79 asked the Dean to comment on the timeline for
their Honor Program review. The Dean said that the near term, they are
looking at what they are doing developmental-wise with new classes. For
the long term, thoughts are due to the Supt by the end of the month.
2. Forest Underwood, ’09 commented that STEM emphasis is needed for
the younger classes. Thank you! But we also know that non-STEM is important
as well! Thanks again!
3. Shayla CantySmith, ’04 asked about the status
of the minority petition? The Dean answered that they have been reviewing
Col (ret) Gail Colvin’s Diversity Inclusion study last summer; In
Behavior Science 110 they have added some lessons and assignments to get
after the concerns; All recognize that they need an atmosphere that promotes
dignity and respect.
4. Tim Gillespie, ’95 asked if there has been any
thought about moving logistics-supply chain management offerings into
an academic major? The Dean stated that there is a study/investigation
that is going to start on establishing an academic minor in logistics-supply
chain management.
5. Dave Hollenbach, ’87 asked if there has been any thought in screening
Cadet candidates for life under an honor code? The Dean answered that
the departments do a lot of work on this and have had many discussions
on this topic. It is not a generation issue -- they have found challenges
now that are similar to those found in the ’64 study they just reviewed.
She restated that this is a topic that they continuously contemplate and
discuss often.
6. AJ Ranft, ’73 asked that with respect to on-line
work, he has known how there is always a struggle with differences between
agencies. How much cross-talk has there been between agencies to coordinate
on this? The Dean stated that the AFA core will continue to concentrate
on STEM. The SecDef has emphasized that STEM needs to be greater than
50%, and that we need STEM-cognizant officers. During her TDY to a recent
AFIT/ARFL conference, there was a lot of sharing of lessons learned on
this topic. There is a lot of collaboration here, and continued talk on
how to improve.
7. John Borling, ‘63 asked with respect to the strenuous
honor code currently at the Academy, has there been any look at how changes
in the curriculum have been reflected in the rate of those who have made
the AF a career ? The Dean discussed the Academy's Core Focus, and the
9 academic outcomes, but said she would get back to us on the study question.
The Dean’s exec reported back they have not captured a percentage
of those who have made the AF a career. The CAS will work with the AOG
and the Dean’s office to find this out.
7. Bob Lowe, ‘71, Vice Chair, AOG BOD Remarks:
Bob thanked the Class Advisory Senate for the work they did to get the
classes out to vote during the recent election. Both bylaws changes passed
and we had five great selections out of thirty great candidates. Joe Bledsoe,
’11 and Glenn Strebe, ‘87 were also recently appointed to director
appointee slots. There is still one more slot open for a director appointee.
Of the bylaws changes, the CAS President can now vote, and the Board can
now change a bylaw by a two-thirds majority vote.
On 14 May 2021, the AOG Board will elect a new Chairperson, and he/she
will appoint a new board of officers. Their planned focus will be at the
upper strategy level. They are now looking at a younger Board of Directors,
and they are trying to establish more engagement with the younger classes.
Bob concluded by saying that the Board looks forward to continued CAS
support.
Someone asked and he replied that they will not release the number of
votes received per candidate. Corrie Grubbs added that the AOG has looked
at this in the past, and concluded that this was not in anyone’s
best interest.
8. Raychel Blocher, ’18, USAFA AOG Alumni & Constituent Relations
Coordinator:
Raychel gave an update on ZoomieLink (slides are attached); Topics covered
were:
Newly developed mission statement, PCSing Soon, Career Transition, Becoming
a Mentor;
Analytics on participation; for example, classes 2005 to 2020 make up
31% of total grads, and 26% of them are signed up on ZoomieLink. Classes
1959 to 2004 make up 69% of the graduate population, and 74% of them are
on ZoomieLink. (see slides)
Cadet Programs: Firstie Departure, Second Decision, Graduate Panels (example
– Grads in Space);
April 28, 2021 at 1700 will feature The Pandemic Math Team – how
they influenced USAFA’s covid response; you can sign up on-line;
They have also been developing an app. It will be available very soon;
9. Lt General Mike Gould, ’76, AOG President and CEO:
Gen Gould opened his brief remarks with “2020 was much better than
I expected (in fundraising), with some record highs.” This year has
been very successful in the first quarter.
He emphasized (with respect to what we heard tonight):
We need to do better on honor education;
Have faith in the Supt’s leadership;
10. Other Business / Round Table:
Tom Berry ’71 stated that he attended NCLS on-line this year. It
was spectacular!
Cathy Almond, ’90 mentioned that her class has received their reunion
letter for the Fall; there is a greenlight for reunions now; The AOG Reunion
POC is working with each class POC;
All others, nothing further.
11. Randy Helms, ’79, CAS President, gave brief closing comments:
He thanked the three members of the CAS for their efforts in running for
the AOG Board.
He thanked Corrie Grubbs for her support to the CAS, the AOG and to the
AF Academy.
If you have any recommendations for the next CAS speaker, please let him
know.
He will work with Corrie for the next meeting to be in person for those
that can attend.
12. Next Meetings:
AOG Board, 14 May 2021
CAS Executive Committee, 8 June 2021
CAS, 13 July 2021
13. Close/Adjournment:
The meeting was adjourned at 1936.
Minutes submitted by: Tom Hayden ’74, CAS Secretary
Minutes approved by: Randy Helms ‘79, CAS President
Attachments:
ZoomieLink
Program Update
Atch 1: Members in Attendance:
59
60 Dick Sexton
61
62 Dave Holt
63 John Borling
64 Doug Jenkins
65 Denny Murphy
66
67 Jeff Schofield
68 Hartsel Beckett
69 Tom Fleming
70 Roger Hill
71 Tom Berry
72 Ski Wagasky
73 A J Ranft
74 Tom Hayden - Secretary
75 Bruce Mitchell
76 Dan Beatty
77 Joe Niemeyer
78 Winston Churchill
79 Randy Helms – President
80
81
82 Jim Ratti
83
84 DJ Johnson
85
86
87 Dave Hollenbach
88
89
90 Cathy Almond
91 John Cinnamon
92 Rick Bailey
93 Jerry Siegel
94
95 (Tim Gillaspie - B)
96
97
98 Casey Vile
99 Paul Ferguson
00
01 Jason Harris, Vice President
02
03 Heidi Schlagheck
04 Shayla CantySmith
05
06
07
08 CJ Thompson
09 Forrest Underwood
10
11 Joe Bledsoe
12 Paulo Dutra
13
14 Nico Rudd
15 Richie Sapp
16
17 Stephen Curcic
18
19 Tony Cabri
20 (Victor Kyle – B)
Names in ( ) are non-senators
“B” = Backup
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