ACADEMIC POLICIES COMMITTEE MINUTES

Meeting Time: 8:00 am April 17, 2002

Meeting Place: KU 211

Presiding: James Dunne

Senators Present: Biers, Dunne, Hallinan, Hartley, Johnson, Pedrotti, Saliba, Sargent,

Ex Officio Member Present: Palermo

 

Handouts: Copies of a letter from Pat Johnson to Pat Palermo dated Jan. 29, 2002 detailing the status of  the consultation process for curriculum change were distributed. Jim Dunne provided a summary of the activity of the APC during the period from Jan. 2002 to April 2002. Folders containing several documents related to the status and proposed revision of the Quantitative Reasoning Competency policy were distributed. These folders included:

  1. A one-page description of the competency program dated 1/31/01.
  2. The “Basic Skills Subcommittee Report”, dated Dec. 8, 1998.
  3. Senate Documents No. 00-10A and 00-10B which are proposals passed by the academic senate on Oct. 13, 2002 detailing the Quantitative Reasoning Competency and its implementation.
  4. Comments concerning the Quantitative Reasoning Competency written by Paul Eloe in preparation for a meeting of the Competencies Implementation Subcommittee meeting of 3/15/2002.
  5. A draft of a revision, proposed by the Mathematics Department, to the Quantitative Reasoning Competency dated 3/18/02.
  6. A letter from George Doyle to the APC, dated March 15, 2002, in support of the “original” quantitative reasoning competency passed by the academic senate.
  7. A handout developed by Jim Dunne summarizing the Senate approved Quantitative Reasoning Competency and the revision proposed by the Mathematics Department dated 15-Apr-02. This handout was made to be distributed at an upcoming Provost Council meeting.

 

1.         The minutes of the April 3, 2002 meeting of the APC were approved.

 

2.         Consultation Process:

 

            Pat Johnson reported that the process of consultation across divisions for curriculum change is currently working smoothly. For the most part this consultation is summarized in the letter from Pat Johnson to Pat Palermo listed in the Handouts above. Pat Johnson noted that, since the date of that letter, the consultation process between the Electrical and Computer Engineering department and the College regarding proposed curriculum changes in ECE has improved and is still ongoing.

           

3.         Revisions to the General Education Policy Document

 

Jim Dunne noted that the proposed revisions, authored by Pat Johnson, Pat Palermo, and Jim Dunne, to the Administrative-Responsibility section (section V) of the General Education Policy document would be brought before the full Academic Senate at the April 19th meeting.

 

Dave Biers reported that the GE 2002 Subcommittee tasked with a review of the Rationale and Goals portion of the General Education Policy had met to discuss revisions, proposed by various members of the subcommittee on a Quick Place site. The subcommittee plans to have a first draft of proposed revisions ready early in the fall semester.

 

4.         Review of the work of the APC in the Winter Term

 

Jim Dunne provided copies of a handout to be given to the members of the full academic senate at the April 19th meeting of that body. The handout summarizes the activity of the APC from Jan 2002 to April 2002. The handout is included below for completeness. The wording of the handout was approved by the APC.

 

Summary of Activity, January 2002 ‑ April 2002

 

1. General Education Program.

Received the Report on the Evaluation of General Education from the University Committee on General Education and Competencies. In response to the recommendations, we took the following actions:

A. Set up a subcommittee to update Section II Rationale and Goals, of the 1991 GE Policy.

B. Set up a subcommittee to revise Section V, Administration, of the 1991 GE Policy.

C. Established a plan to undertake another review of General Education focused on Thematic Clusters after next academic year.

 

2. University Competencies Program.

Monitored the implementation of the new University Competencies Program based on reports from the Competencies Implementation Subcommittee chaired by George Doyle. Specifically, we reviewed the implementation progress of the "general competencies" (replacing what previously were called Basic Skills). Competencies are defined in four areas:

(1) Writing ‑ implementation planned for fall 200 1. Status: Implementation begun with no problems as of now.

(2) Oral Communication ‑ implementation planned for fall 200 1. Status: Implementation begun with no problems as of now.

(3) Quantitative Reasoning ‑ implementation planned for fall 2002. Status: Implementation problems encountered. APC has just received several reports from those involved in the implementation. A top priority for next term will be reconsidering this part of the Competencies Program.

(4) Information Literacy ‑ implementation planned for fall 2003. ' Status: Implementation proceeding well. Many aspects of this competency have been found to be "in place" in many curricula. Implementation on schedule should be no problem.

 

3. Academic Calendar.

Monitored the continuing development of academic calendars. One APC member (Linda Hartley) is also a member of the Calendar Committee.

 

4. Consultation Across Academic Units.

Monitored the policy requiring consultation across academic units on any curriculum change that may impact other units. In accord with the policy, this was accomplished via communication among the Associate Provost and all the Associate Deans that was then reviewed by the APC.

 

5.         Quantitative Reasoning Competency

 

Jim Dunne provided the many handouts listed above related to the proposed revision of the senate-approved Quantitative Reasoning Competency program. He noted that the handouts were background for a discussion of the issue that would begin in earnest in the fall semester. He reported that the issue was to be discussed at an upcoming meeting of the Provost’s Council and directed the attention of the APC members present to his summary (handout 7) of the reasons the Mathematics Department cites for the need for a revision to the Competency, the basic structure of the existing Quantitative Reasoning Competency program, and the proposed revision. Briefly, his summary notes that the Mathematics department and the Competencies Implementation Committee could not together develop an implementation strategy for the existing competency. When that attempted development reached an impasse it was decided that the Quantitative Reasoning Competency could not be implanted in the Fall of 2002 as originally scheduled and that the Mathematics Department should develop a proposed revision to the competency to be considered by the APC. A first draft of such a revision is handout 5. General discussion of the motivation for the proposed revision and its implementation followed. The discussion was preliminary and no conclusions were drawn. Jim Dunne noted that this issue would occupy much of the time of the APC in the fall semester. He indicated that after the upcoming meeting with the Provost’s Council he would develop a proposed strategy to study and resolve the problem. He noted that a subcommittee of the APC would likely need to be constituted to help study and resolve the issue.

 

 

6. The meeting adjourned at 9:00 am.

 

Wearily submitted by Leno Pedrotti.