ACADEMIC POLICIES COMMITTEE
MINUTES

Meeting Time: 8:00 a.m. - Feb 6, 2002
Meeting Place: KU 310
Presiding: James Dunne

Senators Present: Biers, Dunne, Hallinan, Hartley, Johnson, Pedrotti, Saliba, Sargent
Ex Officio Member Present: Palermo

Handouts: James Dunne provided a document entitled “Proposed APC Plan of Action – General Education Program Feb 6, 2002.”  This document is a revision of an earlier document with a similar title handed out during the Jan. 30 meeting of the APC.

1.  The minutes of the January 30, 2002 meeting of the APC were approved.

2.  Discussion of the proposed plan of action regarding the review of general education.

Jim Dunne presented the APC with his revised proposal for action regarding the review of the general education program. The specific recommendations he proposed are detailed in the handout entitled “Proposed APC Plan of Action – General Education Program Feb 6, 2002.” His recommendations and discussion related to them are summarized below.

Jim Dunne suggested that the APC should appoint a subcommittee charged with reviewing and possibly reformulating the 1991 General Education Goal statement to bring these statements more in line with vision and goal statements recently published in other University documents and with current practice. It is expected that the reformulation would likely involve primarily editorial rather than substantive revision. Dave Biers was asked to chair this subcommittee and he accepted. A proposed list of subcommittee members was included in the handout.  This list included Pat Johnson, Pat Palermo, and representatives from the social sciences, physical sciences, engineering, business, education, and faculty heavily involved in the humanities base. Jim Dunne proposed that the possible goal reformulation be completed this semester. After some discussion it was decided that the subcommittee would strive to meet this goal and if wide consultation could be achieved in time, a possible reformulation of the goal statement could be brought before the full Senate for approval at the April meeting.

Pat Palermo noted that this subcommittee should be charged with reviewing and possibly re-articulating the entire section II. (Rationale and Goals) of the current General Education Policy document, not just the specific goals listed in that section. The APC membership agreed with this clarifying suggestion. Pat Johnson noted that this subcommittee should also be able to make minor editorial revisions to update other sections of the General Education Policy document to reflect current practice. It was agreed that minor revisions of this sort were appropriate for the subcommittee to consider. 

Jim Dunne suggested that the APC request that Pat Palermo, Pat Johnson, and Jim Dunne rewrite section V. (Administration) of the 1991 General Education Policy document to reflect the decision made that the responsibility for the administration of General Education should reside with staff from the office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences while policy oversight should remain the responsibility of staff in the office of the Provost. In particular, this group should detail the responsibilities of each office in the governance and administration of general education. Pat Palermo, Pat Johnson, and Jim Dunne agreed to take on this task and to develop a draft revision in consultation with the Provost and the academic Deans. It was agreed that the proposed revision should be completed and brought before the full faculty senate for approval at the April 19^th meeting of the full academic senate.

3. It was agreed that the next meeting of the APC would be on Wednesday Feb. 20 at 8:00 am and that George Doyle would be invited to this meeting to give an update on the status of the Math Competency.

The meeting adjourned at 9:00 am.