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agenda status: approved

Agenda:
University Committee on Academic Policy

APPROVED with Amendment

Meeting of Thursday, January 24, 2002
10:15 a.m., Board Room, Administration Building




1. Approval of Agenda

2. Approval of Minutes of the January 10, 2002 meeting.........................................................(Attachment)

3. Comments from the Chairperson

4. Comments from the Assistant Provost

5. Group Work Sub-Committee Draft..................................................................................Celia Wills
        (materials distributed for Nov. 8 meeting)  (Attachment)

 6. Telecommunication Proposed Name Change.....................................................................(Attachment)

7. ASUS Changes.................................................................................Linda Stanford.......(Attachment)

8. Roundtable




Attachment: January 10, 2002 Draft Minutes
Telecommunication Name Change materials
ASUS Changes

Please phone or E-Mail Robin Pline (353-5380; pline@msu.edu) if you cannot be present.

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minutes status: approved

approved at meeting of

UCAP Minutes for meeting held on 01/24/2002

Members Present: Henry Beckmeyer, George Cornell, Lucinda Davenport, Steve Dilley, James Gallagher, Ryan Hedstrom, Rod Phillips, Shaun Phillips, Jon Sticklen, Juli Wade, Jeanne Wald, Winston Wilkinson, Maija Zile

Others Present: Linda Stanford (MSU Registrar – acting for Barbara Steidle), Associate Dean Thomas Baldwin (Communication Arts & Sciences), Professor & Chairperson Mark Levy (Department of Telecommunication), Professor & Chairperson Wayne Dyksen (Computer Science & Engineering), Rick Shipman (Director of the Office of Financial Aid [OFA])

1. Approval of Agenda: The agenda was approved with the following changes:
· Item number 5, The Group Work Subcommittee Draft, will be held for the next meeting.
· To accommodate the schedule of several visitors to the meeting, agenda items 6 & 7, “Telecommunication Proposed Name Change” and “ASUS Changes” were moved to items number 3 and 4 respectively on the agenda.

2. Approval of the Minutes of the January 10, 2002 meeting: The minutes were approved following one minor amendment on page 2, changing the wording from “Provost Steidle” to “Assistant Provost Steidle.”

3. Telecommunication Proposed Name Change: Acting on a request from the Executive Committee of Academic Council (ECAC) UCAP considered a request from the Department of Telecommunication aimed at changing the name of the department to the “Department of Telecommunication, Information and Media.”

The committee heard statements from three members of the department on the matter. Associate Dean Baldwin stated that “Telecommunication” no longer reflects the breadth of the department’s interests. Further, he cited the possibility of student confusion concerning what he sees as a narrowly or ill-defined department name. He also pointed to the problem of lower morale among some department faculty whose areas of interest are no longer covered adequately by the current departmental name. Chairperson Levy concurred, stating that the department has discussed the name change, and that most faculty feel that the proposed name “Telecommunication, Information and Media” better describes the current curriculum.

Chairperson Dyksen voiced his concerns that the name change might lead to even greater confusion among students, noting that the word “Information” was simply too broad to be meaningful.

A motion was made by Winston Wilkinson, and seconded by George Cornell, to support the proposed name change. Discussion followed, with several members voicing concerns that the word “information” added little by way of clarification for prospective students. Others questioned whether adequate study or consultation had been done with students or other academic units to gauge the impact of the proposed name change.

A vote on the motion resulted in its defeat.

Steve Dilley made a motion, seconded by Jim Gallagher, that UCAP send the proposal back to ECAC with neither approval or disapproval. Following discussion, this motion was withdrawn by Dilley, with Gallagher’s approval.

Jim Gallagher made a motion, seconded by Jeanne Wald, that UCAP should not approve the proposed name change, and further, that UCAP should make the following recommendations:

· Further consultation concerning the proposed name change should take place with a range of undergraduate students (at all class levels) within the department and from other programs such as Computer Science and Business. Student groups such as ASMSU might also be consulted.
· Consultation should also take place with other colleges and departments sharing similar interests (Computer Science, Journalism, Business).
· The term “Information” may be inadequate in the effort to clarify the department’s offerings to undergraduates.
· Study should be undertaken concerning the possible impact of the proposed name change on future course offerings within the department.

This motion was approved unanimously.

4. ASUS Changes: Registrar Linda Stanford and OFA Director Rick Shipman addressed the committee on proposed changes to the Academic Standing of Undergraduate Students (ASUS) policy. The proposed policy changes are aimed at being consistent with federal expectations and at clarifying the financial aid monitoring for students. Quoting from Linda Stanford’s 1-21-02 proposal to Assistant Provost Steidle:

“This proposal separates the federal financial aid components from the college academic standing components. The Office of Financial Aid would assume responsibility for monitoring and enforcing the satisfactory academic progress regulations for students who receive federal financial aid. College responsibility would be limited to occasionally providing supporting documentation for students who cannot self-document an exceptional circumstance when a determination of federal aid ineligibility is made.”

Winston Wilkinson made a motion to approve the proposed changes outlined in Stanford’s 1-21-02 request to Steidle. This was seconded by Jeanne Wald. Brief discussion followed, and the committee thanked both Stanford and Shipman for their well-prepared and informative presentation. The motion passed unanimously.

5. Comments from the Chairperson: Chairperson Sticklen asked for a report from the Technology Subcommittee on the issue of high-speed internet access for students living off-campus. Jeanne Wald and Shaun Phillips reported that Lew Greenberg is currently addressing the issue with East Lansing landlords, and is also pursuing negotiations with a local phone company for cheaper DSL connection rates.

6. Roundtable Discussion: A variety of topics were discussed briefly, including:
· Possible Academic Calendar Changes: Shaun Phillips reported that ASMSU is formulating several possible changes to the academic calendar that it plans to bring before UCAP in the near future.
· SOCT: The consensus seems to be that most academic units have not yet acted affirmatively on a decision on how best to sort the information gathered on the SOCT survey. Most units who have made a choice have adopted the default mode.
· Jon Sticklen alerted the committee to the existence of a commercial website (www.allmsu.com) which contains bulletin boards dealing with many MSU courses. Illegal “sharing” of MSU course notes, papers, and problem sets on such websites is a problem that UCAP should address.

The meeting adjourned at noon.

Respectfully submitted,

Rod Phillips

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