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agenda status: approved

Agenda:

University Committee on Academic Policy

Meeting of Thursday, April 11, 2002
10:15 a.m., Board Room, Administration Building




1. Approval of Agenda

2. Approval of Minutes of the March 28, 2002 meeting.......... (Attachment)

3. Comments from the Chairperson

4. Comments from the Assistant Provost

5. Request for Moratorium on Admission to the Bachelor of Science Degree.......... (Attachment)

in Manufacturing Engineering

6. Guidelines for Group Work: Completion

7. Guidelines for Documentation on Unit Changes: Completion.......... (Winston Wilkinson)

8. Importance of Instruction Subcommittee (continued prelim).......... (Rod Phillips)

9. Crises Response Subcommittee (first round).......... (Ryan Hedstrom)

10. Roundtable



Attachment: March 28, 2002 Draft Minutes
Manufacturing Engineering Materials



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

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minutes status: not approved

UCAP Minutes for meeting held on 04/11/2002

Members Present: Bridget Behe, George Cornell, James Gallagher, Ryan Hedstrom, Rod Phillips, Shaun Phillips, Jon Sticklen, Juli Wade, Jeanne Wald, Winston Wilkinson, Maija Zile

Others Present: Barbara Steidle (Assistant Provost), Thomas Wolff (Associate Dean of Engineering)

1. Approval of Agenda: The agenda was approved with the following changes:

• Item #5 “Request for Moratorium on Admission to the Bachelor of Science Degree in Manufacturing Engineering” was moved to a later position on the agenda in order to fit the schedule of the two student representatives from Engineering, who wished to participate in the discussion.

• To accommodate the schedule of one committee member, Item #8, the preliminary report from the “Importance of Instruction” subcommittee, was moved to an earlier position on the agenda.

2. Approval of the Minutes of the March 28, 2002 meeting: The minutes were approved following two minor amendments. (on page 3; third paragraph changing the word “tactics” to “strategies”, and last paragraph adding the date of April 25 for the last UCAP meeting for the school year.)

3. Comments from the Chairperson: Jon Sticklen thanked members of UCAP for their timely
action in voting via e-mail on the revised changes in admission requirements for the
Advertising Department. He also noted that the issue of the proposed name change for the
Telecommunications Department had been withdrawn from discussion before last month’s
ECAC meeting.

4. Comments from the Assistant Provost: Barbara Steidle expressed her thanks to all who had participated in the MSU Bookstore Information Questionnaire and the Instructional Computing and Technology Committee (ICTC) Survey.

Steidle informed UCAP of the resolution regarding the proposal discussed at the meeting of March 28 tochange the admission requirements for the B.A. degree in Advertising. Following UCAP’s request for more information on the proposed change, representatives of the Advertising Department consulted with the Assistant Provost and provided a revised proposal. As the revision went back to four courses, with a differential of only one credit, per agreement of the chair, the Assistant Provost put the proposal before members of UCAP for a vote via e-mail. The proposed change passed by a large majority and without explicit opposition.

Feedback on the operation of the new SOCT website has been very positive. The only real problem reported so far has been the inadvertent inclusion of some graduate teaching assistants in the system. Corrections will be made next semester to correct this problem.

The APERTIF Analysis Comparison – Fall 1996 vs. Fall 2001 Report was circulated to UCAP members. This analysis, which measures the academic preparedness of incoming freshman students in reference to courses specified for admission, is reviewed by UCAP every five years. Steidle asked the committee to examine the statistics for Fall 1996 in comparison with Fall 1991 to judge whether the figures indicate “we are on the right trajectory.” This issue will be discussed at the next meeting.

5. Importance of Instruction Subcommittee: Jim Gallagher circulated a draft of an addition to the document, to be included with the subcommittee’s final report. He discussed several methods in which the University could foster “learning for understanding,” including clarification of course and program goals, a revamped college orientation, and changes in assessment procedures. He also described a program being discussed at Lyman Briggs, in which faculty are rewarded for leading small one-credit freshman seminars on academic life.

Discussion followed, with Barbara Steidle pointing out that 30-40 freshman seminars are already taking place each year across the university, in addition to a number of programs designed to assist new students in their acculturation to the University. She noted that the document is very much in line with changes that have been pursued over the past several years and welcomed the support it provided for such ventures. Rod Phillips asked that the committee review the draft, as well as last year’s report on teaching, and report any questions or suggestions to him via e-mail.

6. Request for Moratorium on Admission to the Bachelor of Science Degree in Manufacturing Engineering: Associate Dean Thomas Wolff addressed the committee regarding recent changes in moving from the integrated BS/MS to the streamlined MS in Manufacturing Management program which, in Fall 2002, will be open to all ABET-accredited engineering majors. Dr. Wolff noted that “with the MS program now open to the broad audience of accredited engineering majors, we do not foresee continued interest in the manufacturing BS,” and further, that “ceasing admission at the junior level is now the best option.” He also noted the practical problems the colleges had encountered in administering the program.

Shaun Phillips concurred, saying that the proposed moratorium is being positively received by both students and faculty in the department.

Discussion followed, mainly focusing on whether the moratorium should be granted for one year or for a longer period. A motion was made to allow a moratorium on admissions to the BS degree in Manufacturing Engineering for two years, or until program dissolution takes place. This motion passed unanimously.

7. Crisis Response Subcommittee: Ryan Hedstrom reported that many of UCAP’s concerns about the lack of a crisis response website for the University seem to have been answered by a website in the College of Education, which featured Jean Baker. The website, titled “September 11 and Its Aftermath” (http://ed-web3.educ.msu.edu/sept11/) provides a very comprehensive treatment of campus issues relating to the events of September 11. Additionally, the University had created a similar website with information on events and links to resources that, with some tweaking, could serve the purpose.

Discussion focusing on several questions followed: Does the University need something beyond these? Should we prepare a more generic crisis response website? How can we best get information out in the event of a crisis that renders the internet unusable? One suggestion was that the University put together for unit chairpersons a one page list of sources that would provide basic emergency contacts and connections.

The committee agreed to return to this issue at a later date.


Agenda items dealing with Guidelines for Group Work and Guidelines for Documentation on
Unit Changes will be moved to the year’s final UCAP meeting on April 25.

The meeting adjourned at 12:15.

Respectfully submitted,

Rod Phillips

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