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2009 - 11/19

UCAP Meeting of 11/19/2009

2009-2010



agenda status: approved

Agenda:

University Committee on Academic Policy
AGENDA
Thursday, November 19, 2009
10:15 A.M. to 12:00 P.M.
Board Room, 4th Floor, Administration Building


  1. Approval of the Agenda
  2. Approval of the November 5, 2009 Minutes
  3. Comments from the Chairperson
  4. Comments from the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education
  5. Mandatory Assessment and Involuntary Withdrawal Policy – Consultation Item.........(Attachment)
    Lee June, Vice President for Student Affairs & Services and Vice Provost for Academic Student Services and Multicultural Issues
  6. Request to Establish a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering which Requires 128 Credits (in Dubai) – Action Item.........(Attachment)
    Satish Udpa, Dean, College of Engineering
    Thomas Wolff, Associate Dean, College of Engineering
  7. UCAP Procedures for Public Comment – Action Item
  8. Course Repeat Policy – Information Item
  9. Roundtable: All Other Business


Phone or e-mail Sandra Walther (353-5380; swalther@msu.edu) if you cannot be present. Please remember that you are asked to send a substitute from your college.

minutes status: approved

approved at meeting of 12/03/2009

UCAP Minutes for meeting held on 11/19/2009

University Committee on Academic Policy
Minutes
Thursday, November 19, 2009
10:15 A.M. to 12:00 P.M.
Board Room, 4th Floor, Administration Building

Approved as Amended

Attending: Paul Abramson, Gillian Bice, Peter Cobbett, Mike Craw, Marty Crimp, Doug Estry, Anita Ezzo, Fred Fico, Justin Lippi, Michael Ly, Matt McKeon, John Reifenberg, Henry Reinart, Ron Perry, Carolyn Loeb, Mike Shields, Jim Smith, Mary Kay Smith

Absent: Lisa Cook, Melanie Helton, Michael Lipphardt, Mahdi Saeed, Sharif Shakrani

The Agenda was approved.

Minutes of the November 5, 2009 meeting were approved.

Comments from the Chairperson
Chairperson Crimp thanked Vice Chair Jim Smith for filling in for him for the last two meetings.

Professor Crimp reported that most of the revised bylaws for academic governance have been approved by Faculty Council except for one item that was returned to UCAG for clarification. Once all of the bylaws have been approved by Faculty Council, they will move to Academic Council and then to the Board of Trustees.

The budget process continues to be a focal point of academic governance conversation and there would likely be many business items for UCAP resulting from budget changes. Chairperson Crimp recommended that an additional meeting should be scheduled in order to accommodate the requests for moratorium already received.

Motion by Gillian Bice to schedule an additional UCAP meeting on December 10 was passed unanimously.

Comments from the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education
Associate Provost Estry reported that eight moratorium requests for action in December had been directed to UCAP in the past week.

Mandatory Assessment and Involuntary Withdrawal Policy – Consultation Item
Lee June, Vice President for Student Affairs & Services and Vice Provost for Academic Student Services and Multicultural Issues
Jan Collins-Eaglin, Director, MSU Counseling Center

Vice President June stated that the proposed policy would codifies university practice in these situations. The proposed policy represents the end of a process in which the university works with a student to obtain help for them. The intent is to implement the proposed policy by administrative ruling, which requires consultation with various university bodies before putting into place. ECAC referred the draft policy to three governance committees for comment.

The process described in the document is a non-disciplinary process. The intent is to require a student thought to pose a threat to self or others to undergo a health assessment. In addition to the requirement of an assessment, if an immediate threat were suspected, the Vice President for Student Affairs & Services would have the power to suspend the student from the University temporarily pending review and assessment. Dr. June described the process of suspension and the readmission process.

Dr. Collins-Eaglin explained that a student would have to show a significant level of acuity and stress to warrant a mandatory suspension.

Dr. June stated the policy would reside in Spartan Life and initially communicated in an email to faculty.

Justin Lippi expressed concern that the policy will be applied more widely than anticipated, and that it will lead to students entering in to ineffective treatment.

Committee suggestions centered on the following feedback to be provided to ECAC:
    • The language in the policy should be clear that the policy refers only to students.
    • Indicate that the “credible report” must be a written report, clarifying that the confidentiality of the person who provides the report will be maintained.
    • Clearly state the readmission criteria for a student who received a mandatory suspension (involuntary withdrawal).
    • Eliminate item 4. The statement requires the student to demonstrate that which is not demonstrable.
    • Include the words “professional of choice” in the assessment portion of the document.


Request to Establish a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering which Requires 128 Credits (in Dubai) – Action Item
Satish Udpa, Dean, College of Engineering
Thomas Wolff, Associate Dean, College of Engineering

Professors Udpa and Wolff were given voice.

Associate Dean Wolff explained that the Engineering program in Dubai was created based on the advice of Dubai officials. Due to Dubai student requests and smaller than anticipated enrollments, the College of Engineering proposes to start a new engineering program in Dubai calls Computer and Electrical Engineering in order to move current Dubai students and the Dubai Engineering program from computer engineering to electrical engineering. The new program would relate more directly to the program in East Lansing and would be a positive move in mitigating any negative impact the Dubai program would have on accreditation of the East Lansing program.

Information regarding the overlap of computer & electrical engineering courses was provided. The change in direction would not have a negative impact on time-to-graduation of the Dubai students. An additional benefit is the title of the degree would indicate that a Dubai program graduate could work in either field. A side benefit and rationale for timing would be that MSU would offer a degree title in Dubai that is not currently offered at MSU East Lansing campus, allowing the accreditation of the Dubai program to proceed on its own merits rather than being tied to the MSU East Lansing campus program.

Chairperson Crimp clarified that outcomes-based accreditation of university programs would take into account the different facilities and resources on the two campuses and most likely create a need to increase the number of accreditation visits since the Dubai program is a start-up program. Creating a separate program in Dubai would remove it from the accreditation process here. The Dubai program would not be accredited, although it could seek accreditation when the program had graduated a class.

Dean Udpa summarized by saying the commitment to the students in Dubai is absolute. Dubai students would benefit in terms of marketability and the accreditation of the existing program in the United States wouldn’t be jeopardized.

Motion by Gillian Bice passed unanimously.
      The University Committee on Academic Policy endorses the request to establish a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering which requires 128 credits in Dubai.


UCAP Procedures for Public Comment
Chairperson Crimp projected that each moratorium considered by the committee would require about 30 minutes. In order to insure that individuals who wanted to speak to the committee about moratorium issues could do so in an orderly, manageable way, the committee should adopt procedures for public comment, proposing that consensus be reached on each item.

Item 1: One week prior to a UCAP meeting the agenda will be posted at http://ucap.msu.edu/

No changes required.

Item 2: The Office of the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education and Dean of Undergraduate Studies will contact Deans and/or Undergraduate Associate Deans in colleges with programs slated for consideration to determine the unit representative who will discuss the recommended changes and respond to committee member questions of clarification.

Addition: UCAP members may invite additional individuals to speak to the issue.

Item 3: Beyond the designated unit representative, others who wish to speak to the issue should notify Ms. Sandra Walther (353-5380) no later than one day prior to the scheduled UCAP meeting. Each individual requesting voice at the meeting will be granted a maximum of 5 minutes. Not more than a total of 15 minutes will be allotted to any one group/topic.

Committee additions/changes to Item 3 were:

    • The committee voted to limit speakers to 3 minutes.
    • A slate of speakers can all be given voice in the same action by the Chairperson.
    • All questions must be asked by the committee. All questions are directed to and from committee.
    • Change “topic” to “agenda item”.
    • The committee can decide to add minutes to the comment portion of the meeting.
    • Speakers will be heard on a first-come, first-served basis.

Item 4: Those wishing to submit comments in writing should send them to swalther@msu.edu at least two days prior to the scheduled meeting so that they can be distributed to committee members.

No changes required.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:15 pm

Respectfully submitted by
Sandra Walther