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
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:
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.
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. Committee additions/changes to Item 3 were:
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. |
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