UCAP Meeting of 10/07/2010
2010-2011
agenda status: approved
Agenda:
University Committee on Academic Policy
DRAFT AGENDA
Thursday, October 7, 2010
10:15 A.M. to 12:00 P.M.
Board Room, 4th Floor, Administration Building
- Approval of the Agenda
- Approval of the September 23, 2010 Minutes
- Request for an Opportunity for Incoming Freshmen in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Degree in Nursing .........(Attachment)
Teresa Wehrwein, Associate Dean, College of Nursing
Bess German, Director of Admissions and Student Affairs, Honors College
James Rouse (Lt. Col.), Chairperson, Military Science Department
- Request for a New Agricultural Technology Certificate in Viticulture .........(Attachment)
Richard Brandenburg, Acting Associate Dean, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Vance Baird, Chairperson, Horticulture Department
Tom Smith, Acting Associate Director, Agricultural Technology Institute
- Comments from the Chairperson
- Comments from the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education
- Institutional Data Policy: Discussion .........(Attachment 1, Attachment 2)
- Roundtable
minutes status: approved
approved at meeting of 10/21/2010
UCAP Minutes for meeting held on 10/07/2010
UCAP Committee on Academic Policy
MINUTES
Thursday, October 7, 2010
10:15 A.M. to 12:00 P.M.
Board Room, 4th Floor, Administration Building
Attendees: Paul Abramson, Gillian Bice, Crystal Branta, Lisa Cook, Laura
Dillon, Doug Estry, Anita Ezzo, Fred Fico, Kathleen Hoag, Evan
Martinak, Matt McKeon, Tom Morse, Mary Noel, Justin O’Dell, Helene
Pazak, Ron Perry, John Reifenberg, Christopher Scales, Mike Shields,
Jim Smith, Mary Kay Smith, Emily Storrer
Not Attending: Chenguang Wang
The Agenda was approved as amended, moving the two requests earlier in the agenda.
The Minutes of the September 23, 2010 meeting were approved with minor corrections.
Request for an Opportunity for Incoming Freshmen in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Degree in Nursing
Teresa Wehrwein, Associate Dean, College of Nursing
Bess German, Director, Admissions and Student Affairs, Honors College
James Rouse (Lt. Col.), Chairperson, Military Science Department
The committee unanimously granted voice to Drs. Wehrwein and German, and Lt. Col. Rouse.
Associate Dean Wehrwein stated that the request emanated from the
College’s disadvantage in the recruitment of highly qualified high
school students because of our current policy on admission at junior
standing. These highly recruited students often accept offers from
nursing programs at universities that admit directly to the major upon
matriculation. Highly qualified MSU applicants have turned down
admission to the MSU Nursing because they want the assurance of knowing
they are definitely in a program, even when the alternative program may
not be their first choice. This change would allow the College of
Nursing to offer a limited number of highly qualified incoming students a
reserved place in the program upon the student’s admission to the
University. Dr. Wehrwein indicated the College of Nursing would accept
up to 15 students under this program. Newly admitted students to this
program would agree to meet a specific set of qualifications, including a
minimum GPA expectation, in order to claim their reservation in the
Nursing program upon becoming a junior. If the students did not meet all
the requirements of the program, they would be able to apply in the
regular competitive pool with other applicants.
Dr. German and Lt. Col. Rouse stated that the current admission to the
major as a junior policy also negatively affected recruitment to their
units as highly qualified students are looking for access to programs
early in their academic careers. Lt. Col. Rouse indicated that the U.S.
Army provides four-year scholarships to Army ROTC cadets with a nursing
major but are reluctant to do so unless the entering cadet has been
admitted to the nursing programs. The result is that many of our cadets
cannot receive these scholarships until they become a major in the
junior year; therefore, these highly qualified individuals opt to enroll
in a university that admits to a major upon freshmen matriculation in
order to receive the full benefit.
After a brief question and answer period, voice was withdrawn from Drs. Wehrwein and German, and Lt. Col. Rouse.
Motion by Ron Perry passed with one abstention.
The University Committee on Academic Policy, in its consultative
capacity to the Provost, has no concerns about the request for an
opportunity for incoming freshmen in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing
Degree in Nursing.
Request for a New Agricultural Technology Certificate in Viticulture
Richard Brandenburg, Acting Associate Dean, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Vance Baird, Chairperson, Horticulture Department
Tom Smith, Acting Associate Director, Agricultural Technology Institute
The committee unanimously granted voice to Drs. Baird, Brandenburg, and Mr. Smith.
Mr. Smith stated that this fifteen-credit certificate program, which is
part of the Agricultural Technology Program, was initiated at the
request of wine industry representatives and educational representatives
who documented a need for a credit-based program in viticulture. He
explained that a previous viticulture program had been eliminated in
2005, due to low enrollment and the fact that the majority of the
individuals interested in this certificate could not interrupt their
work to attend classes on the MSU campus. The new program requested
would not require the student to be on-campus. MSU courses would be
offered through the use of various distant learning technologies. In
addition, program courses will be offered through collaboration with
VESTA, an NSF funded Midwestern regional center of excellence in
viticulture and enology. In addition, several community colleges located
in areas near wine growing regions of Michigan are part of the
cooperative network. MSU courses would be delivered at the community
college locations by interactive TV, VESTA delivers its courses online,
and the balance of the courses taken at participating community colleges
would transfer to MSU through the course transfer system.
After a brief question and answer period, voice was withdrawn from the
representatives of the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences.
Motion by Lisa Cook passed with one member abstaining.
The University Committee on Academic Policy, in its consultative
capacity to the Provost, has no concerns about the request for a new
Agricultural Technology certificate in Viticulture.
Comments from Chairperson
Chairperson Bice remarked that Faculty Council had requested that
another motion regarding online SIRS be added to the upcoming ECAC
agenda. She surmised that it appears that faculty are concerned about
bias in the SIRS questionnaire. Dr. Bice recommended that the SIRS
Subcommittee prepare a report for presentation at the next ECAC meeting
in order for ECAC to make a more informed decision.
SIRS Subcommittee Chairperson, Dr. Smith, stated that the SIRS pilot
study was not intended to look at the issue of statistical validity. The
pilot study is looking into ways to increase online SIRS response rates
by altering policies around the administration of online SIRS. If
Faculty Council is primarily concerned about statistical validity, it
needs to make clear how this is defined. Are they referring to the
reliability and validity of the questions that make up the current
institutional SIRS form or are they looking for statistically reliable
response rates?
Chairperson Bice noted that the next ECAC meeting was planned for
November 2 and that she will ask that a presentation of the results of
the online SIRS pilot from summer 2010 be added to its agenda.
A question was raised concerning student anonymity in online SIRS. Dr.
Estry responded that currently, although a record of who responds to the
online SIRS is kept, student identities cannot be linked to student
responses. Dr. Gift, Vice Provost for Libraries, Computing, and
Technology was given voice in order to respond to the question. Dr. Gift
explained that databases could be programmed as linked or delinked. The
programming in the online SIRS is delinked and that student responses
are as anonymous as possible. Dr. Gift’s voice was removed.
Dr. Bice mentioned that ECAC was seeking faculty volunteers for an
8-member working group that would review and provide feedback on the
University’s Anti-Discrimination Policy, a proposed Anti-Discrimination
Policy user manual, and the University Sexual Harassment Policy. Fred
Fico volunteered to be the representative from UCAP. There were no other
volunteers and the committee expressed no objections.
Comments from the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education
There were no comments from the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education.
Institutional Data Policy: Discussion
David Gift, Vice Provost for Libraries, Computing, and Technology
Dr. Gift mentioned that the UCAP suggestion about additional
training had been added to his unit’s agenda as it considered the new
Institutional Data Policy. He stated that unit administrators would be
responsible for administration of the new policy. Because of the
variability in unit work, each unit would not require all levels of
training. Some would only need FERPA training whereas in other units the
administrator or fiscal officer would need other specific training. On
the other hand, clinical units would need all of that and more. It would
fall to the unit administrator to determine the training landscape
required within his/her unit. The proposed policy is more general than
specific because occasionally someone encounters this type of
information and needs to understand the care that should be given to
this information. Dr. Gift stated that a website was being developed
that would discuss the issues of training and a brochure would be
available in print and online. All of this was a subset of a managing
data website his group has maintained for years, a website that has been
used as a model by other universities. He added that attention needed
to be given to the method and frequency of reminders about the need for
attention to this policy and that his unit was examining the
effectiveness of the channels that would be used for communicating the
reminders and the policy.
Chairperson Bice suggested that she write a memo to ECAC providing the
points discussed by UCAP to present for discussion and approval at the
next UCAP meeting. There were no objections from the committee.
Roundtable
Committee members discussed difficulties they were having with
downloading committee material from the UCAP website and the possibility
of updating members by email in addition to updating the website on any
agenda or materials changes prior to meetings.
The meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted by
Sandra Walther