UCAP Meeting of 03/17/2011 2010-2011 agenda status: approved Agenda: University Committee on Academic Policy AGENDA Thursday, March 17, 2011 10:15 A.M. to 12:00 P.M. Board Room, 4th Floor, Administration Building
Phone or e-mail Diana J. Stetson (355-1528; stetsonD@msu.edu) if you cannot be present. Please remember that you are asked to send a substitute from your college if you cannot attend. minutes status: approved approved at meeting of 03/31/2011 UCAP Minutes for meeting held on 03/17/2011 UNIVERSITY COMMITTEE ON ACADEMIC POLICY MINUTES Thursday, March 17, 2011 10:15 am to 12:00 pm Board Room, Administration Building Attending: Gillian Bice, Crystal Branta, Lisa Cook, Laura Dillon, Doug Estry, Anita Ezzo, Fred Fico, Kathleen Hoag, Michael Nelson, Helene Pazak, Ron Perry, Mike Shields, Gretchen Dubes (for Mary Kay Smith), Christopher Schuster Not Attending: Paul Abramson, Miles Armaly, Justin Epstein, Evan Martinak, Matthew McKeon, Tom Morse, Mary Noel, Justin O’Dell, Mitchell Treadwell, Chenguang Wang The Agenda was approved with one change: Item #5, the request for a New Bachelor of Arts Degree in History Education, was temporarily withdrawn. The Minutes of February 24, 2011 were approved. UCAP’s proposal to revise the Course Repeat Policy was endorsed
by UCFA and UCSA (with some concerns); three groups had yet to report
back. ECAC praised the thoroughness of the UCAP proposal. Chairperson
Bice commended and thanked Associate Provost Doug Estry and Executive
Staff Assistant Sandra Walther for the significant effort they put into
collecting and compiling the information for the report. Request for a New Bachelor of Science Degree in Environmental Engineering The Committee granted voice to Drs. Lyles and Voice. A document with key points was distributed to the committee without objection. The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering currently offers M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in environmental engineering and there is growing demand for the undergraduate (B.S.) degree. Michigan Tech offers the only other environmental engineering program in Michigan with approximately 75 students each year. There are already faculty and other resources available in the department/college for the program. The program will be accredited under the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). Questions from the committee focused on the following: · Is there significant overlap with the biosystems engineering program? · Is a minimum enrollment of 10 sustainable; will there be problems with courses not being offered due to insufficient enrollment that could result in delayed time to graduation? · Apart from increased enrollment by women, is there potential for other racial or ethnic diversity? The Committee withdrew voice from Drs. Lyle and Voice. There was no further discussion. Motion by Laura Dillon passed unanimously.
Request for a Moratorium on Admission to the Disciplinary Teaching Minor in Anthropology The Committee granted voice to Drs. Summerhill and O’Gorman. Dr. Summerhill reiterated that the request resulted from certification changes made by the Michigan Department of Education. Chairperson Bice noted that the Academic Minor in Anthropology was not affected by the moratorium. Program representatives noted there are no current students in the program, students have not been able to register for the Anthropology teaching minor since fall 2009, and there will likely be a discontinuation request soon. The Committee withdrew voice from Drs. Summerhill and O’Gorman. There was no further discussion. Motion by Kathleen Hoag passed unanimously.
Request for a Moratorium on Admission to the Disciplinary Teaching Minor in Environmental Science The Committee granted voice to Dr. Brandenburg. This request is due to the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) phase-out of the corresponding endorsement of the teaching minor in Environmental Science. Based on this MDE action, the College of Education asked CANR to discontinue the minor. There have been no new students in the program since 2008 and there are no students finishing internships. The committee withdrew voice from Dr. Brandenburg. Motion by Ron Perry passed unanimously.
Request to Phase Out and Discontinue the Disciplinary Teaching Minor in Religious Studies Associate Provost Estry noted a correction in the materials submitted with the transmittal memo of February 21, 2011, which should read “College of Arts and Letters” not College of Natural Science. The Committee granted voice to Dr. Versluis. The MDE no longer recognizes the disciplinary teaching minor in Religious Studies. This request is put forward to comply with the State requirements. The Committee withdrew voice from Dr. Versluis. There was no further discussion. Motion by Kathleen Hoag passed unanimously.
Report from SIRS Subcommittee - John Reifenberg Discussion focused on the following: · Students’ ability to decline to complete the evaluation, the percentage of students who decline (~1%), and clarification that a decline was counted as a response. · Is the significant increase in response rate a result of the increased level of communication (“advertisement”), students’ awareness that this was a pilot study, or sequestration of grades? Control group (CJ) with no grade sequestration had much lower response rate. It has been difficult to obtain information from fall semester faculty participants regarding compliance with the communication guidelines, but response rate during summer semester, in which such communication was not as extensive, was very high, suggesting that grade sequestration is likely the primary factor. · Differences in response rate to Likert scale questions versus open-ended questions. Responders answered the vast majority of scaled questions; response rate to open-ended questions was much lower – students tend to skip – but similar to paper SIRS. · Another pilot is in the works to examine the feasibility of making the online SIRS customizable, with four options: use as is, use as template, append questions, or fully customized. There is already a lack of standardization in instructor evaluations; there is no mandate that the SIRS form be used, only that students are given the opportunity to evaluate course instruction. The format of that evaluation opportunity is at the discretion of the individual departments. · In reference to the ability to customize the online SIRS, it was noted that evaluation of excellence in teaching and the ability to compare award nominee’s instructor evaluations (e.g., by means of a standardized form) is an important criterion used by the award selection committee. If units don’t use the standard SIRS form, there is a detrimental impact on the ability of faculty to receive teaching awards. · Is there a potential capacity issue - can AIS handle all SIRS going online? · When do faculty receive the results of the online SIRS? · If grade sequestration is the main incentive for students to complete evaluations, if all SIRS go online, will students only opt to complete the evaluation for courses in which they are concerned about their grade? The Committee granted voice to Sandra Walther to address questions concerning AIS capacity to customize the SIRS forms. Chairperson Bice reminded the Committee that they will need to make a recommendation to ECAC by April. The issue of instructor evaluations was raised in Faculty Council in the Fall, and ECAC is awaiting UCAP’s report and recommendations before again placing the issue on the Faculty Council agenda. Motion by Kathleen Hoag was passed unanimously.
Dr. Fred Fico stated that the final report of ADP working group will now be forwarded for review and commentary to various governance committees. Dr. Helene Pazak commended UCAP members for their outstanding accomplishments, often during stressful times, and recognized that the tasks before the Committee are not always easy. She expressed her appreciation for what the Committee does and the seriousness and thoughtfulness that the Committee exhibits in all its considerations of the issues that come before it. Associate Provost Estry concurred. There was no further discussion and the meeting was adjourned. Respectfully submitted |
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