September 7, 2010

September 7, 2010

Academic Council (approved October 5, 2010)

Present: Athinarayanan, Barrios, Hinkle, Janzow, Jung, Lilly, McDougall, McGowan, McMillan, Miller, Noe, Ray, Rosati, Shaw, Starrett, Timlin, and Ustinova

Guests: Margo Greciar, Tamela Hanebrink, and Joe Pujol

A.  MINUTES:
Upon a motion by McDougall; seconded by Janzow/Shaw, the minutes of May 4, 2010 and May 21, 2010 were unanimously approved.

Rosati welcomed the new members of the Council, and everyone introduced themselves.

B.  ACTION ITEMS:

1.  BS Athletic Training – Addition of FN401/Increase of Total Degree Hours
Pujol explained that adding FN401 to the BS Athletic Training program will strengthen the background of the program. He added that the addition will also help improve performance on the certification exam. The addition of the course increases the total degree hours; however, the program is in the process of reducing the credit hours for two other courses, HL265 and HL472. There are no hidden pre-requisites for FN401. Further discussion followed. Shaw made a motion to approve adding FN401 to the BS Athletic Training program, with the contention that the total degree hours will only increase by one hour; seconded by Janzow. Motion passed unanimously.

C.  DISCUSSION ITEMS

1.  MA102 Graduation Requirement
Starrett and Hanebrink explained that under the Logical Systems requirements for General Education completion, all courses are in the math department except PL120, Symbolic Logic. There is an issue with students completing PL120 as their Logical Systems requirement, and then still having to also go back and take MA102. Students with less than a 21 ACT subscore in math are required to take MA101 and MA102. Starrett’s question was whether we should consider eliminating MA102 as a graduation requirement.  The other question raised was whether a math course should be required for graduation at all.  Dr. Rosati explained that he’ll seek feedback from groups, and asked that a proposal come forward to the October 5th Academic Council meeting.

2. Future Proposal – Cybersecurity Program
Shaw explained that Don Bagert is currently working on a Cybersecurity Program proposal. His concern is that new courses for the program can’t be developed until faculty with that subject knowledge are hired. Shaw asked the Council for thoughts/consideration on bringing the Cybersecurity Program proposal forward without the development of the 4-5 new courses, contingent on future approval of the courses. McDougall asked if it were possible to use existing campus faculty to develop the courses; Shaw said that yes, existing faculty could be used, but for full development of the courses, full expertise in the field is needed. McDougall also asked what the advantage was of approving the program ahead of the new courses being developed; Shaw explained that they are already in the process of collaboration with the University of Missouri-Columbia, and that connections with other groups could be developed sooner. Further discussion followed. Noe stated that she felt the Council should give flexibility in looking at the types of courses to offer and what our customers want. In answer to Janzow’s question, Shaw stated that he anticipated bringing the proposal forward to the December Council meeting; Janzow suggested including course descriptions in the proposal. Shaw also anticipated that the proposal would go forward to the Board of Regents and CBHE in early spring. Rosati suggested bringing forward skeleton syllabi for the new courses with the proposal.

3.  Faculty Handbook Revisions
 Rosati explained that an Ad Hoc Committee has been formed of members of Academic Council and the Faculty Senate to address the Board of Regents directive to revise the Faculty Handbook. The Committee’s charge is to update sections on Program Review with or without financial emergency, program discontinuance, and retrenchment. The first draft of revisions will go to the Board of Regents at the October 22nd meeting, and a final draft will go to them at the December meeting. The Committee will look at more revisions later. McMillan added that after the first revisions, there will be a CSTL website for the campus to see.

4.  Course Redesign
 Rosati explained that there are a number of initiatives going on in the state of Missouri to implement Course Redesign. There will be a pilot of courses next Fall for implementing course redesign, including UI100 and MA101/102.

5.  Collaborative Program Offerings
 Rosati explained that at the Governor’s Summit Meeting in August, there were discussions about offering programs collaboratively within the state. The Governor asked for a review of programs be done, with the following criteria, and that the programs be offered collaboratively: review undergraduate programs with fewer than 10 graduates, review graduate programs with fewer than 5 graduates, and review doctorate programs with fewer than 3 graduates. Rosati explained that four collaborative degree programs are to be offered next fall as a pilot program.

6.  Program Review
 Rosati explained that in the past year, we’ve been actively exploring productivity in our programs. The evaluation of quartiles is not complete. Quartile 1 will be complete by the October 22nd Board of Regents meeting. After Quartile 1 is complete, the Program Review process will be suspended until the Faculty Handbook Revisions Ad Hoc Committee’s revisions are complete. McDougall added that the Program Review process may be expanded because of the Governor’s issue with low graduating programs; Rosati agreed that the issue could cause a re-shuffle of what programs should be evaluated next, depending on what the state directs. The state has given CBHE authority to eliminate programs with few than ten completers.

7.  Winter Intersession
 Rosati explained that we will have Winter Intersession this winter as a pilot. Ten courses will be offered between the end of the Fall 2010 semester and the Spring 2011 semester. The courses in the pilot are listed on the back of the handout distributed. The purpose of the Winter Intersession is to give students flexibility and increase graduation rates. The pilot courses will be all online. McDougall asked if faculty teaching the pilot courses should contact General Education; Starrett advised that he will make contact with the faculty. McGowan expressed that MA102 is included in those pilot courses for those students close to finishing MA101 this fall semester. Discussion followed about issues with University offices being closed during one week of the Winter Intersession; Rosati explained that the timeline gives faculty/students enough time before and after that week to complete the course requirements. He also noted that faculty can – but do not have to - teach during that week, but there will be no tech support.

8.  Academic Affairs Initiatives
 Rosati explained that there are several goals for this academic year:
  Goal 1: Support and enhance student learning
- Get accredited programs re-accredited. (see handout for Discussion Item #10)
- New academic programs approved by CBHE. (see handout for Discussion Item #10)

  Goal 2: Using program review and course redesign, evaluate academic offerings to meet new societal demands
- Update the Faculty Handbook
- Implement Course Redesign
- Collaborative Programs
- Teaching Assistants

  Goal 3: Modify average class sizes to approximately 25 to 30 students as currently advertised
- Reduce the number of low-enrolled classes
- Increase the number of large capacity classes

  Goal 4: Provide additional opportunities for faculty assignments through the expansion of course offerings during summer session and intersessions.
- Add Winter Intersession
- Expand summer course offerings (will seek feedback from Faculty Senate on last summer session’s model)

  Goal 5: Evaluate alternative assignments for faculty in an equitable manner
- Develop faculty workload reporting.
- Student Credit Hour (SCH) generation per faculty member – increase by May 2014

9.  Committee on Career Development and Job Placement
Rosati explained that the Committee was formed to evaluate the area of Career Services (Career Linkages and Student Transitions office).

10.  2010-11 Accreditation Visits / Academic Programs under Consideration by CBHE
 See Discussion Item #8.

D.  OTHER

1. McDougall stated that we have record international student population, with 511 students. They’re currently searching for an additional staff member, who will work with campus connections and coordinating study abroad on campus.
The IEP Program has expanded and now has 87 students. We expect additional students in October, and will probably have 95-105 students by the end of the Fall semester. The IEP Program is self-funded and helps support other functions.

2. McGowan explained that Graduate Council will look at conditional admission at the next month’s meeting.

 

Motion to adjourn was made by McGowan; seconded by McDougall. Meeting adjourned.