Minutes of the
Academic Achievement Assessment Committee
November 2 , 2007

The Academic Achievement Assessment Committee met on Friday, Nov. 2,
2007, in Communication Arts 233 at noon.

Members present were William
Blanchard, Bob Canary (chair), Theresa Castor, Linda Crafton, Chi-Wing
Fok, Vera Kolb, and Denise Widup.

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved with a correction of
the spelling of Professor Castor's name.

Bill Blanchard reported on the status of UW-System involvement in the
Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA) project. It is virtually
certain that this will go forward, subject to some review after a
couple of years. In the Learning Outcomes portion, campuses will have
some choice of instruments to use, and System will probably pick up
the costs. Committee members noted that the scope of Learning
Outcomes reviewed will be limited, so that the campus may want to go beyond this project to meet its own assessment needs.

The committee discussed the University Planning Council subcommittee
which will coordinate the campus response to the VSA initiative. Bob
Canary and Vera Kolb agreed to offer themselves as possible members of
the subcommittee representing this committee. Some other members of
this committee will also be on the subcommittee for various reasons.

The committee began discussing its own role and goals for the year.
Theresa Castor presented a summary of how assessment committees and
duties are handled at other UW campuses. The committee agreed to
discuss these matters further and attempt some resolution at its next meeting.

The committee agreed to meet again at noon on Friday, Dec. 7. [The
meeting will again be in Communication Arts 233]

Respectfully submitted,
Bob Canary