Minutes of the Academic Policies Committee
for May 1, 2009

The Academic Policies Committee met on May 1, 2009, for its final meeting of the 2008-09 academic year.

The meeting was called to order at 12:05

Present:  Laura Gellott, Doug Devinny, Peter Knight, Joy Wolf, Ron Otto, Susan Hawkins-Wilding, James Kinchen, Carmel Ruffolo.

Excused: Rhonda Kimmel, Gail Gonzalez.

Guest:  Stephen Delcuze, Student Government.

1.  The minutes of April 3, 2009 were approved, and will be sent to the Secretary of the Faculty.

2.  VSA (Voluntary System of Accountability) Testing.  Laura Gellott reported on the OPID Conference session she attended in Milwaukee on April 18, and distributed a memo in which she summarized what she learned.   (See a copy of the memo, attached.)   Based on the discussion which followed, APC recommends to the provost's office the adoption of the CLA test as the most attractive option.  APC also urges that the ideas in the memo, regarding successful implementation strategies at the three UW campuses (Stout, Platteville, Oshkosh) be taken into serious consideration by the provost's office as it plans its implementation.  Finally, it is recommended that the soon-to-be hired director of assessment and academic planning be the person to coordinate the VSA testing.

3.  Parkside Student Government, represented at the meeting by Stephen Delcuze, is recommending that students receive internship credit in return for their participation as student reps on certain selected governance committees.  PSG is proposing a pilot program, involving five committees (APC, Course and Curriculum, First Year Experience, Academic Actions, and CAP).  Students would earn one credit for each semester, with the idea that students would have a year-long experience on their committee. 

An academic department would need to grant the internship credit.  HIST has already expressed an interest.  [Subsequent to the meeting Professor Gurnack gave a positive response regarding POLS's interest in doing so as well]. 

Over the summer Stephen Delcuze will work with Laura Gellott and Rhonda Kimmel to further develop the proposal and to address some of the reporting issues involved in having a year-long internship experience that spans the two semesters/grading periods.  This issue will be taken up again at the first meeting in the fall.

4.  Issues for next year will include the distance education/intellectual property issue.

5.  The meeting concluded with an expression of appreciation to Professor Peter Knight, whose term on APC is ending, and special thanks and appreciation to Doug DeVinny, who has served as the administrative rep. to APC and who is retiring after 30 years at UW-Parkside.

Submitted by:

Laura Gellott, Chair