Minutes of the Committee on Academic Planning
for October 22, 2001

The Committee on Academic Planning met on Monday October 22, 2001, at 2:00 p.m. in Greenquist 344A.

Present were Tim Fossum, Michele Gee, Gene Goodman, Joanne Goodyear, David Holmes, Susan Takata and Gary Wood (chair). Also present was Donald Cress, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

I. Charge to CAP

CAP requests that the University Committee clarify the charge to the Committee on Academic Planning, especially with respect to the Graduate Studies Committee and other committees that may review academic programs and related budgetary implications. We further recommend that the University Committee or Secretary of the Faculty develop a flow chart or other graphical representation of how the various faculty committees are related. This request resulted from the recent questions regarding the roles of CAP and the Graduate Studies Committee in reviewing the Master of Public Administration proposal.

II. Name Change for Dramatic Arts

A motion was made and seconded that CAP recommend approval of the name change requested by the Dramatic Arts department. The name of the department and of the program and major should be changed to Theater Arts. The motion passed unanimously.

III. Master of Public Administration Proposal

At the request of Associate Vice Chancellor Goodman, the University Committee and the Secretary of the Faculty, CAP reviewed the budgetary implications of the proposed MPA program. Although the relationship of CAP to the Graduate Studies Committee has not been completely clarified in this matter, the fact that the MPA program includes a request for an approximately $100,000 resource reallocation warrants a CAP review. The committee reached the following conclusions.

The new faculty member/coordinator requested for this program should be housed in an academic department. If that department is
Political Science, then the faculty of that department should be aware that the next department member who retires or resigns is unlikely to be replaced because current enrollment statistics do not support an additional faculty member.

(After the CAP meeting, Professor Gurnack indicated that the Political Science department will meet to discuss this issue.)

Before voting on the proposal, members of the Faculty Senate should be aware that in addition to the tenured faculty line, the proposal contains a request for $6,000 - $10,000 in S&E funds, $5,000 in LTE assistance and $15,000 in adjunct coverage, all of which would be taken from the budgets of all other departments in the College of Arts and Sciences.

In light of the current budget, Professor Gurnack should explore the possibility of a consortial arrangement with UW-Milwaukee.

(After the CAP meeting, Professor Gurnack informed the chair that while faculty from UW-M are interested in developing a consortial MPA program, they are not interested in a consortial program with only UW-P.

Specific comments on the proposal.

P. 6. "...personnel decisions will be made by the individual departments in consultation with the MPA coordinator and the
Chair of Political Science." This sentence is vague and implies that the MPA program coordinator will have some authority over hiring in other departments.

P. 5. "Will report to the Chair of the Political Science Department" is inconsistent with p. 6. "...will report directly to the
Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences."

Given these questions and reservations, CAP acknowledges that the program would be valuable and has substantial support in the community.

CAP recommends to the University Committee that the MPA proposal not be brought to the Faculty Senate until the above mentioned issues are addressed.

The Committee will meet again on Nov. 5, 2001

The meeting was adjourned at 3:30 p.m.

Submitted by,
Gary M. Wood, Chair