Minutes of the Committee on Academic Planning
Wednesday, October 8, 2003

Call to Order:
The meeting was called to order at 3:05 PM by Prof David Holmes, Chair. Present in addition were Profs Norm Cloutier, Walter Feldt, Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz, and Scott Thomson, Dave Koss, and Assoc Provost Jerry Greenfield, members. Doris Nice was excused.

Business:

Welcome to Student Member
The Committee welcomed Dave Koss, a political science major, as the newly appointed student member.

Letter to Tier 1 Departments
A draft letter prepared by Prof Holmes will be slightly revised and then sent to "Tier 1" departments (those identified at the CAP Retreat in June 2003 as having serious issues). This letter will be sent contemporaneously with the request for completion of the Program Appraisal Framework (PAF).

Program Authorization Requests for 2004-05
After some discussion, it was agreed that the 2002-03 Committee had recommended that the Health, Physical Education and Athletics Department (HPEA) be allowed to recruit for a tenure-track faculty member to begin employment in September 2004.

It became clear that HPEA had not been informed of any final approval to recruit. If the Provost concurs, this needs to be communicated quickly to the department.

It was not clear to the Committee if any additional funding remained to allow for a second tenure-track hire for 2004-05. Prof
Greenfield agreed to seek clarification from Provost Martin. If a second hire is possible, CAP will meet on Monday, Oct 13 at 3 P.M. If not, the next meeting is likely to be the next Monday, Oct 20, at 3 P.M.


Program Appraisal Framework
The Committee reviewed a revised draft provided by Provost Martin which revised the Program Appraisal Framework (PAF) document used in 2002-03.

The draft was APPROVED (7-0-0). It will be sent out to department and program chairs within the next week or so. It will be accompanied by a cover letter and an exemplar for a mythical department.

Prof Holmes agreed that his sample PAF completion for the Art Department needed improvement and should address learning outcomes and assessment in a better fashion.

Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 4:15 P.M.

Respectfully Submitted,

Walter T. Feldt
Secretary of the Faculty