Minutes of the Committee on Academic Planning
for March 1, 2000

The Committee on Academic Planning met on Wednesday March 1, 2000 at 1:00 PM in Union 202. Members present were D. DeVinny, D. Kummings, S. Meyer, D. Nice, M.K. Schleiter, R. Singer and G. Wood (chair). Present for parts of the meeting were Donald Cress, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Richard Stolz, Dean, School of Business and Technology, James McKeever, Music, Gene Goodman, Biological Sciences, Paul Boyer, Biological Sciences, Mary Selke, Teacher Education, Laura Gellott, Chair, University Committee and Larry Duetsch, Secretary of the Faculty.

I. Program Reviews

The Sociology/Anthropology and Engineering departments, and the Humanities and Women's Studies programs are undergoing program review this year. The Dean's recommendations to CAP are due on April 3. CAP will meet after that date to review these programs.

II. Position Authorization Requests

PARs for tenure track positions beginning fall 2001 are due in the Deans' offices on March 31, 2000. The Deans will give their recommendations to CAP by April 14. CAP will meet after that date to review and to rank PARs. PARs must be accompanied by each department's current strategic plan.

A more general discussion of PARs followed. It was decided that CAP should be notified of all PARs including those for tenure track positions for the upcoming year, tenure track positions for the following year, one year academic staff positions, and continuing academic staff positions. CAP will determine if the committee needs to have input on a case by case basis.

III. Current Position Authorization Requests

A. Health and Physical Education. Tenure track position beginning fall 2000. Replacement for Lennart Johns, resigned. The department intends to initiate a search for a full time tenure track position beginning fall 2000.

B. Business. Tenure track position in accounting beginning fall 2000. Replacement for Gail Cook, resigned. The department is in the process of conducting a search for a previously authorized position in accounting. They intend to draw two candidates from the current pool rather than one.

Motion (Meyer, Kummings) to recommend approval of tenure track positions in HPEA and the Business beginning fall 2000. Motion passed unanimously.

C. Communication. Tenure track position beginning fall 2001. CAP will review this request at the same time as the other requests for 2001 positions.

D. Computer Science. Full time academic staff position beginning fall 2000. Replacement for Bob Luke, retired. This request is for the conversion of a 2/3 time lecturer position to a full time lecturer position. The new position will cover Bob Luke's teaching load and part of Morris Firebaugh's teaching load.

Motion (Wood, Schleiter) to recommend approval of a full time lecturer position in Computer Science beginning fall 2000. Motion passed unanimously.

IV. January Winterim Proposal

The January Winterim proposal was forwarded by the Committee on Alternative Delivery and Programming. It was agreed that because the matter of creating such a committee was brought to CAP last year and because CAP nominated the faculty members to serve on the committee, then proposals developed by the Committee on Alternative Delivery and Programming should be reviewed by CAP prior to consideration by the faculty senate for implementation. A similar agreement was reached at the last faculty senate meeting on February 15.

Beyond that, members of CAP expressed several concerns with the proposal. The proposal to offer a Winterim was developed with no input from departments and needs to be subjected to broader discussion. Moreover, the proposal at present addresses administrative issues rather than pedagogical ones. Other issues to be addressed include the following:

• The goals of the program are unclear.

• What kind of courses are appropriate for delivery in a 12-13 day compressed format?

• Should there be an emphasis on immersion experience courses (trips, internships, courses that cannot be offered during the regular term), or would any course suggested by a department be appropriate?

• There should be an explicit statement in the proposal to the effect that selection of courses for Winterim is the business of the department. Newly proposed and developed courses would require review by the Course and Curriculum Committee. The array of Winterim courses might also be reviewed by a standing faculty committee such as course and curriculum, academic policies or CAP.

• Will there be restrictions on the students who can take a compressed Winterim course? Minimum GPA? Can students under any form of academic sanction (probation, warning, etc.) take a Winterim course?

• Will Winterim be financed from the summer school budget? How will this affect the campus's ability to offer summer school courses? How might Winterim courses affect enrollment in summer courses?

• How might Winterim courses affect enrollment in fall and spring courses?

• Is it possible for Winterim to overlap the start of the Spring semester in some or all cases? What are the advantages? What are the complicating factors?

The consensus of the committee was that a memo be sent to the Committee on Alternative Delivery and Programming requesting that they develop a more complete proposal which addresses the concerns noted above, and do so in consultation with department chairs, Deans, the Academic Policies Committee and CAP.

There was also consensus that a January Winterim be tried on a pilot basis the first time, with 3-5 courses offered. The courses should be selected by departments in consultation with the Deans. There was some disagreement over whether CAP should formally recommend a pilot before or after a more complete proposal is developed. The committee will vote on a formal recommendation at its next meeting.

V. Request for Entitlement to Plan a New M.S. Degree Program in Integrated Science and Technology.

Paul Boyer presented the rationale for development of the new M.S. program. The target audience will be grades 6-12 science teachers. Many educators in the surrounding area wish to pursue master's degrees for advancement in rank and salary and have limited choices in the area of science and technology. The new program would fill a need, clearly addresses the mission of the institution, includes distance education as an integral component and could be offered, at least initially, with existing faculty and staff.

Motion (DeVinny, Schleiter) to recommend that the Biological Sciences department be granted permission to request entitlement to plan a new M.S. degree program in integrated Science and Technology. Motion passed unanimously.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:50 PM.

Submitted by,
Gary M. Wood, Chair