Monday, January 22, 2007
Attendance: Philip Harris, Karen, Turner, Chris Dennis, Concetta Stewart, Orin Chein, Bruce Conrad, Mary Anne Gaffney, Michele O’Connor, Catherine Schifter, Rob Drennan, Jane Evans, Keya Sadeghipour, Bernie Newman, Richard Englert (Guest)
The meeting was called to order by Mary Anne Gaffney at 2:05.
Approval of Minutes:
Corrections noted by Michele who requested that wording regarding the General Education transfer proposal be corrected; Chris pointed out the OWLnet already has an advising tab; Orin clarified that “someone” not he “suggested a year’s hiatus before a student can repeat a course. Minutes were accepted with changes as noted. Mary Anne will correct the minutes and send them out via email.
Follow up Discussion on Free Electives (D. Englert):
D. Englert shared a handout dated January 22, 2007 titled Free Electives. The handout began with the statement: “It is the responsibility of Schools and Colleges to determine the number of free electives.” The document also listed guidelines that the Schools and Colleges should consider when determining the number of electives, e.g. “Recognizing that transfer students make up 45% of the incoming student body each year…”
D. Englert explained that the Provost will not specify the number of electives up front, but will use the Periodic Program Review process and the OP process to evaluate the number of free electives chosen by the School or College.
Discussion:
C. Schifter: It is good that Program Review becomes the mechanism. Allows for those programs already through the process to be reviewed in the normal schedule. And also allows a review if the program is restructured.
D. Englert: This policy allows us to look at the program, not the overall policy.
K. Sadeghipour: What do transfer students do now? Many programs can handle a lot of electives.
O. Chein: Still two issues: definition of free electives and how many credits can colleges and schools require for a major.
C. Stewart: Should electives be designated outside the major?
D.Englert: Suggest to drop the word “Free.”
C. Stewart: Transfer students bristle at elective credits that are not usable.
C. Dennis: From PA legislators’ perspective, they are paying for these courses twice.
P. Harris: There is a difference between choosing any course, barring prerequisites and choosing a course from a short list. We need to distinguish between the two.
C. Stewart: Foreign Language is different and will be an issue for transfer students, if it can’t be used for World Society.
M.O’Connor: Explained current transfer articulation process, which evaluates credits for the major, not all transfer credits.
O.Chein: Suggested that all credits be articulated; if credit can’t be used, it is not totally lost as the transcript still shows it. What happens next? Does this handout go to the Faculty Steering Committee or to the Representative Senate?
J. Evans: Provost does not report to the Faculty Senate.
D. Englert: The handout was prepared after much discussion; EPPC, the Deans, GEEC and have all spoken; document will be given to the President. The process is similar to the development of the tenure and promotion guidelines.
C. Stewart: This discussion highlights the problem of governance between GEEC and EPPC.
J. Evans: Karen and Luke are looking at restructuring.
D. Englert: Ultimately, it is the Board of Trustees who makes the final decisions regarding programs, etc.
J. Evans: Everything in EPPC does not necessarily go to the Faculty Senate.
O. Chein: General Education was brought to Senate, so this should be.
MA. Gaffney: We are the representative body of the Senate.
C. Dennis: We rely on EPPC decision-making power to approve items.
MA. Gaffney: We will be meeting with the President tomorrow.
J. Evans: Take the “Free” out of the title of the handout.
J. Evans: We should define for the handbook the type of issues for EPPC.
P. Harris: How do we distinguish between “Free” versus a “List”?
D. Englert: The question for the program review process will be to ask how much freedom does a student have to choose electives? As part of the process, the number of electives will be compared to peer institutions.
O. Chein: Still the questions about how many credits required for a major, how many for general ed, and how many in cognate areas?
MA. Gaffney: There is a meeting with the President tomorrow where she will give us her vision of General Education.
MA Gaffney and J. Evans: What is the relationship of GEEC with the Faculty Steering Committee?
C. Dennis: The broad document states that governance of GEEC be determined by the Provost.
J. Evans: No deadline for handbook revisions. EPPC will review the handbook at each of the next meetings.
C. Dennis: Student membership usually a student from Student Academic Affairs committee and an honors student.
Transfer Issues (M. O’Connor):
In preparation for a review of the core-to-core agreements, Michele asked the group several questions to help develop a template to review the agreements. After some discussion, and general agreement that the community colleges’ core should be like our general education program, it was suggested that it would be easier to grasp the issues/concerns if the group works through a reevaluation of one of the agreements using the template.
New Business:
None
Next Meeting:
February 5, 2007, 2pm, Conwell 3A
