Educational Policy Committee
Minutes: Meeting of 11 Oct 2001 (384) approved version A

Attendance:

quinnj	Joseph F. Quinn (Chair)	Dean, College of Arts & Sciences
barrya	Ann Marie Barry	Communications / Humanities (2003)
behnegaa	Alice P. Behnegar	Honors Program, designate for Michael Martin
boydmb	Mikaela Boyd	Class of 2002
burnsj	J. Joseph Burns	Assc Dean, College of Arts & Sciences
cnnmj	M.J. Connolly (Secretary)	Slavic & Eastern Languages / Humanities (2004)
defuscoa	Andrea DeFusco	Asst Dean, College of Arts & Sciences
dunsford	Clare M. Dunsford	Assc Dean, College of Arts & Sciences
jan	Jan Engelbrecht	Physics / Natural Sciences (2002)
gelfand	Mark I. Gelfand	History / Social Sciences (2002)
green	Carol Hurd Green	Assc Dean, College of Arts & Sciences
jaramicb	Carlos A. Jaramillo	Class of 2005
kafka	Alan L. Kafka	Geology & Geophysics / Natural Sciences (2003)
malec	Michael A. Malec	Sociology / Social Sciences (2003)
mcguines	Thomas P. McGuinness	Director, University Counseling
murphyro	Robert G. Murphy	Economics / Social Sciences (2004)
oconnocn	Clare O'Connor	Biology / Natural Sciences (2004)
okeeffe	Mary D. O'Keeffe	Assc Dean, College of Arts & Sciences
reifm	Michael D. Reif	Class of 2002
rosserh	Harry L. Rosser	Romance Languages & Literatures / Humanities (2002)
viechnib	Barbara A. Viechnicki	Asst Dean for Administration, College of Arts & Sciences
williafq	Derrick Williams	Class of 2004

Agenda items:

1. Opening of meeting

2. Academic Affairs

3. Appeals

4. Honors

5. Final announcements

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1. Opening of meeting

The Dean opened the meeting at 16.07h with introductions of the members, new and continuing.

The EPC approved the minutes from the meeting of 03 May 2001 (383) as corrected.

The Dean distributed a draft listing of assignments to the four standing committees (Executive Committee, Academic Affairs, Appeals, Honors).
The EPC needs students on the committees and chairs for two of the committees (Academic Affairs, Honors).
Academic Affairs may have to break into subcommittees, depending on the diversity of topics to be dealt with.
The Secretary will be at the Executive Committee meetings.
Trades or switches among committees will be considered.
Each committee will be making brief reports at this meeting.

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2. Academic Affairs (Green)

The Interdisciplinary Minors program has grown from four programs to seventeen, and its definition and scope appear on a new webpage. [handout]
Directors had a luncheon meeting last year, and each program will be filing an annual report in early December.

Last year the EPC approved an International Studies major, an interdisciplinary major, open by application only (closing 15 October) and limited to about twenty (20) students during the pilot period.

Discussion:

Quinn: will there be a minors brochure?

--There will be a poor-person's guide for the Majors Fair and individual brochures for programs.

Quinn: Right now there are two tracks for the International Studies major, EC and PO?

--A third is coming, presently before the Advisory Board for the major.

New topics include:

--a proposal for a BA in Biology, in addition to the current BS Biology

--the Computer Science major in A&S

--Departmental minors

--the language-proficiency requirement

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3. Appeals (Gelfand)

This committee deals with grades appeals. By College policy [Academic regulations 9.1-9.3], grade appeals are first handled between student and instructor, then escalated to the chair of a department, who prepares a written report, then it proceeds to the Appeals Committee, which makes recommendations to the Dean. Four such cases were handled last year, one of which is in the final stages of resolution.
From an examination of earlier documentation some procedural reporting issues arise, notably whether the Appeals Committee reports to the Dean or to the EPC. A brief annual extract of appeals, without names, does get posted in the A&S web site.
[Distributed material, letter of 10 May 2001, Gelfand to Quinn, 2pp]

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4. Honors (Burns)

Last year the EPC

--studied departmental honors programs and brought departmental honors directors together for a luncheon meeting,

--approved some independent majors (whose number will now decreased because of the new International Studies major),

--and changed qualifications and procedures for the Scholar of the College program.

Half of the Scholars projects come from the science departments, which find that the intensive engagement justifies the number of credits and provides valuable pre-employment and pre-graduate experience.
Department honors remain a live and open issue, along with independent studies and transitional Scholars issues.

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5. Final announcements

Burns: The University Calendar Committee has already approved the finalized academic calendar for 2002-2003 and is considering a draft for 2003-2004 [distributed, 1p + Notes]. The calendar plan reduces the length of Senior week.

Quinn: The Academic Vice-President is re-invigorating the University Council on Teaching (UCT) to look at questions of eLearning strategy, course evaluations, advisement, and classroom upgrades. Deans and chairs are recommending candidates for membership.

Caucus now to appoint students to Appeals, Honors, and Academic Affairs (2) as well as to designate chairs for Academic Affairs and Honors.