Minutes of the Educational Policy Committee May 5, 2004

Approved 9-15-04

Educational Policy Committee

May 5, 2004 (Meeting #10)

Present: Carol Bock, Chris Carroll, Jeanne Doty, Kathryn Fuller, Seth Grenke , Steve Hedman , Jill Jenson, Karl Johnson, Vince Magnuson, Kate Maurer, Bill Payne, Jerry Pepper, Jerry Peterson, Don Poe, Ryan Rosandich

Excused: Lesley Choi , Howard Mooers , Linda Rochford , Claudia Rock, Linda Rolfe

The minutes of the 4-21-04 meeting were approved with no changes.

Subcommittee reports

Instructional Development Service : this committee met once to discuss the need for a second consultant. Academic administration has approved this request and the process is in motion to begin a search.

Liberal Education: Categories 5 & 6 were reviewed. Student focus groups were conducted and the survey results reviewed (with findings similar to those in previous surveys). Liberal education programs at peer institutions were reviewed. Discussions were held regarding the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum and also the new UMD Honors program. Fall 07 is the 10-year accreditation visit of the Higher Learning Commission. A self-study document will need to be drafted in 05-06. A review of data will continue over the summer in preparation for subcommittee work next fall. With this data the committee hopes to identify specific problems and draft potential solutions. Other than semester conversion, the basic structure and philosophy of UMD's liberal education program has been unchanged for 25 years. It was suggested that faculty be surveyed on their views of liberal education. Many faculty believe in the principal, but are not comfortable with the model that UMD has been using.

International Education submitted a written report. An oral report was not given.

Information Technology and Library committee : report not given.

Admissions : this committee drafted a campus diversity statement and revisited admissions guidelines. Next year the committee hopes to focus on the topic of campus retention efforts.

Faculty ratio of tenure & tenure-track to other

Members were asked to solicit input from their units regarding the ratio of tenure/tenure track to term faculty. The use of term faculty has helped keep teaching loads steady despite increasing enrollment. This model does not work in highly specialized majors where it is difficult to find local qualified faculty. It is the Chancellor's view that a 70/30 ratio of tenure/tenure track and term faculty provides the campus with necessary flexibility. The question of having term faculty engaged in teaching only and not service needs to be discussed at the departmental level. What are the positive and negative impacts on educational programs in regard to this ratio? More data needs to be collected on this issue before a response to ECCA can be drafted. It was suggested an ad hoc committee be appointed to study this issue in the fall and to identify the relationship between the ratio of faculty and the quality of UMD'S educational mission, to research literature, review ratios at peer institutions, identify the advantages and disadvantages of our current ratio, and to encourage collegiate units to have discussions on this topic.

Academic Integrity

Faculty are concerned that this policy does not require reporting and that therefore there is no mechanism for tracking offenses. There were concerns that without a central office handling offenses, there would be inconsistent punishments given from different faculty for similar offenses. Other faculty were concerned that mandatory reporting is at the heart of grading, which is the right and responsibility solely of the faculty member. An informal vote was held and a majority of committee members were in favor of mandatory reporting of the resolution of an incident (when an instructor was satisfied that plagiarism/cheating had occurred, had met with the student and imposed a sanction). There were concerns over confidentiality issues – who has access to this information, how long it stays on file, etc. Some committee members were in favor of a highly detailed policy, citing that serious consideration should be taken in regard to something that would go on a student's permanent record. Others felt that a more general policy would offer more flexibility. This issue will go back to the subcommittee in the fall for further discussion.

The committee was thanked for their service. Special thanks to Carol Bock for her role as chair.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m.