October 25, 2006
3:00 – 4:00 pm - - Zabel Hall 116
Chair Mary Koza recapped last year’s activities and introduced Hieu Do, our student committee member.
The committee considered two suspension appeal letters from students who wish to return Winter 2007. Both were approved.
Goals for the Year
John Miller and Sarah Witte joined the meeting to talk about items that the committee might encounter in the upcoming year. John hopes that we complete our projects from last Spring (i.e., add/drop policy and academic intervention), and to be aware of high school alignment coming up. He wants the committee to look again at student evaluations of faculty, although he understands it may require a broader audience. He indicated that our freshman to sophomore persistence rate is improving and that we as an institution have a 95% satisfaction rate with our students. Sarah spoke about accreditation, which will be in 2008. This year is a snapshot year for accreditation. Kathleen Dahl is chair of the subcommittee which may contact ASC for information.
Academic Intervention
There are holds in place to prevent students on probation from registering, as well as doing business. Students are learning how to get around the business end, since student accounts wants them to pay their bills. This means students are receiving money. So if they pre-registered before the probation hold took effect, they can circumvent the process. Mary would like us to look at this process and think of how we can best serve the at-risk students. She attended one of the workshops that Marilyn Levine gave, and thought it was great. We need to encourage mandatory advising, and support John when he presents it. Also, we will assess what works and what doesn’t work with academic intervention, as well as all areas and potential changes that we make.
Our next meeting will be November 15.
November 15, 2006
3:00 – 4:00 pm - - Zabel Hall 116
Mary Koza was absent due to illness, so Dawna Flanagan guided the meeting. We introduced ourselves to Matt Lewis, a student committee member, and Danny Aynes, the Presidential Appointee from Student Affairs.
The committee considered a suspension appeal letter from a student who wishes to return Winter 2007. It was denied.
Mandatory Advising
John Miller asked the committee to consider his request to make a written recommendation to the Deans and Advising Council to implement mandatory advising. The committee discussed the definition of mandatory advising and whether it could be required. They also brought up the fact that there is only one full-time professional advisor. Doug Briney suggested that perhaps mandatory advising could be required for “in peril” students, or those with very low GPAs (i.e., 2.5 or below). They could be required to see an advisor each term. Dawna asked the committee to consider defining “mandatory advising” and she will email the suggestions to all committee members.
Faculty Staff Handbook
The committee will look at the Academic Policy portion of the Faculty/Staff Handbook and decide if there are any sections they would like to address. At first glance, there are none that are in our purview. However, we could review the Advising section.
Review of Suspension Hearings
Mary provided a “checklist” draft for the committee to review. She would like us to consider ways to improve the hearings process. Accreditation may be looking at our process, and we should be prepared to defend our choices. The following suggestions were offered to include in her checklist:
- Has the student been through the Academic Intervention/Academic Success process?
- Is there consistent failure or intermittent failure of classes?
- Career goals.
- We should ask for the student’s advising file.
- Where are they in regards to graduation? Close or is this their first year?
There are many individual circumstances that cannot be “standardized” in a form like this, which we have to take into consideration. The “other” category will suffice for that.
Dawna asked the committee to think about the checklist and process, and send her suggestions or comments.
Policies
We will review the add/drop policy and present it once again to the Colleges and students before taking it to Assembly. Dawna will make sure the link is still active and will send it to the committee members. We should look through the academic policies in the catalog and see if any should be addressed.
Other
Doug is on the Shared Governance Committee. They will be asking all committees to review their structure and their function, so we should be ready to respond to their request.
Our next meeting will be the Suspension Hearings on Friday, January 5, 2007.
Academic Standards Committee
January 29, 2007
Zabel Hall 116
3:00 – 4:00 pm
Suspension Hearings and Check Sheet
The committee members like the check sheet and will continue to use it during suspension hearings. One person will keep track of the information that goes on it, and it will be filed with the student’s petition.
Academic Success
Sarah Witte updated the committee on the process for students who are on academic warning and academic probation. Students fill out the online assessment form and meet with their advisors when they are on warning and probation. The Learning Center does not have the resources to continue with their academic intervention program. In addition, students were not coming to the intervention workshops. Mary Koza will present a 5-minute access at the February assembly to update faculty about this new process. Websites and the catalog will need to be updated.
Add/Drop Policy
The committee members reviewed and discussed bringing the add/drop policy that was held up last year when quorum was called at the last assembly. They will review the policy on the website and will take the draft to the respective colleges for input. Our student members will take the policy to student government. We will discuss the results at the next meeting.
Academic Standing Request
A student requested that we review our academic standing policy for students who have no GPA hours, such as Audit and pass/fail. The committee discussed the student’s situation and granted the request. They agreed to make exceptions to the policy on a case-by-case basis.
Shared Governance
The Shared Governance Committee will be speaking to ASC in February regarding the changes proposed by the committee.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 pm.
Academic Standards Committee
February 19, 2007
Zabel Hall 116
3:00 – 4:00 pm
Add/Drop Policy
The committee made a final review of the add/drop policy. Mary wanted us to be sure we are changing the policy for the good of the university. We also reviewed the comments by Arts & Sciences faculty made through their list serve, without names. We discussed the possibility of changing the “withdrawal without responsibility for a grade” portion to be called “drop” so that everyone would understand the difference between “drop” and “withdrawal”. We had discussed this last year, and we decided against it at that time, so we are leaving the policy as is. Dawna will send to the committee the policy as it will be sent to Jana Parmele, Assembly Secretary, for final review and comments. It will be presented at the March 6 Assembly.
Suspension Appeal Check Sheet
The committee decided that the check sheet was useful and should be used, and the addition of the student’s name was the only change at this time. One person at the suspension hearings will fill out the check sheet and it will be filed with the student’s letter of appeal.
Suspension Appeal
A student appeal of suspension was presented. The committee denied the appeal. Mary will contact the student via email.
Other Policies
Mary asked about the “graduation with distinction” policy and whether the committee wanted to review it. We decided to review other OUS university policies. Dawna will ask Dea to query the OUS registrar’s regarding their school’s policies. We’ll review the findings at the next meeting.
Shared Governance
The Shared Governance committee would like to meet with the ASC to explain their proposal. They will be present at the next meeting in three weeks or they will ask to meet with us next week, depending on schedules.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 pm.
Academic Standards Committee
February 26, 2007
Zabel Hall 116
3:00 – 4:00 pm
Present: Danny Aynes, Doug Briney, April Curtis, Hieu Do, Daren Dutto, Dawna Flanagan, Tom Herrmann, Mary Koza, Matthew Lewis, Michael Puls
Guests: Grady Goodall and Jeff Johnson
A special meeting of the Academic Standards Committee was called for the Shared Governance Committee. Because the committee structure works so well for the University, Shared Governance would like the committees to remain very much the way they are. The difference would be to whom committees report their activities. With this in mind, the ASC needs to think about its structure and if it needs to be changed.
Grady and Jeff presented on behalf of their committee. They explained the new shared governance structure with the Faculty Senate on one side and the University Council on the other side. The current Assembly committee would report and recommend their actions to both. The two entities which will disappear are the Assembly and the Executive Committee.
They answered questions from ASC members and handed out the committee structure and how they report, the proposed model, and the constitution draft.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 pm.
Academic Standards Committee
March 12, 2007
Zabel Hall 116
3:00 – 4:00 pm
Add/Drop Policy
The committee briefly discussed the assembly meeting where the add/drop policy was passed. A number of questions came up in assembly which were not previously discussed.
Student Appeals
Three student suspension appeals were presented. One student was allowed to take one course, and the other two were denied.
Graduation with Distinction
The committee discussed the Latin Honors policy. They discussed increasing the residency hours, so that at least half or 90 credits of the 180 total would be used for qualifying for honors and they discussed leaving the policy as is. The committee decided to leave the policy as is, because honors should be a reflection of a student’s entire academic career.
Committee Structure
Karen Clay from the Library spoke to the ASC about including librarians in the committee. The discussion stemmed from the proposed shared governance model and the teaching faculty & librarians union. Doug Briney and Karen will go over the language to change the structure to include librarians. This will increase the membership to 11 members. It was noted that we need to keep the continuity of the committee, as all terms will expire at the end of this academic year.
Suspension Hearings
The spring term suspension hearings will be on April 2. Times and location TBA.
Other
The first ASC meeting of spring term will be on April 16. The 3:00-4:00 pm time seems to work for most members. That meeting will include Thacher Carter and Marianne Weaver, who will speak to us about what to do when students indicate they are battling mental issues like depression or are on medications. We will also discuss the new chairperson for the 2007/2008 academic year.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 pm.
Academic Standards Committee
April 16, 2007
Zabel Hall 116
3:00 – 4:00 pm
Thacher Carter and Marianne Weaver spoke to the committee about students who indicate they are battling mental health issues or tell us they are on medications. If a student indicates they are clinically diagnosed with a mental health issue, such as depression, ADA does not allow us to withdraw them from classes. Documentation for clinical diagnoses must be provided to the ASC prior to the student’s suspension hearing. This is something we need to consider including in the suspension letter. It is appropriate for us to ask the student what s/he has done in the past to overcome their issues.
We received pamphlets from Thacher and Marianne to have available to students who indicate in their letters that mental health may be a problem, so that we can refer them to the Counseling Center.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 pm.
EASTERN OREGON UNIVERSITY
Academic Standards Committee
Monday, May 21, 2007
The May meeting of the Academic Standards Committee was called to order by Mary Koza, chairman, at 3 p.m. in Zabel 116. Members present included Michael Puls, Darren Dutto, Tom Herrmann, Doug Briney and Hieu Do and special guest, John Miller.
Items on the agenda included:
1) Selection of three finalists for the Presidential Scholar Award. John Miller was given the files of the three finalists to deliver to President Fatemi and the Cabinet. Darren Dutto will meet with the individual selected to go over his/her talk to be presented during the June 16 graduation ceremony.
2) Appeals for two students who wish to take summer term classes were discussed. Since there may be additional appeals for summer, Koza polled the group to see who would be on campus for summer. Five committee members plan to be available for suspension hearings.
3) John Miller thanked committee members for their work during this academic
year. He also highly encouraged everyone to participate in the May 29 Assembly
meeting and to vote on the proposals.
4) A short evaluation of the year was held.
Policies Changed: Add/Drop
Policies Discussed, but not changed: Graduation with Distinction
Changes:
a) Academic Intervention workshops were dropped due to low attendance.
b) Students who receive warning, probation, and suspension must now meet with their academic advisers.
c) A copy of a new form entitled “Suspension Appeal Checklist” was filled out for each suspended student
who came before the committee. The completed form will be kept on file.
The Counseling Center shared information with committee members on how to work with students who have special challenges.
Policy to Discuss During Next Academic Year:
a) Continuous Enrollment
5) Darren Dutto was elected as chair for the 2007-08 academic year. He and outgoing Chair, Mary Koza, will meet before the end of the academic year.
6) Chairman Koza thanked all members for their diligent work during this past year. The
Meeting was adjourned at 4:10 p.m.