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2016-02-02 Minutes

MINUTES
MEETING OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE BOARDS
of the General College and the College of Arts and Sciences
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
3:30–4:30 PM, 3020 Steele Building

Members in attendance: Navin Bapat, Kelly Giovanello, Li-Ling Hsiao, Doug MacLean, Abigail Panter, Margie Scarry, Nick Siedentop, James Thompson, Louise Toppin

Absent: Daniel Anderson, Rob Bruce, Chris Derickson, Kevin Guskiewicz, Amy Herring, Cary Levin, Christian Lundberg, Lee May, Vladas Pipiras, Christopher Putney, Michael Rolleri, Mark Schoenfisch, Keith Sockman, Charlie Tuggle

Staff: Ben Haven

A quorum was not established.  As such, items requiring Boards’ approval were not discussed.

1. Welcome and updates by Abigail Panter, Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education

Abigail Panter welcomed the Boards to the first meeting of the term and started the meeting with a few updates.

  • There are currently two teams of students in a computer science course that are working on a syllabus template application. These templates will have fields that include the most important and fundamental syllabus information (e.g., learning objectives and a course schedule that will auto-populate dates for a given semester).  There will also be a selection of grading statements, accessibility statements, computer usage policies, etc. to choose from.  Once the template is filled out, the program will generate a draft syllabus.
  • A State of the Department sample was distributed to the Boards. This document will give administrators and faculty useful data about their majors.  A profile of the sample data distributed included demographics, standardized test scores, transfer student information, time to degree completion, and GPA comparisons.  The data also looked at whether or not students stayed in the declared major, how many participated in high impact practices, and how students in the major compared to all students in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) on a number of criteria.  The Office of Undergraduate Education plans to update the profiles every fall.  Data for minors and comparisons to academic divisions instead of CAS may be integrated at a later date.  Dean Panter plans to share these profiles with directors of undergraduate studies (DUS) at the next DUS meeting.
  • Nick Siedentop updated the Boards on the Online Syllabus Management Tool. The tool is live, and 77% of instructors/departments have uploaded their syllabi as of 2/2/2016.  The system will close on February 9.  This tool was developed in part to cut down on the amount of work and time a student services manager spends collecting and keeping syllabi on file for their departments.  It also provides a centralized archive for all syllabi in the College.  There are two models that departments can use to upload their syllabi: 1) each instructor is responsible for uploading their syllabus to the OSM 2) OSM managers collect the syllabi for their department and upload them to the OSM on behalf of their faculty.  Each OSM manager has access to check on their department’s upload progress and can download old syllabi.  They can also run reports and send an email message to those instructors who have yet to upload their syllabi.

2. Update on Assessment of the General Education Curriculum, Abigail Panter, Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education

The College is putting together a review of the Making Connections Curriculum and is starting the process of thinking about a new curriculum.  A committee has met to put together a road map, including a proposal for the assessment of the Making Connections Curriculum, which Dean Panter distributed to the Boards.  The proposal will look at whether or not students have gained knowledge in the established foundational areas (language, quantitative reasoning, English composition and rhetoric, and foreign language), show competence in the methodologies and results of the most widely employed approaches to knowledge (social sciences, natural sciences, and arts and humanities), have gained knowledge and established links across traditional disciplinary and spatial boundaries (established through the Connections portion of the Curriculum), have grounding in at least one subject (major), can effectively navigate through the Curriculum, and find value in the Curriculum.

3. Update on Campus Visit by Vice President of Dr. Cheryl Cardell from SACS COC, Abigail Panter, Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education

Dean Panter and other administrators responsible for responses to SACS requests met with Dr. Cheryl Cardell from SACS last week.  An introduction and seven responses are being written and should be completed within a few weeks. SACS is focused on key areas that include integrity, control of intercollegiate athletics, academic support for student athletes, academic freedom, faculty role in governance, and Title IV (scholarships and grants). UNC Chapel Hill must pass every single item to get off probation; it must show that progress has been made and oversight is in place.  Until the University is off of academic probation, all major quality enhancement projects and curricular revisions are on hold.  Academic freedom and integrity are the umbrella under which lie all areas of focus.  Six reviewers will visit the campus to interview faculty and administrators and assess progress toward SACS compliance.  The visit will take place April 11 – 13.

The meeting adjourned at 4:30 PM.

Addendum:

Since a quorum was not established, Boards members were sent two items for review and approval via email on February 4, 2016.  Boards members reviewed the following items and approved via online ballot on February 8, 2016.

1. Curriculum Committee Report, Associate Dean James Thompson

2. Curriculum Revisions, Curriculum Director Nick Siedentop

 

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The Administrative Boards of the General College and the College of Arts and Sciences are responsible for advising the Dean of the College about the undergraduate curriculum, including changes in that curriculum, approving individual courses offered in Departments and Curricula of the College, and making decisions when requested on specifications for degrees.