Academic Planning Committee

Academic Year 2022-2023

The Academic Planning Committee continued its involvement in shared governance this year, but also experienced a shift in practice. In the past, the Academic Planning Committee appeared as a “step” in the approval process for approval of new programs and termination of existing programs. In November 2022, the Committee re-evaluated its charge from the Faculty Administration Manual and re-aligned its practice to be more in line with its original charge. Instead of simply “approving” a program after reviewing proposals and addressing questions with the originators, we instead instituted a process:

  1. Review full proposal in Curriculog, including attachments. The Curriculog proposal and attachments were made available to Committee members through a Teams channel.
  2. Set a date for a meeting, allowing proposers and other interested parties to present information and answer questions from the Committee. These questions include general concerns that Committee members had after reviewing the proposal and listening to the presentation, physical resource requirements, and faculty workload.
  3. After the meeting, the Chair again reviews the proposal, as well as questions and answers from the meeting, and summarizes the Committee’s findings in a memo for the Faculty Senate. The memo is then submitted to the Committee via e-mail for a vote.
  4. After a reasonable time, the vote results are added to the memo and submitted to the Faculty Senate.
Between August and November 2022, under the traditional mode of operation, the Academic Planning Committee recommended termination of one program (M.A. – Community Planning, Policy & Design) and approval of the following programs:
  • Certificates in Musical Theatre for Actors, Singers, and Dancers
  • BA and BS in Environmental and Sustainability Studies
  • BA in Biochemistry
  • Multilingual Learners M.A.T.
In November 2022, the Committee re-aligned its practice as noted above. Under our new mode of operation, the Committee recommended termination of the B.S. Physical Education, Teacher Education Concentration, and recommended approval of the Ed. D. in Advocacy, Learning, and Inquiry, the Executive MBA, and the B.S. in Health Services Administration and Management.

The Committee was charged with making recommendations regarding a permanent home for the Race, Equity, and Inclusion (REI) Initiative, as well as the State mandated REACH Act. The Committee gathered information from multiple sources, including the Committee on General Education, the REI Director, the Office of the Provost, and the Speaker of the Faculty Senate. The Committee accordingly recommended establishment of a new Standing College Committee for REI and for REACH Act requirements to be assigned to the Committee on General Education.

The Academic Planning Committee was also charged with gathering information regarding the current Hurricane Plan. The Committee formulated questions and a survey was sent to all department chairs, asking them to inquire of their departments and report back. 19 out of 50 responses were received: a response rate of 38%. The Committee continues to gather information, but current information reflects a belief that the plan is inadequate, that makeup days go mostly unused, and that changing modality of courses can lead to serious problems for both students and faculty recovering from a severe storm.

As Chair of the Committee, I also attended meetings of the Faculty Advisory Committee to the President, and served as a member of the Academic Calendar Committee. I worked closely with the Registrar on various options for the Fall 2024 Academic Calendar, identifying areas of concern among faculty (especially regarding Fall Break in even numbered years and a week off for Thanksgiving), and attempting to address them while meeting all requirements of the Academic Calendar (such as a Tuesday start after a Monday Convocation, 12 uninterrupted weeks for labs in BIOL and CHEM per their accreditation requirements, Election Day closure per state law, and the number of required class meetings for each type of class). As things currently stand, significant changes will have to be made by numerous stakeholders to address these concerns, but our work this year has identified what concessions would have to be made to accommodate these concerns.