Back to Index

WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

ACADEMIC COORDINATING COMMISSION MINUTES

Regular Meeting  --  May 23, 2006

Chair Tom Downing called the final Spring quarter meeting of the Academic Coordinating Commission to order on May 23, 2006 in OM340 at 4:03 p.m. and welcomed new members.  There were seventeen (17) members present, and the Registrar and the recorder (2) for a total of  nineteen (19). (See attached roster). 

Approval of ACC minutes

Commissioners noted that the May 9 minutes had been approved online and forwarded to the Senate for its May 22^nd meeting. 

Election of Officers

Chair of ACC:  James Sanders nominated Jim Hearne as Chair, seconded by Michael Meehan Commissioners voted and Jim Hearne was elected Chair unanimously. 

Vice Chair of ACC:  Michael Meehan nominated Roger Thompson as Vice Chair, seconded by James Sanders.  Commissioners voted and Roger Thompson was elected Vice Chair unanimously.

ACC Representative to GER Committee.  Linda Kimball will continue to serve as GER representative, with Dan Boxberger sitting in.  No formal action was taken.

ACC Representative to EESP Advisory Committee:  Stefanie Buck volunteered and the Commission appointed her unanimously.  

ACC Representative to University Planning Council:  The Chair noted that the role of UPC is expected to change in light of collective bargaining and the need to rewrite their charge.  Grant Donnellan will consider serving but may have some scheduling conflicts.  This appointment was postponed until Fall Quarter.

Report from Outgoing Chair – Thomas E. Downing

Retiring Chair Thomas E. Downing talked to the Commissioners on his experiences on ACC which spanned more than 20 years (since 1975), and recalled that in the early days of the Commission the Provost was the Ex Officio chair.  Downing himself has served 5 years as a member, 6 years as Vice Chair, and 9 years as Chair (with intervals between).  Downing acknowledged that ACC was his favorite committee.  His remarks follow:

§    The University has two principal missions, one is the production and the other is the dissemination of knowledge; as a Regional University we emphasize dissemination, and we disseminate knowledge primarily through our curriculum -- this is where the action is, and it is the ACC’s business to oversee the curriculum.   Downing has served on the University Planning Council this year, and in his opinion this was not as central, since lots of other peoples’ business overlaps what UPC does, often in more authoritative ways. Moreover, it is common in the UPC to be subjected to the reports of various “experts” who come to speak to the committee and use arcane terms like “design criteria,” “minor capital,” “budget,” etc.

§    The nice thing about the ACC is that we are the experts in our area of responsibility, and that gives us a kind of authority that is unusual among committees on this campus.  “And what we do sticks.”  Downing stated that he cannot think of a single time that an action of the ACC has been reversed either by the Senate or by the administration.  Noting that the administration has its finger in many pies and also cares about curricular matters, nonetheless, Downing pointed out, curriculum is an area left primarily to faculty, though students have an important say and offer valuable insights through their membership on the ACC.  

§    Downing added that he dislikes serving on ad hoc committees which labor mightily and then produce some sort of document or plan which is then utterly ignored. What the ACC does is not ignored, it is definitive.

§    Quoting Professor Ypma, a Commissioner who had served from the math department, Downing suggested “it may seem we do a lot of ‘muddling’ here, but we generally muddle our way through to the right or at least a wise decision.  Commissioners do a good job of noticing that something was left out, or somebody didn’t pick up on a point or notice an overlap, or that what we propose is absurdly complicated …” 

§    Downing concluded that “people should be happy to serve on this committee, because this is where the action is…and what we do sticks.”

§    In response to a question Downing added that our other mission is the production of knowledge, and, he added later, “sports.”

§    Provost Bodman most warmly applauded the work Tom Downing has done, and insisted that Downing had ensured that the faculty maintain that proper role in overseeing the curriculum.  Bodman added that in virtually all of the decisions of this body he has not dreamed of overturning even one.  Bodman expressed his personal thanks to Tom Downing for his service to this committee.  Commissioners applauded, and expressed good wishes and the hope that Tom will return to ACC after his term limit restriction has ended. 

Appointments to ACC Standing Committees:

International Programs Advisory Committee:  Commissioners elected four faculty from a list of six candidates to this committee, for 2-year terms ending in 2008:  Cecile Hanania, Modern & Classical Languages (continuing as Chair); Christopher Wise, English; Julia Sapin, Art; Todd Koetje, Anthropology

Admissions Committee:  Nicholas Wonder, Finance & Marketing; William Smith, English (1 vacancy)

Honors Board:  Kate Wayne, Elementary Ed; Gordon Chalmers, PEHR; Melissa Williams (student, 1yr)

Graduate Council: George Mariz, through 2008 (2 vacancies on committee)

Reports from ACC Standing Committees

Commissioners received the following reports from ACC Standing Committees:

v      Admissions Activities, 2005-2006, Karen G. Copetas, Chair (Admissions & Inter-College Relations Committee)

Western’s early admission policy described in the catalog was reviewed, revised, and accepted by the ACC at their March 28^th meeting.  Western’s Fresh Start policy and the Committee’s charge are currently under review.

v      CATL Activities for 2005-06, Mike Mana, Chair (Committee on the Assessment of Teaching and Learning)

1)  Completion of General Education Survey; a sample can be found at: (http://media.wwu.edu/survey/gened.htm?PSY101 )

This survey, which was sent to all General Education faculty at Western, assesses the degree to which the assessment strategies of General Education courses foster the core competencies and learning outcomes of Western’s General Education Program.

2)  Draft description of the General Education Program at Western (for catalogue revision?), that explicitly describes the core competencies and learning outcomes expected of Western graduates as a result of their General Education experience.

v      Graduate Council Activities 2005-2006, Dean Ghali, ex officio, Chair

    1.  Graduate Council reviewed curricular and program degree requirement changes for nineteen graduate programs.

    2.  Graduate Council reviewed the following seven graduate programs from five departments:

        MA Political Science

        MS Psychology (Experimental)

        MS Psychology (Mental Health Counseling)

    `   MEd School Counselor

        MS Computer Science

        MEd Student Affairs Administration

        MA Theatre

    3.  Graduate Council prepared a study of time-to-degree and drafted policy to increase flexibility.

v      Honors Board, 2005-06, George Mariz, Chair

In addition to its usual round of business, the Honors Board took the initial steps in revision of the curriculum, including the creation of two new colloquia, one in sociology and the other in history, as well as beginning discussion of the feasibility of creating an Honors College.  It will continue with discussion and possible actions on both of these issues next year."

v      International Programs Advisory Committee, Cecile Hanania, Chair

The committee evaluated and made recommendations concerning proposals from all Colleges of WWU for courses and programs to be held outside the United States. In addition, IPAC organized an International Symposium on campus, discussed with the potential constituents a proposal to create a Center for International Studies, and reviewed scholarships’ applications for students going abroad.

Other Committees with Faculty Representation:

Judicial Appeals Board, Michael Schardein, University Judicial Officer, 5/17/2006

The Appeals Board is composed of six representatives from the faculty, staff and the student body. The Appeals Board considers student appeals of decisions made by the University Judicial Officer regarding violations of the Student Rights and Responsibilities Code. Normally, the Appeals Board considers two to six appeals per academic year. Most appeals involve the suspension of the student.

AGENDA ITEMS

READING of Curricular Minutes – Exhibit B:

The following minutes were accepted by the Commission:

*Commentary– Fairhaven Minutes

Fairhaven Minutes of 3/8/06

• A Commissioner asked if it would be helpful to know who is teaching these classes as Fairhaven.  He stated that he would just like the information.  Generally speaking, the Commission does not insist on this with Fairhaven as the courses are frequently taught just once.

• Provost Bodman wondered why a Map class would be listed as “interdisciplinary” – an extremely loose use of the term.

• The Registrar Joe St. Hilaire asked about the timing of the minutes.  Given the assumption that the request for approval for new courses is December, or March, and these are getting to us on May 23^rd, does Fairhaven expect these courses to be offered in 2006-2007?  He noted that although there is a certain amount of flexibility around Fairhaven, this continued lateness affects the rest of the University.

• One Commissioner noted that everybody but Fairhaven is forbidden to use these; so does 318E presumes there is 318A, b, and c, etc.?

• St. Hilaire responded that Fairhaven has about 6 areas such as course studies, concentration studies, and other areas under which these are grouped, and the alpha suffix is an indication of which area.  You can see in the catalog they are all grouped by area.

• Chair Hearne asked if it was the will of ACC that we promulgate a firm deadline and stick to it next year, noting that with a new dean this might be an opportune moment to resolve to insist upon deadlines in the future.

MOTION

Michael Meehan made a motion, seconded by Grant Donnellan, that the Chair of ACC send a memo to the new Dean that this is the last time that ACC will approve courses if they are not submitted to the ACC by the March 1^st deadline, which passed.

• Request from Karen Perry:  Karen Perry asked if ACC would extend the motion.  Perry, the Catalog Coordinator, would like to have ACC look at whether some of these courses are permanent once they are created, since they do not use the X97 temporary course number.  It is not known whether these are temporary or permanent, and there is no way of knowing whether they stay on longer than the 3 quarters that make up an academic year.

• Karen would like this information forwarded to her with the other information about the course, namely is it going to be temporary or whether it will have a life in the catalog.

• The Chair recalled this was the exact question we debated in over the suffixes.  We are essentially approving special topics here, but we don’t know if they will be offered routinely or just once or twice.

• Chair Hearne will make inquiries as to whether Fairhaven has taken any first steps to rationalizing their numbering system.

Fairhaven Minutes of 4/12/06 – accepted.

Fairhaven Minutes of 4/26/06 - accepted

Commissioners asked if there was any length or limitation on the course titles.  These titles appear on their record and on the transcript of their records, and special accommodation has to be made for Fairhaven’s extraordinarily lengthy titles.

Fairhaven Minutes of 5/17/06 - accepted

One Commissioner asked if the inconsistency between small and upper case letters had any significance.  The answer appeared to be “no”.

Withdrawal Policy

References to “withdrawal policy” questions were distributed to Commissioners in their packets.

Adjournment

Commissioners adjourned at 5:15 pm.

Rose Marie Norton-Nader, Recorder, May 23, 2006

ACADEMIC COORDINATING COMMISSION 2006-2007 ROSTER