Approved 10-11-01

Thursday
October 4, 2001
2:00 p.m.
MA 211K

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

 

PRESENT 
Bruce Christensen, Bill Clapp, Gary Dohrer, Dave Eisler, Mark Henderson, Ron Holt, Marie Kotter, Monika Serbinowska, Gene Sessions, Paul Thompson, Jenny Turley, Kay Brown - Secretary

GUESTS 
Sharon Aiken-Wisniewski, Trevan Blaisdall (student), Brian Dorsey, Bruce Haslam, Bob Hogge, Warren Hill, Dan Schroeder, Jim Wilson, Lydia Wingate

MINUTES 
Marie Kotter: Moved to approve the minutes from the September 13, 2001 meeting.
Second: Jenny Turley
Outcome: The minutes were approved.

ECO PASS 
Dan Schroeder, Bryan Dorsey, and Trevan Blaisdell presented information on the UTA Eco Pass Program.

The Eco Pass is an institution or company sponsored annual bus and TRAX light rail pass that is used to commute to and from work, and for personal transportation. It was suggested that the Eco Pass could be a long term solution to our parking problems. Weber State University currently subsidized parking by $400,000 a year. Revenue from parking passes pay for approximately half the cost. The Eco Pass program would cost just over $500,000 to get started. Some funds could be raised from increasing parking permits and some funding from student fee allocations.

Currently, students pay $20 per month for discounted UTA bus passes ($240 a year), while faculty and staff pay $30 a month ($360 a year). The Eco Pass would cost $30 a year per person and would allow students, faculty and staff to use all UTA services, with the exception of the ski bus services, for an entire year. Approximately 30% of UTA riders in Ogden are students.

WSU has been awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ) funds to pay for the program for the first year on a trail basis. The initial grant was around $400,000 for the first year, approximately half that for the second year, with Weber State picking up all costs thereafter. The grant money has not been accepted yet.

UCAT Discussion of the ramifications of the Utah College of Applied Technology - As we look toward the future of Weber State, the development of two new colleges, both located a short distance from the Weber State campus, is going to have an impact on Weber State.

UCAT has a new president, Greg Fitch, who oversees ten different campuses with a regional president over each campus. President Fitch’s big challenge is the dramatic differences across the state. There are four campuses in the northern part of the state that have significant resources with ongoing programs that have been in place for a long period of time. In the south they have practically no resources and few programs established. President Fitch feels that resources need to be shared with state institutions and he wants to collaborate on the way we provide education for students. The UCAT institutions will offer AAT degrees (Associate of Applied Technology).

There are several issues of concern. How will general education courses fit in their program?. Currently the law does not allow UCAT to offer general education courses. However, the courses they offer will have components of general education requirements. UCAT does not assign credit hours to classes; they have competencies. Questions were raised about what constitutes an AAT degree.

Students at UCAT will take courses in their technical program and then come to Weber State for their general education courses. From an advisement standpoint we need to look at how we work with these students so that they see Weber as their next step educationally. Articulation from the Academic Advisement Office is very important. It would be an advantage if some of the general education courses were actually coming from Weber State so that the students would be familiar with our courses and they would feel comfortable coming to our campus.

In ten years will we be looking at two junior colleges, one at the Ogden ATC and the other at the Weber/Davis ATC?

Funding - Weber State is funded more for an FTE that comes from a vocational school than we are funded for an FTE of an upper division student. The Provost is telling the state that we are willing to increase upper division course offerings and work toward retention of upper division students, but there should not be a per student loss to Weber State in terms of funding when we replace a vocational student with an upper division student. Currently, seventy five or so percent of student credit hours are generated by freshman classes. The Provost indicated that he believes less than ten percent of the students who go to the ATC’s go on for four-year degrees. The curriculum at UCAT will continue to be high school courses, technology training, and specialized training.

PRENGR PREFIX 
Kirk Hagen has requested a prefix change for courses currently using a pre-engineering prefix (Prengr). He would like to change the prefix to Engr. Statewide comparable courses are listed as engineering courses. When students transfer to engineering programs the Weber State courses appear to be lower level courses because they are designated with the pre-engineering prefix. In the interest of students the President, Provost and Executive Committee members felt it would be appropriate to change the prefix from Prengr to Engr.

Currently the following courses are listed with the pre engineering prefix:

Statics 2000
Dynamics 2020
Strength of Materials 2040
Electrical Circuits 2410
Digital Circuits 2530

PROGRAM REVIEW 
Dave Eisler presenting - After semester conversion we went to a process that developed program review. We are now coming to a point where the first group of programs that have gone through a program review are coming to the final stages of this process.

The primary purpose of program review at Weber State University is to improve academic programs. Program reviews are not conducted to expressly identify individual programs for discontinuance. Reviews will result in an identification of program strengths, weaknesses and recommendations for change.

The Program Review Standing Committee (STANDING COMMITTEE) consists of the Deans’ Council (seven academic deans; university librarian, chair of the Faculty Senate, WSUSA Academic Vice president, Provost, Associate Provost), seven additional full-time faculty (one each

from the academic colleges), and a representative of the Office of Institutional Research. The Provost is the chair of this committee. The Provost, Associate Provost and Institutional Research representative are ex-officio, non-voting members. The faculty members representing academic colleges serve on three-year, staggered terms.

The STANDING COMMITTEE is responsible for reviewing and responding to the following documents:

  1. Executive summary of the self-study;
  2. REVIEW TEAM report which identifies program strengths, weaknesses and recommendations;
  3. PROGRAM response to the REVIEW TEAM report; deans’ response to the REVIEW TEAM report and the PROGRAM response.

Program reviews take place over two academic years. The first year is a year of self-study preparation; the second year is the year of review. All programs undergoing review should make every effort to adhere to the dated guidelines which follow. Exceptions to these guidelines will be made to coordinate program review with professional accreditation review.

2001-2002 Program Review
Bachelor of Integrated Studies Program (program review October 2001)
Health Information Management and Health Information Technology (professional
    accreditation, no on-site team review; paper review only)
Emergency Care & Rescue (professional accreditation fall 2001)

2002-2003 Program Review
College of Science
Nursing (B.S. accreditation
Dental Hygiene (professional accreditation)
Honors Program

Additional information can be obtained from the following web site:  http://weber.edu/assessment/prog_revw_proc_purpose.html

ONLINE INSTRUCTION 
The intent of this committee is to focus on Online Instruction and Distance Learning, but it is hoped that this committee will advise on both Online Instruction and Distance Learning, and Independent Study.

Committee membership for the Online Instruction and Distance Learning ad hoc Committee was discussed. The following names are recommended by the Executive Committee: Charles Davidson, Bruce Handley, Cheryl Hansen, Pam Hugie, Rob Reynolds, Tony Spanos, Shaun Speigel, Al Talbot, Joan Thompson, and Jane Van Valkenburg. Liaison to the committee will be Bill Clapp, Peg Wherry will be the ex officio member from Continuing Education, and the administrative representative will be Dave Eisler.

MOTION 
Gary Dohrer: Moved to recommend to the Faculty Senate the above committee membership for the Online Instruction and Distance Learning ad hoc Committee.
Second: Monika Serbinowska
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.

MOTION 
Gary Dohrer: Moved to recommend to the Faculty Senate Cheryl Hansen to serve as chair of the Online Instruction and Distance Learning ad hoc Committee.
Second: Bruce Christensen
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.

CHARGES 
The following issues of concern were discussed as possible charges:
  1. Establish Standards - Take a look at the Online Guidelines for Good Practice and make recommendations for additions and changes.
  2. Direction of Online and Distance Learning. Develop a vision statement for online instruction. Plan for the future - Where should we be going with this?
  3. Design a process for implementing, developing, and evaluating online courses. Course evaluation for the tenure review process. How do we look at these courses when it comes to evaluating them? How do they fit into the tenure promotion process; the ongoing review process. When should the department chair look at these courses?
  4. Study issues relative to the evaluation of distance-learning instructors.
  5. Information Access - Information is available from online courses that is not available for other courses, i.e. How long between the time a student submits something and the instructor responds back? Who should this information be available to? If instructors are not following the guidelines, should a department chair be made aware?
  6. Determine partnerships and overlap boundaries and limits, i.e. Appointment, Promotion and Academic Freedom, and Tenure Committee, Curriculum and General Education Committee, Salary, Benefits, Budgets, and Fiscal Planning Committee.
  7. Serve as an advisory committee.

Statement of Purpose presented to the Faculty Senate September 20, 2001: The Committee on Online Instruction and Distance Learning shall be concerned with standards and guidelines for online instruction and distance learning, planning for the future of such instruction, developing procedures for managing and reviewing online and other distance-learning courses, and studying issues relative to the evaluation of distance-learning instructors. The Committee shall also serve as an advisory committee to WSU Online.

Peg Wherry indicated that she has an urgent issue regarding Independent Study courses and how to handle them during the Olympic break. These courses are not tied to the regular semester calendar. Students are entitled under our regular process to expect course work to be graded during that time. She will meet with her current committee to address this concern.

Draft charges will be sent to Executive Committee members for revisions and then finalized at the October 11, 2001 Agenda Setting meeting.

ADJOURN 
The meeting adjourned at 4:00 p.m.