Academic Program and Policy Committee (APPC)

February 1, 2008

Present: Dean Leslie Miller-Bernal; Professors Bailey, Gagnon, Siamundele; Associate Dean Cindy Speaker; Associate Library Director Godbout; Student representatives: Raquele Laury (‘09), Aleris Pizarro (‘10) and Nancy Bates (’08)

The meeting was called to order at 8:45 am by Dean Miller-Bernal

1.  John Wells, Director of Off Campus Study, was invited to provide an informational update on the (sophomore) Costa Rica OCS proposal. 

-Students will take Spanish while there and there will be no negative impact on the number of credits needed for graduation.

-There are presently 20 students showing interest.  The requirement is a 3.0 or higher GPA.  The selection process consists of a statement of purpose from the student and the approval of the program director.  It is thought that in the future the approval will be by committee with representation from departments.

-John Wells and Marissa DeSanctis, under the Center for Academic Programs Aboard, visited two potential sites, COSI and Veritas (language schools).

-With COSI we could use our own textbooks and use our own curriculum.  Veritas would teach intensive Spanish but would use their own curriculum and would be responsible for placing our students .

-The program would have subject based and intensive language courses.  We have not decided yet what these courses will be but the focus is on history, sociology and environment sciences with the emphasis on filling general education requirements.    It will require new syllabi for the courses since they will be specific to Central America but geared to our curriculum.

-We decide the number of students and at the moment it is 15. We will leave it there for a couple of years to evaluate the program.

-John Wells is more comfortable with COSI.  Also, COSI usually places one student per family, with the Director of COSI as the contact person.  Integration and understanding of the culture might be easier with COSI since it might be viewed as possibly more of a Wells’ experience and program.  The decision between COSI and Veritas has not been made yet.

-APPC approved an informational session with students and John Wells will make it clear to them at that time that this is still in the pending stage.

-The dates for APPC to consider curriculum are: March 7, 14, and 28 and possibly April 4, in time for the faculty meeting on April 8.  OCS is aiming for March for its courses but the complete syllabi may not be ready.

2.  Course enrollment size and wait listing

-The sizes of some of our courses are creating a wait listing problem and impacts especially introduction courses with no prerequisites.  The fear is that it will also impact retention.  Is the solution having two sections of a course or hiring adjunct faculty?  Adjuncts impact faculty/student ratio and large classes impact pedagogy. 

-Suggested solutions were: scheduling more early classes and Friday afternoon classes; and make sure that small classes are not located in large classrooms.

-Taking courses elsewhere was also suggested.  It is being done now by petition but we need to be careful because of the cross registration reciprocity agreement with other institutions, particularly with entry level courses.

-Another suggestion was to offer upper level classes every year instead of every other year.

-Would the Board of Trustees consider hiring more faculty?  Answer was some would and some would not especially this year.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 am

Respectfully submitted,

Muriel Godbout

Associate Library Director