Academic Regulations Committee
Academic Requirements
Committee
Annual
Report 2002-2003
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| July
21, 2003 |
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| TO: |
Bruce
Sorte
Vickie Nunnemaker
OSU Faculty Senate |
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| FROM: |
Sarah
Ann Hones
Chair, 2002-2003
Academic Requirements Committee |
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| SUBJECT:
2002-2003 Summary Report
Academic Year Statistics
for the OSU Academic Requirements Committee
Attending Members:
Sue Ann Bottoms, SMILE
Program
Chere Pereira, College of Science
Sheila Roberts, Educational Opportunities Program
Sarah Ann Hones, Retired from committee, June 2003
Joe Toth, Valley Library-Left OSU in June 2003
Non-voting Member of Registrar’s Office:
Mary Rhodes
Heather Chermak
Tom Watts
Note:
Diane Belair, Disabilities Services-left OSU in winter term, 2003
Sheila Roberts is
the incoming Chair for the 2003-2004 academic year.
The Academic Requirements
Committee (ARC) met weekly beginning the first week of summer term. This
year the committee met on Wednesday mornings beginning at nine o’clock.
Average meeting times were 1-2 hours each week.
The Academic Requirements
Committee received 2278 petitions in AY 2002-2003. The committee reviewed
an average of 54 petitions each week. (524 petitions were pre-approved
by the Registrar’s office.) Of the petitions completed by the committee
and denied, 18 were re-reviewed and approved by Dr. Bob Burton.
Continuing Concerns
expressed by ARC:
- In Summer 2002,
the Academic Requirements Committee received three petitions requesting
late withdrawals from three consecutive terms. Each of the petitioners
was a freshman, and each had medical documentation of depression. The
current and past chairs of Academic Requirements and Academic Standing
Committees, along with members of the Registrar’s Office, met
during summer 2002 to discuss how to handle these petitions. Using academic
regulations as our guidelines, we told these students they must petition
the Academic Standing Committee for reinstatement (all were suspended)
before petitioning the Academic Requirements Committee. The ARC invited
Dr. LaDonna Johnson, from Student Health Services, to speak with us
about depression. No specific guidelines are established for dealing
with these situations.
- Many students
ask to do audits after week two. The guidelines do not allow this. The
ARC does not understand this particular guideline. It seems that audits
would be allowed through week seven – along with withdrawals and
S/U grading.
- Distance Education/Online
course work does not have a standard method for recording attendance.
Since withdrawal petitions require this information, this is a constant
difficulty for the ARC.
- Slash courses continue
to be a source of difficulty for the ARC. Often instructors say the
500-level courses have the same content as those at the 400-level. Then
they suggest we allow a student to change the course level to 500-level.
We recognize the university is dealing with these same concerns.
Recommendations for Consideration:
- The Academic Requirements
Committee meets every week – including summers and breaks –
for one to two hours. Sometimes these meetings are longer, depending
on the number of petitions reviewed each week. In the two and a half
years I have served on this committee I have NEVER seen a full contingent
of members. I believe this is because of the length and commitment of
appointment to this committee. This committee is one of the hardest
working committees I have seen. To do our job well, we need internal
consistency in membership. We suggest a few alternatives to the current
system of appointments to the committee.
- Staggered appointments
– Assign members to two-year commitments. Note length and
commitment of appointment so that members understand the commitment
from the first day. The first Wednesday of summer term is the beginning
of this committee’s tenure.
- Assign a group
of new members (6-8) every year so they can receive training during
the first year. This committee requires some training time during
meetings.
- Assign student
members to this committee. Consider graduate level students.
- Assign two
groups who meet every other week with a Chair who meets every week
and acts as a link between the groups. This system would require
only two-three meetings a month for each general member of the committee.
- Ask the ARC to
keep an internal record of their discussions. This year’s committee
maintained constant dialogue about our concerns and issues. These were
shared with Bruce Sorte in a May 2003 memo.
- Quarterly Report-Business
Meeting – Establish a quarterly meeting that is open to other
committees and faculty to discuss concerns such as:
Problems
Trends
Questions
Issues
Agenda items would be solicited from Faculty Senate, other quarters
and distributed on the web before the meeting. Meeting minutes would
be posted to the Faculty Senate website.
- Working Session
each term – Use one week each term for a work session. This year
we invited Health Services and Counseling personnel to address issues
with us during our weekly meetings.
Attachments:
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