MINUTES

ACADEMIC PLANNING COMMITTEE

Meeting of January 22, 2002

The Academic Planning Committee met on January 22, 2002 at 9:30 am in room 481 McHenry.

Present: George Brown (Chair), Ed Houghton, Bob Miller, Bruce Schumm (GC), Steve Thorsett (COR), Martin Chemers, Bob Meister (CPB), Carol Freeman (CEP), Lynda Goff, Betsy Moses (staff).

Absent: Dave Kliger, Steve Kang, Wlad Godzich, Kathleen Dettman, Frank Talamantes, Jamus Lin

Guests: Galen Jarvinen, Donna Hunter, and Jennie McDade

1. Chair Announcements

Chair Brown welcomed the committee to the first meeting of 2002.

2. Approval of November 27 Minutes.

The draft minutes of November 27 were approved without amendment.

3. Academic Programs and Departments: Guidelines for Establishment and Disestablishment.

Chair Brown presented the draft document Academic Programs and Departments: Guidelines for Establishment and Disestablishment that was distributed electronically to all APC members prior to today’s meeting. Revisions had been made in response to comments received at the November 13 APC meeting and the January 22 version will be transmitted for formal academic senate consultation. There are two critical issues for discussion: 1) sponsorship of interdisciplinary programs, and 2) parallel catalog rights for undergraduate and graduate students.

Interdisciplinary graduate programs are called “Graduate Groups” at UCB and UCD. This is a local designation not found in Universitywide program approval policy. UC Davis recently revised their historical reporting practice for Graduate Groups. All UC Davis graduate programs now report directly to academic deans, not the Graduate Division, to provide administrative oversight and resource accountability. Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Talamantes’ proposal to oversee interdisciplinary graduate programs has been reconceived as a brokering role to facilitate faculty planning. Non-degree programs intended for all graduate students may still emerge from the Graduate Division or a future graduate college.

The campus organizational principle is that fiduciary responsibility and program oversight are lodged together. Academic divisions oversee faculty appointments and space, and have the resource flexibility to offer faculty incentives to plan programs and enhance graduate student support. The most critical resources for graduate programs are faculty provisions, appointed to departments with bylaw 55 rights. Graduate student support funding is flexible and derived from the academic deans, faculty-sponsored training grants, and campus block grants directed to specific programs. Student support is best managed close to the academic programs.

Interdisciplinary research has been identified as a key area of national need, and external funding is likely to follow. Graduate program growth is increasingly planned across department and division lines. The campus reporting offices must understand the interface between departmentally based and interdisciplinary graduate programs to ensure credit for future AAU and other national rankings.

Two pending interdisciplinary graduate programs are in the campus preliminary approval phase: Bioinformatics M.S./Ph.D. from Engineering and Natural Sciences; and Digital Arts/New Media M.F.A., from Arts and Engineering. Both proposals include charters, spelling out contractual resource arrangements between departments and divisions. A proposed charter format is included in the draft guidelines as Appendix A.

The campus paper catalog has been the historical site for formal articulation of undergraduate program degree requirements. Undergraduate students have “catalog rights,” which ensure their ability to graduate by fulfilling the published degree, college, and general education requirements in effect the year the student first declared their major. Departments submit program revisions through the academic deans to the Committee on Educational Policy for approval before changes can be published and implemented.

Degree requirements for graduate programs have not followed this practice. The draft Guidelines propose that a parallel process be established. Some Departments have revised degree requirements without Graduate Council approval and without formal notification. It is in the best interest of the campus to have graduate degree requirements published in a common document.

The Graduate Council intends to establish mechanisms to ensure a formal approval protocol. The Graduate Council should approve all catalog program requirements prior to publication. The Graduate Division is the administrative arm and office of record for relevant policies affecting graduate students. One suggestion to simplify student communication is to divide the campus catalog into separate sections for undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Defining and articulating graduate student’s rights and campus policies is essential. Web pages should be considered advisory, with contractual agreements located in the campus catalog.

4. Members Items. No items were presented.

Attest: George Brown, Chair