DRAFT MINUTES

ACADEMIC PLANNING COMMITTEE

Meeting of August 13, 2002

The Academic Planning committee met on Tuesday, August 13, at 9:30 am in room 481 McHenry Library.

Present: George Brown (Chair), Dave Kliger, Ed Houghton, Martin Chemers, Wlad Godzich, Lynda Goff, Carol Freeman (CEP), Jennie McDade (CPB), Bruce Schumm (GC), Steve Thorsett (COR).

Absent: Bob Miller, Steve Kang, Frank Talamantes, Jamus Lin, Betsy Moses, and Kathleen Dettman.

Guests: Julian Fernald, Bill Ladusaw (Council of Provosts), Tony Fink (CAFA).

1. Chair’s announcements

There were no announcements.

2. Approval of June 25 Minutes

The draft minutes of June 25 were approved without revision.

3. Admissions Literature

Chair Brown announced that the Admissions office, in concert with CAFA Chair Fink, Cowell Provost Ladusaw, VPAA Brown, and representatives of PIO and Housing and Dining Services, have revised and will soon issue the so-called “Viewbook,” a 24-page document intended to persuade students to apply to UCSC. In addition, a totally new one-page flyer with tear-off reply card has been designed, printed, and widely distributed.

The next and most important piece will be the 40-page document, “Living and Learning at Santa Cruz” (previous edition sent under separate cover). This document is intended to persuade students who have been admitted to our campus to actually enroll at UCSC. Chair Brown made suggestions for changes to this document and solicited feedback from the committee. His suggestions included:

· Don’t open the document with statistics on diversity (n.b. we are the ‘whitest’ campus in the system, alongside Santa Barbara). Such a presentation may unintentionally reinforce the lack of diversity (e.g. UCSC has fewer Asian students than other campuses). This information is more properly positioned at the end of the document.

· Increase the representation of more senior, well-established faculty, particularly those with ‘name recognition.’

· provide more space to describe the majors. Descriptions of majors should focus on the actual research of faculty in the department rather than descriptions or requirements. This section needs to be more exciting.

· The description of the colleges amplifies differences between them and may instigate unnecessary anxiety among students about which college to choose. Provost Ladusaw is working with the college provosts to re-formulate the college message and make it more congruent with the present reality. Dean Chemers suggests emphasizing the meaning of UCSC as a collegiate university, and how all of the colleges provide a positive experience.

· The ‘Alumni of Note’ section needs to be more up-to-date and diversified. Chair Brown solicited suggestions for how to collect better alumni information. Identifying the alumni by naming their major as well as the year they graduated was suggested.

Other suggestions and comments that emerged from the discussion:

· Members of the committee agreed that there should be an emphasis on research being conducted at UCSC, and how students are involved. This section might even tie in to alumni discussing the value of their research opportunities.

· VPDUE Goff noted that these publications are as much for the parents as the students, and they are influenced by research productivity (although she noted the need for a balance ).

· Professor McDade suggested that the photography should reflect faculty and students engaged in research rather than emphasize the pastoral beauty of the campus.

· The committee agreed that materials pertaining to the colleges and to student affairs seemed to be disproportionally emphasized relative to the academic divisions. One suggestion was to put the college and housing information on a compact disc that could be included with the packet; another suggestion was to send out two publications. One would emphasize academics, research, and majors, and would be intended as a marketing tool. The second document would be practical and would focus on housing and college choice for those who decide to come (although both would be sent to all admitted students).

· Have a content editor to read it as a whole and make sure the message is clear and it is appropriate for the intended audience.

4. Alumni of Note

In preparing materials for the student recruitment literature, Chair Brown noted that the campus would be well-served if there were a more systematic way to identify distinguished alumni to be featured in campus publications. Chair Brown asks the committee for suggestions about how best to identify such alumni. Suggestions from the committee included:

· Invite a representative of the alumni association to discuss the alumni tracking system.

· Ask faculty for information about successful alumni.

· Ask the UCSC alumni who are physicians in Santa Cruz to gather information about other physician alumni throughout the state and country through their professional networks.

5. Graduate Programs and the Catalog

The Committee on Educational policy, as a matter of course, reviews all proposed changes to catalog copy pertaining to undergraduate education, including course descriptions and degree requirements. Historically, there has been no analogous procedure for graduate program degree requirements. As a consequence, some graduate programs independently publish their own degree requirements without graduate council or even decanal review.

Chair Brown proposed the following:

1. All graduate program degree requirements must be published in the UCSC catalog.

2. All changes to catalog copy pertaining to graduate programs henceforth must be reviewed, as feasible, by the Graduate Council.

There was agreement to these suggestions and Professor Schumm said that this process is already in place but that Grad council didn’t have the clout to enforce its authority. Chair Brown agreed to transmit a letter to all department chairs and deans stating that summary degree requirements must be published in the catalogue, and reminding departments reminded that the campus catalogue is the official document of record, rather than individually published department literature.

6. Member’s Items

None

Attest: George Brown , Chair