Academic Planning Committee

Absent: Bob Miller and Jamus Lin.

Guests: Tony Fink (CAFA), Larry Merkley (ITC), Jim Burns (PIO), Galen Jarvinen and Beth Riddle (CATS)

1. Chair’s announcements

Vice Chancellor Meredith Michaels reported that UC Vice President Larry Hershman estimates that the likelihood of state support for summer instruction at UCSC in 2003 is roughly 15-20%.

2. Approval of August 13 Minutes

The draft minutes of August 9 were approved without amendment.

3. Update on Campus Web Site Revisions

The June 5, 2002 Enrollment Management Conference amplified campus awareness of the importance of the university web pages in projecting our public image. Under the leadership of Assistant Public Information Office Director Jim Burns, intense summer effort has produced a major redesign of the home page and secondary pages, with faster and easier links to academic programs and to admissions. Director Burns identified three main goals that were achieved by the redesign: 1) clearer navigational directions to all campus sites; 2) improved second level pages with fewer subsidiary links; and 3) important content has been pulled to the second level for improved marketing. PIO resources supporting the home page are marginal, with less than 0.5 FTE dedicated to the task. The Committee endorsed the overall site improvements, and suggested that greater emphasis on research and graduate program activities be incorporated. APC members are invited to contact Director Burns directly with further comments.

Tony Fink reiterated that the senate Committee on Admissions and Financial Aid (CAFA) remains concerned that the perception of poor academic reputation is the foremost reason that many of the best qualified admitted students choose not to enroll at UCSC. This is evidence of a critical campus public image problem that must be addressed by revisions of both hard copy and web publications to update public perception. CAFA proposed improvement in two critical web sources of information: 1) admissions web site, and 2) academic department and faculty pages. CAFA intends to propose that the campus Provost allocate resources to the Vice Provost, Academic Affairs office to improve the public perception of campus academic reputation. CAFA will develop recommendations for department web site content. A Web Coordinator, reporting to the academic administration, can coordinate the implementation of public information policy guidelines that emphasize the academic mission.

Chair Brown noted that the web is now the foremost public information medium for the university, yet the campus dedicates negligible resources to achieving holistic site design and currency. Resources are thinly distributed across almost all campus units. At a recent meeting of about 40 Web Coordinators, an informal survey concluded that the majority of web development is conducted by individuals on a 20% or less basis, with a significant fraction of the time required for beginning and ongoing technical training. This inefficient process often produces an amateurish, disconnected, and poorly maintained web site.

Larry Merkley, Chair of the Instructional Technology Committee, stated that a recent survey showed that at least $3 M per year is expended on the decentralized development and maintenance of campus web sites, with no resources supporting central web development. An effective model at other universities is a single Web Office with authority to promote campus guidelines and support coordination across multiple units. UCSC needs to develop web principles that can be implemented by technical and support staff. Shifting some portion of the current resources already dedicated to web sites is feasible, but must be phased in. The deans concurred that some divisional technical support might be reduced if central units provided key services, but most web support is performed on a part-time basis and is nearly impossible to recover.

Implementation of the Academic Information System (AIS), which will replace the decrepit Student Information System (SIS), will expand the importance of a portal environment. Beth Riddle, Director of CATS Instructional Computing, presented as an example the extreme difficulty of standardizing URL protocols for easy external navigation. Without a central campus authority, reaching consensus across units for these basic infrastructure elements cannot be accomplished.

APC members unanimously agreed that centralized academic based web site authority is necessary. How to fund it without reducing essential technical support is complex. Bob Meister, CPB Chair, suggests taxing the divisions over time. Department staff FTE dedicated to information updates will always be needed. A decision and implementation plan is a top academic priority. Chair Brown asked Larry Merkley to develop a proposal for presentation to Provost Simpson.

4. Update on Admissions Publications

Another development emerging from the June Enrollment Management Retreat is intensive work with Admissions to revise hardcopy publications intended for prospective and admitted students. Bill Ladusaw, Tony Fink, George Brown and Betsy Moses are working collaboratively with Admissions, PIO, and Registrar staff to revise publications. The new Viewbook, distributed to prospective undergraduate students and counselors, was distributed. The changes emphasize academic, research, and curricular programs. Less emphasis is placed on the natural beauty of the campus and on the academic significance of the choice of college affiliation. The admit publication is still undergoing revisions, to include material on student research and research units that has been solicited from the divisions. Developing a CD-ROM will be considered for next year.

Stronger institutional bridges between Admissions and Alumni will help make use of the vast archive of data on successful alumni that can be mined for promotion purposes. Registrar Kevin Browne plans testing the publications and web sites with actual students via focus groups. Future surveys of the large proportion of admitted students who choose not to enroll will also be useful to measure any shifts in public perception of academic reputation.

5. Departmental Requests to Admit Student Selectively to Majors

Carl Freeman, CEP Chair, presented a draft policy on selectivity in the major. The joint administrative/senate 1995 policy is overly cumbersome and couched in terms of outdated policy. Department requests for selectivity are increasing as campus enrollments unevenly surge. Last year CEP approved a major selectivity policy requested by the School of Engineering, and the proposed campus policy builds on that policy.

At UCSC students are admitted to the general campus and in most cases may declare any major. CEP’s draft policy places responsibility on departments to incorporate flexibility that is responsive to external shifts in student demand and campus resources. Once approved, the policy will be reviewed annually as CEP reviews the department’s catalog copy on major requirements.

Impact on prospective transfer students can be mitigated by department outreach to community colleges and close attention to course articulation agreements. The SOE has initiated an intense outreach effort to improve communication with feeder community colleges and to assure that lower division course work prepares prospective majors for UCSC engineering programs.

Department requests for major selectivity will be transmitted by a dean’s letter of analysis and comment.

Many departments informally adopt selectivity by increasing course pre-requisites, which are reviewed by CEP in the catalog approval process. Accurate student advertising is important, especially for students with fewer alternative major choices. Increased major selectivity will no doubt reduce student retention rates and increase time-to-degree. Department justification must be carefully reviewed, and policy outcomes must be assessed through the department external review process. CEP will take today’s discussion under consideration as it develops a final policy.

6. Discovery Seminars

Vice Provost Lynda Goff presented an update on the Freshman Discover Seminars, which Chancellor Greenwood and Provost Simpson announced in August. Thirty proposals have been received in advance of the October 9 deadline. The course proposals will be bundled for CEP approval prior to final scheduling.

Motivated by the UCOP mandate to increase ladder faculty course contact with freshman, UCSC Discovery Seminars are planned to eventually attract 60% of freshman, which will require about 100 sections. Faculty incentives are offered the first year at $1,500 for one unit course, and $2,000 for a two-unit course, payable to ladder faculty research accounts. At UC Berkeley, many students take more than one seminar, and students are not prevented from enrolling in more than one seminar. Many third quarter students are technically considered sophomores, based on their total accumulated credits. Seminar space availability is constrained at popular course times; a space utilization analysis is necessary.

A permanent campus funding source to sustain the seminars has not been identified; no new funds from UCOP will be allocated. The projected instructional cost is approximately $250,000 at full implementation, including a small level of course support. A letter to department chairs is pending.

7. Honors Programs

Vice Provost Goff presented a proposal for campus-wide student honors, which would be conferred upon all admitted students who meet specified requirements. It is intended for initiation Fall 2003, but approval will be needed soon for admissions marketing. Honors perquisites include group housing and priority course enrollment. Department and college honors will not be affected.

Committee members concluded that campus honors are in principle a good idea, but Provost Goff is asked to consider the following: 1) the 3.75 GPA requirement in 15 minimum units per quarter precludes students taking pass/fail courses, a longstanding UCSC practice; 2) completion of specific subject requirements may be difficult if student enrollment access is denied, and 3) the service requirement selects against many students with otherwise excellent academic credentials. Some faculty have argued that the program will likely exclude disadvantaged or first generation college students.

CEP has not been given opportunity to review the program. The topic will be continued at a future APC meeting.

8. Member’s Items

None

Attest: George Brown, Chair