I am pleased to provide you with highlights from my December College Council President’s Report:

 

President’s Report to the College Council

Thursday, Dec. 19, 2013  

Good afternoon. 

I understand that there are several critical items on the agenda for the Faculty Senate, so in the interest of not extending the length of College Council, and after consultation with Chair John Verzani, my Institutional Planning Committee (IPC) Report will also serve as my President’s Report. 

Before I begin, I want to take a moment to thank everyone—faculty, staff, and students—for a fall semester marked by numerous significant accomplishments culminating with our highly successful annual gala “Above and Beyond,” held on Tuesday, Dec. 10, which was highlighted by the wonderful celebration and acknowledgment of Professors Sylvia Kahan and Tom Tellefsen for their great commitment to the College. 

On Monday, Nov. 25, the Provost emailed to all faculty and staff an update concerning the recent actions of the IPC, and on Wednesday, Dec. 11, I emailed the entire College Council a copy of my IPC Report, which I prepared for this meeting. These communications were intended to allow the College Council ample notice and opportunity to review some of the proposals to be discussed today. 

To briefly summarize, the IPC approved a proposal to clarify the role of the IPC in linking assessment results in the form of self-studies and student learning assessments to major resource allocation. 

Concerning program proposals, the IPC approved the Department of Nursing’s proposal for a dual degree (AAS/BS) in Nursing using the 1+2+1 model, a proposal by the Department of Performing and Creative Arts to create a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree, and a proposal by the School of Business for a Graduate Certificate Program in Business Analytics of Large-scale Data. These proposals are now proceeding through the appropriate curriculum committees. 

The IPC also approved a proposal by the Department of Education for a Master’s program and Advanced Certificate in Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), Pre-K-12. The proposal was approved by the Graduate Studies Committee and it is my understanding that it will be presented at Faculty Senate today.

Three other proposals are presented to the College Council today for recommendation for approval, which include: a proposal by the departments of Nursing and Physical Therapy to create a School of Health Sciences (on a related note, I received verbal information last night that our Doctorate of Nurse Practitioner program has been approved on the state level, so this is wonderful news); the School of Education’s proposal to dissolve the Department of Education and create two departmentsthe Department of Curriculum and Instruction, and the Department of Educational Studies; and a proposal by the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work to create a new Department of Social Work and rename SASW as the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.

This concludes my report. Thank you.