Educational Policies and Planning Committee

Meeting Minutes

 

12 September 2008

 

I.      Call to order

Sandra Warren called to order the meeting of the Educational Policies and Planning Committee at 2:00 on 12 September 2008 in RA 142.

II.      The following persons were present:

Members: Dale Knickerbocker, Janice Lewis, Jim Mitchell, Linda Kean and  Sandra Warren

Ex-officio Members: Linner Griffin, David Conde, George Kasperek, Jan Tovey

Guests & Presenters: Sharon Bland, John Connelly, Stan Eakins, , Cynthia Johnson, Diane Kester, Ron Preston, Mike Spurr, Bill Sugar, John Swope, & Larry White

            Excused Members: Rose Allen, Margaret Bauer, Jim Chandler,

III.      Minutes

The minutes from the 29 August 2008 were approved. (Lewis moved; Conde seconded; unanimous)    

IV.      Announcements

A. Open meeting policy. Sandra Warren talked with the ECU attorney (Donna Payne) regarding whether the EPPC could ask presenters to exit the room for discussion/vote among the committee members regarding the proposals after the materials were presented. The attorney said that the committee could go into closed session. The committee expects to receive this approval confirmed in writing shortly. The committee members agreed that the best procedure was to thank the visitors for their presentation and ask them to wait outside while discussion occurred and a vote taken. The presenters would then be invited back in to hear the results from the committee. (NOTE:  Following this meeting, Ms Payne sent an email correcting her original guidelines. As a committee of the university (and given the nature of the EPPC business), EPPC business does not typically meet the criteria for closed sessions. Likewise, secret balloting is not permitting, unless public recording of each member's secret ballot and vote is included in the mintues.)

B. Meeting Calendar. The group discussed the possibility of adding additional meetings to meet the deadlines for new academic programs on the calendar and making their way through the approval process. The committee approved a motion to tentatively schedule an additional meeting for November 21. (Knickerbocker moved; Mitchell seconded; unanimous)

C. UNC Tomorrow Phase II Review of Existing Programs sub-committee. Jan Lewis volunteered to represent EPPC on this sub-committee to be chaired by Linner Griffin..

D. Business carried over from 2007-2008. The group again reviewed the items carried over from 2007-2008 to be addressed this year. Items included how to shorten the time period between Notification of Intent to Plan and final campus approval for program development and revisions of Part V. Section III of the ECU Faculty Manual. The group decided that the strategies for addressing the timeline would take substantial discussion and will be addressed first and the revisions second in the coming meetings.

V.      New Business

A. Guidelines for unit academic program review.

Linner Griffin and Mike Spurr presented the Guidelines for unit academic program review document that would be coordinated by the office of academic programs. The document is available on the web for the ECU community to view. The committee expressed that the document was clear and helpful.

Griffin explained that a calendar will also be available on the web by January which will indicate when units are to complete their assessments. Reviews will begin in Fall 2009.

The report was approved by the committee. (Griffin moved; Knickerbocker seconded; unanimous)

B. College of Education request for unit reorganization.

Presented by Diane Kester and Larry White, interim co-chairs of the proposed Department of Library Science; Bill Sugar, former interim chair of the Department of Library Sciences and Instructional Technology; Ron Preston, chair of the proposed Department of Mathematics, Science, and Instructional Technology Education; and John Swope, associate dean for the College of Education.

Sugar gave an overview of the proposal to make Library Sciences its own department in order to meet accreditation standards.

Knickerbocker asked if there was any concern regarding curriculum separation. The presenters all agreed that the separation was amicable and the curriculum split was very clear.

Presenters also indicated that the spilt was cost neutral.

The proposal was approved by the committee.

C. MAEd in Family and Consumer Sciences.

Presenters Cynthia Johnson and John Connolly. The request was to take an existing program and make it available via distance education as well. They already offer the core classes via DE so it is a matter of 3-4 courses being converted to DE.

Questions about enrollment were addressed. The program is expected to grow overall with some reduction potentially in the number of on campus students.

The group approved the proposal while also recommending a through editing of the document. The revised version will be approved by Sharon Bland prior to forwarding for subsequent approval.

D. BSBA in Management and BSBA in management Information Systems.

Presented by Stanley Eakins and John Connolly. Eakins provided an overview explaining that the current general business degree on line is housed in the department of Finance. The proposals hope to move away from this model to offering more specific degree concentrations in the appropriate department. Therefore, students could get a BSBA in Management or Management Information Systems.

The proposals were approved.

VI.      Adjournment

Warren adjourned the meeting at 3:40 pm.

Minutes submitted by:  Linda G. Kean