SUBJECT

DESCRIPTION

DATE

ACC passed a motion to endorse the Senate’s Expansion of Graduate Council (moved by Abel, second by Riemann) 
(Senate motion in Senate minutes of 10/1/2012 reads as follows: 
“The Senate voted to unanimously approve the following action of the Executive council:  Temporary expansion of Graduate Council membership (with graduate faculty only) in order to undertake large number of graduate program reviews this AY.  The developing plan hopes to create subgroups with senior Grad Council members mentoring temporary members in order to complete the unusually high number of reviews.  With more members the reviews can be broken up into smaller, easier to complete numbers.”)

Articulation Agreement Policy. ACC made a Motion to approve the draft Articulation Agreement as amended (moved by Kristen Denham, second by Holly Folk) which passed.   (Text follows:)

“2.7 Articulation Agreements
Articulation agreements are formalized pathways for transfer from one college or program to another. Typically, articulation agreements occur between community colleges and academic majors at WWU and may include exceptions to standard practices or policies. For example, a department may formally agree to accept a specific 200 level course at one community college as equivalent to a specific 300 level course on our campus.

Articulation agreements help recruit strong transfer students to Western and may speed time to degree; they are especially encouraged between academic majors and CTCs within our Northwest Higher Education Consortium.

The ACC recognizes that articulation agreements fall within the purview of a major and its college when the agreement is limited to transfer equivalencies for that major. Consequently, ACC approval is not required in such instances. However, ACC notification is required so that a record of the agreement can be established.

The process for such agreements is as follows: 

• The academic unit (department, program, or college) establishes the agreement with a CTC and formally approves it.
• The college curriculum committee is notified of the agreement, notifies the Dean, and documents this step in its minutes. 
• The ACC accepts the college curriculum committee minutes.
• The agreement is forwarded to the Provost for her signature.

Articulation agreements that require exceptions to university-wide policies and procedures, such as GUR equivalencies or the transfer of electives, must go through the normal ACC approval process.   The requests for these exceptions must be approved by both the department and college curriculum committees and reflected in the college curriculum minutes for ACC approval.

ACC notification is also required if and when an articulation agreement is terminated.” 
--end text

ACC made a Motion (moved by Kristen Denham, seconded by Mark Kuntz) which passed, to approve additional text to the Articulation Agreement, in order to provide coordination with the registrar to enact the behind-the-scenes processes involving financial aid, risk management, and other special processes that require setup time and ensure that the agreement is successful.  
Text follows (to be inserted before the last line of the Articulation Agreement):
 
 “Since articulation agreements can have implications for university processes, such as financial aid eligibility, internal reporting, tuition and fee programming, etc., academic units are encouraged to coordinate with the Registrar’s Office during the development of an articulation policy in order to ensure efficient implementation at the university level.”   --end text

Appendix D: Academic Honesty Policy

ACC made a Motion (moved by David Gilberston, seconded by  Troy Abel) to approve the Academic Honesty Policy, current version with the slight amendments ACC provided (unanimously passed by a show of hands).   The minor edits include an approval date of December 4, 2012, the retention of the self-paced workshop for students which is housed in the Student Life office, removal of a sentence which suggests that the registrar is the one requiring the student to take the workshop, and a generic retention of the email address and phone number of the honesty board secretary.

• The policy will go into effect in the catalog immediately (December 4, 2012) and remain in effect through the remainder of this academic year. 

See ACC Handbook for Changes

Following the discussion a motion was made by Mark Kuntz, seconded by Ron Helms, to approve the Nursing Program as presented.  A hand count was taken and the motion passed unanimously.

AA, CISS

Huxley-BTC articulation agreement accepted with Huxley mins of 1/14/12. Proposed CISS program discussed.

Inclement Weather Recommendations.  MOTION, by Andreas Riemann, second by Ron Helms, to send the draft revised inclement weather recommendations forward to the Senate for comment and for possible implementation this year (Motion passed).  One important clarification in the document is that the teacher or instructor is the final authority on setting policy in the classroom, and the faculty member must notify students in sufficient time if possible.  ACC is looking for wide input, welcomes changes and modifications, and considers this a preliminary recommendation to be vetted again prior to any final recommendation.

Finals Week Policy (available in the Catalog) – The existing policy was discussed with Commissioners recommending that reminders be sent out to faculty regarding the policy.  Further discussion of the policy may take place in the future, and departments may wish to consider discussing discipline-specific ways to adhere to or expand this policy.

David Rossiter moved, seconded by David Gilberston to create an Ad Hoc Calendar committee to review and recommend parameters for setting yearly academic calendar dates.  The motion passed. Both Rossiter (Huxley) and Gilbertson (CBE) offered to serve on the committee as the 2 ACC representatives, and representatives from the remaining colleges would be sought through the governing councils. Steve VanderStaay will chair the committee, and he and David Brunnemer will be non-voting members.  Two students, including ACC member Matthew Hilliard will complete the committee makeup. The committee will be asked to recommend parameters for setting future calendar dates and to discuss if it is possible to equalize days in each quarter as requested for the science labs, and to recommend a starting date for each quarter.  The registrar requests faculty review and affirmation of the parameters with which he has been provided from previous administrations and does not anticipate that the committee will need to meet at any great length.

COUNCIL ON UNIVERSITY PROGRAMS (CUP) – MOTION: Revised Membership Charge:

Members. The Council on University Programs consists of eight seven (78) faculty members, including one faculty from each of the following Interdisciplinary programs: Honors Program, International Studies, Leadership Studies, Energy Studies,and Women Studies (5); remainder unchanged. 

MOTION One:  Addition to Membership of Calendar Committee.   ACC made a motion (moved by Mark Kuntz, second by David Rossiter) to approve the addition of a UFWW representative to the membership of the Calendar Committee.

More than One Baccalaureate Degree.  ACC made a motion (moved by Kristen Denham, second by David Gilbertson) to remove the 225 credit requirement for students earning more than one baccalaureate degree and update the policy to reflect normal use of independent learning modalities in completing degree requirements.  Changes to the policy are reflected below.

“Two Baccalaureate Degrees Concurrently
Two distinct bachelor’s degrees associated with different majors may be earned at Western simultaneously. but the total number of academic credits earned must be at least 225, and The student must follow the admission and declaration process for each degree program and satisfy all requirements of each degree program. The majors involved may not be based on more than a 50% overlap of credits applied to both majors.

“Second Baccalaureate Degree from WWU
A student who has already earned a baccalaureate degree from Western Washington University may apply for readmission to earn a different type of undergraduate degree associated with a different major.  Such a student must:

• Submit a major declaration card
• Meet scholarship minimums prescribed by the university divisions and academic departments, including a cumulative WWU GPA of at least 2.00 (or higher, as required by individual departments)
• Earn at least 50% of the credit hours for the major at Western Washington University
• A grade of C- or better must be earned in all major courses.
• Earn at least 45 WWU academic credits beyond the number earned when the first degree was granted.** Correspondence, including Western’s Independent Learning Program, c Credit by examination and advanced placement credit are not included in this total.
• Be registered for at least one Western course in the quarter in which the degree is to be awarded. ; correspondence courses are allowed only by exception
• Satisfy all requirements of the second degree program

**Exception: The BFA in art degree or the BFA in design degree may be awarded to a student who has earned fewer than 45 additional credits since completing a BA degree,. provided the student has earned at least 225 total credits.”
--end text

 Posthumous Degree Proposal.   ACC made a motion (moved by Kristen Denham, second by Holly Folk) to approve a policy and procedure for the Registrar to award a degree or honorary certificate to a deceased student when requested by the immediate family or academic department.  Approved text:

“Posthumous Awarding of Degree or Honorary Certificate
University policy provides for the posthumous award of a degree if a student, at the time of his/her death, had not completed degree requirements, but the conditions specified below are satisfied. When these conditions have not been satisfied, an honorary certificate may be awarded in lieu of a degree.
Conditions
The request for awarding a degree or honorary certificate must come from an immediate family member or be initiated by the student’s major department.  The student must be enrolled during the academic term the death occurred, be in good academic standing, be declared in the major applicable to the degree, have completed all general university requirements, and the student’s body of academic work must be within 15% of university degree requirements.
Procedure
A request for awarding a degree posthumously is made with the Registrar’s Office.  The Registrar’s Office coordinates the degree evaluation and seeks approval from the appropriate academic department and college.  In the event a student is in a graduate program, the Dean of the Graduate School will be included in the approval process.  Upon department and college approval, the Registrar’s Office will award the degree and issue a diploma to the student’s legal representative or immediate family.

Honorary Certificate
When during the evaluation of a posthumous degree it is determined the student does not meet one or more of the conditions, an Honorary Alumnus certificate may be awarded and presented to the student’s legal representative or immediate family.  The honorary certificate is not posted to the official record nor does it indicate academic completion, but it is intended to recognize participation and involvement in Western’s academic community.”