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.”)

5-Nov-2012

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.”

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: ACC Minutes of 3/5/2013 approved, and a note added that “CISS FAQs” were attached as part of the minutes. FAQs were prepared by David Bover in order to clarify questions that had arisen about the CISS program.

A motion to approve the minutes with the FAQs as presented passed (moved by Lapsansky, seconded by Denham).

CISS Program. The Faculty Senate requested a response from ACC on various questions regarding the CISS program. The Senate questions are as follows:

1. Should the Senate be engaged in advocating programs that are by design reliant on NTT faculty?
2. Does this program, by its structure, especially with the inclusion of special GURs, create a de facto cohort program, and does this threaten WWU’s mission of being a residential undergraduate community?
3. Why should the GURs be included at all as part of the program proposal?
a) Extended Ed does not need to be offering GURs when we already offer them through the regular campus;
b) By picking and choosing GURs based on students’ specialized needs, does the proposal violate the liberal/general mission of the GUR program, even as it meets the distribution requirements?
c) If we have more working students who need evening GURs, certainly that can be scheduled without Extended Ed’s involvement.
4. Does offering new programs via Extended Ed create a de facto differential tuition model? If so, the faculty has voiced many concerns about differential tuition.
5. Why should we pursue an expensive Extended Education option for the CISS program (using NTT faculty) now when we have a proposal in front of legislators

ACC discussed the questions and the extent to which they fell under ACC’s purview. Commissioners drafted and passed a motion (moved by Mark Kuntz, approved by David Gilbertson) to send the following response to the Senate:

ACC's charge indicates that the purview of the Academic Coordinating Commission includes “1) curricular coherence, 2) curricular administration, 3) standards and requirements for admission, progress through the curriculum, and graduation, and 4) oversight of curricular change.” It also states that “ACC approval of academic programs does not constitute approval for University funding,” and “ACC oversight in no way impinges on those matters that are the purview of collective bargaining.” As such, ACC does not approve the choice of faculty to teach specific courses nor does it approve funding sources. ACC’s charge is to review curriculum apart from these factors. Therefore, while questions 1, 3a, 3c, 4, and 5 are items worthy of discussion, we respectfully submit that they are not issues for ACC, but would be more appropriately addressed by the Faculty Senate, UPRC, and/or the Provost.

In response to the two questions that are in ACC purview, #2 and #3b, David Bover has indicated the following: “There are no ‘special GURs’ and therefore no ‘cohort program’. Students in the CISS program will select GUR courses from the same list used by all other WWU students. The recommended GURs have been removed from the proposal.” ACC approves the curricular content of this program.

AY 13-14 Calendar

• MOTION:  Insufficient Progress Toward Degree / Holds.  A motion (moved by Kristen Denham, second by David Gilbertson) was made to approve proposed revisions to the “Insufficient Progress Toward Degree and Registration Holds” academic policy with the addition of the word “approved” before plan of study. The motion passed.  (text follows)

Insufficient Progress Toward Degree and Registration Holds
The University reserves the right to deny access to classes by students who make insufficient progress toward a degree or major. Insufficient progress toward a degree is determined by the Registrar in consultation with academic and administrative officials. Insufficient progress toward major is determined by the department chair in consultation with the Registrar. Students who are declared in a major but make insufficient progress in the major may be removed from the major. Students who fail to make progress toward a degree or who repeatedly withdraw from the University after registering may have their enrollment privileges revoked suspended. Students on probation who repeatedly register for Pass/No Pass or Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory courses may have their registration privileges revoked suspended. Students who fail to declare a major by the time they reach 105 credits may not be permitted to register. Students who reach 210 credits without graduating or submitting a degree application or approved plan of study may not be permitted to register.

Criteria for determining Insufficient Progress
Degree-seeking students who fail to make progress toward a degree based on one or more of the following components of evaluation may have their enrollment privileges suspended or other administrative action taken (conditions that would be applied to help students succeed academically):

• Continuing students with a net completion rate of fewer than 80% of credits attempted at WWU (excludes courses dropped before the second Friday of the quarter)
• Students with repeated coursework in more than three courses or any single course more than once (for courses repeatable for credit, see link to “Student Responsibility for Registration)
• Students who earn a quarterly grade point average below 2.0 for two or more consecutive quarters
• Students who take more than two course withdrawals of any type (late course withdrawal, hardship withdrawal, school withdrawal) within a calendar year (September 1-August 31)

--end text

FINALS WEEK POLICY –In a “friendly request,” Commissioners asked VPUE Steve VanderStaay to request that a letter, signed by Provost Riordan, Senate President Stout, and ASVP Celis, be sent to the Deans asking them to remind faculty of the importance of adhering to the current Finals Week Policy.  The letter will be sent this quarter and again in Fall Quarter

Academic Honesty Policy (hereinafter referred to as “AHP”).  Commissioners provided feedback to Senate President Karen Stout and Provost’s assistant Melinda Assink, who presented the current version of the policy and procedures as well as new e-form drafts.  The AHP is developed in the Peabody format that separates the policy from the procedures for implementing it.  Two drafts of e-forms were also considered, one for the faculty member to file the incident report, and one for the student who is appealing.

Deadline for Standing Committees to forward curriculum to ACC for 2014-2015 Catalog:    

   CUE: 1/13/2014; Grad Council:1/21/2014; TCCC: 1/22/2014;  Cat. Deadline: 2/18/2014    

Curriculum Minutes Template.  Commissioners approved a “template for submission of curricular minutes to ACC” (moved by Kuntz, second by Denham).  The template has been used by College curriculum committees in the past year and has significantly improved consistency of curriculum submissions.  This has helped make ACC’s review of the curriculum minutes more efficient.  The link to the template is Appendix 4 of the ACC Handbook. 

The ACC accepted the 5/9/2013 minutes of the Committee on Undergraduate Education.  

ACC then passed a motion (moved by David Gilbertson, second by Mark Kuntz) to approve the CUE white paper on General Education Requirements for distribution and discussion.

See: CUE White Paper