Minutes of the Academic Planning Committee
November 8, 2012
2076 Health Sciences Center
Present: Cravins, Epstein, Gendreau, Greiner, Hulett, Jecklin, Schenck, Shabana, Shanks
Also in attendance: P. Markos
Chair Greiner called the meeting to order at 3:45.
The committee reviewed four Certificate Program proposals prepared by the
Institute of Professional Studies in Education (IPSE):
 Professional Learning Community Certificate Program
 Math Education Elementary Certificate Program
 Global and Cultural Competency Certificate Program
 English Language Arts Elementary Certificate Program
Patricia Markos, Director of the Master of Education – Professional Development
program at UW-L, spoke with the committee at length about the proposals, as well as
about IPSE. The committee’s own members from the Department of Educational
Studies also contributed information about aspects of UW-L’s programs, as well as our
current understanding of the Higher Learning Commission’s requirements for instruction.
IPSE is a “free standing” institute within the College of Liberal Studies; ME-PD used to
be in the Department of Educational Studies, but this is no longer true. IPSE does not
have tenure track lines in its program. Historically, the Institute has tried to pair Masterslevel teachers with Ph.D. educators in various departments, but the workload was too
great for the faculty members. There is interest from some departments in restarting this
type of collaboration, but such a change is years away. IPSE has been 100% selfsustaining, and is viewed as a revenue generator.
The current proposals were developed based on a survey of the needs of school districts.
IPSE is confident both that the programs can be staffed, and that they will be in high
demand. All programs meet the requirement of providing 12 credits of 700-level
coursework. Departmental authority for courses will be provided through the School of
Education; the curriculum has been shared with the Department of Educational Studies.
The committee had a number of questions about the placement of IPSE within UW-L,
concerning its status within the School of Education, but outside of the Department of
Educational Studies. The role, if any for the Department of Educational Studies, is
unclear at this time. The institute uses no departmental resources. It was also
recommended that constituencies reflected in the proposed Certificates (e.g.,
Mathematics, English) be consulted to confirm that no issues exist. The presence of
satellite programs that would use departmental resources may be problematic if the
department(s) is/are unaware of these needs. Finally, a new policy (Sept. 2012) from the
Higher Learning Commission concerning the qualifications of instructors was discussed;
the potential applicability of this policy to IPSE’s mission needs to be determined. The
committee compiled the following list of questions that will aid its understanding of
IPSE’s role. Further consideration of the Proposals has been deferred until answers to at
least some of the following questions are available.

What role will Mathematics and English constituencies have in approving these
program activities, if any?

Is such a role appropriate, in the committee’s view?

What is, or is recommended to be, the role of individual departments in regulating
content based on academic issues?

What oversight responsibilities exist, or should exist, across academic realms?

If a department approves the IPSE proposals at this time, can the department
revoke that approval later, or have input on changes?

What are the required HLC qualifications for IPSE instructors?
For these reasons, the Committee is awaiting additional information before making a
final evaluation of the Certificate proposals.
The next meeting was planned for Nov. 20, 2012.
The meeting was adjourned after 4:45.
Respectfully submitted,
Heather Schenck