May 21, 2011
To:
Rebecca LeDocq, Chair
Faculty Senate
From: Shane Van Dalsem, Chair
Committee on Academic Policies and Standards (CAPS)
Re:
2010-2011 Final Report
According to Faculty Senate Bylaw II. B. The Academic Policies and Standards Committee, the
duties and responsibilities of the committee shall include:
1.
Formulating and reviewing local policies and standards concerning admissions,
advising, retention, advanced standing, probation, dismissal, readmission, the grading
system, and graduation honors for undergraduate students.
2. Ensuring equitable application of standards by the undergraduate schools and
colleges.
3. Supervising the administration of these standards and formulating procedures for
hearing student appeals and petitions on academic matters not resolved by
administrative offices of the university.
The following is a summary of the activities of the 2010-2011 CAPS in according with the
above standard committee duties:
Response to the following Faculty Senate charge for the 2010-2011 academic year:
Work with the Office of Institutional Research to collect the appropriate data and create
a report to determine the depth of the multiple repeat problem. Consult with Chris
Bakkum, Registrar, about the feasibility of any proposed policy change. Please plan to
provide a report to Faculty Senate at the March 3, 2011 meeting.
After consulting with Marv Noltze, Jan Von Ruden, Chris Bakkum, and many faculty members,
on January 19th, 2011 CAPS approved the following language with regard to a recommendation
concerning the university repeat policy:
Departments may designate courses such that class rank should not be considered with
respect to registering to repeat that course.
Response to a request by the English as a Second Language Institute:
On April 15, 2011, Michele Tyvoll and Robert Packard presented information to CAPS
regarding English Language Requirements at UWL. Currently, students must submit either an
IELTS score of 6 or a paper TOEFL score of 550 or internet TOEFL score of 73 in order to be
eligible to enroll in regular classes. Scores falling below the mark result in students being
assigned first to English language coursework. To help ensure the success of students in their
regular coursework, it was proposed that an IELTS score of 6 with sub-scores no less than 5.5 in
each area be the defining cutoff. An IELTS score below this mark would not prevent a student
from attending UWL, just from registering for regular coursework without further English
Language instruction.
With regard to this request, CAPS voted to accept the proposal to increase the IELTS score
such that a band score of 6 with inidividual sub-scores no less than 5.5 is required.
Summer Session Start Date Appeals
CAPS approved summer session start date appeals for the following courses:












ESS 430/530 for one year
ESS 771 for one year
ESS 781 permanently
ESS 309 for one year
RTH 491 for one year
MIC 428/528 for one year
EDU 601 for one year
EDM 611 for one year
E-I 621 for one year
ERN 651 for one year
EDU 661 for one year
EFN 641 for one year
Student Appeals
SEMESTER
Type of Appeal
Number of Appeals
Number Approved
Fall 2010
Readmission
6
2
1
1
Spring 2011
Waiver of requirement that
last 24 credits applied to a
degree must be earned in
residence.
Readmission
11
4
1
0
1
1
Waiver of repeat policy
which requires a grade of D
or F to repeat a course
Waiver of requirement of
120 credits to graduate
Recommendations for 2011-2012 CAPS
1. The 2011-2012 CAPS should review the current policy on summer start date appeals.
The committee should consider a Dean’s Office approval system for the bulk of the
courses filing appeals.
2. The 2011-2012 CAPS should work with the Registrar’s Office to consider a policy to
govern an electronic override system for registration.
On behalf of the committee, I would like to specifically thank Sue Anglehart for serving as the
secretary of the committee as well Jan Von Ruden and Sibbie Weathers for the excellent
information and support that they provided throughout the year. I would also like to thank the
consultants from each of the colleges as well as the committee members for their involvement in
making this a productive year for the committee.
Please let me know if you have any questions concerning this report.
Respectfully submitted,
Shane Van Dalsem, PhD
Department of Finance