ASC Minutes 02-11-16 Page
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Academic Standards Committee
Policy Subcommittee Meeting
02-11-2016
Minutes
In attendance: Jo Crane, Alyce DeMarais, Suzanne Holland, Cole Jackson, Sara Shives, Tanya
Stambuk, Peter Sullivan, Brad Tomhave
Chair Suzanne Holland called the meeting to order at 2:00 PM.
1. Approval of minutes from the 01-29-16 policy subcommittee meeting by acclamation.
2. The petitions report for the period of 1/16/2016-2/11/2016 is provided in Appendix I.
3. Common Period Discussion
Suzanne reported that she sent out a request to several department chairs/program directors
to comment on the two options for a common period schedule (Plan A and Plan B; Appendix II).
She distributed the responses gathered (she did not receive any comments from the
chair/director of physics, education, or geology). We discussed the responses and how they
confirmed our initial concerns: no plan is going to be acceptable to everyone and different
department/programs have different issues with each proposed schedule.
We re-raised the question of cost-benefit analysis of changing the schedule. Will faculty attend
faculty meetings if a common period is implemented? Should we think more creatively, such as
implementing in-service days or periods throughout the semester? What about rethinking
governance where we have representative faculty governance (although this may be beyond
the scope of what we are doing)? Perhaps a combination of these ideas could be explored:
representative governance with two “in service” common periods per semester for full faculty
meetings.
Brad reported on the outcomes produced by his revised tool for determining course overlaps
with the proposed common periods. He reported that for Plan A (Wednesday afternoon
common period) there are 92 scheduled events in the fall and 89 scheduled events in the spring
that would conflict with this proposed time period. Of the 92 in the fall, 58 are lectures and 23
are labs. Of the 89 in spring, there are 55 lectures and 19 labs. These numbers do not include
music lessons (since lessons are not scheduled through the Registrar’s Office; lessons are
scheduled around student class schedules). For Plan B (Wednesday morning common period),
in the fall there are 53 items in conflict (43 lectures, 5 labs). In the spring, 45 items are in
conflict (of the 45, 41 lectures and 2 labs). For Plan C (Common Period 12:00 – 1:30 on
Wednesday; Appendix II), 109 items conflict; of the 109, 73 are lectures and 22 are labs. In the
Spring, there are 96 items in conflict with Plan C (of the 96, 74 are lectures and 16 are labs).
Added by the secretary after the meeting: a table (Table 1) of the above numbers.
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Table 1. Events scheduled through the Registrar’s Office that overlap with the common period times proposed in
Plans A, B, and C. The subsets of lectures and labs that are included in the total events number are shown.
Scheduled events do not include music lessons.
Common
Period Plan
A (Wed. PM)
B (Wed. AM)
C (Wed. noon)
Semester
Fall
Spring
Fall
Spring
Fall
Spring
Total Overlap
Events
92
89
53
45
109
96
Lectures
Labs
58
55
43
41
73
74
23
19
5
2
22
16
We discussed other potential options for shared/representative governance. We determined
that we have good information, some potential common period plans, and some questions.
We will report to the Senate (through Suzanne) what we have determined so far and ask for
guidance on how to proceed. We reiterated our initial response to this charge that
implementation of a common period will only be effective if it is decreed by someone (such as
the Dean), with support for departments/programs to adjust their schedules.
We briefly discussed overlapping class hours in the schedule and the potential of adding
another 80-minute class period into the schedule. We could do so if we allowed for a new start
time of 12:30 PM. Suzanne agreed that some faculty would appreciate additional 80-minute
class options. Peter mused that we could suggest a trial period of the modified class schedule
to see how teaching schedules would adjust, with faculty teaching 50-minute classes given
priority. Brad noted this is how courses are scheduled (prioritized) now—we could make the
priority policy more transparent. Alyce suggested we could run this as a simulation to see how
scheduling responds. Another alternative would be starting 80-minute class periods at 8:00 AM
or even 8:30 AM given that the rooms are underutilized at that time. We noted that students,
as well as many professors, would not prefer these class times.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:58 PM.
Action Items:
 Suzanne will schedule a time to bring our findings/questions regarding the common period
to the senate.
 Suzanne will talk with the senate about whether we should poll the chairs/directors to see it
is desirable to schedule an additional 80-minute class block to the schedule.
 Suzanne will add the start time of final exams and accommodations to the agenda for our
next meeting.
Respectfully submitted by Alyce DeMarais, Secretary.
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Appendix I
Petitions for the Period 1/16/2016 – 2/11/2016
During the dates covered by this report, the following actions were taken on petitions
submitted to the Academic Standards Committee:
14 Approved Late Registrations
1 Approved Registration Change from Credit to Audit
22 Approved Registrations with a Schedule Conflict
2 Approved Medical Withdrawals
2 Approved Waivers of the “Last 8 Units Rule”
2 Approved Concurrent Enrollments
1 Approved Second Repeat of a Course
3 Approved Waivers of the Minimum GPA Require for Independent Study
1 Approved Drop without Record
1 Approved Withdrawal with a W Grade
1 Denied Withdrawal with a W Grade
2 Approved Appeals of Transfer Credit Evaluations
52 Total Petitions
Registrar Approved:
3
Preview Team Approved: 20
Sub-Committee Approved: 28
Total Approved: 51
Sub-Committee Denied:
Total Petitions:
1
52
For the year to date, 144 petitions have been approved and 13 petitions have been
denied. Among the 157 total petitions, 51 involve registration with a schedule conflict, 23
involve reinstatement or readmission, 21 involve late registration, and 17 granted a medical
withdrawal.
For comparison with last year, as of February 12, 2015, 164 petitions had been approved
and 19 denied. Among the 183 total petitions, 50 involved registration with a schedule
conflict, 28 involved reinstatement or readmission, 28 granted a medical withdrawal, and 25
involved late registration.
During this period, two Academic Warning sanctions were rescinded based on grade
corrections, and a student was placed on Academic Probation after receipt of final grades
replacing incomplete grades.
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Appendix II
Current class schedule and options for adding a common period (Plans A, B, and C).
Current Schedule
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
8:00
8:30
9:00
9:30
10:00
10:30
11:00
11:30
12:00
12:30
1:00
1:30
2:00
2:30
3:00
3:30
4:00
4:30
5:00
12
3
18
37
56
16
32
56
60
53
58
47
48
51
38
36
44
44
39
15
40
26
36
16
20
55
56
25
47
9
41
53
34
39
12
11
10
15
2
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Plan A: Common period from 3-4:30pm on Wednesday
Monday
8:00
8:30
9:00
9:30
10:00
10:30
11:00
11:30
12:00
12:30
1:00
1:30
2:00
2:30
3:00
3:30
4:00
4:30
5:00
Tuesday
A
Wednesday
A
H
B
C
Thursday
A
H
B
I
D
C
B
I
D
J
J
K
E
K
F
F
L
G
F
L
G
Common
Period
M
C
D
E
E
Friday
M
Common period from 3-4:30pm on Wednesday
This plan would create a new 80 minute block option, labeled
as as E, and shift forward in time the current 80 minute block
(which currently is available from 2-3:20pm MWF) to running
from 1:30-3pm MFW.
Block E would be from 12-1:20pm, MFW
Block F would be from 1:30-3pm MFW
Block G would 3-4:20pm MF
As with the current schedule, The current 50 minute blocks
starting on the hour would remain available, i.e. in addition to
the 80 minute MWF classes (blocks E, F and G), 50 minute
classes could still be offered starting on the hour at 12, 1, 2, 3
and 4pm.
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ASC Minutes 02-11-16 Page
Plan B: Common period from 8-9:30am on Wednesday
Monday
8:00
8:30
9:00
9:30
10:00
10:30
11:00
11:30
12:00
12:30
1:00
1:30
2:00
2:30
3:00
3:30
4:00
4:30
5:00
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
A
A
H
Common Period
H
B
C
Friday
B
I
D
C
I
D
J
E
D
J
E
K
F
E
K
F
L
G
F
L
G
M
C
G
M
PCommon period from 8-9:30am on Wednesday
This plan would create a new 80 minute block option, labeled as as E, and shift
forward in time the current 80 minute block (which currently is available from 23:20pm MWF) to running from 1:30-3pm MFW.
Block E would be from 12-1:20pm, MFW
Block F would be from 1:30-3pm MFW
Block G would 3-4:20pm MF
As with the current schedule, The current 50 minute blocks starting on the hour
would remain available, i.e. in addition to the 80 minute MWF classes (blocks E, F
and G), 50 minute classes could still be offered starting on the hour at 12, 1, 2, 3 and
4pm.
The red block following the common period would be not be allocated if no other
class times are adjusted. This could allow for a 2-hour common hour, or for faculty
to have 30 minutes to get ready for their 10am classes.
Would this also allow for or require that an 8-9:30am 80 minute block be available
on MF?
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ASC Minutes 02-11-16 Page
Plan C: Common period from 12-1:30am on Wednesday
Monday
8:00
8:30
9:00
9:30
10:00
10:30
11:00
11:30
12:00
12:30
1:00
1:30
2:00
2:30
3:00
3:30
4:00
4:30
5:00
Tuesday
A
Wednesday
A
H
B
C
Thursday
A
H
B
I
D
C
B
I
D
J
E
J
K
E
K
F
L
G
F
L
G
M
C
D
Common
Period
F
Friday
G
M
Common period from 12-1:30pm on Wednesday
This plan would create a new 80 minute block option, labeled
as as E, and shift forward in time the current 80 minute block
(which currently is available from 2-3:20pm MWF) to running
from 1:30-3pm MFW.
Block E would be from 12-1:20pm, MFW
Block F would be from 1:30-3pm MFW
Block G would 3-4:20pm MF
As with the current schedule, The current 50 minute blocks
starting on the hour would remain available, i.e. in addition to
the 80 minute MWF classes (blocks E, F and G), 50 minute
classes could still be offered starting on the hour at 12, 1, 2, 3
and 4pm.
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