Academic Standards Committee
Minutes
October 4, 2012
Present: Dan Burgard, Debbie Chee, Duane Hulbert, Kristin Johnson, Martins Linauts, Sarah Moore,
Lori Ricigliano, Martins Linauts, Brad Tomhave, Ann Wilson, Danny Laesch (Student)
Approval of Minutes: M/S/P to approve the minutes of the meetings of September 13 and September 26.
Petitions Committee Report: Brad Tomhave, Registrar, provided the following report on the work of the
Petitions Sub-Committee and the Petition Preview Team for the period of 09/13/2012 – 09/26/2012.
Fourteen petitions were acted upon by the Petitions Sub-Committee (which met on September 19 and
cancelled its meeting scheduled for September 26), or by the Petition Preview Team or the Registrar’s
Office under authority delegated by the Petitions Sub-Committee:
7 Approved Late Adds
5 Approved Schedule Conflicts
1 Denied Drop Without Record After the Deadline
1 Approved Request for Concurrent Baccalaureate Degrees
14 Total Petitions
Registrar Approved: 2
Preview Team Approved: 5
Sub-Committee Approved: 6
Total Approved: 13
Sub-Committee Denied: 1
Total Petitions: 14
For the year to date, 32 petitions have been acted upon with 11 requesting late registration and 18
requesting registration with a schedule conflict. For comparison, last year at this time 15 petitions had
been acted upon with a total of 12 involving late registration or registration with a schedule conflict.
Of particular interest was the petition from a student who assumed eligibility to earn both a Bachelor of
Science and a Bachelor of Music only to be disappointed during the graduation application process when
informed that while there was a provision to earn a bachelor’s degree with two majors, there was no
provision to simultaneously earn a degree for each major. Given the number of units projected to be
earned by the student, along with other factors, the Petitions Sub-Committee approved the student’s
petition. The Sub-Committee is reviewing pertinent information with the intention of forwarding a policy
proposal for possible consideration by the Academic Standards Committee.
Common Hour Discussion: Lori Ricigliano reported on research that she did to determine if other
institutions have a common hour and if so, how that time is used. Her research revealed that institutions
that have a common hour use that time for a variety of curricular and co-curricular activities and that
course schedules are shifted in order to accommodate the common hour. A copy of Lori’s report is
attached.
The committee discussed the goal of having a common hour at Puget Sound and it was determined that
the reasons for having one were not entirely clear. The committee felt that the goal of having a common
hour needed to be clarified and better understood before taking on the task of revamping the course
schedule in order to accommodate such an hour. It was reported that the ASC discussed this issue two
years ago and were unable to determine a common hour that would work university-wide within the
current course schedule. Input from committee members at the time suggested that individual departments
liked the idea but did not think that the same hour would work for all departments. In addition, if one hour
were set aside for freshmen seminars, which was part of the original proposal, scheduling to allow for
sufficient sections of other courses, particularly labs, would be complicated.
Course Scheduling Framework: In addition to considering having a common hour, the committee was
asked to consider alternative models for scheduling courses. In preparation, the committee was asked to
review past ASC meeting minutes regarding the common hour, with particular attention to the alternative
schedule proposed by Professor William Breitenbach five years ago which is as follows:
MWF for 50 minutes at 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 1:00 (total of 6 class periods)
TTH for 80 minutes at 8, 9:30, and 11 (total of 3 class periods)
MTH for 80 minutes at 12:30, 2 and 3:30 (total of 3 class periods)
TuF for 80 minutes at 12:30, 2 and 3:30 (total of 3 class periods)
W for 150 minutes at 12:30 and 3:15 (total of 2 class periods)
*This scheduling does not include labs or a common hour.
The committee discussed the merit of looking more closely at this proposal vs. making small adjustments
in the current schedule. It was determined that there were several questions that need to be answered
before making any changes. In addition, if changes are warranted, the timing for implementation needs to
be carefully considered so that it does not coincide with other significant changes taking place within the
university such as the transition to People Soft which will be implemented for both students and faculty in
the spring.
The idea of surveying the faculty about both the common hour and gathering input from other groups
such as the Registrar’s office, the Dean’s office, Academic advising and students was raised. As a first
step in this process, Sarah Moore and Kristin Johnson agreed to draft a preface to such a survey that
would be designed for faculty and staff and present it to committee members before the next meeting. The
preface will help solidify what the committee is seeking to learn from such a survey.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:20 am.
Respectfully submitted,
Ann Wilson
The Common Hour: A Report of Search Results
A literature search of the common hour was conducted in several databases including ERIC, an
education database covering 750 education related journals. The search did not yield any results.
I then searched university websites with a common hour. Below are some general observations
from those sites.
Lori Ricigliano, 10.4. 2012
Definition of Common Hour
a regularly scheduled block of time during which no classes are held and members of the
University community are, therefore, available to share in other activities.
Common Hour Goals
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Resolve scheduling conflicts between curricular and co-curricular activities
Increase participation, attendance and leadership in standing committees
Strengthen community among faculty, students, and staff
Make time for research and service
Enhance the educational experience
Examples of Activities Held During Common Hour
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Guest lectures and performances
Academic planning and advising activities
Career planning seminars
Opportunities to meet regularly in small groups with the peer mentors
Regularly scheduled meetings, including committees, student clubs, departments, task forces
Brown bag lunches with interest groups
Common Hour Policy
 No classes are scheduled

No other organized course or student-related activities are to be scheduled (independent
studies, athletic practices, office hours, music lessons)
Some institutions had variations on the common hour:
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Undergraduate classes only
First Year only
Others had exception:
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Lab courses in the sciences or graphic arts
Courses which are scheduled in non-standard meeting times
Professional programs
Scheduling
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Institutions chose a schedule which had the least impact on courses.
Most common time was around the noon hour, i.e. between 11 and 1
Frequency varied from one or more times a week; typically it was two times a week
Duration was generally 50 to 75 minutes

Some institutions have a very structured schedule, e.g.,
o Student club/organization meetings and faculty/staff meetings on the first and third
weeks
o Special events and presentations on the second and fourth weeks
To accommodate the common hour, institutions changed the course schedule in the following
ways:
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Scheduling labs in the early evening
Offering one night a week classes, 7-10
Extending classes into the evening, 6:30-9:30
Begin classes earlier on days of the common hour, e.g., 7:30 or 7:45
Reduce classes meeting three times a week to two, changing length of time from 50 minutes to
1 hour, 15 minutes
Adding more 2-day/wk 80-minute time slots
The following tables indicate whether our peer, next step, and premier institutions have a
common hour.
National Peer Institutions
Common Hour
Allegheny College Meadville, Pennsylvania
No
Bard College Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
No
Beloit College Beloit, Wisconsin
Under consideration 1994
Bucknell University Lewisburg, Pennsylvania
Yes
Colorado College Colorado Springs, Colorado
No
Denison University Granville, Ohio
Yes
DePauw University Greencastle, Indiana
No
Dickinson College Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Yes
Franklin & Marshall College Lancaster, PA
Yes
Furman University Greenville, South Carolina
No
Gettysburg College Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Yes
Knox College Galesburg, Illinois
No
Lafayette College Easton, Pennsylvania
No
Lawrence University Appleton, Wisconsin
No
Lewis and Clark College Portland, Oregon
No
Occidental College Los Angeles, California
Yes
Rhodes College Memphis, Tennessee
No
Skidmore College Saratoga Springs, New York
under consideration 2006/7
St. Lawrence University Canton, New York
No
St. Olaf College Northfield, Minnesota
No
Union College Schenectady, New York
Yes “common lunch”
University of the South Sewanee, Tennessee
Yes
Wheaton College Norton, Massachusetts
No
Willamette University Salem, Oregon
No
Next Step Institutions
Barnard College New York, New York
Bates College Lewiston, Maine
Colgate University Hamilton, New York
Connecticut College New London, Connecticut
Hamilton College Clinton, New York
Kenyon College Gambier, Ohio
Macalester College St. Paul, Minnesota
Mount Holyoke College South Hadley, Massachusetts
Oberlin College Oberlin, Ohio
Reed College Portland, Oregon
Smith College North Hampton, Massachusetts
Trinity College Hartford, Connecticut
Whitman College Walla Walla, WA
Common Hour
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Under consideration 2009
No
No
Under consideration?
Yes
No
Premier Institutions
Amherst College Amherst, Massachusetts
Bowdoin College Brunswick, Maine
Carleton College Northfield, Minnesota
Claremont McKenna College Claremont, California
Colby College Waterville, Maine
Davidson College Davidson, North Carolina
Grinnell College Grinnell, Iowa
Haverford College Haverford, Pennsylvania
Middlebury College Middlebury, Vermont
Swarthmore College Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Vassar College Poughkeepsie, New York
Washington and Lee University Lexington, Virginia
Wellesley College Wellesley, Massachusetts
Wesleyan University Middletown, Connecticut
Williams College Williamstown, Massachusetts
Pacific Northwest Peer Institutions
Lewis & Clark College Portland, Oregon
Reed College Portland, Oregon
Whitman College Walla Walla, Washington
Willamette University Salem, Oregon
Common Hour
No
Yes
Yes
Under consideration?
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Under consideration?
Common Hour
No
No
No
No