COUNCIL ON ACADEMIC ASSESSMENT (CAA)
DRAFT MINUTES, NOVEMBER 8TH, 2012
UNH 105, 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM
Members present: Adrian Masters (Chair), Janelle Adsit, Deborah Bernnard, Sue Faerman, Jennifer Goodall,
Ilka Kressner, Sean Rafferty, Joan Savitt, Brian Stephenson, Bruce Szelest. Staff present: Joel Bloom, Steven
Doellefeld
Members absent: Greg Nowell, Kevin Williams
1. Call to order.
2. New member, Jennifer Goodall (Informatics), was introduced and welcomed to the Council.
3. The minutes of the October 11th meeting were reviewed and approved with minor revisions.
4. Chairs’ Reports

CAA (Adrian Masters). Nothing to report.

GEAC (Deborah Bernnard). The Chair discussed the October GEAC meeting at which
The Director of Assessment presented a draft outline for the GEAC report; it was decided
that the Committee will use the outline as a guide, but would not be entirely bound by
that format. Greg Nowell reviewed the documents from Oral Discourse (2010-2011) and
found that the reporting was more complete than for previous categories reviewed. The
Committee will move on to Natural and Social Sciences next.

APRC (Sean Rafferty). The APRC met and approved a report for the Art and Art History
program review process, to be discussed at the November Council meeting. At our
subsequent meetings we will review Anthropology (the Chair will recuse himself from
that meeting). The APRC Chair, CAA Chair and Director of Assessment will draft letters
for Deans and department chairs regarding the new mid-cycle assessment review process.
5. Director’s Report (Joel Bloom). Nothing new to report. The Director and Associate Director will
meet with Sue Faerman and Leslie Halpern to discuss any outstanding logistical issues related to
the scheduling of General Education assessments.
6. Old Business. None.
7. New Business:

Review of the Art and Art History program review assessment (Janelle Adsit). It was
pointed out that the Council and the Committee should not be commenting on fiscal
matters by and large, but rather on academic matters. A few additional changes were
discussed, both substantive and non-substantive. The Council approved the Committee
report as revised.

Assessment in the proposed First-Year Writing Program. The lower-level writing
requirement is being replaced by a first-year writing seminar; according to the Charter
Amendment, the director of this program should be a Council member ex officio. The
propriety of this proposal was discussed.

Assessment of competencies within the major (Adrian Masters). The question here is to
what extent the Council should be involved with this. Sue Faerman pointed out that the
UAC is already working on department plans, and suggested that the Council should
coordinate with this. Joel Bloom will also be on the advisory committee, which will have
its first meeting later this semester.
8. Adjournment