15 March 2016
PRAC March 2016 Report
Submitted by Mitchell Anderson, Chair
Committee Membership
Executive Committee
Mitchell Anderson, Chair, Seri Luangphinith, Doug Mikkleson
Full Committee
2014-15
Ag
CHEM
AJ
Poly Sci
Armando Ortega
Kevin Hopkins
Norbert Furumo
Katherine Young
Todd Belt
2015-16
Art
English
MARE
Hist
2016-17
Econ
Physics & Astr
Sociology
Kinesiology
Geology
M.A. Education
CS
Jonathan Goebel
Kirsten Molligaard
Jason Adolf
Doug Mikkleson
Keisuke Nakao
Marianne Takamiya
Alton Okinaka
Lincoln Gotshalk
Steve Lundblad
Michele Ebersol
Keith Edwards
2017-18
Jap Studies
Geography
M. A. TCEBS
Anth
Math
Comm
Masa Honda
Jonathan Price
Don Price
Peter Mills
Brian Wissman
Miike Yoshitaka

Programs Completed PR (2014 – 2015)

Chemistry Status: Complete

Administration of Justice Status: Complete

Political Science Status: Complete

Ph.D. Hawaiian Language Culture Revitalization (not sure about this one)

Ag Status: MOU negotiations suspended pending re-org
Programs Currently in PR (2015 – 2016)

Art Status: identified external reviewer

English Status: Working on the MOU

History Status: external reviewer report is in and posted,

Marine Science working on MOU
Status: Awaiting word from the Dean on MOU
Programs Scheduled for PR Next Year (2016 – 2017)

Economics Attended PRAC training meeting

Physics

Sociology

Kinesiology

Geology

M.Ed. Education

CS
Met with PRAC for PR overview
Moved to 2019-20
Met with PRAC exec, attended PRAC mtg.
Attended PRAC training mtg.
Programs Scheduled for PR the Following Year (2017 – 2018)

Japanese Studies

Geography

Natural Science

Environmental Studies

Biology

M.A. TCBES

Anthropology

M.A. Cultural Heritage
Met with them Feb 22 - presented initial PR overview
Activities this month (most activities are proceeding smoothly)
MOA Process 2014 - 15
1.
CHEM MOU is now complete and uploaded to the VCAA PR website. (hurrah!)
2.
POLS PR is complete (hurrah!).
3.
AJ PR is complete (hurrah!)

4.
CAFNRM has suspended MOU negotiations pending the outcome of the current reorganization discussions.
MOA Process 2015 - 16
5.
ART is awaiting their external reviewer's visit and has not yet entered the MOU process.
6.
ENG has received their external reviewer’s report as is just beginning the MOU process.
7.
History has just received their external reviewer's report, which has already been posted to the VCAA PR website. It is just entering the MOU process.
8.
MARE has sent a revised MOA to the dean, and is awaiting her response. She has been informed that PRAC should be invited to the MOU meetings.
Major Schedule Change
The PRAC Chair met with Kinesiology to help them with their upcoming PR. The chair discovered during the subsequent discussion that Kinesiology currently has over 250 majors and only two faculty members. Another is on sabbatical, but one is scheduled for next year as well, leaving only two faculty members again for next year. Also, Kinesiology is currently trying to hire two new faculty members who would greatly benefit from helping form the department's vision that it is anticipated will be developed through the PR process. The chair wrote to the
VCAA and suggested this seemed to be an unusual burden for a department and that it may be best for everyone concerned to move it back at least a couple of years. He agreed and it has been rescheduled for 2019-20. This was an example of the utility of PRAC. Because of our involvement helping other departments we were able to quickly recognize the futility of having
Kinesiology go through PR under such circumstances, and we were able to quickly remedy the situation.
Other Activities (Beyond 2015-16)
The PRAC Chair met with Geology and gave them the initial PR overview. Jene Michaud questioned the meaning of the term "Program" in this context, in particular whether it referred onto to the major or if PR included all activities. While this has never been clarified, the Chair informed Geology that this was their opportunity to address their entire mission, and as such it was important to identify any deficiencies or resources needed to complete their entire mission.
A common thread: Many of the departments are indicating a shortage of resources and a distrust in getting reliable commitments from the Administration to deal with these. This is an issue that
PRAC will need to keep on its radar in the upcoming years. However, such sentiments have been based not on the current MOU process but on past experiences. The Chair's observations thus far, albeit limited, is that the administration has been open about the lack of resources and is sincere in trying to address them. Programs are urged to take advantage of the PR process to try and deal with these issues within this venue.