University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
College of Letters & Sciences
Dean’s Advisory Council Meeting
AGENDA
November 17, 2014
5:00 PM
Laurentide Hall 4120
I.
Call to Order
A. Dean Travis officially announced officer and committee election results.
B. Final negotiation of curriculum committee representation.
II.
Roll Call
A. David Travis
B. Allison Andrew
C. Jeremy Buck
D. Erin Everett
E. Ariana Hansen
F. Zach Herriges
G. Tyler Holmes
H. Elizabeth Jacobsen
I. Melissa Kennedy
J. Amanda Kuhn
K. Taylor Peltier
L. Andrew Phillips
M. Monica Ripp
N. David Sackett
O. Cynthia Stevens
III.
Guests/Announcements
A. No general announcements from council members.
IV.
Round Robin
A. Last Meeting Homework Assignment
1. Campus Safety
2. Grid Scheduling
a) Science labs are overlapping, more clustered--positive or negative?
b) Earlier night class options--positive.
3. Advising Book
a) Professional Writing Core has taken role in L&S advising book,
and in revision of language and organization.
b) Biology and Chemistry departments generally have not seen this,
manage advising very well without it, no real use.
c) Referred to by Math representatives GA/GS requirements.
d) Print concerns: can it be avoided? Is it needed?
e) Level of focus varies by media--more difficult for digital.
f) Will students actually print out the PDF? Will that damage their
understanding of the content?
g) Student should take responsibility in choosing how to use.
h) Short term vs. long term: the book is a fixture of the L&S advising
process--long term not on table yet, but perhaps one copy per
office (or copies per office) in future?
4. Registration
a) Elizabeth reported having to take an online class due to scheduling
conflicts with lecture times.
50 minute classes seem to cause conflicts with twice weekly labs,
may be a problem for nontraditional students or transfers.
b) Problems with prerequisite recognition--math students had difficult
time enrolling, all across the board, in a finance class in business
requirement.
(1) Resulted in need for manual authorization for each student.
c) Priority Registration Recipients
(1) Parties moving for priority registration?
(2) Problems with Registration
5. Online Classes
a) Thoughts?
(1) Charging more to on-campus students to deter?
(2) On-campus students: deters their own experience?
(3) Good for commuters--saves commute time.
(4) Also good for RAs during the first semester or so?
(5) How frequently are they taken by on-campus students?
b) Are they as effective?
a) Depends how set up, content, how inventive.
b) Disconnect between tutor-connected classes and next
course, particularly if online, particularly in assumption of
prior knowledge?
c) Infrastructure fee waiver--where would appeals end?
d) Math department perspective: many online math classes
result in students returning to the Math Center.
e) Must compete with online offerings, yet remain a bricksand-mortar university.
f) No black-and-whitesolution to online course fee discretion.
g) Online tests and cheating?
i)
Notes are powerful learning tools.
ii)
How does the recorded test option affect test
effectiveness?
V. New Business & Reports
a. Political Science working on filling position, two applicants for American Politics
touring campus and interviewing in coming weeks.
b. Gender Studies faculty members presented on Diversity Leadership certificate in
Puerto Rico--went well and was well received.
c. Dr. Compass organized the Line 61 (pipeline) forum, including two activists in
the area offering views on each side, 45 minutes for open forum on the topic-went well.
i.
Adding more production to the existing pipeline from Duluth to the
processing centers in Chicago.
d. Committee for lab equipment--what about updated budgets for everyday supplies?
i.
Basic equipment within department budgets--committee for outside
funding.
ii.
Solution to seeking more department funding--ask to increase budget.
e. Retirement of Chancellor Telfer.
VI.
Assignment for Next Meeting
A. Getting ready for visit for re-accreditation--self study. Perhaps not doing a good
job of tracking student complaints?
1. Formal complaints--not the subject of this study.
2. Informal complaints--not a formal appeal or process:
a) Too difficult, uncomfortable topic, etc.
(1) Student goes to professor initially, then department chair,
then to Dean to ask if formal complaint necessary--99% of
the time no.
(2) Fear of name being attached.
(3) Would like something to be done, even if not sure what.
b) Should we be tracking informal complaints? Did you believe this
was happening before?
(1) An online, anonymous forum?
(2) Analyze evaluation comments more?
B. For next time: take on quality of advising?
a. Agenda item for next time.
VII.
Adjourn
A. Next meeting: December 8, 2014 at 5:00 PM.