Annual Report of the University College Committee [Draft for 4/21/08 meeting]
Academic Year 2007-08
Submitted May 1, 2008

1.  Committee chairperson: Laura McSweeney

2.  Committee membership
Bruce Bradford (DSOB)
Elizabeth Dreyer (Religious Studies), Spring 2008, replacement for Brian Torff
Elizabeth Langran (GSEAP)
Laura McSweeney (Mathematics & CS)
Rose Rodrigues (Sociology & Anthropology)
Carole Pomarico (SON)
Brian Torff (Visual and Performing Arts), Fall 2007, On sabbatical Spring 2008
Edna Wilson (Dean UC, ex officio)

3.  Meetings attended:
The Committee met 8 times during the 2007-2008 year. All members of this committee attended and participated reliably.  Members who could not attend a meeting could send comments on the scheduled agenda items.  Specific attendance follows:
Bradford [7]
Dreyer [3] Spring 2008 only
Dunn (invited guest) [1]
Conlan (invited guest) [1]
Langran [8]
McSweeney [9]
Perkus (invited guest) [1]
Rodrigues [6]
Pomarico [5]
Torff [4] Fall 2007 only
Wilson [7]

4.  Dates of meetings:  
    September 19, 2007
    September 27, 2007
    October 24, 2007
    November 28, 2007
    January 30, 2008
    February 25, 2008
    March 19, 2008
    April 21, 2008
 
5.  List of principal topics considered by the committee:
Concerns regarding online courses:  Committee members discussed several issues related to online courses, including the impact of online courses on traditional classes, the scheduling and approval of online courses, the quality of instruction, competing enrollments between grounded and online classes, the evaluation of online courses, and the assessment of student learning in online courses.

Improving Communication between UC and Full-Time Faculty: The Committee continued to discuss ways to improve communication between UC, full-time faculty, and department chairs from the various colleges/schools whose faculty teach for UC; particularly around the development, approval and implementation of online courses. The committee also discussed the need for greater full-time faculty involvement in UC and discussed ways to provide information to faculty about the type of programs UC offers and how many students are served.

Data tracking: The committee discussed issues regarding enrollment numbers and tracking UC students, particularly when students change schools.

Departmental advisor: In the past there had been an advisor position within each CAS department to ensure the flow of information between departments and UC as well as to advise UC students. These positions no longer exist and the committee began discussions about how to reactivate these types of positions.

Procedures Document for Building the Course Schedule for University College: The major work of the Committee in the fall focused on finalizing and approving the procedures document for building the UC course schedule. Completion of this task involved substantial discussion of issues related to the communication between UC and department chairs and faculty and increasing departmental oversight.  

Updating the Governance Document for University College:  The spring semester was devoted to extensive discussions about the UC Governance document.  Since the original document was written circa 1986, UC has expanded and has taken on many new roles, like overseeing Master’s programs, Study Abroad, International Students, etc., which are not reflected in the original document.  The committee felt that it should first focus on revising the Mission and Vision statements.  Examples of mission statements from Schools of Continuing Education from other universities were collected for comparison.  

6.  List of decisions/actions taken by the committee:
Distribution of the Procedures for Building UC Course Schedule (attached). The Procedures document was approved by the committee at its meeting on 11/12/07.  Dean Wilson and Laura McSweeney, Chair of the UC committee, met with the Chairs from the College of Arts and Sciences at the Dean’s Council Meeting on Jan. 16, 2008.  A copy of the document was given to all chairs. Dean Wilson and Professor McSweeney gave an overview of the procedures and answered questions regarding the new procedures.


7.  Anticipated effects of these decisions:
Distribution of Procedures for Building UC Schedule: The intention is that the revised procedures will underscore the importance of ongoing communication between UC and department chairs and make the process for developing, approving and scheduling courses in UC clearer and uniform.

8.  Unfinished business:
Updating the UC Governance Document:  The committee will continue its work on the governance document that it began this year.

Responding to the needs of Adult Learners in UC: The committee will discuss ways to develop courses of interest to adult learners and to identify and address barriers faced by adult and part-time learners.  Sue Fitzgerald, from UC, could be invited to discuss specific issues that non-traditional students face.

Establishing a UC Curriculum Committee: The committee will consider both the need for a UC Curriculum Committee and the role that UC might serve on this committee.

Infusion of Jesuit Mission into UC: In conjunction with Goal III of the Strategic Plan, the committee needs to be updated on efforts in this area of infusing the Jesuit mission into graduate education and discuss ways of supporting these efforts.

Evaluation of Adjuncts: The committee should assist in developing a uniform and effective process for evaluating adjunct professors teaching through UC.

School/Departmental advisor to UC: The committee should develop a plan to reinstitute UC advisors with the College of Arts and Sciences, the Dolan School of Business and the other schools.  The committee would assist in creating a description of the advisor’s role.

Data tracking and Shared Enrollments: The committee should discuss the advantages and problems of sharing enrollment numbers.

9.  Future agenda items:
Provide more information and guidance to faculty about study abroad programs and transfer credits so that faculty can advise students appropriately on course selection. This could be done at a GFM.

Provide faculty members information about University College at the new faculty orientation that is held before the start of each fall semester.

In addition, the other “Unfinished business” items are equally important and could be addressed by next year’s committee.
 
Procedure for building the course schedule for University College
University College Committee (approved 11/12/07)

1.    In consultation with department chairs, UC builds a template for the upcoming semester based on environmental trends and enrollment goals.
2.    A letter goes out to all full-time Arts and Sciences faculty (except for those in the Department of Communication because they cross-reference courses with UC) asking for their interest in teaching through University College for the upcoming semester(s).  This letter is cc’ed to the department chairs.
a.    In this letter, faculty members are asked which courses, format and semester length they would prefer.
b.    All faculty members are required to sign the letter indicating that they have discussed this matter with their department.
c.    Both faculty and courses must be approved by A&S Curriculum Committee for the one-week term.
3.    The Dolan School of Business informs University College which courses and faculty should be scheduled for the up coming semester through University College.
4.    A similar letter goes out to all part-time faculty who are in our database (going back three years).  In that letter, faculty names are followed by the courses they taught during the same term of the previous year.  If a part-time faculty member wishes to teach a course for the first time (hence either a new faculty member, or a faculty member teaching a particular course for the first time), the following steps are followed:
a.    Their resume, teaching request and syllabus are sent to the appropriate department chair.
b.    The chair, or his or her designee, then either approves or disapproves of that faculty member teaching that course.
5.    Once UC has received signed course requests from full and part-time faculty, a schedule is built based on the initial template.  Full time faculty are given preference if a conflict arises.  This tentative schedule is then sent to all department chairs for their approval.  Department chairs are given a week to respond to any errors, omissions, or to raise any questions.
6.    Reformatting courses to the on-line format works roughly the same way with the additional caveat that more time is needed in the development stage, and it is usually expected that the faculty member has already taught the classroom version of the course for Fairfield University.  Scheduling of on-line courses is consistent with the procedure for classroom courses.
7.    All faculty teaching through University College must submit a syllabus (which is posted on Eidos and reviewed by the dean’s office) and complete end-of-semester student evaluations.  University College will also explore requiring faculty to submit a self-reflective assessment of the semester regarding: what went well, what was challenging, and suggestions for improvement.
8.    For select departments and programs, teaching performance is also reviewed through peer and chair classroom visitations and in the near future artifact collection/review will also be enacted.