Agenda – Academic Affairs Committee
March 3, 2008 Monday, 3:45‐5:15pm,
Frost Academic Commons
PDF Version of AAC Agenda 3-3-2008
1) Minutes from 2/18
2) Announcements
3) Finalize Faculty Advising Survey
4) Stop‐Out Policy
Motion: to extend the Frost Stop‐Out Policy to all PSU undergraduate students.
5) Using Attendance as a Grading Criterion (David)
6) Transfer Issue (Linda)
Tabled
Enrollment Management Issues (Bill Crangle will visit)
Diversity Reports and Subcommittee (Robin)
Lack of Friday Classes (raised by Bob Egbert)
ADVISING SURVEY
How many students do you advise? _____Undergraduate ______Graduate
How many different majors or options are represented in your advisee pool?
1. Where do you think advising falls? You may check more than one box.
Why did you check that/those boxes?
2. On a scale of 1‐5 (with 1 representing Very Important and 5 representing Not Important), how important is advising to you and why?
3. How important is schedule planning and program advising to you as an advisor?
4. How important is scholastic achievement and career/field related mentoring to you as an advisor?
5. How important is social/personal counseling adjustment to you as an advisor?
6. How much time do you spend on schedule planning and program advising?
7. How much time do you spend on scholastic achievement and career/field related mentoring?
8. How much time do you spend on social/personal counseling adjustment?
9. What ideas would you suggest be considered to improve the schedule planning process?
10. What are the most important aspects of being an advisor to you?
11. What areas of advising are the most fulfilling to you?
12. What areas of advising are the least fulfilling to you?
13. What challenges do you face with the advising process?
14. How should we hold faculty accountable who do not participate in the advising process?
15. Is there anything else you would like to tell us about your experience with advising?
STOP OUT POLICY AND PROCEDURE FOR FROST STUDENTS
Policy: Frost School students may “stop out” of school for one year (one fall and one
spring term) without losing their status as an active student including retention of their
email accounts, access to myPlymouth and ability to register online. No readmission
application or fees are required if the student re-enrolls for the 3rd full semester.
Procedure: Students may inform us that they intend to stop out for a semester or two or they may not enroll without informing us. If students inform us that they intend to stopout, we will ask them to complete the attached form and we will follow procedure A below. If a student does not inform us in advance, but we discover that s/he is not enrolled, we will follow procedure B.
A. If we get a form from a student planning to stop out:
Frost School staff will enter the code N1 under “enrollment status” in SFAREGS for the first fall/spring term that the student will be stopping out. Next block to the registrations should default to N1 as well. If students have indicated they will be out a second term
Frost staff will go to that fall/spring term and enter N2 in enrollment status (there wouldn’t be any registrations to change at that point).
B. If we do not get a form from a student but see that s/he is not registered/not attending:
At the confirmation deadline, Frost staff will go to SFAREGS for the current fall/spring term the one they are not attending in) and enter N1 in enrollment status and then check the next block for registrations and be sure they default to N1.
If they enroll in a Winterim or Summer term, that starts the clock ticking all over again so we need to make sure that the next fall/spring term is not coded N2 until the confirmation deadline for that term.
If a student was N1 last semester and is not registered or not attending for this semester (and did not attend winterim/summer):
At the confirmation deadline for the second term, Frost staff will go to SFAREGS for
the current fall/spring term and enter code N2 in enrollment status. They will check
the next block to make sure it defaults to N2.
If a student was N2 last semester and is not registered or not attending for the semester (and did not attend winterim/summer):
These students will be considered no-shows and withdrawn by the Registrar’s office.
C. Communication with students:
Letter 1: Students who are not registered by the confirmation deadline will receive a letter informing them that they have been coded as not enrolled but that they will still be
considered “active” for one year giving them access to email, myPlymouth, and online
registration.
Letter 2: Students who are not registered for the second term, will receive a second letter informing them that this is the second semester that they have not been enrolled and that they must enroll by the following fall/spring semester or they will be formally withdrawn. At that point if they wanted to return to school they would have to go through the readmission process and pay a readmissions fee.
Letter 3: Students not re-enrolling after one year will receive a letter informing them that they have been withdrawn.
Julie Bernier on the Transfer Issue:
The history is that we used to accept only credits for courses that we actually had a discipline for. For example if a student transferred from MIT with engineering courses, we would not accept the credit. We realized this was too tight of a policy, so about 4‐5 years ago the faculty approved a change to the policy to allow ALL courses from regionally accredited institutions as long as the course was not ‘vocational’ – e.g. automotive, weapon maintenance, etc. When we passed the motion, I suggested we use the general rule that if the course is one that comes from a program leading to a bachelor’s degree, then it can be accepted. E.g. nursing leads to a BS degree and therefore we should accept those credits. I made this recommendation based on the fact that we award credit for Injury Assessment, Therapeutic Exercise, and Modalities and Clinical assignments for our Athletic Training Majors, why would we not accept the exact same thing for nursing majors. I think it has been a little ‘gray’ and clarification would be good. I’m sure Mary can add more.
Linda’s Notes on the Transfer Issue:
Preface: Currently, only typical academic courses taken at accredited institutions of higher education qualify to transfer to PSU.
Questions:
1. Should “vocational” courses that meet the above criteria be considered? For example, should courses in nursing, dental hygiene, etc be eligible for transfer?
2. If they are eligible, how should the university decide which vocational courses are
transferable and which ones are not?
3. If they are not eligible, why not?
From the Academic Catalog:
The University will allow transfer credit from regionally‐accredited degree‐granting institutions for courses that are graded C or above or its equivalent (a grade of P in a Pass/No Pass course). Note that:
o Courses deemed by Plymouth State University or the transferring institution to be either developmental/ remedial or vocational are not transferable.
o Academic credit for life experience and previous work experience is not given.
o A grade of C‐ or CD is not equivalent to a C.
o Only the credits will be transferred. Grades from other institutions will not appear on the Plymouth transcript nor will they be included in students’ grade point averages. The only exception to this is a Plymouth course taught through Granite State College (GSC) within the University System of New Hampshire (translocated course). When translocated courses are transferred into Plymouth, these courses are placed on the Plymouth transcript and treated as non‐transferred courses. Grades earned in Plymouth courses taught through GSC, are averaged into students’ grade point averages at Plymouth, regardless of grade.
A maximum of 65 credits taken at two‐year colleges or 90 credits taken at four‐year institutions will be accepted toward the baccalaureate degree.
A course from a two‐year college transfers to Plymouth as lower‐level only. A course from a two‐year college may transfer as upper‐level only if equivalency to a Plymouth upper‐level course can be demonstrated. Students will have to supply course syllabi, sample texts and other documents for evaluation by the appropriate Department Chair.
From 1007‐2008 Academic Catalog:
Class Attendance
Students are urged to recognize the importance of participation
in class activities and to be aware that their course grade may be
affected by absences. Unless otherwise stated in this policy, it
is the option of the instructor to determine the attendance policy
for classes and to decide whether to allow students to make
up work missed. However, in the case of University‑sponsored
activity absences, students will be allowed to make up such
portions of work missed or be excused from that class as the
instructor deems feasible. Students are reminded that they
have the responsibility to choose their extracurricular activities
at times not in conflict with their academic classes. Instructors
leading University-sponsored activities should forward to the
Undergraduate Studies Office the names of students who will
be absent from classes.
It is the responsibility of the student, where possible, to notify
instructors regarding absences for whatever reason or period
of time. This should take place before leaving campus, during
an illness or upon return to campus. If there are extenuating
circumstances that make such communication difficult,
students should contact the Undergraduate Studies Office.
Unless the course instructor states otherwise, students should
assume that there will be academic consequences for every
absence deemed unexcused by the instructor.
Students who do not appear for the first class of the semester
and do not notify the course instructor before that class meeting
that they will be absent, may be dropped from the course
by the instructor and their place may be given to another student.
Students should not, however, assume they have been
dropped if they miss the first class.
Student teachers are subject to the same attendance rules
as the regularly
employed cooperating teachers, within the
bounds of the University calendar. Absences because of sickness
of the individual or a family member can be excused
by the principal or superintendent of schools. Absences for
other causes have to be agreed upon jointly by the principal
or superintendent
and the University’s Coordinator of Teacher
Certification and Clinical Experiences.