Academic Programs Committee 2014/2015 Annual Report
September 2014
APC met on Tuesday Sept 30. The Committee received our Charge for the upcoming Academic year from Pam Feldhoff and discussed the following business:
1) Elect Chair - Don Demuth was nominated and voted to remain as Chair of the Committee.
2) Exec Committee Rep - Margo Smith held this position for the past several years but is stepping down. APC sought volunteers/nominations for the position this year. Sham Kakar was voted to represent the Committee.
3) Regular Meeting Schedule - The regular Tuesday afternoon schedule conflicts with the teaching schedules of several members. The committee tentatively set the meeting date for the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 2:30-3:30PM and will confirm the new date with members of the Committee who were unable to attend the meeting.
4) There will need to be an election to replace members who have rotated off the Committee. We have the appropriate membership from the 5 required units, so membership is open to any who may be interested. This was successfully accomplished.
October 2014
Academic Programs Committee did not formally meet in October but received a proposal for the new 4Civility Institute and a proposal to suspend the Ph.D in Art History program for 5 years. The Committee provided a secondary review of the 4Civility Institute and sent comments via email to the Chair of Planning and Budget. APC also reviewed the proposal to suspend the Ph.D in Art History program and requested clarification from Dr. Ying Kit Chan that the 5 year period will be sufficient to allow the eight students currently in the Program to complete their studies and graduate. APC received an adequate response and forwarded the proposal to the Faculty Senate for approval.
February 2015
APC did not formally meet in February but the Committee received a proposal for the new Schnatter Center in the School of Business and provided a secondary review to support of the evaluation of the Center by Planning and Budget. Questions and comments were sent to P&B via email.
March 2015
APC did not formally meet in March but received a new proposal for a Doctor of Nursing Practice from the School of Nursing. The Committee scheduled a meeting with representatives from the School for the next scheduled meeting on April 8, 2015.
April 2015
APC met with Drs. Lee Ridner and Marcia Hern to discuss the proposal for a Doctorate in Nursing Practice. Committee members commented that the proposal was very well written and the details of the DPN program were clearly presented. Several points were raised during the discussion that are summarized below.
Main points:
1) The DNP program does not consist of 25 new courses and the course list should be revised to indicate how many of the courses already exist and are being taught by SON Faculty, and how many are actually new courses.
2) The existing UK program should be mentioned along with the factors that distinguish the DNP over this UK program.
3) Additional information is required to indicate why moving from APRN to DNP can improve health outcomes.
4) Several additional minor points were raised regarding total student enrollment and the Prgram budget.
5) The committee received sufficient responses to these points and forwarded the program to the full Senate for approval.
June 2015
APC reviewed an Interdisciplinary MA/MS program with a concentration on Sustainability in June. The Committee concluded that this is an interesting and timely program and identified several points for clarification in the proposal, as listed below.
1) The description of job opportunities that may be available for MA/MS level students should be expanded.
2) The unique features and aspects of this program that distinguish it from other MA/MS programs with a focus on Sustainability should be stated in greater detail.
3) More information on how program success will be assessed, and the role that SIGS will play in this process should be provided.
4) A commitment from SIGS for fellowships and tuition waivers is needed.
5) The Committee received adequate responses to these requests and forwarded the program to the full Senate for approval.
APC also provided a secondary review of the Commonwealth Institute of Kentucky in June. The Committee identified several points in the proposal that required clarification. The main concern was that the proposal did not fully address how the new Faculty, Staff and students will be supported after the initial three year window funded by KentuckyOne. The letter from the Dean also commits resources only for the first three years. While the plan is to continue Institute activities by attracting external grants, there was no mention of contingency plans to support the new hires, students and space if insufficient grant funds are available. APC requested that this be discussed in the proposal. In addition, APC also requested that the relationship between the Institute and the Kentucky State Data Center be clarified.
The Committee was notified of a pending revised proposal.
August 2015
APC did not formally meet in August but reviewed the revised proposal for the Commonwealth Center from SPHIS and sent comments to Planning & Budget. There remained the concern regarding the lack of commitment for Faculty hires after the 3 year KYOne grant expires, especially if the hires are at the tenure track Asst. Professor level.
Respectfully Submitted,
Donald R. Demuth
Chair, APC
Professor and Assoc. Dean for Research
University of Louisville School of Dentistry