August 26, 2005

TO:                  Tom Gendreau, Convener

                        Academic Planning Committee

FROM:            Carmen Wilson, Chair

                        Faculty Senate

RE:                   Committee Charge for 2005-2006 Academic Year

This memo is intended to serve as the initial charge letter to the Academic Planning Committee for the 2005-06 academic year.  As the convener of the APC, it is your responsibility to arrange as soon as feasible an organizational meeting, the primary purpose of which is to elect a chairperson and a secretary.  Please share this memo with the committee members either at the organizational meeting or, if you prefer, prior to that meting.

 Primary responsibilities of the chairperson include:

o       promptly informing the Senate office (5-8018) the results of the election of officers and any changes in committee membership.*

o       organizing and conducting meetings.

o       completing a year end report on the APC activities to be submitted to the Senate Office no later than May 31, 2006.

*The committee chairperson should carefully review the policies on committee attendance and the role of alternates on pgs. 10-11, of the 8-27-01 Articles & By-laws materials distributed by Jennifer Wilson's office. 

Primary responsibilities of the secretary include:

o       recording minutes of each meeting.

o       sending meeting minutes to Sibbie Weathers (weathers.sylv@uwlax.edu) so that the minutes can be posted on the faculty senate website. 

In the event the committee chooses to rotate secretarial duties, please designate one person to be responsible for e-mailing the meeting minutes to Sibbie Weathers.  Sibbie has already created an e-mail distribution list of committee members which includes Sibbie to facilitate communication with faculty senate.

Duties and responsibilities of the committee shall include:

1. Maintaining and updating the procedures and criteria used to review proposals for new or revised academic programs. Any changes in procedures or criteria are subject to the approval of the Faculty Senate. The procedures shall provide opportunity for input from those areas of the University that would be affected by the proposed program. The criteria shall take into consideration the needs of students and society, the mission of the university, the necessity for quality academic programs, and the availability of the necessary resources.
2. Receiving and reviewing proposals for all new academic programs, including emphases, concentrations, minors, majors, graduate, and special programs.  Receiving and reviewing proposals for new or revised courses or for program revisions that have resource needs that cannot be met by the proposing department and college, or have implications for long-range academic planning.
   1. The review shall include consulting with the Chancellor, the Provost/Vice Chancellor and the academic dean of the proposing college regarding the availability of resources within the college to fund the proposal.
   2. If it is determined that adequate resources are not available within the college, APC shall request that the Provost/Vice Chancellor forward to APC a report detailing available resources in the other academic colleges and in the non-academic units of the university.  The Provost/Vice Chancellor shall include recommendations on what available resources might be most appropriately used to fund the proposal.
   3. The committee shall forward its recommendations to the Faculty Senate.
3. Formulating long range academic plans and reviewing externally generated academic planning initiatives for recommendation to the Faculty Senate.
4. Receiving and reviewing proposals to eliminate or suspend academic programs and forwarding its recommendations to the Faculty Senate.

The regular membership of the committee shall consist of nine full time faculty at the rank of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor or Professor, having no designated administrative responsibilities, each with a minimum of four years experience at UW-L or tenured status. This membership shall include three representatives from the College of Liberal Studies and two representatives from each of the following academic units:  the College of Science and Allied Health, the College of Business Administration, and the College of Education, Exercise Science, Health and Recreation.  Terms of membership shall be three years and be staggered so that three members complete their terms and are replaced each year. The committee shall elect its chairperson.  If the committee is meeting as described in 4. above, then the membership of the committee shall be temporarily expanded (if necessary) in order to provide a representative from the program proposed for elimination.  Any temporary member shall have no designated administrative responsibilities and shall be selected through procedures established by the committee.

In addition to the committee's normal duties, a special charge for the upcoming year is to:

o       provide and disseminate updated procedures for review of the various categories under the purview of the committee.

Please plan to submit a report to faculty senate on the above charge no later than March 9, 2006.

If you have questions or concerns regarding this charge, please contact me at any time during the year.  Finally, if the Senate Executive Committee or I can assist your committee in any way during the year, please do not hesitate to ask.

saw