Joint Committee on Academic Planning (JCAP) 2010-11

1. Joint Committee on Academic Planning (JCAP) 2010-11 Report to the URI Faculty Senate May 2011

2. JCAP’s Charge • Focus on academic planning and accreditation • Advisory to Provost Office and the Faculty Senate • Monitors progress of Academic Plan by suggesting modifications, additions, and deletions and creating task forces and prioritizing recommendations • Responsible for periodic and systematic review of the institution as required by NEASC and ensuring reviews are used for continuing improvement

3. JCAP’s Activities 2010-11 Met Monthly to Assess Academic Plan Progress, Review and Prioritize Task Force Recommendations, Implement Action Steps as Appropriate, and Oversee NEASC Focused Evaluation and Future Reviews. Work Done by Subcommittees: • Metrics for Assessing the Academic Plan – Prof. K. Quina –chr. • NEASC Accreditation – Prof. M. Barbour – chr. • Academic Plan Task Forces – Prof. N. Eaton – chr.

4. JCAP Subcommittee on Academic Plan Task Force Review Membership: Peter Alfonso, David Coates, Donald DeHayes, Nancy Eaton, Norbert Mundorf

5. Task Force Report Review - 2010/2011 Reviewed Reports from Task Forces on: Graduate Education --- Global --- Diversity Interdisciplinary --- Online Learning • Organized recommendations by priority, short/long-term goals, needing resources, and implementation • Each Task Force has a webpage. JCAP reviews are posted – see: http://www.uri.edu/provost/planning/task_forces.html - Appointed ad hoc Task Forces Focused on: Academic Advising --- Experiential Learning

6. Task Force Reports 2010/2011 • Review and prioritize recommendations; report to full JCAP for revision and/or final endorsement • Reports from JCAP subcommittee used to guide resources and implementation planning • Continue to review remainder of reports • Many action steps taken, some in progress; all benefit from faculty input and involvement

7. Recommended Action Steps Online Learning – establish centrality of online learning -- Office of Online Teaching and Learning established -- Joint ad hoc Faculty Advisory Committee formed Interdisciplinary Solutions – remove barriers for id work -- bring innovative research and learning to classes -- build connections across depts; joint appts, cross-listing; new interdisc programs – e.g., Health Studies Global – enrichment through a world-view; recruit intl students -- offer ESL through ACE partnership – underway -- global competence via Gen Ed – rec to UC Gen Ed, in review -- new ad hoc group to continue global analysis -- possible new Global Studies minor; consider campus leader

8. Action Steps - cont Graduate Education – expand graduate education and Graduate School -- create opportunities for graduate students - e.g., new Graduate Enhancement Fund and Discovery@URI -- incorporate interdisciplinary, online, diversity, and global -- maximize quality and success Diversity – ensure equitable, diverse, inclusive community -- multicultural competency in Gen Ed – rec to UC Gen Ed, in review -- support new CDO position

9. JCAP Subcommittee on Metrics for Assessing the Academic Plan Membership: Chris Anderson, Peter Larsen, Ann Morrissey, Jason Pina, Kat Quina, Nasser Zawia,

10. Metrics Subcommittee • Task: Develop key indicators of progress towards goals of Academic Plan • Approach: Worked with key stakeholders • Strategy: • Nationally recognized definitions (e.g., “FTE”) • Accessible data where possible (Institutional Research, Survey of Student Experiences, APRC) • Aggregated across the university, not by college • Where national definitions not available (e.g., “multicultural”), rely on URI committees (esp. Gen Ed), informed by task force reports

11. Draft Metrics • Identified 90 appropriate metrics for goals 1-5, confirmed availability of data for all but 6. Examples: • Goal 1: Freshman class descriptives, retention data, graduating senior reports, IDEA summaries • Goal 2: Living-learning communities, interdisciplinary and experiential course enrollment • Goal 3: Primary scholarly outputs, efficiency of Div of Research, undergrad research engagement • Goal 4: Study abroad, global perspective course and internship enrollments • Goal 5: Snap surveys, multicultural course enrollments, retention of underrepresented faculty and students

12. Next Steps • Review baseline (2009-2010) and first year (2010-2011) data, available July, 2011 • Develop assessment of efficiency in processing sponsored projects – recommended consultant review of Division of Research for best practices • Adopt definitions of “global,” “multicultural,” “experiential,” and “interdisciplinary” courses from other committees, in progress; implement curricular categories 2011-2012 • Address Goal 6 metric • Consider metrics for more vague terms, e.g., “value,” “quality” Draft metrics are posted at http://www.uri.edu/provost/ planning/planningadditionalinfo.htmlwith directions for feedback.

13. JCAP Subcommittee on Issues Pertaining to NEASC Accreditation Membership: Marilyn Barbour, Laura Beauvais, Lori Ciccomascolo, Sandy Hicks, Lynn McKinney, Jack Szczepanski, Vern Wyman

14. Sub-Committee Objectives 2010/2011 • Determination of subcommittee role: oversight responsibility for NEASC reporting • Successful NEASC Visit: October 31-November 2, 2010 • Preparations for NEASC 2012 Interim Report: • Issues identified for attention in fall 2010 • Focus area of achieving goals for student retention and persistence to graduation and assuring effectiveness of financial aid policies • Accomplishments/updates of all NEASC Standards

15. Preparations for NEASC 2012 Interim Report • Communication with NEASC to determine requirements for the Interim Report 5th year NEASC review planning meeting attended by L. Beauvais, L. Ciccomascolo, D. Libutti on 3/8/11 • Report due August 2012: a comprehensive review and update of all 11 standards in addition to highlighted issues; Newly designed data forms for completion of each standard

16. Preparations for NEASC 2012 Interim Report • Subcommittee Work: • Review of 2007 self-study for continued accuracy of information provided and documentation of proposed actions • Cross-linking the URI 2007 self-study document to issues identified in NEASC team report • Determination of leadership for each NEASC standard- ongoing May 2011 • All standards due in final form- May 2012 • Compilation of document/editing for submission- summer 2012