Academic Affairs Committee Meeting (HAB 802)

December 3, 2002

Present: Debra Miller, Lisa Chase, Leslie Couse, Wilma Feliciano, Yoav Kaddar,

Glenn Geher (Chair), David Blankenship, Chih-Yang Tsi, Martin Lodge,

Jim Dembowski, Cindy McCormick, Robin Smith, Ann Minnick (Guest)

Minutes from 11/12/02 were tabled. They are to be read and approved at the first meeting of the Spring Semester.

I. Student SEI Proposal Summary: Jim Dembowski attended the Academic Senate Meeting where the Student Association Representative and other students discussed their SEI proposal (i.e., that 4 general questions from the SUNY New Paltz SEI form be published for all New Paltz students to use as criteria for selecting courses and instructors). It was concluded at the Senate Meeting that the previous motion be amended to include the following:

(1) These 4 SEI questions will be obtained from faculty strictly on a voluntary basis - only faculty wishing to participate will be included.

(2) The information obtained from these forms will be available for only one year

(3) The information will be available only to the SUNY New Paltz community. It will not be made public on the web.

(4) The information will be collected starting in Spring, 2003.

Jim Dembowski reported that the Academic Senate passed the motion as amended. It will be going to the full faculty next.

III. GE Option Proposal: Ann Minnick circulated a proposal "that students who entered [SUNY New Paltz] Fall 2002 be given the option of choosing GEIII or GEII/A. Students who entered in Spring 2002 or earlier would still be required to complete the GE program that was in effect when they entered." Students with Junior and Senior status would not be eligible to chose GEIII. Both freshmen and transfer students who enter Fall 2003 will be under GEIII regulations.

Ann Minnick was able to attend the last half of the meeting for discussion on this proposal. The committee decided to:

(1) Have Ann Minnick and David Blankenship present this information to all Department Chairs at the next Chairs Meeting (12/12/02).

(2) Make this proposal (and the additional information resulting from the Chairs Meeting) the first topic of discussion on the agenda for the first meeting of the Spring Semester.

(3) Continue with this topic on the online Discussion Board.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:30pm

Respectfully submitted by

Cynthia A. McCormick (Communication Disorders)