November 19, 2003

Members Present:
Shaun Caldwell
Marilyn Greer, Ph.D.
Donna Hemphill
Kathy Hoffman
Shreya Kant
Patrick Martin
George Stancel, Ph.D.
Stephen Tomasovic, Ph.D., Committee Chair
Weldon Gage

Members Absent:
Michael Ahearn, Ph.D.
Robert Jenkins
Victoria Knutson, Ph.D.
Jon Wiener, Ph.D.

Dr. Greer asked the committee to review the minutes of the November 5, 2003 committee meeting. Any amendments to the minutes were requested via email to her attention.

Dr. Greer distributed a spreadsheet to the committee. All outstanding assignments were highlighted in gray. Dr. Greer requested that all assignment with the exception of Finance which is pending audit completion, be completed by December 4, 2003.

Ms. Hemphill informed Dr. Greer that the audit may be completed within 2 weeks at which time an update to the Finance portion may be applied.

Dr. Greer requested the assignments be completed by December 4 so that she can review the documentation and formulate specific questions prior to her departure for the Annual SACS Meeting. Dr. Greer also requested that committee members forward any additional questions for SACS by December 4 as well.

Dr. Greer informed the committee that she would be downloading all the documentation from the website and placing in booklet form to be distributed to all committee members for review prior to the December 19 meeting.

Dr. Tomasovic stated that the next step would be to post the documentation on the website for the community to review. Dr. Greer suggested advertising the website to make the community aware of how to access the documentation. Dr. Greer inquired of Dr. Stancel if the Health Science Center should be included. Dr. Stancel indicated that it could be done, but also suggested that it may be simpler to just include the GSBS site. Dr. Stancel indicated that there be further discussion upon her return from the SACS meeting.

Dr. Greer distributed documentation for Core Requirements 13 & 14 related to Governance and Administration. Dr. Greer summarized Core Requirement 13 and documented compliance of the president in controlling the institution's fund raising activities as well as cited available resources and references. Dr. Greer reviewed Core Requirement 14 dealing with institutional related foundations. Dr. Greer indicated that information received from Dr. Tomasovic regarding the M.D. Anderson Services Corporation was incorporated into the write-up. Dr. Greer indicated that the M.D. Anderson UCF account was listed in the Regents Rules and Regulation as a line item. As a result she would like to verify whether to include related documentation. Dr. Tomasovic indicated that he had discussions with Dan Fountain and Ben Melson regarding the MD Anderson UCF account and the conclusions drawn were that the account was an internal entity and not a foundation. Thus the account would not fall under the definition as stated.

Ms. Hemphill agreed to look at the information on the website, but suggested excluding the MD. Anderson UCF account at this time.

Dr. Greer indicated that the 2nd portion of Core Requirement 14 dealt with liability. The write-up included documentation that the president assumes active leadership in developing private fund support and also documents that all matters are monitored through the State Auditor's Office. Dr. Tomasovic reiterated that the institution has no contractual or formal agreement and the liability question should not be relevant to the UCF Foundation. Dr. Tomasovic stated that whatever liabilities we have are general institutional liabilities.

Dr. Greer reviewed Core Requirement 16 dealing with Institutional Effectiveness. In searching the intranet, Dr. Greer was unable to locate sufficient documentation regarding institutional effectiveness. Dr. Greer requests assistance from school representatives to locate documentation.

Dr. Tomasovic stated that the Education Counts Report lists the goals for all of the educational programs across the institution including the academic programs. Within the schools themselves (School of Health Sciences and School of Biomedical Sciences) there is a strategic plan which also outlines goals and outcome measures.

Dr. Stancel and Mr. Caldwell offered to assist in obtaining additional documentation.

Dr. Greer reviewed Comprehensive Standard 1. Dr. Greer indicated that she did not know where to obtain information related to the curriculum committee. Mr. Caldwell informed Dr. Greer that each of their programs have their own mini curriculum committee and he suggests using the interim reports that are sent to the Programmatic Accrediting Agency. Dr. Stancel indicated that their programs follow similar procedures and the minutes of all their standard committees are posted on the website. Dr. Stancel indicated that Dr. Greer could contact him or Jon Weiner and either would be able to provide assistance.

Dr. Stancel provided written documentation to the committee for Comprehensive Standards 5, 12, 14, 17, and 18 .

Dr. Stancel summarized Comprehensive Standard 5 related to the publication and dissemination of academic policies . Dr. Stancel indicated that this institution is in compliance with this standard. The narrative explanation includes the internet address for the catalog in which all policies are maintained; documentation about major policy changes and how they are handled as well as available resources.

Dr. Stancel summarized Comprehensive Standard 12 which documents that each degree program has assigned responsibility for program coordination and curriculum development. The narrative provided my Dr. Stancel documents how all faculty are independently reviewed by our own faculty, independent of the review by M.D. Anderson to ensure that faculty are qualified. The narrative also documents how appointments to committees are reviewed by separate levels of faculty. The narrative also indicates that even people who supervise individual students outside programs must also undergo review every three to five years. Available documentation was also cited.

Dr. Stancel summarized Comprehensive Standard 14 which documents that the institution defines and publishes general education and major program requirements. Dr. Stancel indicated that the institution has two types of requirements; general requirements summing total hours and the like which are all published in the catalog and specific degree requirements which are also found on the GSBS website.

Dr. Stancel summarized Comprehensive Standard 17 which documents that the institution's post-baccalaureate professional degree programs, and its master's and doctoral degree programs are progressively advanced in academic content. Dr. Stancel indicated in the narrative that GSBS offers only masters' and doctoral degree programs and all courses exclusively serve graduate educational programs. The narrative also documents how the programs are reviewed every five years by the faculty at large. Available documentation was also cited.

Dr. Stancel summarized Comprehensive Standard 20 which documents that the institution ensures that graduate instruction fosters independent learning. Dr. Stancel documented in the narrative that the GSBS curriculum is structured for independent learning. The narrative continues to document selection criteria which is based on independent study courses; documents tutorials required of pre-candidacy students; seminars; and the comprehensive exam base on a research project.

Mr. Caldwell summarized Comprehensive Standards 21 and 22. Comprehensive Standard 21 documents that the institution regularly evaluates the effectiveness of each faculty member.

Mr. Caldwell indicates that the institution has significant ongoing evaluations and documentation can be provided. He indicates that the institution is in compliance. Comprehensive Standard 22 documents professional development for the faculty. Mr. Caldwell indicates that there is a vast amount of opportunity for faculty development and listed the websites related to institutional faculty development projects.

Comprehensive Standards 23 and 24 relate to academic freedom of faculty. Mr. Caldwell was not able to provide a narrative on Comprehensive Standards 23 and 24 because he was unsure if the policies apply to faculty in the School of Health Sciences.

Dr. Tomasovic indicated that Volume II of the Policies and Procedures covers faculty and would apply to the School of Health Science faculty. Dr. Tomasovic also suggested talks be initiated with Paul Mansfield of the Faculty Senate about representation on the Faculty Senate.

Mr. Caldwell will update Comprehensive Standards and forward to Dr.Greer.

Dr. Price reviewed Comprehensive Standards 12, 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24. Comprehensive Standard 12 documents that the institution places primary responsibility for the quality and oversight of its education program with its faculty. Dr. Price input documentation from the School of Health Science fax review on the curriculum committee and provided links to the curriculum policy; faculty by-laws and standing committees.

Comprehensive Standard 20 discusses faculty credential guidelines which are broken down in to six parts. The first three do not apply because they deal with undergraduates. Dr. Price indicated that the GSBS component begins under (e). Dr. Price indicated that the narrative provided would most likely be a duplicate of documentation previously documented by Dr. Stancel. For (f) Graduate Teaching Assistants; Dr. Price communicated with Tom Goka to obtain additional information. Dr. Price indicated that the narrative emphasized that the teaching assistants have the direct supervision of an experienced faculty member. Dr. Stancel suggested that the word "voluntary" be used exclusively in the narrative to ensure that SACS understands that unlike other institutions the students have a voluntary opportunity to gain teaching experience. Dr. Price stated that she did not include documentation for teaching assistance offered at the University of Houston. Dr. Tomasovic agreed that documentation should not be included.

Comprehensive Standard 21 documents that the institution regularly evaluates the effectiveness of each faculty member. Dr. Price indicated that documentation was inserted from Volume II of the Handbook of Operating Procedures. The final paragraph documents review of the graduate school faculty.

Comprehensive Standard 22 documents that the institution provides evidence of ongoing professional development of faculty as teachers. Dr. Price input documentation extracted from Volume II of the Handbook of Operating Procedures.

Comprehensive Standard 23 documents that the institution ensures adequate procedures for the safeguard and protection of academic freedom. Dr. Price indicated that the information provided for the narrative was extracted from the UT Health Science Section and refers back to the Regents Rules. Dr. Tomasovic suggested that Dr. Price also cite the Grievance Policy for MDACC. He indicated that Rosanne Goddard from Faculty Academic Affairs can provide documentation for this standard.

Comprehensive Standard 24 documents that the institution publishes policies on the responsibility and authority of faculty in academic and governance matters. Dr. Price indicated that the documentation included bylaws of the faculty senate.

None.

The meeting adjourned at 1:57 p.m.

The next meeting is scheduled for:
December 19, 2003, 8:30-9:30 a.m., HMB10.103 to review final documentation booklet.

Submitted for review by Maxine Stredic, Education Research and Assessment

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