Departmental

Minutes – BFA Student Affairs Committee, Dec 12, 2017

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Dec 2017 18:41:25 +0000

Minutes – BFA Student Affairs Committee, Dec 12, 2017 Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/20/2017 - 11:41

Week of December 11

Tuesday, December 12, 5:000 pm

BFA Student Affairs Committee (6 people)

General Comment: The committee wanted to discuss what they identified as perennial concerns about the honors council. They want to see the faculty member fairly compensated. They have an individual they would like to see as that mentor. They feel that this process has been taken away from the students and that the BFA executive committee had taken the issue away from them.

Q. Can this be resolved through Academic Futures.

A. Academic Futures is not a process for dispute resolution. The AF Committee would, of course, consider comments or a white paper that address this situation and its resolution, and the committee could decide to comment in its report. Since this seems to be an issue within BFA, it might be best to resolve it through the processes within BFA.

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Minutes – Registrar’s Office, Dec. 15, 2017

Anonymous — Mon, 18 Dec 2017 17:50:24 +0000

Minutes – Registrar’s Office, Dec. 15, 2017 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 12/18/2017 - 10:50

Friday, December 15

8:00

Registrar’s Office (30 people)

Intro by Jeff Cox

Intro on teaching and reaching visioning
Laying out of fall work
Role of Committee and Report

Comment. The registrar’s office is very aware of problems around space. We need to have a clear sense of direction about what sort of spaces, particularly teaching and learning spaces, we need.

Comment. We need clarity on who “own” continuing education and its online operations.

Comment. We need to be more thoughtful about creating rooms that can be flipped. Some rooms that are thought of as providing such opportunities actually are not physically designed to do it.

Comment. We need a discussion of whether course materials should continue to be in hard copies or can all be placed online. Can we provide more free materials for students?

Comment. It is difficult to manage a number of student issues due to localized and different rules and policies in the different schools and colleges. We need more centralized, transparent rules.

Comment. The Registrar is working on a curriculum management system.

Comment. We need clarity on the differences between minors and certificates.

Comment. The university’s decision making process is unclear. To whom does one go to get various things done, approved.

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Minutes – Career Services, Dec 12, 2017

Anonymous — Mon, 18 Dec 2017 17:48:57 +0000

Minutes – Career Services, Dec 12, 2017 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 12/18/2017 - 10:48

Tuesday, December 12, 8:30

Career Services (5 people)

Intro by Jeff Cox

Intro on teaching and reaching visioning
Laying out of fall work
Role of Committee and Report

Comment: We need to attend to student wellbeing

Comment: Any campus core needs to address career needs.

Comment: An opportunity for freshman exploration is needed.

Comment: Employers to not want highly specialized people. They want students with good writing and communication skills.

Comment: We should read out to recent alums. What do they now think they missed here?

Q: Are we reaching out to employers?

We have not and welcome suggestions on how to do that.

Comment: We need to strengthen career development by embedding it in everything the students do.

Comment. We need more experiential learning—internships, study abroad, research opportunities.

Comment: We need measures of the community impact of our students—through internships, volunteering and so on.

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Minutes – Student Innovation Action Team, December 4, 2017

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Dec 2017 17:45:50 +0000

Minutes – Student Innovation Action Team, December 4, 2017 Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 12/12/2017 - 10:45

Student Innovation Action Team

Intro by Jeff Cox

Intro on teaching and research visioning
Laying out of fall work
Role of Committee and Report

Comment: Given the high amount of student debt that will continue to get higher as the cost of education rises, CU should look at an income-sharing model where students pay a percentage of their post-graduate job income to cover the cost of tuition. This could be another tool to help provide access to education. IU Purdue provide this type of tuition model where students are eligible to participate once they reach their sophomore year.

Q: What are the assumptions about enrollment over the next 10 years given the rising cost of tuition? We have concerns about the make-up of the student body.

A: There are differing opinions on campus about enrollment growth, but as a public institution, we have commitments around admitting a certain level of in-state students. We are having many conversations around admissions.

Comment: We are concerned that higher education is following the same path as healthcare, where costs are dramatically rising faster than the cost of living. Tuition is double today as it was when we were freshmen.

A: The campus is aware of and concerned about the cost of tuition, and we are looking at various ways to lower the overall cost, such as removing the student burden to pay for program and course fees. In general, we are priced similarly to our peer institutions for out-of-state tuition, and we are priced far below those peers for in-state tuition.

Q: How are you reaching out to the student population for this process?

A: We have two students (one graduate, one undergraduate) on our committee and we are working with them and student government on how best to engage the students. We also know that professors are providing more opportunities to hear student voices, such as this meeting.

Comment: We need to focus on providing courses and experiences that increase students’ creative confidence. �鶹��Ժ lose their creative potential by getting dragged into the routine of the traditional educational approach, but could do so much more for their career and society by exploring and getting encouragement in creatively thinking about where they can take their degree and field of study.

Comment: CU needs to focus on new ways of imparting data and information. Faculty are presenting information in old-style ways that is not as useful. We need to have new applications and new programs that impart data and information more effectively.

Comment: The freshman year should really focus on career exploration. Most students do not know what they really want to do or what the “day to day” looks like for their chosen major.

�鶹��Ժ need to know what to expect when they graduate to give them a chance to see if that really matches what they want to do before they get too far down the road on their degree and find out that career is not a match for their aspirations.
Need to have a “design and plan” focus on education and advising where adjustments can be easily made as necessary as a student finds out more about what they want to do. �鶹��Ժ need to know what is possible in designing a degree, impediments, etc.
Need to understand how to show value to potential employers when taking an interdisciplinary path (bringing more tools to the table) vs. just focusing on the same old degree “certification” and/or GPA.

Comment: We feel like CU is more focused on work force development rather than to learn how to think for yourself or prepare us for changes that will come once we are out, especially as society becomes more information and technology driven.

Comment: On the other hand, we need to recognize that many students to not have the luxury of exploring what they want to do and instead need to just get an education that will help them get a job to sustain themselves.

Comment: The university needs to provide intersectional occurrences for education where students get exposure to things they had never considered. This creates a fundamental shift that increases the value of education and can be a valuable asset for the university.

Comment: There are a lot of global research opportunities going on, but research grants that get rewarded seem to be US-focused. We need to focus on a global view.

Comment: Much of the education seems to be focus on theory than how to apply the knowledge to solving real-word problems. We need to have both research and professional tracks in the degrees. We are having to take classes that are not useful for our tracks, which means we are paying for courses that we don’t need.

Comment: We need more opportunity to take a diverse set of classes to meet the changes in society. �鶹��Ժ in the business school can take A&S classes, but not the reverse. Business students cannot take courses in the engineering center.

Comment: CU need to utilize others in the community. There are many experts in many fields who could contribute to our education, but they cannot teach courses because they do not have advanced degrees.

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Minutes – Writing and Rhetoric, December 1, 2017

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 17:03:23 +0000

Minutes – Writing and Rhetoric, December 1, 2017 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 12/04/2017 - 10:03

Writing and Rhetoric

Intro by Jeff Cox

Intro on teaching and research visioning
Laying out of fall work
Role of Committee and Report

Intro to A&S Strategic Planning Process by David Brown

History of A&S process
Work of committee to date—draft vision statement
Schedule for committee’s work

Q: What is the plan for analyzing the data collected in the process?

A: Once the data has been input, we will spend the first month or so organizing the data and finding the emerging themes. Then, in the spring, we will provide a preview of the themes to the campus before completing the report next fall.

Q: We have heard talk about a campus-wide core curriculum. Where are we on that?

A: It has come up as a common theme. A&S has established a common core for A&S, and most of the other schools adopt at least a subset of that core. There are many models and ideas about what a common core should look like, but we may actually not be far off from having a common core.

Comment: This process seems similar to RPAC. The RPAC reviews have had a strong response. Data from that process should filter into the A&S and AF processes.

Q: How are the A&S and AF processes feeding each other?

A: Jeff and David are in constant contact, allowing A&S ideas to filter up to the campus level. Both websites are updated regularly, providing additional transparency. And, although the committees have different goals, they will be introduced to each other to share ideas.

From the A&S perspective, having both processes going at the same time has lifted constraints from A&S as ideas can be lifted to the campus level.

Q: What are the biggest challenges moving forward?

A: For A&S, it will be the implementation phase – making sure the strategic plan can filter down to the levels where changes can occur. We will be focusing on defining the plan, creating metrics, and tracking progress in creating the changes outlined by the strategic plan.

For AF, this is a 3-yr project. The biggest challenge will be getting people engaged and moving past the cultural cynicism shaped by past initiatives that never came to fruition. We truly believe this process will have an impact on the campus.

Q: How are you getting student input?

A: We have student representatives on the committee, but it’s clearly not enough. We have attended some leadership classes, and we will be having conversations with student government on how to engage students. We are also looking at using social media.

Comment: We should engage with recent alumni and students who are about to graduate to get student input.

Comment: We have a technical common design course where a consulting design/report is part of the course. Resources in that program can help facilitate the process of getting data from students.

Comment: We should tap into the RA population on campus to get student input – they are close to what is going on with the students and can do training.

Q: Have there been conversations around differential tuition and the challenges with interdisciplinary initiatives? Those two things seem to be at odds with each other.

A: There have been discussions, as interdisciplinary work has been a themed topic. First, we need to figure out what we want to do, then work on the “how to pay for it” during the next phase.

Comment: We need to come up with a plan for the consequences for students that may occur because of the GOP tax plan – if / when it becomes effective.

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Minutes – LEAD 1000 Class, November 27, 2017

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 17:02:05 +0000

Minutes – LEAD 1000 Class, November 27, 2017 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 12/04/2017 - 10:02

LEAD 1000 Class

Intro by Jeff Cox

Intro on teaching and research visioning

Intro to A&S Strategic Planning Process by David Brown

Overview of A&S process

Comment: We need to have the same class offered in various teaching styles for students who have different learning styles – traditional, online, and interactive. We need to be able to take classes that use the methods best suited for us to retain information.

Comments on graduating in 4 years.

There are several courses at the junior- and senior-level that always have significant waitlists. This means we often have to wait until another semester to take a class that is required for graduation. This impacts our ability to graduate in 4 years. Offering online (to achieve larger class sizes) or additional after-hours classes would give us additional opportunity to graduate on time.
We would like to see additional “semesters”, such as winter break, to take courses.
�鶹��Ժ need more information and education about core requirements to set the expectation of course loads needed to graduate in 4 years.

Comments and ideas on how to reach student population to increase student engagement in this process:

Surveys are effective, especially if incentives (e.g., gift cards) are included
Set up a table in the UMC and have someone there with flyers who can answer questions – this is especially effective if food is available
Faculty members telling classes
Tie it into the folders/FCQ’s at the end of the semester
Provide a link on D2L
Use social media – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
Hand out flyers at various places – classes, UMC, etc
Engage student government for ideas

Comments on the cost and availability of student housing:

We need more transparency in the breakdown of costs associated with on-campus housing to see if we can find ways to lower the cost. Off-campus seems to be cheaper than living in the dorms, but some of us would rather live on-campus.
Transfer students have difficult time finding housing, especially when transferring in for the spring semester. We need to find a way to hold some spots for housing on and/or off campus for transfer students.

Comments on the cost of tuition:

Comment: Since out-of-state tuition is so high, it affects student retention. Offering scholarships for students who return after the first year, such as based on grades, would help keep students coming back.

Comments on diversity:

We need to come up with available and affordable student housing options both on- and off-campus. Lack of accessibility to affordable housing is affecting the makeup of the student body.
There is a distinct lack of diversity on campus. This does not provide opportunities for people from different backgrounds to feel welcome. The pamphlets we pick up during campus visits show a diverse set of people in the photographs, but that doesn’t represent the actual population we see when we walk around campus. This feels like misrepresentation. CU needs to walk the walk when it comes to diversity, not just talk the talk.

Comments on building spaces:

We would like to see additional common spaces for students in the buildings for study and collaboration. Spaces similar to what is in the UMC and Ketchum would be great.
We would like to see building hours extended so that we can use the study spaces or use classrooms as study spaces.
We would like to have all buildings be wheelchair accessible and easily accessible for those who use crutches. We have had to miss classes because we could not get to the classroom and/or there were no easily accessible desks for wheelchairs/crutches.

Comments on orientation:

Online orientations is helpful for out-of-state students – saves on significant travel costs.
CU needs to provide an orientation for transfer students similar to freshmen – how to sign up for classes, resources available to students, how to use the printers on campus, etc. This needs to include connecting the community of transfer students.

Comments on advising:

Freshmen need to be informed on who to talk to and how the levels of faculty (instructor, tenured, etc.) can impact the advice that is given. We get different answers depending on who we talk to, so we need to know what advice carries the most weight.
It is frustrating to go to academic advisors in A&S. They seem to have too many students, and cannot devote the time to advise properly, especially in non-standard cases (e.g., double major with a minor). The website is confusing, you can’t get in for an appointment sooner than 3 weeks, and we’re not getting the help we need.
The updates for degree audits are not timely. I’m on track to graduate this December, but the degree audit still does not show it. My advisors have assured me I’m ok to graduate, but it is frustrating.

Comment: We need to make study-abroad more accessible and clear.

What courses are available and what will be accepted for credit
Need more courses/majors available
Need more opportunities – e.g., summer abroad

Comment: We need more communication about safety on and near campus, including:

We need more education and active messaging about sexual assault
What to do in the case of emergency events (notifications sometimes come out after the event is over)
Safety on “the hill” – even though it’s not part of campus, it is part of student life
Joint and coordinate communication with Boulder police and campus police
�鶹��Ժ need to encouraged to be involved in events – if we see something, we need to know who we can text to alert emergency personnel on potential danger

Comment: There is a lot of turnover in the disability services office – this leads to inconsistent processes and accommodation solutions.

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Minutes – Disability Services, November 21, 2017

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Nov 2017 17:30:34 +0000

Minutes – Disability Services, November 21, 2017 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/27/2017 - 10:30

Disability Services

Intro by Jeff Cox

Intro on teaching and reaching visioning
Laying out of fall work
Role of Committee and Report

Q: How are you getting students involved in these discussions?

A: We have two students on our committee. Our undergraduate representative has suggested we use social media to reach out to other students, and we are still figuring out how best to do that. We will potentially also reach out with surveys.

Comment: Data from other surveys is out there - we should share data between the various processes and do a gap analysis on what other data needs to be gathered.

Q. Are there any conversations about exams (should there be fewer, can they be online, timed vs. not timed)? As the volume of programs and students increases, we are running into space issues for holding exams.

A. We have not specifically talked about testing. We have had many conversations about how to organize undergraduate and graduate education, including online courses. Exams should certainly be considered as part of those discussions.

Comment: We need to consider offering more courses and programs outside of traditional times (evenings and weekends).

Comment: When recruiting faculty, we tend to only focus on recruiting from other R1&2 research universities, but faculty and graduate students of color are under-represented at those universities. If we are serious about diversity, we need to target faculty and graduate students outside of the R1&2 boundaries.

Comment: We need to figure out how we market the value of our curriculum to students and parents given the rising cost of education and student debt.

Q. What have the discussions about online education included so far?

A. We need to find a balance between online and traditional teaching that takes into account quality of education & assessment, tuition costs, and meeting market needs. Our mindset used to be “students will come regardless”. That is not the case anymore. We need to have more focus on service delivery.

Comment: Online education breaks down many of the barriers for a diverse student population. We can make online education a personal and collaborative experience, just like on campus. �鶹��Ժ from all over the world can participate, leading to a diverse, global view for our students. It also provides opportunity for those who are fully employed, single mothers, etc.

Comment: Many changes have occurred in K-12 education and our incoming student population. We need more pedagogical training for our faculty, who are experts in the content of their field, but not necessarily experts in how to teach. This includes more pedagogical training for our graduate students about instruction, curriculum, and classroom management. We need to provide this as a service for faculty development and improvement.

Comment: We are hearing about more MOOCs coming online. The institution that “owns” the MOOC (regardless of the service provider - Coursera, etc.) also owns the responsibility for paying for accommodations for disability services. This could become a significant budget issue for CU.

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Minutes - Department of Media Studies Meeting, Nov 7, 2017

Anonymous — Mon, 20 Nov 2017 16:43:07 +0000

Minutes - Department of Media Studies Meeting, Nov 7, 2017 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/20/2017 - 09:43

Department of Media Studies

November 7 (8 people)

Intro by Jeff Cox

Intro on teaching and reaching visioning
Laying out of fall work
Role of Committee and Report

Comment: Silos are greater at the undergraduate level than at the graduate vel.

Comment: There has been too much of an increase in administration, particularly non-academic administration.

Comment: We need a faculty voice guiding services such as procurement.

Comment: We need a CU Boulder model for online education. Lehigh provides a good model.

Comment: We need criteria for what we want to do on internationalization. We need to build global allies.

Comment: We should think about how we use faculty governance to enact democracy.

Comment: We need to address impact of income inequality of retention.

Comment: The university needs to think through the balance between the liberal arts and professional training.

Comment: We should consider offering 2-year degrees.

Comment: We should consider abolishing departments.

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Minutes – Geological Studies, November 9, 2017

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Nov 2017 16:34:57 +0000

Minutes – Geological Studies, November 9, 2017 Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 11/16/2017 - 09:34

Geological Studies

Intro by Jeff Cox

Intro on teaching and reaching visioning
Laying out of fall work
Role of Committee and Report

Intro to A&S Strategic Planning Process by David Brown

History of A&S process
Work of committee to date—draft vision statement
Schedule for committee’s work

Comment: We need a discussion on majors and degrees that we offer, especially in A&S. For example, you can get a Bachelor of Science in Journalism, but not Physics. We lose applicants when they know they cannot get a degree in the area of their interests.

Comment: We need a discussion on the best model for advising that targets student success (centralized vs. decentralized).

Comment: We need a discussion on A&S admissions and target students who want to pursue A&S degrees rather than overflow from other colleges.

Comment: We need to determine how we can use the institutes better and solve the inequities and barriers that exist.

Comment: We have had significant increases in faculty and students without increases in staff. We need to have a discussion about staffing models that can better support the departments.

Comment: There is no real mechanism for advancement for staff besides moving to other departments and roles. This creates a lot of movement of staff.

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Minutes – Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, November 6, 2017

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Nov 2017 16:32:59 +0000

Minutes – Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, November 6, 2017 Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 11/16/2017 - 09:32

Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Intro by Jeff Cox

Intro on teaching and reaching visioning
Laying out of fall work
Role of Committee and Report

Comment: We need to teach students a variety of skills (such as computer skills), but there are barriers that prevent interdisciplinary teaching, and we cannot compete with other departments if we want to hire faculty to teach those skills. We need to remove barriers and collaborate and cooperate across units.

Q: How will the ideas be prioritized?

A. The committee is still figuring that out. Ideas that come up consistently across campus will certainly need to be considered, but any good idea will be considered. The committee will be checking back with the campus to verify we heard things correctly.

Comment: We need flexibility when making teaching assignments for fall and spring, and give summer courses more consideration, especially for courses that would be better taught in the summer, such as those with field work.

Q: What is the best format for submitting white papers?

A. We prefer MS Word documents over .pdfs when possible – the process to remediate the information for the visually impaired is resource constrained and is easier for Word documents.

Comment: We need to look at graduate student funding – pay, tuition waivers, etc. – to attract and support our graduate students.

Comment: We need to address the transit modes on campus, both from a safety perspective (especially bikes vs. pedestrians) as well as ease in getting to the further parts of campus for both students and faculty.

Comment: We are living with 30,000 people in a space designed for 20,000. We need a discussion about safety. It seems like we have moved away from foot and bike patrols.

Q: In the end, AF will not be able to satisfy everyone’s ideas (perhaps not even the majority of ideas). We see value in giving input, but we are concerned it will likely be either too specific or tangential and will be lost. Are we setting ourselves up for disappointment?

A. We believe we will be able to address important items that have the potential to impact the campus in major ways. We are using a transparent, collective process. We will be clustering similar ideas and topics together to address. At the very least, we will have a record and archive of all the ideas that we can use in the future.

Comment: We need to expand how the university interacts with potential donors.

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