ANNUAL REPORT July 27, 2010 Academic & Student Affairs Committee University of North Alabama Florence, Alabama August 6, 2010 Committee Chair Date submitted Submitted to: _Shared Governance Committee ______________________________ UNIVERSITY OF NORTH ALABAMA ANNUAL REPORT Applicable academic year (2009-2010) I. Executive Summary During the 2009-10 academic year, the Academic and Student Affairs (ASA) Committee addressed issues of mutual concern to both areas. The issues addressed included revisions of requests for change of policy; revisions of initiatives conducive to new policies; input on proposed changes to university statements; and the critical examination of the charge and composition of the ASA Committee itself. The recommendations pertaining to these issues were forwarded through proper channels and followed Shared Governance guidelines. II. The Committee’s Charge The current committee’s membership and charge is as follows: A. Membership 1. Six (6) faculty members, recommended to the Shared Governance Committee by the Faculty Senate 2. Four (4) staff members, recommended to the Shared Governance Committee by the Staff Senate 3. Two (2) student members, recommended to the Shared Governance Committee by the SGA 4. One Dean, recommended to the Shared Governance Committee by the Council of Deans 5. VPAA and Provost, VPSA, and other Council of Deans members are non-voting members of this committee as needed. B. Charge: To review, recommend, and report on policies in the following areas: 1. Academic and/or Student Affairs issues as received from the Faculty Senate, Staff Senate, SGA, VPAA, VPSA, individual faculty or staff members, and other sources. 2. Student recruitment, retention, and admissions 3. Support of faculty research and continuing education of faculty. 4. To communicate its deliberations and findings to the President, and after discussion with the President, to the University community C. This committee reports to the President through the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost. III. The Committee met on the following dates: September 29 – quorum October 27 – quorum December 01 – quorum January 26 – quorum March 30 – quorum The minutes of these meetings are posted on the website of the ASA Committee under the Shared Governance Homepage. IV. What were the Committee’s actions and accomplishments this year relative to each of the items of the charge? The committee’s actions included the following revisions: • Request made by the Faculty Staff Senate to modify the current policy for presentation of diplomas at commencement. The ASA Committee followed Shared Governance Procedures for Policy Change and finally agreed with the recommendations received from the Faculty Senate and the Student Government Association. • Transfer Student Disciplinary Waiver proposed for adoption by the Vice President for Students Affairs. After a few modifications, the waiver was approved. • Smoking policy proposal from the Faculty/Staff Welfare Committee. The ASA Committee supported this proposal with observations. • Changes to the ADA Accommodation Statement proposed by the ADA Panel and the Office of Disability Support Services. The ASA Committee approved the changes proposed to this statement with comments and recommendations. • Recommendation made by the Assistant Director for Leadership and Volunteerism in the Office of Student Engagement concerning a service-learning initiative. This initiative aims at evaluating service needs and how these needs are currently met at UNA. The committee decided that this initiative would best be accomplished through a task group appointed for this purpose with members representing various campus constituencies. The original recommendation and the ASA Committee decision were forwarded to the Shared Governance Executive Committee and the Student Government Association. V. What were the Committee’s formal recommendations? The committee made the following formal recommendations: • On the diploma presentation policy, the final recommendation of the ASA Committee was that “only the President, or his/her appointed designee, will be permitted to present diplomas at commencement.” • On the smoking policy, the ASA Committee supported the stipulation that “smoking within thirty feet of entrances and exits of buildings is prohibited.” An observation was made to emphasize the principle that instead of allowing smoking on campus, a step should be taken toward promoting a smoke-free environment. • On the changes to the ADA accommodation statement, the ASA Committee approved the proposed changes with the following sentence added: “accommodation plan will not be applied retroactively.” In addition, the ASA Committee also recommended that: “The most current version of the University of North Alabama Accommodation Statement be posted on the university web-page with a link provided to all faculty; and that Disability Support Services notify the affected faculty when an accommodation request has been granted.” • The ASA Committee membership and charge were reviewed and amended. The statement approved by the ASA Committee and recommended to the Shared Governance Executive Committee for approval (May 04) is as follows: A. Membership 1. Six (6) members, one from each college and two at large, recommended to the Shared Governance Executive Committee by the Faculty Senate 2. Four (4) staff members, recommended to the Shared Governance Executive Committee by the Staff Senate 3. Two (2) student members, recommended to the Shared Governance Executive Committee by the Student Government Association President 4. One Dean, recommended to the Shared Government Executive Committee by the Council of Academic Deans 5. VPAA and Provost, VPSA, and other Council of Deans members are non-voting members of this committee B. Charge 1. To originate, review, recommend to VPAA and report in the following areas: a. Academic and/or Student Affairs policies and issues as received from the Faculty Senate, Staff Senate, SGA, VPAA, VPSA, individual faculty or staff members, and other sources b. Student recruitment, retention, and admissions. 2. To communicate its deliberations and findings through the VPAA to the President, and after discussion with the President, to the University community. 3. Handle all proposals affecting University policy according to Section C.2 “Shared Governance Procedure for Policy Change Recommendations” C. This committee reports to the President through the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost. VI. What does the Committee plan to accomplish in the coming year? In the future? In the coming year and in the future, the ASA committee plans to effectively address issues forwarded from the various constituent groups outlined in the committee charge. Additionally, the committee plans to work collaboratively with a newly formed task group to address and advance the initiative of service learning. The ASA Committee will also examine the information process by which academic departments obtain information on scholarships available through the UNA Foundation. VII. What are the Committee’s weaknesses? The practice of the ASA committee has been that the Chair position rotates between Academic Affairs and Student Affairs each year. The pool of candidates for Vice Chair selection can be, at times, very limited. VIII. Comments: Members of the ASA Committee worked cohesively to address issues forwarded to them from constituent groups. The issue of separating the ASA Committee into two, Academic Affairs and Student Affairs, was discussed once more. Members agreed on the benefit of maintaining the current structure of this committee.