Academic Policy Committee Meeting Minutes

Georgia College

Senate Academic Policy Committee

Agenda Meeting

August 24^th, 2012

Room 110, Atkinson Hall

Bryan Marshall, Chair

Attending: Andrei Barkovskii, Karen Berman, Douglas Goings, Jason Huffman, Bryan Marshall, Macon Mcginley, Michael Murphy, Indiren Pillay, Chandra Power, Jason Rich, John Sirmans.

Regrets: Ken McGill, Mandy Jarriel.

Call to Order:

Chair Bryan Marshall called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m.

A motion was made, seconded, and passed to approve the agenda.

Informational Items:

Member introductions.  Committee Vice Chair for AY 2012-2013 will be Macon Mcginley; Committee Secretary for AY 2012-2013 will be John Sirmans.

The committee meetings will be held in Room 110 of Atkinson Hall for the remainder of  AY 2012-2013.

New Business:

A motion was made, seconded, and passed to approve committee operating procedures.

Tentative Agenda Items for AY 2012-2013 with subcommittee assignments to address each item.

1. Disastrous Semester Policy (new policy).

      Macon Mcginley and John Sirmans, subcommittee.

An immediate advisor flag needed for those students that have a “disastrous” semester, rated as a 1.0 GPA with more than 8 credit hours. This flag should help prevent the continuous decline of a student’s GPA before remedial action is taken. 

1. Closing Probation Loop (new policy).

      Macon Mcginley and John Sirmans, subcommittee.

Students who have been removed from academic probation and then fall below the threshold should be immediately returned to probation status instead of being placed on academic warning status.

1. Repeating Graduate Courses (new policy).

      Jason Rich and Indiren Pillay, subcommittee.

No current policy for graduate students repeating failed courses. Should repeating be allowed, and, if so, should the two grades be averaged?

1. 5W Policy (policy review).

      Jason Rich and Indiren Pillay, subcommittee.

Is the current policy on students withdrawing from courses effective?  How many current students are accepting  F’s that prefer to take W’s?

1. Advising (policy review).

      Bryan Marshall, subcommittee.

Re-evaluate current policy on advising.  Is it fair?  Is the 30-hour, 60-hour, 90-hour schedule effective?  Who has the right to remove advisor holds?

1. Common Syllabus Repository (new policy).

      Chandra Power and Andrei Barkovskii, subcommittee.

                  Georgia College policy statements currently common to all course

                  syllabi need to be available elsewhere for student access, thereby

                  reducing syllabus size.  Suggestions include bringing the website   

                  syllabus.gcsu.edu  online.

1. Online Course Definitions and Meeting Requirements (new policy).

                  Jason Huffman and Karen Berman, subcommittee.

                  Clarify online/hybrid course meeting requirements and standards for

                  classifying such courses.

1. Two-degree Masters (new policy).

Douglass Goings and Michael Murphy, subcommittee.

Can graduate students apply the same course credit toward two degrees?

1. Grade Change (new policy). 

Jason Huffman and Karen Berman, subcommittee.

Develop a policy explicitly stating that grades can be changed after the end of a semester only due to faculty error.  Issue of allowing students to submit extra work or giving extra credit to improve grade after course is finished should be addressed within the policy.

10.  Plus/Minus Grading System (new policy).  Tabled.

After brief conferences, the subcommittees agreed to have information on items 1, 2, 4, and 9 from the above list ready for inclusion on the next meeting’s agenda.

Other items discussed for the next meeting’s agenda include extending the drop/add period from three days to five during the first week of each semester; discussion of the current Final Exam Schedule policy, including take-home exams and cancellation of exam meeting times; and resolving questions about the automatic Wait List for student registration.

Adjournment:

The next APC meeting is scheduled for September 28, 2012  at 2:00 p.m.

There being no further business, the August 24^th, 2012 meeting adjourned at 3:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

John Sirmans, Recorder