ADMISSIONS AND ACADEMIC POLICIES COMMITTEE (AAPC)
2003 – 2004 ANNUAL REPORT
Ruth Ann Watry, Chair
The Admissions and Academic Policies Committee (AAPC) met twice each month during the academic year to conduct its business. The work of the AAPC during the academic year involves action items forwarded by the Academic Senate, the VPAA and/or other individuals, proposals generated within the committee, or proposals generated by AAPC ad-hoc committees. The following report summarizes the activities of AAPC during the period July 1, 2003, to June 30, 2004.
Reports and AAPC Action Items
During the 2002-2003 academic year, the AAPC submitted the following action report to the Academic Senate:
· On November 25, 2003, the AAPC submitted a report recommending a modification to the University’s Semester Deletion policy. Both the Senate and the VPAA approved these recommendations.
· On April 6, 2004, the APPC submitted a report recommending a modification to the University’s Incomplete policy. The Senate approved the recommendation, with amendments, and the recommentdation was also approved by the VPAA.
Other AAPC Business
Other business conducted by AAPC included the following:
· AAPC reviewed a proposal to allow MA 90 and EN 90 to count towards a student’s grade point average. The intent is to give students more motivation to do well in the course. However, it was determined that MA 90 could not be included in students’ GPAs without including the course in students’ total hours. Since MA 90 is not considered college level work, it cannot be included in students’ total hours. Discussion centered around the possibility of making the course a 100 level so it could be considered college level work.
· AAPC looked at the early semester drop/add policy. There was concern that student’s were adding courses too far into the semester. After discussion, and review of data, the committee determined that there was no need for a change in the policy.
· APPC, at the request of the ASNMU representative, looked into the issue of email forwarding. The concern was that student’s were not receiving important university email’s due to their being bounced back as Spam. The committee took no action.
· AAPC received a request from Dr. Joyal to examine the topic of hooding Masters’ candidates at commencement. There was concern that the hooding took too much time, and would therefore be discontinued. The committee chose to not act on the issue.
· Jim Gadzinski presented a Report on Academic Feedback Program to the committee. He also reported on the pilot programs that Academic Advising is running with students on probation. Finally, he provided preliminary information regarding undeclared student credit hour limits (e.g., some schools require students to declare a major when they've reached junior status). This was in response to concern about the number of students who reach junior status without declaring a major.
· AAPC reviewed a request from a graduate student to modify the graduation attire regulations to allow Master of Fine Arts graduates to wear black robes instead of the traditional robes for NMU graduates. The request for an exception to the graduation attire regulations was denied.
· The AAPC scheduled the hearing of student appeals throughout the year. In addition, a subcommittee of three met several times to hear “emergency” appeals.
· The following individuals served as AAPC officers for 2003-2004:
Ruth Ann Watry Chair
Kevin McDonough Vice Chair
Gary McDonnell Secretary
· New members during the 2003-2004 academic year were as follows:
James Drosen Business
Gary McDonnell Economics
Dennis Caldwell Computer Information Systems
Bonita Moiso (Practical Nursing) was brought in to replace Julie Rochester (HPER), who was elected to the Executive Committee of the Senate. This term expires in Winter 2005.
In addition, a student continues to serve on AAPC. Ryan Harasyn served during the 2003-2004 academic year. We have found student input to be invaluable and plan to continue this practice.
This report summarizes the activities of the Admissions and Academic Policies Committee during the past academic year.
Respectfully Submitted,
Ruth Ann Watry, AAPC Chair
June 22, 2004