MINUTES
CPP MEETING
September 10, 2008
Present: Anthony, Kamber, Marcy, Middleton, Maas, Paul, Plastine, Robertson, Scapardine, Scarpati, Stern, Venturo, Vincelette,Wineberg, Winston
- As this was the first meeting of the 2008-2009 academic year, committee members introduced themselves. New members to the committee this year are Mort Winston from Philosophy and Religion, and student representatives, Billy Plastine and Dan Scapardine. Provost Carol Bresnahan and Joyce Vincelette will be serving as Co-Chairs of CPP and Helene Anthony, as Vice-Chair.
- The topic of discussion for today’s meeting was the reading days and final exam schedule for the spring semester. Paula Maas shared a PowerPoint on the results of the online survey completed at the end of last year. Committee members discussed different views on the presentation and also commented on the distributed documents – Guidelines for Creating the Academic Calendar from Records and Registration; Principles for Developing an Academic Calendar from CPP; and, the Assessment of Initial Implementation, and the student, faculty and staff survey forms from the Center for Institutional Effectiveness. The committee was in agreement that the 7 am to 10 pm scheduling of exams did not seem to be in the best interest of students. Shortening the time allocated for exams appeared to be problematic, specifically for science and engineering courses. Several options were discussed to add an extra day in the spring by starting earlier or ending later, as well as trying to make the number of reading days and final exam days similar in the fall and spring semesters. It was decided that a sub-committee should be formed to gather the necessary data to make an informed decision (e.g., the feasibility of moving graduation, the cost of holding Saturday exams, etc.). CPP committee members suggested that individuals from the following groups be invited to participate: President’s Office, Records and Registration, Residential Life, and students. Rick Kamber volunteered to convene this group.