Chairperson’sWrittenReport for the Steering Committee August 27, 2013.

Welcome back to the Florida International University Faculty Senate Steering Committee.

We hope you had a pleasant summer and are ready to continue the move forward of the University. Your service is invaluable to the University as members of the governance structure and guardians of the curriculum.

We have outstanding issues to resolve.Among them are the changes to the academic honesty policy, the development of procedures for online programs and the finalizing of courses for the Gen Ed changes.

As you may be aware, the State has reversed its position on the Gen Ed changes and has extended the time for implementation to 2015/2016. The core curriculum is back to 36 credit hours, and there is now a list of courses that will make up the first 15 credit hours of common offerings for the system.

The Graduate Council will take up the issue of the On Line programs, including the online PhD, and the Ad Hoc Committee will be dealing with the academic honesty policy.

During the summer, the Governor vetoed a bill that would have raised tuition. As a consequence, the mandatory 1.7% raise will automatically go into effect.

You may have heard that the Chancellor of Florida has resigned to take up a similar position in another state which will mean a new chancellor will be selected.

I have emailed the documented discussion from the Commission of Higher Education dealing with access and retention. The document contains information on their gap analysis and a projection of 90,000 graduates by 2025. Please read this carefully as it includes language about the programs necessary to achieve this goal.

This document also states that they hope to have graduation rates of above 80%. Also by 2025, in order to achieve that goal, any two of UCF, FIU and USF would have to achieve rates exceeding 80% and the third above 70%. As of 2010, they have the lowest graduation rates. We will watch carefully to see where this goes.

You will be pleased to learn that classes for the MAST Academy have started at the Biscayne Bay Campus. The project is a result of discussions and agreement between Florida International and Miami-Dade Schools for the locating and use of facilities at that campus

We are also proud to announce the opening of the 614 bed Parkview complex, just east of the nature preserve. As of opening day, the complex was 100% occupied.

Forms going high tech. There were revision made to the forms used to effect changes to courses and program. These changes will in no way affect the submissions but will expedite the approval process. The tracking of the approval process will be done online.

Thanks to the Faculty for their participation and support at summer commencement. We had over 2500 students, and our presence was appreciated.

We are also proud to announce that at the white coat ceremony conducted by the School of Medicine, over 120 medical students were accepted and coats handed out. Congratulations to the School of Medicine.

Looking forward to a good year.

Thanks for your kind cooperation.

Regards,

C. Delano Gray

Chairperson