Meeting Minutes
Academic Affairs University Policy Committee Meeting held via tri-campus video-conference Members Present: Isaiah Crawford, Paula DeVoto, Alan Gitelson (chair), Patricia Jung, John Pelissero, Janice Rasheed, Denise Starkey Members Excused: Anthony Barbato, Kenny Holtz Guests: Janet Pierce-Ritter, Linda Wall The meeting was called to order at 2:35 pm by the chair, Alan Gitelson. The minutes of the February 21st 2006 meeting were approved with a minor correction 4-0-0 on a motion by Patti Jung and a second by Paula DeVoto. The chair noted that there would be one meeting remaining on the AAUPC calendar for this academic year … the meeting of April 18th. The May meeting is cancelled. Item: M.Ed. in Reading with Type 10 K-12 Reading Specialist Certificate A 38-page proposal had been submitted to the Committee for a new Master’s degree in Education for this program. In summarizing the salient points of the proposal, Janet Pierce-Ritter noted that it had already been presented to the Illinois Board of Higher Education on March 3rd and approved. The Committee was taken aback by this announcement, but the associate provost clarified that it is not unusual for programs in the School of Education to be simultaneously presented to different review boards and that in fact the School has been instructed to request approval of its new programs on a parallel basis with the State and the University. In sum, the proposal is attractive to the Illinois Board of Higher Education because the state has a desperate need for specialists in this area. This was in fact the rationale for the proposal. The program can be accomplished in two years and two summers and requires a total of 33 s.h. The School of Education is planning to offer its first courses in this new degree program this summer. Other attractive features of this degree program are that it fulfills the mission of the University and provides three distinctive "strands:" 1) teaching as research, 2) writing as literacy, and 3) acting with social justice in mind. A student’s research project is intended to stretch throughout the degree program and possibly lead to internship or employment opportunities afterwards. To a question as to whether it would be taught in cohorts, Janet Pierce-Ritter clarified that the program will be based on campus but that students will always start the sequence in the summer. During a discussion about ethics, the guests noted that ethics is central in the literary theory and foundation course though there is not a separate ethics course. Item: Change in Major for Computer Science and Proposal for New Major Two proposals were submitted, both to align the current majors with changes that had previously been approved.
These changes will also allow easier alignment with the Office of Registration & Records and the new LOCUS database. Discussion and Voting On the M.Ed., Denise moved and Isaiah seconded a motion for approval. Patti Jung offered a prepared statement reiterating her concern that no stand-alone ethics course is necessary for the degree program and noted that the concept of Young mentioned in the proposal that "equal distribution provides equal opportunity’ is a highly contested claim. In full, her comment reads: Pgs 10-11: While I was delighted to read that ethical reflection is woven throughout all the classes (and I concur that such integration across the curriculum will inevitably strengthen awareness of social justice issues among educators) but I respectfully disagree that this establishes that no stand-alone course in ethics is necessary to fulfill the leadership mandate that flows from Loyola’s mission. Given that mission, a reading specialist with a graduate degree from Loyola ought to have at least one opportunity to reflect systematically upon and develop a sophisticated understanding of the moral, political and spiritual power of the written word, and of the values in conflict in debates about what constitutes truly equal access to and opportunity within our educational systems. Furthermore I noticed (pg 26) that in the course on Literacy Theory and Foundations (CIEP 452) to which ethics is described as central (pg 11), ethical analysis is not identified as a key strand. Pg 31: I note as well that what Young claimed in 1990 – that equal distribution of resources will provide equal opportunity for success – is itself a highly contested ethical claim, and educators in particular should have a very sophisticated understanding of the moral arguments in our culture about distributive justice in general and about the debates about affirmative action and bilingual approaches to education in particular. She also noted, and many on the Committee concurred, that it is frustrating to spend forty-five minutes reviewing a proposal that already has the approval of the IBOE, despite the fact that the provost authorized the School of Education to move forward in tandem and even recognizing that the Chicago Public Schools and the Archdiocese have shown interest in and demand for the program. Are we not spinning our wheels? If it is already approved, would any negation on our part deter it? The vote was 4-1-2. On the BS/MS in Computer Science / Information Technology, Paula moved and Patti seconded for approval. The vote was 5-0-2. On the BS/MS in Computer Science / Software Technology, Paula moved and Patti seconded the motion for approval. The vote was also 5-0-2/ New Business Due to a room scheduling conflict, the chair deferred review of the academic regulations until the April meeting. At the April meeting will come a proposal for a new major in Black World Studies. As mentioned previously, at that meeting Alan Gitelson and Paula DeVoto will rotate off the Committee after three years’ service and Patti Jung will be on leave for the Fall semester. Usually the Committee’s complement is ten members, so the provost must name a staff replacement and a new chair as well as add members to bring the AAUPC back to full strength. Denise Starkey moved and Patti Jung seconded a motion for adjournment. The meeting adjourned at 3:15 pm.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Minutes