Academic Policies Committee
Annual Report, 2003-2004
The Academic Policies Committee met nearly weekly this year to debate and craft a new Academic Integrity policy to replace the current policy 121.5. The committee also drafted a new policy that will create an academic discipline committee. The weekly discussions and revisions of these policies were an example of consummate teamwork by the committee. The discussions were thorough, well researched and considered, and resulted in multiple revisions to the policy. These policies were first presented to the department chairs and distributed to the faculty by the chairs for feedback. After extensive revisions based on the feedback, the policies were then presented to the faculty as a whole and discussed at an AAUP forum. After additional feedback from this forum, the policies are in their final stages of revision. The policies, representing the culmination of two years of work, will be forwarded to Policies and Procedures early next fall, and should be before the faculty by mid-term.
The committee examined a total of seventeen courses for either GER or concentration credit. All of these courses were brought to the Faculty for approval. The individual courses may be found in the individual reports for the faculty meeting.
The committee, after extensive discussion, brought to the faculty a new major in Neuroscience. The faculty approved the new major.
Additional policy updates made by the committee:
1. Curriculum revisions regarding the relationship with the Nicolas School of the Environment-Furman 3-2 program were approved.
2. The committee approved minor revisions to the system of “temporary grades” in order to clarify the issue of the various kinds of incompletes. These recommendations will be forwarded to the faculty next fall for approval.
I would like to thank Brad Barron, Linda Bartlett, Matt Feigenbaum, Harris Heath, Les Hicken, Tom Kazee, Margaret Oakes, David Spear for making this a stimulating and enjoyable committee. In particular, I would like to thank Linda for capturing all of our various comments and revisions to the Academic Integrity policy, and then knitting together a coherent document. David Spear, as secretary, took concise minutes. I would like to extend a special thanks to our student members of the committee, Shunta Harmon and Tim McCauley. These two students made invaluable contributions and observations, and certainly earned the respect and admiration of the faculty members on the committee.
Respectfully submitted,
Brannon Andersen, Chair