September 10, 2003

John Douglass called the meeting to order at 1:50 p.m.

Present: Professors Ahrens, Arneson, Burke, Cochran, Douglass, Fantie, Flug, Forst, Heintze, Jacoby, Jennings, Karch, Langbein, La Salle, Loesberg, Olmsted, Richardson, Riley, Rosenbloom, Schaeff, Streitmatter, Swallow, Vogelsong. Provost Kerwin, Dean of Academic Affairs Broder.

Absent: Professor Fagelson

The minutes of the May 7, 2003 meeting were approved.

Welcome and Introductions
John Douglass welcomed the senators to the first meeting of the academic year. He then asked the senators to identify themselves and to note their unit affiliations and their designations on the Senate. Following the introductions, he commented on the importance of continuing this year the exchange of information between the Faculty Senate and the major teaching units. He therefore asked that the senators transmit information to their colleagues on a regular basis and that they also inform the Senate about concerns that arise at the unit level.

Professor Douglass then requested that the Committee on Faculty Development take responsibility for selecting speakers for two Senate-sponsored events: the Emeriti Luncheons and the Distinguished Faculty Lectures. He said the first Emeriti Luncheon was scheduled for October 23rd. A second Emeriti Luncheon and a Distinguished Faculty Lecture are scheduled for the spring semester.

Election of the Vice Chair
In a unanimous vote, the Senate elected David Rosenbloom, School of Public Affairs, to serve as vice chair for 2003-2004. Professor Rosenbloom will chair the Senate in 2004-2005.

Report of the Provost
Neil Kerwin’s report covered the following topics:

Observations on the start of school
Dr. Kerwin reported that American was off to a robust start for the fall semester. He said the university had a very full house in terms of its undergraduate program. He also indicated that he would be able to report later in the semester on the reduction of adjunct faculty at the 100-200 level, which is critical to the education of undergraduates. It appeared, he noted, that course cancellations would be relatively few in number. The electronic distribution of rosters and other course materials was going smoothly.

Dr. Kerwin then brought the Senate up-to-date on some repairs and renovations to the physical plant during the summer. He noted, as one change, that the Beeghly Building had undergone emergency repairs to remove and replace defective ducts, a safety issue. That work was completed in time for the beginning of classes. Moreover, he reported that in the area of technology, there had been significant disruptions to web access early in the semester. The problems that caused those disruptions were isolated and corrected as quickly as possible.

Enrollments and revenue picture for the year
Provost Kerwin told the Senate that the news on enrollments was very good. With one exception, he said, all enrollment categories were on track, relative to budget, including a freshman class of approximately 1250 students. The one category of concern was the transfer student population, where there were an unusual number of requests for spring deferrals. Dr. Kerwin said he expected the university to make budget for FY 2004, assuming that the numbers for the spring hold together reasonably well.

Goals for academic affairs for the year
Dr. Kerwin then commented on the major goals for Academic Affairs, noting that those goals are closely related the remaining mandates of the 15-point plan. He said that he and the deans had agreed to focus on the following items:

• A successful launch for the capital campaign;
• The provision of additional resources for faculty teaching, research, and service;
• The commitment to further reduce the number of adjunct faculty in the curriculum;
• The commitment to establish a system of differential teaching and research loads;
• The commitment to increase the size of the tenure-track faculty;
• The commitment to collaborate with Robert Pastor, Vice President of International Affairs, and his team on meeting the goal for American to become the premier global institution.

With respect to the goals for scholarship, teaching and service, Dr. Kerwin noted that three actions will be taken: (1) The Presidential Scholarship Program will be implemented this year. (2) With assistance from the deans, the Provost will continue to provide support for the Center for Teaching Excellence. (3) The Committee on Student Learning and Academic Engagement and perhaps the Committee on Faculty Development will be asked to consider how to encourage faculty to continue to interact with students outside of the bounds of the classroom.

He added that the Advisement Project Team, another element of the plan, had not been convened due to the need to sort out long-standing issues among Student Accounts, the Registrar, and Financial Aid.

Progress on the Middle States re-accreditation
As a last item, Dr. Kerwin briefed the Senate on the progress of Middle States. He said that hard copies of the draft self-study report were available on campus. A copy was also available online. He praised the Steering Committee and the task forces for remarkable work, and he said that through a collective effort, they had presented the institution in a fair and balanced way. He also announced that Mark Gearen, president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges had been selected to chair the Middle States site visit team. Mr. Gearen will come to campus on November 4 to do advance planning for the site visit, which is scheduled for February.

The timeline for completion of the re-accreditation review is as follows:

• September – Opportunity for public comment and input from the university community
• October – Preparation of the penultimate document by the Steering Committee
• November – Review of the self-study report and action by the Board of Trustees
• December – Preparation of the final report
• February – Visit by the Middle States team during the week of February 8th
• June – Action by the Commission on the overall recommendations
• July – Delivery of the recommendations to President Ladner and Provost Kerwin

Concluding, Provost Kerwin acknowledged Nanette Levinson for her work as chair of the University College Project Team and also as co-chair of the Middle States Task Force on Engagement. He also acknowledged the contributions of Vice President Robert Pastor, calling him “a great addition to the institution.”

Report on International Initiatives
Robert Pastor, Vice President of International Affairs, presented a summary of the report “Transforming American University into the Premier Global University: Phase I.” He said the project team appointed to address this mandate had based their deliberations on the belief that a study abroad experience is the single most important element in educating students to become global citizens. As a point of departure, the project team therefore addressed the question: What should be done about the study abroad experience at AU? Dr. Pastor said the team, following several months of work, presented their recommendations to President Ladner and Provost Kerwin. Those recommendations were subsequently approved by the Board of Trustees. American will endeavor, over the next few years to accomplish the following:

• Double the number of students who are studying abroad. At present, roughly 29 percent of AU’s students have a study abroad experience. The university would like to increase that number to 60 percent over a four-year period.

• Dramatically increase the number of international students who study at AU. Attract the best students from the most prestigious universities abroad.

• Change the very nature of education that AU students are getting abroad by focusing on the concept of “integration.”

• Move increasingly toward an option of language immersion.

Expounding on those points, Dr. Pastor said the concept of integration would mean moving away from the enclave approach, in order to allow students to be exposed to a wider range of experience in the host country. Students would have home stays or live with families. They would have internships. And, to the maximum extent possible, they would study with students from the host country. A second aspect of integration, he noted, would be to ensure that the study abroad experience reflects upon and is closely connected to the student’s course work at American. Yet a third aspect is to motivate international students who come to AU to be more fully engaged with the campus community.

With respect to the fourth point, Dr. Pastor reported that he and Kay Mussell, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, had begun to identify the best places to send students to achieve language immersion, with the thought that immersion would begin with the simple romance languages, Spanish and French. He said they had begun discussions with a number of different sites in Mexico and Canada, but were also considering other options.

He concluded the formal part of his presentation by stating that the success of the proposed initiatives will depend on the faculty’s understanding that the study abroad is central to education of AU’s students. The students must also be excited about and energized by the possibilities.

In responding to questions and comments, Dr. Pastor emphasized other important considerations:

• The university will need to balance a number of factors to ensure that the program is revenue-neutral or revenue-enhancing.

• It will be important to have students focus ahead of time on registering for the courses they will need when they return to the university. That step might be built into the pre-departure orientation.

• Given the changes to U.S. immigration laws, it will also be essential to encourage international students to apply early.

• The schools and colleges will need to address, on an individual basis, the issue of how to ensure that their students get the credits they need to graduate. This will be especially important in the School of Public Affairs, Kogod School of Business, and the School of Communication, where the emphasis in the junior and senior years is educating students to become professionals.

Report on the University College
Nanette Levinson, Associate Dean in the School of International Service and Chair of the Project Team on the University College, presented an overview of the draft project design for the University College. She noted that the project team had been appointed by Provost Kerwin at the end of AY 2001-2002; and she said the team had taken the following initial steps toward the fulfillment of their mandate:

• Developed a working title: “The American Anthem Program”
• Focused on learning outcomes
• Inventoried aspects of existing AU year one/year two programming
• Highlighted elements of the existing program that work well
• Benchmarked programs at other institutions around the country

She also outlined the expected learning outcomes, noting that upon completion of the two-year program, AU students will:

• Be aware of and feel connected to AU traditions, history and values
• Have been immersed in rigorous academic inquiry and have completed an active research experience
• Be able to demonstrate information literacy, ethical awareness, openness to diverse viewpoints, and cross-cultural understanding
• Have been exposed to experiences that connect them to Washington and the world
• Have created a documented reflection of their experience and have participated in a culminating event to recognize that experience

She then provided details about how the program would work, emphasizing the combination of existing components and new options. The information she provided on the preliminary program design is appended to the record copy of the minutes. She noted that there will be other opportunities for faculty to comment on the program.

Concluding her presentation, Professor Levinson recommended the following article as worthy of review: “Undergraduate Research: Showcasing Young Scholars,” by David W. Chapman (The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 12, 2003). A copy of that article is appended to the record copy of the minutes.

For the Good of the Order
Provost Kerwin provided the following statistics on the freshman class:
• mean SAT score: 1226
• mean GPA: 3.25
• admit rate: about 59.05 percent

The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m.

Addendum: University College Project
The American Anthem Preliminary Project Design