Programs Committee- School of Education

The Programs Committee for the School of Education met on Friday, March 19th at 12:30pm.

The agenda consisted of initiatives for changes from Curriculum and Instruction and Kinesiology.

First, a new program was proposed and passed for a graduate Certificate in French to accommodate needs from the graduate students in French Education, and to possibly generate more interest in the future.

Next, in conjunction with the Madison Metropolitan School District, C&I proposed a program for a new Certificate for 4K Professional Development in Early Childhood. This was created in order to further certify the EC teachers in the MMSD in working with 4yr-old students, as a new 4K program will start in the fall of 2011.

The majority of the meeting was spent updating/adding courses in the Kinesiology program. Ten courses were changed in either title, number of credits, or description (contact me for more specific information) and two changes were postponed due to lack of clarity. More significantly, there was an additional Graduate program added; a non-thesis option for an MS in Kinesiology. There is believed to be a lot of demand for a non-thesis program, and the Department was able to pull from already-existing courses and compile the program.

Other announcements: The Dance Program applied to become a department and was successful, so the University will have a Dance Department in the future.

Overall, this was a very productive meeting.

Contact me at: jabemis@wisc.edu

SGC Minutes

SGC Minutes from 3/18/10 online in Draft from. Please send corrections to Andrew by Wednesday.

LGBT Issues Committee meeting summary

The LGBT Issues Committee met yesterday, March 17, 2010.

The committee discussed a list of action items to pursue in the coming year. In part, the action items are based on last month's meeting with Vice Provost for Diversity Damon Williams. A key item, as identified by the committee, is to take another run at an MIU proposal for LBGTQ Faculty Line/Certificate support. The current academic certificate offered for LGBTQ Studies does not have a full, dedicated faculty position. Therefore, faculty teaching classes as part of this certificate program must accommodate it either by the approval of their home departments or through an overload situation. Either way, this is not a good situation in terms of maintaining the certificate program's viability. It is expected that there will be a third round for MIU proposals sometime this calendar year.

The committee chairman reported that Vice Provost for Diversity Williams has now agreed to field the inclusivity survey that has been conducted on many other UW System campuses. This is a positive step in identifying issues of tolerance, inclusivity, and attitudes toward race, gender, sexual identity/orientation and other related issues.

The LGBT Issues committee expects to be included in meetings during the final round of reviews in the search for a new Director of Admissions.

Student groups are continuing to work with University Housing to develop a plan for gender inclusive housing that would allow for roommate situations to be based on gender identity.

Former LGBTQ Campus Center Director Eric Trekel has moved into a temporary position in the Dean Of Students' office and will likely be leaving UW at the end of the semester. Robin Sereno is now serving as acting director of the center.

The LGBT Issues Committee will hold a joint meeting with the University Committee on Women's Issues on May 12th.

LGBT Issues Committee chairman Thomas Armbrecht will be teaching n France for the Fall 2010 semester, and will then be on sabbatical for the Spring 2011 semester. For this reason, the committee is now looking for a new chairperson to take over for Professor Armbrecht at the end of this semester.

--Dave Wilcox, graduate student representative to the LGBT Issues Committee

Admissions Director Finalists

The Admissions Director Search and Screen Committee has recently released the 5 finalists for the position of Director of the Office of Admissions. Formed last semester, this committee has worked hard to narrow a pool of candidates down to these 5; ASM Shared Governance appointees Steven Olikara and Patrick McEwen were important contributors to this process. This is a crucial position as he or she has the opportunity to shape the composition of the student body in the years to come.

See this link for more information on the finalists:
http://www.news.wisc.edu/17830.
The Badger Herald and Daily Cardinal also ran articles today:
http://badgerherald.com/news/2010/03/16/admissions_director_.php
http://www.dailycardinal.com/news/uw-names-five-finalists-to-fill-director-of-undergraduate-admissions-position-1.1268648

Feel free to share your opinion on these candidates by clicking 'comments' below!


Posted for Steve Olikara and Pat McEwen by Melissa Hanley

Dean of Students Advisory Board Meeting - Thurs., 3/11/10

Red Gym

Since VIP and other offices will be moving out of the Red Gym to the new Union South, the ODOS is thinking about reorganizing the space in the Red Gym to make it a stronger center for student involvement. To encourage students to visit the building continuously throughout their college careers, the ODOS is thinking about moving certain clubs that specialize in leadership and global experiences along with classrooms for academic and student organization use into the building. The concept is to make it an organized center for involvement rather a one-stop-shopping experience that students only use once.

Establishing Lifelong Connections

The Student Team for Establishing Lifelong Connections to UW-Madison wants to accomplish two goals by this coming July. The first is to learn about the different ways the university can digitally collect and organize information about UW students and their on-campus involvement into a cohesive database for administrative and alumni use. The second goal addresses the wisc.edu email domain that students lose a certain number of months after graduation. The team wants to find a way to learn about students’ secondary email addresses so that the university and alumni can stay in contact with students in the future.

Badger Herald Feedback

Current events surrounding the recent controversy with the Badger Herald were also discussed. These events included the article about the AEPi Overture Center Party for the Arts, the anti-Semitic comments readers made at the end of the article, and the advertisements on the Badger Herald from a Holocaust disclaimer that directly connected to those comments. We also discussed how the UW and different organizations addressed the situation and how the newspaper is an independent organization that is not run by the university.

-Laura Hirsh

Campus Transportation Committee, March 5

Last week the Campus Transportation Committee discussed upcoming sidewalk and street closings, a new evening parking permit, and the recent Peer Review Report draft.

Transportation Services Planner Rob Kennedy handed out a map displaying upcoming closings as part of an east campus utilities project. Starting March 15, some sidewalks along Park Street will be closed in preparation for further utility work over the summer. These closings will include a stretch of the east side of Park Street along the State Historical Society and the west side of Park Street along Chadbourne Hall and another section along Grainger Hall. In addition, southbound vehicle traffic on Park Street between University and Johnson streets will be restricted to one lane and Park Street at the corner with Langdon will be restricted to one lane with a flagger directing traffic. Students are advised to avoid these areas as much as possible and adhere to all sidewalk closings.

Transportation Services Director Patrick Kass then presented a new evening pass that students, faculty, and staff may purchase (which will be good for a year). It will be valid for a number of specific parking lots and will allow parking Monday-Friday between 3pm and 7am. This is a pilot program and no other permit rates will be impacted by the introduction of this pass.

Most of the discussion focused upon the draft Peer Review Report, which the committee members received last month. The peer review team made a number of suggestions pertinent to the structuring of the Campus Transportation Committee, the management and activities of Transportation Services, and suggestions for new initiatives and policies on campus. One of their major concerns related to pedestrian safety on campus and they encouraged the committee to embrace enforcement, engineering, and educational solutions in supporting a safe, pedestrian-friendly campus.

Adam Smith