John Bechtol, from the Office of Veteran's Affairs and Services here on campus, talked to the Committee on Undergraduate Recruitment, Admissions, and Financial Aid about the steps he has been taking to help vets attending UW as well as his plans for future improvement.
Because of the new federal GI Bill (aka the Post 9/11 GI Bill), it is expected that universities will have an influx of vets in the next couple of years; John is doing his best to help UW prepare for this. He is working to improve UW's system of identifying veterans as well as guiding them through the process of receiving the higher education benefits.
During the final meetings of the semester, the committee will be compiling all of the information brought before the committee throughout the year in order to formulate recommendations to the Faculty Senate.
If anyone is looking for more information on what CURAFA has done this year or wants to give input on any issue this committee deals with, let me know.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Do we learn anything outside the classroom?
Do you personally learn stuff outside of the classroom?
What do you learn outside of class? Is it the same stuff you learn in class?
When do you learn (internships, work study, daily life, student groups)?
How would you measure how much you learn?
How would you compare what you learn to what someone else learns?
Please brainstorm and share your ideas about/answers to the questions above!
The cutting edge of assessment is figuring out how to measure how and what students learn outside of the classroom, in the co-curricular, and then using that information to show government officials, alumni, prospective students, and other schools how awesome (or not) this school is compared to others.
This question comes from the University Assessment Council meeting yesterday. We discussed reaccreditation for much of the meeting, but we also broke into small groups to discuss the future of assessment at the UW.
What do you learn outside of class? Is it the same stuff you learn in class?
When do you learn (internships, work study, daily life, student groups)?
How would you measure how much you learn?
How would you compare what you learn to what someone else learns?
Please brainstorm and share your ideas about/answers to the questions above!
The cutting edge of assessment is figuring out how to measure how and what students learn outside of the classroom, in the co-curricular, and then using that information to show government officials, alumni, prospective students, and other schools how awesome (or not) this school is compared to others.
This question comes from the University Assessment Council meeting yesterday. We discussed reaccreditation for much of the meeting, but we also broke into small groups to discuss the future of assessment at the UW.
University Academic Planning Council recaps
The UAPC meets monthly, but thus far this year we’ve canceled as many meetings as we’ve had. The September meeting was canceled, so our first meeting was October. November was canceled, we met briefly in December, and January was canceled again. February was our first real meeting in a long time.
I’ll recap the December meeting quickly, which won't be hard because it was very short. It was the Thursday of finals week, and the big blizzard was right on our doorstep, so we were probably ready to move quick and get out of there. The item that’s of most interest to students was authorizing the implementation of a new BS in Personal Finance. We’ve always had a personal finance curriculum, as a track in the Consumer Science major. The current option covers all of the courses necessary for a graduate to obtain Certified Financial Planner status from the Fin. Planning professional society. The new major uses the same curriculum, but as an actual major will be easier for students to find, and be easier to explain to potential employers.
We closed the meeting with a commendation for Pat Farrell, as this was his last meeting as Provost and chair of the committee. We adopted the following: “The members of the UAPC greatly appreciate the leadership and dedication provided by Provost Patrick Farrell during his 2.5 years as Provost of the University of Wisconsin –Madison. Under Provost Farrell, the University of Wisconsin continued to excel as a world-class university, and Provost Farrell brought both integrity and vision to our University.”
We next met in February, with Julie Underwood, dean of the School of Education and now interim Provost as chair. Her meeting pace was a little quicker than we’ve been used to, but she’s very funny to match it and I have no doubt she’ll be a good chair for however long her tenure as interim provost runs.
We approved two items that of note to students. First, we agreed to a request to rename the Department of Rural Sociology to Community and Environmental Sociology. The name Rural Sociology didn’t cover much of what the department did, and the current students in the department are enthusiastic about the name change. The UW is one of just two universities to still use the name Rural Sociology. The department believes that the new name will help them attract more students to their program. (The Faculty Senate still has to sign off on the name change)
We also approved a new Certificate in German. Surprisingly, we don’t have many certificates in languages. With all of the emphasis in internationalization, language study is an important complimentary component to other majors, but short of getting a second major in the language, there are few options for getting recognition of those efforts. The hope is that by offering a certificate in German, we can help students who want to take more German than what was required to get retro-credits for high school German work, but don’t have the time or desire to get a full German major. This may take some pressure off the German major, because some students can opt for just the certificate. Other language departments will be watching to see how this works, and could potentially start to offer their own certificates.
One of the lessons I’ve learned is that we are not a speedy committee, and in February we took up a discussion of the makeup of the committee, which was an idea from October. We don’t have final approval over our makeup, but we have recommended to the University Committee (which is the executive committee of the Faculty Senate) that they amend our charter to make the student member a voting member of the committee. The UC may make a recommendation to the Faculty Senate, who may or may not take it up, but I’m hopeful and think that future student appointees will have a vote. I will obviously keep following this.
Finally, we discussed potential agenda items for upcoming meetings. At our March meeting, we’ll be discussing clinical/professional PhDs, and the distinctions between these degrees and the more traditional research PhDs. I’m also concerned about time-to-degree for PhD students, but we may not have the right data for that discussion until next year when the Council of Graduate Schools study finishes up. I want to keep on this, because I think we can make progress before we need that data. I also hope that we will be discussing transfer credit agreements and the processes involved in approving those yet this year.
In the past week or so, there has been a fair amount of news coverage about multiple majors and the implications they have on the University. This is something that is within the scope of the UAPC to discuss. It is not on our agenda for March, but I will get a sense if this is a discussion that is coming for a future meeting. Look for a post about multiple majors, hopefully near the end of spring break.
I’ll recap the December meeting quickly, which won't be hard because it was very short. It was the Thursday of finals week, and the big blizzard was right on our doorstep, so we were probably ready to move quick and get out of there. The item that’s of most interest to students was authorizing the implementation of a new BS in Personal Finance. We’ve always had a personal finance curriculum, as a track in the Consumer Science major. The current option covers all of the courses necessary for a graduate to obtain Certified Financial Planner status from the Fin. Planning professional society. The new major uses the same curriculum, but as an actual major will be easier for students to find, and be easier to explain to potential employers.
We closed the meeting with a commendation for Pat Farrell, as this was his last meeting as Provost and chair of the committee. We adopted the following: “The members of the UAPC greatly appreciate the leadership and dedication provided by Provost Patrick Farrell during his 2.5 years as Provost of the University of Wisconsin –Madison. Under Provost Farrell, the University of Wisconsin continued to excel as a world-class university, and Provost Farrell brought both integrity and vision to our University.”
We next met in February, with Julie Underwood, dean of the School of Education and now interim Provost as chair. Her meeting pace was a little quicker than we’ve been used to, but she’s very funny to match it and I have no doubt she’ll be a good chair for however long her tenure as interim provost runs.
We approved two items that of note to students. First, we agreed to a request to rename the Department of Rural Sociology to Community and Environmental Sociology. The name Rural Sociology didn’t cover much of what the department did, and the current students in the department are enthusiastic about the name change. The UW is one of just two universities to still use the name Rural Sociology. The department believes that the new name will help them attract more students to their program. (The Faculty Senate still has to sign off on the name change)
We also approved a new Certificate in German. Surprisingly, we don’t have many certificates in languages. With all of the emphasis in internationalization, language study is an important complimentary component to other majors, but short of getting a second major in the language, there are few options for getting recognition of those efforts. The hope is that by offering a certificate in German, we can help students who want to take more German than what was required to get retro-credits for high school German work, but don’t have the time or desire to get a full German major. This may take some pressure off the German major, because some students can opt for just the certificate. Other language departments will be watching to see how this works, and could potentially start to offer their own certificates.
One of the lessons I’ve learned is that we are not a speedy committee, and in February we took up a discussion of the makeup of the committee, which was an idea from October. We don’t have final approval over our makeup, but we have recommended to the University Committee (which is the executive committee of the Faculty Senate) that they amend our charter to make the student member a voting member of the committee. The UC may make a recommendation to the Faculty Senate, who may or may not take it up, but I’m hopeful and think that future student appointees will have a vote. I will obviously keep following this.
Finally, we discussed potential agenda items for upcoming meetings. At our March meeting, we’ll be discussing clinical/professional PhDs, and the distinctions between these degrees and the more traditional research PhDs. I’m also concerned about time-to-degree for PhD students, but we may not have the right data for that discussion until next year when the Council of Graduate Schools study finishes up. I want to keep on this, because I think we can make progress before we need that data. I also hope that we will be discussing transfer credit agreements and the processes involved in approving those yet this year.
In the past week or so, there has been a fair amount of news coverage about multiple majors and the implications they have on the University. This is something that is within the scope of the UAPC to discuss. It is not on our agenda for March, but I will get a sense if this is a discussion that is coming for a future meeting. Look for a post about multiple majors, hopefully near the end of spring break.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Union Council Meeting 3/3/09
This meeting was dedicated to interviewing and selecting the Union/WUD officers for the '09-'10 school year. Those voted into position include:
President - Xiangyun Zhang
VP Public Relations - Kaitlin Koehler
VP Program Administration - Ade Afolayan
President - Xiangyun Zhang
VP Public Relations - Kaitlin Koehler
VP Program Administration - Ade Afolayan
VP Project Management - Rebecca Gilsdorf
Their positions officially begin on May 7th, but their training begins as early as this week.
Their positions officially begin on May 7th, but their training begins as early as this week.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Applications for the 2009-2010 academic year are now available!
The application for standing committee seats for the 2009-2010 academic year has just been posted online! Application guidelines have also been updated and posted. The application will be due on April 3, 2009, and interviews will take place in the middle of April.
As a reminder, Shared Governance Committee seats are a one-year appointment - every seat is open for you to apply for! If you have any questions reply to this post and I'll write back, otherwise email me!
Check out the application here!
As a reminder, Shared Governance Committee seats are a one-year appointment - every seat is open for you to apply for! If you have any questions reply to this post and I'll write back, otherwise email me!
Check out the application here!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Library and Childcare Committees
University Libraries Committee:
The main issue highlighted at this month's University Library Committee meeting was anticipated budget cuts coming down the road. There is still some question about what form these will take. Nonetheless, the ULC is being proactive in looking at where the libraries can increase efficiency while maintaining services and what could be eliminated if need be. The anticipated cuts are somewhere in the range of 5-10% of the overall budget. What the numbers are will not be entirely clear until everything is worked out with the revised State budget and what impact the federal stimulus package will have. What the directors of the General Library System have committed themselves to, however, is to maintain innovation to meet the university's information needs. While the library system will have to slim down in some places, the overall attitude remains positive and hopeful for the future.
University Child Care Committee:
At the University Child Care Committee meeting we discussed broad array of issues, but perhaps the most prominent one was the problem of a lack of available child care on campus. There are many great programs at this university, such as the Child Care Tuition Assistance Program which makes it possible for parent students to better focus on their studies, but clearly more could be done. One of the concerns I raised with the committee was the difficulty of using the current after care program for students. After care is a service for parents who need to take evening classes, and it is something that may need more attention as graduate programs increasingly migrate their classes to evening timeslots to accommodate students who work full time. The facilities used for the after care program are excellent (the Little Chicks Daycare on Whitney Way and University), but they are also inconveniently located far from much of the campus. We discussed the possibility of finding another daycare east of campus that could provide services for students who live in that part of town. Ultimately, however, many agreed that there is a glaring need for modern daycare facilities located near the heart of the campus. When new buildings are drawn-up for campus the feasibility of having a daycare located in them is supposed to be explored. It seems, however, that increased pressure on decision-makers would help move this forward, since there are no solid prospects at this point. If UW-Madison wishes to continue to attract a diverse array of students they will have to invest more in child care infrastructure.
Perhaps this is an issue the Campus Planning Committee could be willing to take up?
The main issue highlighted at this month's University Library Committee meeting was anticipated budget cuts coming down the road. There is still some question about what form these will take. Nonetheless, the ULC is being proactive in looking at where the libraries can increase efficiency while maintaining services and what could be eliminated if need be. The anticipated cuts are somewhere in the range of 5-10% of the overall budget. What the numbers are will not be entirely clear until everything is worked out with the revised State budget and what impact the federal stimulus package will have. What the directors of the General Library System have committed themselves to, however, is to maintain innovation to meet the university's information needs. While the library system will have to slim down in some places, the overall attitude remains positive and hopeful for the future.
University Child Care Committee:
At the University Child Care Committee meeting we discussed broad array of issues, but perhaps the most prominent one was the problem of a lack of available child care on campus. There are many great programs at this university, such as the Child Care Tuition Assistance Program which makes it possible for parent students to better focus on their studies, but clearly more could be done. One of the concerns I raised with the committee was the difficulty of using the current after care program for students. After care is a service for parents who need to take evening classes, and it is something that may need more attention as graduate programs increasingly migrate their classes to evening timeslots to accommodate students who work full time. The facilities used for the after care program are excellent (the Little Chicks Daycare on Whitney Way and University), but they are also inconveniently located far from much of the campus. We discussed the possibility of finding another daycare east of campus that could provide services for students who live in that part of town. Ultimately, however, many agreed that there is a glaring need for modern daycare facilities located near the heart of the campus. When new buildings are drawn-up for campus the feasibility of having a daycare located in them is supposed to be explored. It seems, however, that increased pressure on decision-makers would help move this forward, since there are no solid prospects at this point. If UW-Madison wishes to continue to attract a diverse array of students they will have to invest more in child care infrastructure.
Perhaps this is an issue the Campus Planning Committee could be willing to take up?
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Athletic Board Meeting- February 20th, 2009
Hello fellow SGers,
We recently had an athletic board meeting and touched on many important things. The meeting began with an approval of the agenda and previous minutes from the January meeting. After this the new Men's Track & Cross Country coach Mick Byrne, spoke to the board about his journey to becoming the new UW coach and also his plans while coaching at UW.
Chair, Walter Dickey, presented information about the recent Big Ten Conference and noted that the main topics discussed all focused on the economy and how to save money in this tough economic climate. Later in the meeting, the board revised and discussed the proposed budget. Some things to note in the budget are that the support department cut their budget by 5%, capital projects were cut by 53%, operational sports budgets were reduced, salary increase requests were put on hold, and at the same time there were no ticket price increases. An interesting item of note is that of the 11 schools in the big ten, UW football ticket prices are third cheapest.
The AD, Barry Alvarez noted that the college game day here at UW for the Saturday night Ohio State game went extremely well. The staff at ESPN was thoroughly impressed with our fans behavior and cooperation. It also was important to host game day because the set and crew were broadcasting and reporting throughout the day from the center of the Kohl Center.
The itmes of most importance from this meeting are that on March 31st, there will be a public meeting to discuss the NCAA Self-Study Certification. This was the review of the operations of the UW athletic department. This meeting will allow for the public to voice concerns and ask questions about the certification process and results.
Finally, on March 9th at 5pm, in the Nicholas Suites at the Kohl Center we will be having a student focus group to discuss football ticket policies. It is extremely important that you show up and voice your opinions about the issues. On top of this it will be very informative to hear about the previous policies, current proposed policies, and why things are the way they are. Adam will send out an email and if you plan on attending you will need to RSVP to Megan Lee. Thats all folks see you soon.
Jake McGhee, Athletic Board Rep.
We recently had an athletic board meeting and touched on many important things. The meeting began with an approval of the agenda and previous minutes from the January meeting. After this the new Men's Track & Cross Country coach Mick Byrne, spoke to the board about his journey to becoming the new UW coach and also his plans while coaching at UW.
Chair, Walter Dickey, presented information about the recent Big Ten Conference and noted that the main topics discussed all focused on the economy and how to save money in this tough economic climate. Later in the meeting, the board revised and discussed the proposed budget. Some things to note in the budget are that the support department cut their budget by 5%, capital projects were cut by 53%, operational sports budgets were reduced, salary increase requests were put on hold, and at the same time there were no ticket price increases. An interesting item of note is that of the 11 schools in the big ten, UW football ticket prices are third cheapest.
The AD, Barry Alvarez noted that the college game day here at UW for the Saturday night Ohio State game went extremely well. The staff at ESPN was thoroughly impressed with our fans behavior and cooperation. It also was important to host game day because the set and crew were broadcasting and reporting throughout the day from the center of the Kohl Center.
The itmes of most importance from this meeting are that on March 31st, there will be a public meeting to discuss the NCAA Self-Study Certification. This was the review of the operations of the UW athletic department. This meeting will allow for the public to voice concerns and ask questions about the certification process and results.
Finally, on March 9th at 5pm, in the Nicholas Suites at the Kohl Center we will be having a student focus group to discuss football ticket policies. It is extremely important that you show up and voice your opinions about the issues. On top of this it will be very informative to hear about the previous policies, current proposed policies, and why things are the way they are. Adam will send out an email and if you plan on attending you will need to RSVP to Megan Lee. Thats all folks see you soon.
Jake McGhee, Athletic Board Rep.
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