Attendees: School of Dentistry: Judith Buchanan, Edward Combe. Medical School: Susan Berry, Linda Perkowski. School of Nursing: Mary Rowan. BioMedical Library: James Beattie. College of Veterinary Medicine: Anthony Tobias. Graduate School: Shirley Garner. Office of the Senior Vice President for Health Sciences: Barbara Brandt (via ITV in Washington DC), Cathy Muchow.
Absent: School of Nursing: Linda Lindeke. College of Pharmacy: Michael Brown, Kristin Janke. School of Public Health: Judith Garrard, Matthew Simcik. College of Veterinary Medicine: Sandra Godden.
Guests: Craig Swan, PhD, Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education and
Christine Blue, BSDH, MS, Interim Director, Division of Dental Hygiene.
Barbara Brandt welcomed Council members and gave a brief overview of the November 15 agenda.
This week the Higher Learning Commission visited the University to assess whether the Twin Cities campus will receive exempt status for accreditation of online degree programs. A component of this request is faculty oversight of programs; the AHC Academic Council's role is important in oversight and was highlighted in the visit.
An academic/policy analyst position has been posted to work with Barbara Brandt on issues relating to this Council and promotion and tenure. A search committee is being formed and Barbara asked if any Council members would be willing to serve on this committee. Joe Schulz, from John Ziegenhagen's office, will serve as chair of the committee. Barbara asked Council members to email her if they were interested in serving on this committee.
The Council's next meeting is scheduled for December 18. Original meetings were scheduled on the second Thursday of the month. In 2008, the meetings will be moved back to the second Thursday of the month.
Issues in Undergraduate Education in the AHC
Barbara welcomed Craig Swan, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, and introductions were made.
Craig shared that he was part of the original task force that looked at issues of advising for health science careers. The task force recommended the establishment of the Health Careers Center. There is a direct reporting line from the Health Careers Center to Barbara and a dotted line to Craig Swan. The goals of the Health Careers Center are twofold: providing the very best health care information we can to undergraduate education on this campus, and to see if we can interest more students here to take health career options at the University. A related issue was the creation of fast-track programs or professional pathway programs, especially for honor students. The fast-track programs need to be a partnership with Undergraduate Education and the schools. The best example of a fast-track program is VetFast.
Two areas to discuss today are the timely graduation of undergraduates and courses with an excess number of A's.
Undergraduate Education has made a strong commitment to students' success and timely graduation is an important hallmark.
There are some courses with large enrollments in the AHC where 75 - 95% of the students are given A's. Attention needs to be paid to this.
Some undergraduate courses offered in the AHC are offered at the 5000 level, this in inappropriate. The courses offered at the undergraduate level should be of general interest to undergraduates. 3000 level courses would be a more appropriate.
Craig reviewed the purposes of the ECAS, PCAS, and APAS systems. A graduation planner is now available for use - students control this but advisors can see the information. It is capable of providing reports to track a student's progress. The Graduate School is interested in a similar system for graduate students. This system works best in structured programs. If you are interested in graduation planner, contact Craig and he will get you in touch with the appropriate people.
Craig noted that since Barbara Brandt has been at the AHC, there has been more contact between the AHC and Undergraduate Education than in the history of the University; stating that he and Barbara have built a strong partnership.
Craig mentioned that when AHC schools change their requirements for entry into their programs, this can cause difficulty for undergraduate education. The entrance requirements for AHC programs are to be controlled by your faculty and the dean. As these changes are made, there is an extreme amount of anxiety for students. When changes are made at the undergraduate level, especially for admissions at the University, we would announce now what those changes would be in 3 or 4 years, giving students a 3 or 4 year lead time. The same principle applies to changes that are made with regard to post-baccalaureate programs. Last minute changes in pre-requisites can have a big impact on course schedules. Suddenly, a lab course with 40 students can have registrations of up to 80. Departments and faculty are often not informed of a change. With advance planning, we can minimize those problems. Changes need to be made with the understanding of the impact on students, programs, and faculty. Within Undergraduate Education, we have determined that if a request for a change is made, that change will not go into effect until the next Fall. Changes need be made in a way that recognizes the realities of how students prepare themselves.
Barbara thanked Craig for taking the time to give the Council insight on undergraduate education and the issues involved with the AHC.
Review and approval of October 11 minutes
Barbara asked Council members to review and approve the October 11 minutes. Council members unanimously approved the October 11 minutes.
Barbara stated that she has shared the draft letter with Dr. Kane and talked with him about some of the issues relative to the proposal, but did put a caveat that the letter had not been approved by Council members.
Council members reviewed the draft and asked that the following issues/questions be added to the letter:
Why is the program being offered in CCE as opposed to the School of Public Health?
The certificate plan includes students taking courses that are already being taught. Does the faculty know; what is the capacity of the courses; would the faculty members welcome the students. Members would like to see letters of support from the faculty involved in the courses being offered.
Including the prerequisites, how long is this program?
Add, as far as application to “complete a graduate degree or an MPH and MHA.”
Who external to the program will be reviewing the certificate program? What metrics will be used and what is the timeframe for a review?
The above items will be added to the letter to Dr. Kane. Barbara will ask for a revised proposal and Dr. Kane will be invited to a future meeting to discuss the revisions.
Review revised Master of Dental Hygiene proposal
Barbara Brandt welcomed Chris Blue. Chris thanked the Council and subcommittee for their help and input, stating that she feels the proposal is better and much stronger because of their feedback.
The major revisions to the proposal are:
The Master of Dental Hygiene professional program is now one program with a core coursework. Students will have the option of pursuing the education track or the management track.
The admissions criteria for both the education track and management track are identical. The GRE will not be required for admission to the program.
Domains of the curriculum have been identified. These domains represent categories of professional focus that transcend numerous courses and learning activities. The concept of domains is intended to encourage threads of consistency, emphasis and focus that develop and advance throughout the curriculum. Within each domain, major competencies expected of the program graduate are identified and evidence of attainment is stated for these competencies.
Faculty resources and allocation of faculty teaching time has been outlined in an appendix of the proposal.
An outcomes assessment plan has been added which provides in-depth information on how outcomes for the program will be assessed. For each of these outcomes, sub outcomes, measures, benchmarks and person(s) responsible have been identified.
Nomenclature in the proposal has been revised to reflect professional program language.
Barbara Brandt opened the discussion to questions from the Council members. Questions (Q)/ Responses(R):
Q: This is a professional program, are you comfortable that the GPA will be an adequate tool for assessing the preparation of the students for this program? The students from one place as opposed to another may be less prepared.
A: There is a clause in the proposal stating that we would consider extraordinary circumstances such as an older person that has been in the workforce.
Q: Would someone receiving this degree qualify for an academic position?
Q: Are you targeting any specific group of people. Does the cohort of schools to draw from have that attribute?
A: The goal of the Dental Hygiene program is that our students emerge as leaders in the profession and do pursue advanced training. Another group that is interested in this program is faculty in other dental hygiene programs; many do not have masters degrees. Dental hygienists that are physically wearing out are also looking for different career paths.
Q: Do you have any sense as to the distribution of the education versus management paths?
A: There is more interest in the education path.
Q: With the differential tuition between the two tracks, will this be a barrier?
A: It may be, but with the Carlson School's reputation and the internships being offered, hopefully students will see as a value.
Q: What is the difference in tuition between the two tracks?
A: $900/credit for Carlson and approximately $700/credit for Graduate School.
Q: Because the program has reduced the number of students as undergraduates, do you anticipate a point at where you will have an imbalance of people being trained?
A: I believe it was the right move for the workforce issues. It was a good reallocation. We were commended on that by the accreditation site team. By reducing the number of undergraduate students, we were responding to the community; the job market is tight. The ratio between dental and dental hygiene students is now more compatible.
Q: What is the role of Ed Joyce in the program?
A: He will be serving in an advising role to students. We don't have a business background and students could go to him regarding business. He will also be the contact person for the MDH director in monitoring student progress.
Q: Sites have been identified for students to have both clinical and experiential activities within the curriculum. Do you have a process by which you will review these?
A: The clinical component will be at the School of Dentistry. It would be the MDH director's role to communicate with the experiential sites regularly to make certain the internships are fulfilling everyone's expectations.
Q: Will all instruction of teaching be conducted in the School of Dentistry?
Q: How will demonstration of teaching competencies be accomplished?
A: School of Dentistry faculty will evaluate teaching competencies. It will be integrated through the education courses.
Once all questions were answered, Barbara Brandt thanked Chris Blue for coming and stated that she would let her know as soon as possible what the Council's decision was regarding recommendation of the program proposal to Dr. Cerra.
Discussion of Master of Dental Hygiene proposal
The proposal makes a much more effective argument as to why this program is important to the School of Dentistry and the community.
There was a real passion and vision from Chris Blue.
Given the strength of the Dental Hygiene faculty, it is wonderful that the control of the program is now more solidly held within the School of Dentistry with others assisting and advising. It is an important change from the original proposal.
They did a good job in covering the program evaluation subject, especially since they don't have an accreditation body.
The tuition differential is acceptable.
Everyone who helped them revise this proposal should be commended.
Barbara asked if there were any other concerns or anything else that needed changing. Council members agreed that there is nothing more that can be done at this level.
Barbara asked for a formal vote of the Council members to approve that the Master of Dental Hygiene proposal be forwarded to Dr. Cerra with their recommendation to send the proposal to the Board of Regents. The proposal received unanimous approval. (School of Dentistry representatives recused themselves from the formal voting.)
Inform Chris Blue of the Council's approval of the Master of Dental Hygiene proposal
Write a letter to Dr. Cerra stating the Council's recommendation to forward the proposal to the Board of Regents
The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m.
