Attendees: School of Dentistry: Judith Buchanan, Edward Combe. Medical School: Linda Perkowski. School of Nursing: Linda Lindeke, Mary Rowan. College of Pharmacy: Kristin Janke. School of Public Health: Judith Garrard, Matthew Simcik. BioMedical Library: James Beattie. Graduate School: Shirley Garner. Office of the Senior Vice President for Health Sciences: Barbara Brandt, Cathy Muchow.
Absent: Medical School: Susan Berry. College of Pharmacy: Michael Brown. College of Veterinary Medicine: Sandra Godden, Anthony Tobias.
Guest: William Toscano, Professor and Head, Division of Environmental Health Sciences
Barbara Brandt welcomed Council members and asked that they review and approve the August 1 minutes. Council members approved the August 1 minutes.
Review of the Higher Learning Commission Report
For Council members' information and reference, Barbara Brandt distributed the Higher Learning Commission Report, which is the university's request for a change in stipulation for affiliation status relative to distance education. Currently, the university is required to send to the Higher Learning Commission for its review and approval any program that has 50% or more of its curricula online. The University has policies, procedures, oversight, and support systems in place to assure the quality of any online or hybrid degree or certificate program it offers. Approval of this change would accelerate the development of the Digital Campus.
Guidelines for Certificate Programs
Barbara Brandt asked members to review the Guidelines for Certificate Programs handouts from the Graduate School, College of Continuing Education, and the Provost. The examples will be helpful in developing the Council's guidelines for certificate programs.
Review of Global Health Draft Memo and Revised India Proposal
Barbara Brandt shared that she incorporated the Council's minutes along with John Ziegenhagen's feedback from the Provost's office in drafting the August 20 Global Health memo to Dr. Toscano and Associate Dean Olson. She asked members to share corrections or additions to the memo. Members approved the memo as it was written.
The revised India proposal was received from Dr. Toscano on September 12. With this short timeline, members were unable to review the proposal prior to this meeting.
Review of Revised Global Health Practice Program - A Cross-Border India-Minnesota Partnership Proposal
Barbara Brandt welcomed Dr. Toscano and introductions were made.
Dr. Toscano gave a brief overview of the program.
Barbara Brandt opened the discussion to questions from the Council members:
Questions (Q)/Responses(R):
(Q) Is there sufficient financial support for staff?
(R) The program will partially be supported by the Global Outreach team. This will primarily be staff support and we will be able to draw on this team for support of this program.
(Q) How many students do you plan to take for the first year?
(R) We will start with 10 students, five from the United States and five from India. Ten is an underestimate for the popularity of the program. We want to start modestly and work out the kinks in the first year or so.
(Q) What is the percentage of the curriculum for each course delivered online versus classroom?
(R) There are several courses that are already online that we will take advantage of. The plan is to deliver one-third of the curriculum online and two-thirds on site.
(Q) Do you plan on working collaboratively with any of the other AHC schools?
(R) We are happy to open our door to any school that might be interested.
(Q) What is the rigor of these courses compared to the courses offered here in Minnesota?
(R) They will be the same, but even more rigorous. Our professors are professional and they are not going to water down their course work. The online courses are the core courses that our students take here, and those will be the same courses in India.
(Q) Is there cultural appropriateness of the courses and degree program for students in India?
(R) This is a concern and we are working on this together to find ways of getting American students acculturated to the Indian lifestyle and also have the Indian students acculturated to the American lifestyle.
Once all questions were answered, Barbara Brandt thanked Dr. Toscano for coming and stated that she would let him know as soon as possible what the Council's decision was regarding recommendation of the program proposal to Dr. Cerra.
Discussion of Global Health Practice Program - A Cross-Border India-Minnesota Partnership Proposal
Members reviewed their discussion with Dr. Toscano and felt their questions were answered satisfactorily. Members stated that they were supportive of this program proposal.
Barbara Brandt asked for a formal vote of the Council members to approve that the Global Health Practice Program - A Cross-Border India-Minnesota Partnership proposal be forwarded to Dr. Cerra with their recommendation to send the proposal to the Board of Regents. The proposal received unanimous approval.
Inform Dr. Toscano of the Council's approval of the Global Health Practice Program - A Cross-Border India-Minnesota Partnership proposal
Write a letter to Dr. Cerra stating the Council's recommendation to forward the proposal to the Board of Regents
Invite Dr. Robert Kane and Dr. William Van Essendelft to attend next month's meeting to present the Aging Studies Post-Baccalaureate Certificate proposal
Invite Dr. Connie Delaney, Dean of the School of Nursing, to next month's meeting to review the differences in the Doctor of Nursing Practice and professional degrees within the School of Nursing
The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m.
