EDUCATIONAL POLICY COMMITTEE
Minutes
September 20, 2007

Attending: S. Birrell, Jeffrey Cox, H. Dettmer (Chair), M. Gilbert, K. Hall (committee staff), R. Honey, R. Ketterer, J. Kimberley (student member), J. Menninger, M. Reagan

Excused Absence: M. Niño-Murcia, A. Segre

Guests: Professor Jonathan Wilcox, DEO of the Department of English
Tom Kruckeberg, Registrar

• The minutes from September 13 were approved as written.
• Professor Jonathan Wilcox, DEO of English, presented a proposal for a selective admission writing track within the English major. The proposal stems from the Writing University initiative and has been approved by the Office of the Provost. Although the track’s curriculum is still under development, the department plans to offer beginning, intermediate, and advanced courses in poetry writing, fiction writing, and creative nonfiction writing. Beginning courses currently are taught by graduate students in the Writers’ Workshop and in the Nonfiction Writing Program within English. The Office of the Provost will fund “writing fellows” who are recent Writers’ Workshop or NWP graduates to teach the track’s intermediate courses, alongside courses offered by existing faculty. The Provost and Dean Maxson have approved a search for a faculty hire in English with a specialization in creative writing to teach the advanced writing courses and to organize the track’s curriculum and application process. Questions arose over why the track is not a major. As Professor Wilcox explained, the department believes that reading is fundamental to excellent writing and that substantial course work in literature should be linked to the track. Nationally, there are very few programs that offer a major in creative writing for exactly this reason. There was some discussion about the name of the track. It clearly focuses on creative writing (poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction) but is referred to as a writing track, perhaps creating confusion and appealing to the wrong audience.  Professor Wilcox agreed and would like to change the name to the undergraduate creative writing track within the English major. EPC next discussed requirements for admission to the track, with EPC noting that every major wants serious, dedicated students but that faculty have an obligation to work with students meeting College standards. Professor Wilcox pointed out that students not accepted into the track may still complete an English major and may continue to take lower-level and mid-level creative writing courses. English as a whole is a very open major. Still, there was some concern that the application process might be unfair, perhaps even rejecting excellent writers. Professor Wilcox stressed that the director will oversee a committee that makes admission decisions. The three factors for admission (the manuscript, the GPA, and the instructor recommendations) will not necessarily be given equal weight, but will be reviewed within the context of the individual application. A student, for example, with clear talent but a low GPA still will be given very serious consideration. The process will be refined or revised by the coordinator and will grow to fit the students’ and program’s needs. Since the track depends on hiring a coordinator, EPC raised the question of whether or not it might be prudent to approve the proposal conditionally, based on a successful hire. EPC also discussed the publicity for the track and the necessity of students understanding its selective nature. Professor Wilcox will redraft the proposal, clarifying many of these issues, and will present it again to EPC later this fall.
• Tom Kruckeberg, from the Office of the Registrar, spoke with EPC about the Registrar’s goal to stop printing paper grade reports and degree audits (also known as degree evaluations). Such information is now available on OSIRIS for faculty and advisors who qualify for access. OSIRIS is updated nightly and supplies more reliable advising information than paper forms, which are out of date before faculty or advisors receive them since it takes the Registrar over two weeks to print and mail these forms. In the new Maui system, information will be updated instantaneously, and the gap between the accuracy of electronic and paper information will widen. At the request of EPC, the Registrar will continue printing forms for departments that request them, but those departments should be aware of the limitations of this information. Tom Kruckeberg also stressed that the Registrar will continue to work on the readability of the degree audit. EPC had additional concerns about computer security. Tom Kruckeberg reminded EPC that security is always a worry, whether or not one is dealing with paper in a file cabinet or files on a computer. For instance, it is against CLAS ITS policy to allow a student to use a faculty member’s computer, especially if also using the faculty member’s HawkID and password. Not only are student records in jeopardy but so is the faculty member’s HR or other sensitive materials. Still, in the current system, there are many safeguards built in, such as limited access levels and invisible audit trails, and these keep improving over time. In the new MAUI system, if someone changes a grade, for example, this information will be visibly noted. As long as “best practices” are maintained, electronic access to student information is generally safer than printing and mailing paper copies.

Respectfully submitted,

Mark Reagan
EPC Secretary