Kent State University



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COLLEGE AND GRADUATE SCHOOL OF

EDUCATION, HEALTH, AND HUMAN SERVICES

Office of the Associate Dean for Student Services and Undergraduate Education

Undergraduate Program Coordinators

February 13, 2008

Minutes

The Undergraduate Program Coordinators met on February 13, in Rm. 308D WH. Attending were: Joanne Arhar, Laura Buckeye, Kathy Walker, Bill Kist, Karen Lowry-Gordon, Barbara Scheule, Charity Snyder, Jay Jonas for Kim Peer, and Averil McClelland.

Absent were: Lyle Barton, Carol Bersani, Bette Brooks, Connie Collier, Alicia Crowe, Mary Dellman-Jenkins, Mary Ann Devine, Dianne Kerr, Karen Lowry-Gordon, Patrick O’Connor, Kim Peer, Lynne Rowan, and Cynthia Symons.

Post-Baccalaureate Programs

Joanne shared with the UG Coordinators the issue of post-baccalaureate students in EHHS. Currently, potential post-baccalaureate students return to KSU in a variety of programs, each with a unique set of graduation requirements for post-baccalaureate degree work. Some programs sometimes require very few additional classes for a second degree. Transcripts are evaluated on a case by case basis, resulting in inconsistent policies regarding the acceptance of credits earned at the undergraduate level. Through discussion, issues including the following emerged:

• Challenges of TAG courses

• LERs not in transfer module

• Length of time passed since undergraduate degree was awarded

• Time limits on course completed (20 yr,, 10 yr., 1 yr. ago) and relevancy to current course content.

• Judgment calls on the validity of some transfer coursework

• Relevancy of education classes after significant passage of time (10+) years

It was concluded that it would be helpful to have a minimum established regarding the number of hours needed for completion of a post-baccalaureate degree. Joanne was to send the following guidelines to program coordinators:

• Post-baccalaureate students must complete a minimum of 30 hours additional coursework to receive an additional degree. Required coursework could be significantly more, based upon prior coursework.

• Additional LER are not required unless they are a part of the program’s core content

• Internships must be met in some manner. Internship requirements may be modified based on prior experience but not eliminated.

The question of who is best suited to evaluate post-baccalaureate transcripts was also addressed. Should this person be Julie Wilcox only, the program coordinator, VOSS advisors, or others? There was also a question of distinguishing whether the students’ needs might be best met through a post-baccalaureate degree or the MAT program. Some areas receive a high volume of transcripts for evaluation (VOSS receives over 300 per year) and others only a few. It was suggested that students need to understand their options in choosing the appropriate program and that perhaps better use of an on-line web page could help students evaluate their own needs prior to contacting the college. Another suggestion was to consider using a post-baccalaureate in Educational Studies as a bridge to the MAT program.

The question of how to implement these guidelines was brought into the discussion and the consensus was to try an enhanced web page for students as a pilot program. Joanne was to talk with Julie about additional transcript evaluations.

Probation/Dismissal Changes

Charity shared information about changes in the probation and dismissal process (two handouts) with the major differences being:

• A student who has less than a 2.00 cumulative GPA at the end of the term will NOT be dismissed if specific conditions apply to the student. Conditions were listed on the handout.

• If no conditions apply, the student with less than a 2.00 cumulative GPA will be reviewed for possible dismissal based on a sliding scale of completed credit hours. Specific scale is listed on the handout.

The result of the new policy is that dismissals have been reduced and probations have increased. EHHS VOSS is tracking the affected students to determine how/if their studies improve in the future.

LER for the 21st Century

Joanne shared EHHS feedback on the proposed LER models presented in the recent university meetings. She said that although the deadline for feedback has passed, it can still be submitted and invited the undergraduate program coordinators to send feedback to her for submission. Some issues to be considered are the need for interdisciplinary classes, the practice of “double-dipping” and how LER fit into the Transfer Module.

The question was also raised about whether changing the LER requirements will solve student graduation timeline issues. If double-dipping is eliminated, it will take longer for students to graduate. Also, when students change majors, they bring along unneeded courses which are not LERs and these remain as general electives. Program and accreditation requirement must be met by relevant courses. Joanne distributed a list of other institutions and their minimum required program hours (assembled by the Core Curriculum Committee). The handout reflected a wide variety of required credit hours that varied by institution and program. The coordinators requested that Joanne ask Mike Mikusa the percentage of students who actually graduated with only the minimum hours completed. Joanne asked the coordinators to consider ways that EHHS could help their students in reducing the length of time to graduation. This included ideas such as offering more opportunities to take needed courses and modifying programs, if appropriate.

Future Meetings

March 24, 2009

All meetings will be held in 308D, White Hall from 9 – 11 AM.

The meeting adjourned at 11:30 AM.

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