Minnesota
State Colleges
Transfer Oversight Committee Meeting Notes
January 21, 2005 , 9:30 a.m.
ETC Building
St. Paul , MN
Present:
Monte Bute, Joan Costello, Jerry Johnson, Linda Lade, Greg Mulcahy,
Anne O’Meara, Annette Schoenberger, Scott Wrobel, Gregory Wright,
Larry Selin (guest), Michael Spitzer, Steve Whipple, Debra Japp, Derek
Hudyma, Nancy Black
Not Present:
Ray Anschel, Larry Oveson, Betsy Ingram-Diver, Jean Evens, Leah
Haddad, Alex Yard
Linda Lade has received a new appointment in the Office of the Chancellor and the members congratulated her for having done so. She will be working on high school to college transitions.
1. Accounting Discipline Update:
The accounting meeting notes and draft copies of the accounting course
guidelines were distributed. Larry Selin reported that the accounting
faculty representatives are meeting on
2. Review meeting notes from last Oversight Committee
meeting, held on
The
3. Update on proposed expanded mission of the Transfer
Oversight Committee:
A copy of the proposed Committee Charge Document was distributed.
It was noted that the charge document indicates that the Office of the Chancellor will provide staff support for the Transfer Oversight Committee. Concerns were then expressed about replacing Linda Lade and it was suggested that the replacement be brought up in IFO, and MSCF Meet and Confer meetings.
It was suggested that a statement be added to the charge document regarding faculty meet and confer consultation. Faculty members should indicate when discussion topics need to be brought to faculty meet and confer meetings.
Jerry Johnson will email the draft of the charge document to the Transfer Oversight Committee members and recommendations for change should be made to him within 30 days.
4. Review meeting notes from
The
5. Review and make decisions on the elements of the proposed institutional self-evaluation of the MnTC:
Implementation of the MnTC
A discussion was held on overall implementation issues at select institutions.
Recommendation: The Office of the Chancellor’s needs to contact CAOs at select institutions to determine if overall MnTC implementation issues still exist. If overall MnTC implementation issues are still in existence, then the Office of the Chancellor needs to direct the CAO to submit an abatement action plan.
Credit parameters in MnTC goal areas
A worksheet was distributed that shows there is considerable
variation in goal area credit requirements among our institutions.
A comment was made that the 40 total credit guideline should be maintained.
It was suggested that the Transfer Oversight Committee could establish ceiling and floor guidelines for number of courses and number of credits in each goal area. Concerns were expressed that changes in MnTC distribution requirements on campuses could impact faculty workloads.
Recommendation: Distribute the goal variation report and have the institutions study the reports for patterns. Then encourage them to make adjustments to their goal area distribution so there is better alignment with the existing patterns.
Inclusion of Upper Division courses in the MnTC
A copy of Linda Baer’s upper division course memorandum
was distributed and it was clarified that the intent of the letter is
to apply only to transfer students.
Recommendation: There was a consensus of the Transfer Oversight Committee members that this memorandum be presented at upcoming faculty meet and confers.
Placement of World Languages in the MnTC
Linda Baer’s World Languages memorandum was referenced
and it was noted that the
Recommendation: A communication should be sent to the Presidents and CAO’s requesting that they comply with Linda Baer’s memorandum. Campuses that are in non-compliance are to submit a plan of action for compliance.
Definition of general education
It was reported that IFO Board approval is needed to proceed
further with developing a general education definition.
A comment was made that it is important to have a definition of education that correlates with an educational philosophy (we do certain things because we believe it is the right thing to do for our students).
Recommendation: MSCF will send their proposed definition
to the IFO. IFO Board approval will be sought to proceed in discussions
for developing the definition. The goal is to have a general education
definition recommendation made at the
Clean-up of overly specialized courses in the
MnTC
Evaluating courses against a general education definition should
contribute towards removing overly specialized courses from the MnTC.
Recommendation: Stress the use of the general education definition in evaluating courses.
Clean-up of department/disciplines not intended
to be included in the self-evaluation
Arguments prevail about including courses that are currently
excluded by the MnTC guidelines.
A comment was made that here must be overwhelming and convincing arguments to include courses in the MnTC.
It was noted that the Suny system has a system-wide
committee that is used to review course proposals for inclusion in general
education. Members of the Transfer Oversight Committee do not wish
to implement this practice in
Recommendation: Use the current guidelines to evaluate courses for inclusion in the MnTC.
Placement of courses in the intended goal areas
There is a need to reinforce that courses have to be evaluated
on content to assure the MnTC goals and competencies are met.
Recommendation: Have campuses carefully review the placement of courses in goal areas. Have them use comparative analysis to better align courses with intended goal areas and direct campuses to assign courses to a maximum of two goal areas (critical thinking excluded).
6. Plan steps and timeline for MnTC institutional
self-evaluation:
The idea of conducting the self-evaluation in two phases (over two academic
years) was discussed and there is a concern that it would be difficult
to keep faculty and staff engaged in a process that is too lengthy.
Thus, the self-evaluation should be completed in one phase (over one
academic year).
Distribution of the upper division course memorandum and removal of first year world languages can be accomplished during the 2004-2005 academic year. Therefore, these two items shouldn’t need to be included in the self-evaluation.
The goal of the Transfer Oversight Committee is to create the self-evaluation model by the end of this academic year. There will be need for an MnTC self-evaluation in-service for college and university curriculum leaders. The self-evaluation should provide for better understanding of the MnTC by faculty and staff.
As a part of the self-evaluation process, it was suggested that campuses establish a plan of action to mitigate MnTC issues. This plan should be submitted to the Office of the Chancellor. The self-evaluation may be useful in obtaining feedback from campuses on overall improvements or changes that need to be made to the MnTC. It was suggested that we may wish to obtain information on courses, excluded by he guidelines, where a strong argument exists to keep them in the MnTC.
7. Update of Discussion of “D” grades: Jerry Johnson reported that the Office of the Chancellor continues to receive questions on “D” grades. There is considerable variation in the way transfer of “D” grades is handled by our colleges and universities. Since questions continue about this topic, Linda Baer intends to begin a statewide dialogue about it and perhaps provide further clarification on the subject.
8. Other business: Jerry Johnson and Linda Lade commented that they have been participating in credit for prior learning discussions within the Office of the Chancellor. This may be a topic to be discussed in a future Transfer Oversight Committee meeting.
As the meeting adjourned, committee members thanked Linda Lade for her outstanding transfer and collaboration efforts.
Prepared by
Jerry J. Johnson