Realizing the Vision:
Undergraduate Initiatives

Summary of proposals presented to the Executive Committee of Academic Council

Tuesday, March 16, 2004

Click the title of each proposal to view the entire document in Adobe Acrobat format (*.pdf)

INITIATIVE I: Strengthen the coherence and organization of the undergraduate experience at MSU.

Add the title of "Dean of Undergraduate Studies" to that of Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Education.

Consistent with the expanded role and responsibilities outlined in the Realizing the Vision blueprint, the title of the Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Education will be changed to that of "Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Education and Dean of Undergraduate Studies." This change in title builds on the successful model established for graduate education, raising visibility and increasing accountability, coherence, and quality assurance for undergraduate programs. The redefined Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Education and Dean of Undergraduate Studies will work in parallel with the Dean of the Graduate School, providing leadership for enhanced coordination of undergraduate, graduate, and graduate professional programs, policy, curriculum, and program development. This will provide a critical connection between undergraduate and graduate programs-capitalizing on the many synergies that contribute to the strengthening of the educational experience for all our students.

Proposal to consolidate the three separate Integrative Studies centers.

The Office of the Provost proposes that t he three separate, integrative studies centers be merged into one center, jointly reporting to the liberal arts and sciences deans with oversight by the Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Education. A faculty leadership team will be recruited to provide intellectual leadership for integrative studies and focus, initially, on curricular review. Consolidation will yield increased coherence across the areas as well as a strengthened capacity to rethink better ways of balancing department and college and university obligations to our students, a combination of resources, increased visibility of the program, enhanced oversight and review of the program and its courses, more attention to connections among and across colleges, and focused development of new initiatives. The three centers would be merged effective July 1, 2004 .

Proposal for review of writing in the undergraduate curriculum.

The Office of the Provost proposes that a planning committee be formally established to review the current writing program, consider alternatives, and to make appropriate recommendations for the revision of the general education writing requirement.

Proposal to address quantitative literacy.

The Office of the Provost proposes the formal establishment of a Quantitative Literacy Task Force. The Task Force would be charged with establishing a dynamic and adaptable vision that describes MSU's quantitative literacy goal, together with a set of guidelines, expectations, or standards characterizing the intended quantitative literacy exit requirements of all students who graduate from MSU with a bachelor's degree; and developing an assessment plan that is sufficiently adaptable to meet the needs of the diverse academic missions and requirements of the various undergraduate majors at MSU, and provides evidence of the degree to which students have met the quantitative literacy exit requirements.

Representatives from the Quantitative Literacy Task Force will work cooperatively with other groups reviewing general education requirements to develop a model(s) for an interdisciplinary "University Curriculum" that addresses the quantitative literacy standards and can be tailored to meet the needs of students with diverse academic interests and backgrounds and recommend a University structure that will allow for appropriate oversight and ongoing evaluation.

INITIATIVE II: Strengthen graduate programs and research.

Strengthen research mentoring via a major revision of graduate handbooks.

The University Graduate Council endorsed the Report of the University Task Force on Research Mentoring of Graduate Students at their February 2, 2004 meeting. The work of the Task Force is included in the Realizing the Vision blueprint as part of the initiative to strengthen graduate education because these efforts are critical to the fundamental quality of graduate education at MSU, and because of the special nature of the relationship that graduate students have with faculty. The Report itself and the specific recommendations presented by the University Graduate Council Chairperson build on the solid and ongoing work of the faculty and leadership in The Graduate School.

UGC Chairperson Eric W. Crawford has presented four specific recommendations to Provost Simon, Vice President Huggett, and Dean Klomparens following approval by UGC at their meeting of February 2, 2004. The Office of the Provost seeks the advice of the Executive Committee of Academic Council as to whether other University-level academic governance committees should be consulted about these recommendations.

INITIATIVE III: Extend degree-oriented residential living and learning options.

Proposal for new residential program in the liberal and creative arts and sciences.

The Office of the Provost proposes to formally establish a Planning Committee for the purpose of creating a new liberal and creative arts and sciences residential program. Of the array of initiatives and proposals in the Realizing the Vision blueprint, this initiative has received the greatest enthusiasm across the university and is a defining characteristic for the proposed charge to the Planning Committee. Dr. Marcellette Williams has agreed to chair this effort. The Office of the Provost seeks the advice of the Executive Committee of Academic Council as to which University-level governance committees, if any, should be consulted regarding the proposal to establish a Planning Committee for a new residential program.

Charge to begin faculty planning to expand James Madison College and Lyman Briggs School.

With regard to the overall strategy to expand the degree-oriented residential living and learning options and the initiatives outlined in the Realizing the Vision blueprint, the Office of the Provost has asked that James Madison College (JMC), through its normal governance processes, propose an expansion of JMC. Similarly, the Lyman Briggs School (LBS) is in the process of developing a proposal through the LBS regular governance processes in the School and in the College of Natural Science .

Both proposals have been requested by mid-April and will include analyses of explicit cost and space implications and address the following issues: plans for staging incremental increases in student enrollment, assessment of resource needs as a result of expansion, consideration of faculty issues within "undergraduate only" teaching units, opportunities for new linkages/initiatives across campus, expansion of connectivity between undergraduate majors and graduate programs, potential areas for expansion/development, innovative plans for increasing faculty involvement across campus, and criteria fro faculty selection into the program.

Dean Sherman Garnett and Director Elizabeth Simmons and their planning teams, will work collaboratively on the relevant cross-unit questions.

INITIATIVE IV: Strengthen the liberal arts by changing college structures to promote new interdisciplinary and cross-unit dialogues.

Proposal to create a new School of Planning, Design, and Construction.

Although the proposed new school is a reorganization that is part of a planning process that began three years ago, it is consistent with the initiative outlined in the Realizing the Vision blueprint. It has evolved from a proposal previously reviewed by the Executive Committee of Academic Council to restructure and establish a School of Construction Management and Built Environment. The proposal now incorporates units from the College of Social Science and may in the future incorporate programs from Human Ecology.

The explicit relationship of the College of Human Ecology to the new School will be determined as a consequence of the transfer of Interior Design to the new School and any restructuring of the CHE which may emerge from the Realizing the Vision initiatives. Those proposals will be provided to the ECAC as they evolve and the college restructuring initiatives set forth in the Realizing the Vision blueprint become better developed and understood.