Undergraduate education efforts backed

by Sarah R. Buchholz, Chronicle staff

he Faculty Senate endorsed the continuing efforts of its Ad Hoc Committee on Undergraduate Education, including the formation of a permanent council, following a presentation on May 9.

     The committee made four broad recommendations: to initiate changes in order to foster a teaching culture; to investigate curricular and programmatic resource issues; to address the immediate challenges to high quality education for undergraduates; and to establish broad, collaborative governance support structures. The recommendations are designed to improve advocacy for a "high quality undergraduate education appropriate to a major research university."

     The committee noted, "In such areas as first-year programs, learning communities, honors programming, introductory and advanced writing-across-the-curriculum, community-based coursework, learning resources, and diversity initiatives, the University can take pride in practices and institutional structures that result in quality undergraduate educational experiences."

     "We have done a remarkable job and made tremendous strides over the last decade, given our limited resources," said Mary Deane Sorcinelli, co-chair of the committee.

     Such practices and structures must be safeguarded against loss during the current fiscal climate, Sorcinelli told the senate.

     Enhancing public support for undergraduate teaching efforts, enhancing advising and teaching development, encouraging the pursuit of outside grant sources to support new initiatives that enhance teaching, increasing attention to evaluation and assessment, and addressing the deteriorating conditions of the instructional environment were recommended as ways to foster the teaching culture.

     According to the report, among the options to be considered in investigating resource problems are a 4-4 curriculum, more evening classes to free up space, Monday/Wednesday 75-minute courses, supporting departments that have heavy service-course burdens, renegotiating expectations within and between departments with regard to required courses, ways in which technology can further enhance teacher-student contact, and a top-level campuswide administrator for undergraduate affairs. Sorcinelli and Jenny Spencer, the committee's other co-chair, stressed that the committee was not necessarily recommending any of these possibilities but recommended investigating them. In addressing immediate challenges to quality undergraduate teaching, the committee suggested four actions. The first is to articulate the need for hiring more tenure-track faculty promptly.

     The second is to "recognize that decreasing the undergraduate population will not solve the current resource problem and may negatively impact long-term resources."

     The third is to ensure that program-evaluation standards reflect support of undergraduate education, including recognition of graduate programs that train future teachers.

     The fourth is to consider that innovative interdisciplinary teaching and research require strong discipline-based departments in evaluating programs and units.

     The final recommendation is to establish a permanent council to advocate for quality undergraduate education.

     By endorsing the report, the senate signaled its wish that the committee press on with its work over the summer. Establishment of a permanent council requires a several-week process in the senate and therefore cannot be addressed until the fall.