January 24, 1994
The Academic Planning Council (APC) is a new creation of the University of
California. It is a systemwide body, reflecting the convergence of several impulses:
President Peltason's emphasis on the renewed salience of planning in the coming years, voiced to the Regents in
the spring of 1993.
The recommendations of the Transition Team to establish a new administrative-faculty planning body at the systemwide
level.
The felt need for long-term planning expressed at the Long-term Planning Retreat in September 1993.
The purpose of the APC is to coordinate and oversee planning for the University system as it moves into a new economic
and social era. It is intended to be an instrumental body--initiating, coordinating, and overseeing planning activity
at the system level.
The Council bridges the administration and faculty. Its chair is Provost Walter E. Massey and its vice-chair is
Arnold Binder, Chair of the Academic Council. Other members include:
Cornelius Hopper, Vice President--Health Affairs
Kenneth Farrell, Vice President--Agriculture and
Natural Resources
Karl Pister, Chancellor, Santa Cruz campus
Andrea Rich, Executive Vice Chancellor, Los Angeles campus
Horace Mitchell, Vice Chancellor--Student Affairs, Irvine campus
Daniel Simmons, Vice Chair of the Academic Council
Aimee Dorr, Chair, Universitywide Committee on Graduate Affairs, Academic Senate
Malcolm Nicol, Chair, Universitywide Committee on Planning and Budget, Academic Senate
Edward Blakely, Professor, City and Regional Planning, Berkeley campus
Barbara Horwitz, Professor, Neurobiology, Physiology & Behavior, Division of Biological Sciences, Davis campus
There will also be an undergraduate and graduate student representative.
The APC's staff members from the System Office are Assistant Vice President Sandra Smith, Special Advisory Neil
Smelser, Director Karen Merritt, Coordinator Mohan Sitlani.
The Council's initial meeting was held on January 24. The following notes summarize its decisions and reflections.
The members agreed at the outset that APC will serve UC best by giving visible, proactive leadership on issues
critical to the future well-being of the University. One way to accomplish this is for APC to communicate frequently
with all UC groups concerned with academic planning. APC members also acknowledged how important it is that the
Senate and administration work closely together to assure sound and rapid decision-making in these changing times.
APC will meet frequently so that it can forge ahead on the issues described below.
FIRST STEPS
The APC agreed on three areas in need of its immediate attention: improving decision-making processes, encouraging
intercampus cooperation, and reducing UC involvement in delivering coursework that is normally offered in high
schools. Between now and its second meeting on February 14, the APC will do the following:
1. Consultation and Approval Processes
Convene a subcommittee chaired by CCGA Chair Aimee Dorr to analyze Universitywide (post-campus) review steps and
recommend changes. Review processes to be examined include: approvals of new graduate programs and degrees; schools
and colleges; and procedures for transfer, consolidation, discontinuance, and disestablishment.
2. Intercampus Cooperation
Establish a subcommittee that will examine foreign language instruction and recommend ways to use resources more
effectively through intercampus, as well as intersegmental, cooperation.
Review the Final Draft Report of the Task Force on Intercampus Programs and Distance Learning as soon as it is
completed and identify next steps for APC action.
3. UC's Delivery of Coursework Normally Offered in High School
Convene a subcommittee chaired by UCPB Chair Malcolm Nicol to delineate the actions needed to make progress on
this issue.
APC RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER UC GROUPS
Because the APC's purview is broad, it will need input and advice from many sources. Consequently, it will periodically
invite representatives from key groups not represented in its membership to brief the APC on issues of concern
to them. These groups include, for example, the Library Council, Health Sciences Committee, the Council of Graduate
Deans, Council of Extension Deans, and the Council on Research. In addition, bulletins concerning APC meetings
and actions will be sent after each meeting via e-mail to the members of key groups and will be made available
to the University community through Gopher, with responses invited.
At the same time, the APC will respect Senate, chancellorial, and vice chancellorial prerogatives.
The APC will meet at three week intervals until its work is well under way.
PRELIMINARY LIST OF ITEMS REQUIRING APC ACTION
In the course of its first meeting, the APC identified the following seven items as actions on which its attention
should be focussed during this academic year.
1. Develop specific ways that UC can realize its strengths as a single system.
2. Restructure consultation and approval processes in order to improve and expedite decisions on planning and program
review issues.
3. Encourage development of incentives for intercampus cooperation on courses and programs, including ways to strengthen
weaker programs.
4. Perform work force needs assessments to support the campuses and System in professional education planning.
Seek opportunities for intersegmental cooperation in professional areas.
5. Encourage and facilitate the exploration of new structural arrangements, for example, as a means to create more
flexibility in delivering the curriculum.
6. Reduce UC's delivery of coursework that is generally taught in high schools. Recommend strategies to place greater
emphasis on K-12 preparation. In addition, foster greater cooperation with the California Community Colleges in
delivering remedial education, as currently modeled at Davis and San Diego.
7. Demonstrate UC engagement in responding to critical state needs. Alert the state about how UC is meeting state
needs.
The APC will undertake certain actions itself, as described under "First Steps" above, and will invite
key University groups to take action to carry Universitywide academic planning forward.