The Academic Planning Council welcomed its newest member, Debbie Davis, graduate
student representative from the Irvine campus.
1. Faculty Recruitment
The APC considered several way in which systemwide efforts might help position UC as an institution of choice for
women and minority faculty members. The projected need for 7,000 new faculty members in the next decade or so to
keep pace with enrollment growth and to replace retiring faculty requires that the university hire a large number
of women and minorities and provides an opportunity to increase the proportions of women and minority faculty.
Sheila O'Rourke, UCOP's Executive Director–Academic Compliance, was present to help answer questions related to
how recruitment and hiring work under Proposition 209. The University's "Affirmative Action Guidelines For
Recruitment and Retention of Faculty" can be found at http://www.ucop.edu/acadadv/fgsaa/affirmative.html.
In discussing what systemwide efforts would be helpful, some members noted that activities that bring campus and
departmental awareness to the topic of increasing women and minority representation are worth doing because they
send a public message that shows UC to be an inviting culture. There were suggestions that campuses and departments
might want to review the kinds of support that are made available both at the time of recruitment and at later
points in the advancement cycle, and how that support might appear to prospective candidates. Noting that both
departmental climate and tangible resources are important to prospective candidates, member suggested looking at
the availability of childcare, spousal employment opportunities, loan programs, access to graduate students, the
critical mass of women and minorities in the department, square feet per faculty, and teaching loads. Candidates
who turn down offers might also be surveyed to shed light how UC compares to other universities.
As next steps, members will inform the APC of activities taking place on their campuses related to analyzing the
environment to which women and minority candidates are being recruited. The Office of the President will also contact
campuses to learn about relevant groups that exist or are planned and studies that may have already been done.
The APC was also interested in pursuing the idea of forming systemwide conversation groups to share best practices
both across campuses and across disciplines.
2. Technology in Instruction
Provost King noted that while great progress has been made in the use of technology with the University, such as
the creation of the Digital Library, a preprint server at Los Alamos, UC-NEXUS and UC Links, there are fewer examples
of the use of technology in instruction. Provost King asked the APC to consider the President's recent request
for the establishment of a Universitywide Center for Teaching and Learning Technologies. The purpose of the
proposed Center is to provide a locus for a variety of activities designed to accelerate and expand both campus
and universitywide efforts in the development and use of teaching and learning technologies. The Center would be
modeled on the MRU structure by being multicampus in nature with a research agenda and advisory group to provide
guidance. It could house any or all of the following activities:
(a) Inventories of developments within UC and sharing of best practices.
(b) Technical assistance and expertise not otherwise available on campuses for the development of courseware;
(c) Funding for dissemination of courseware with potential for widespread use;
(d) Meetings of faculty interested in collaborative coursework development;
(e) Funding for research on the range of mediated learning environments and the pedagogical benefits of various
mediated instructional strategies.
APC members were asked to examine the proposal with respect to which of its activities might best be done centrally
and which might be best done locally. They provided many comments, noting that faculty are already quite
engaged with "web-enhanced" learning at some level, even if just for providing on-line syllabi. Several
members noted that faculty would be best served by being able to see demonstrations of different types of software
and existing courses, e.g., Lotus Notes, polling software used during lectures to measure comprehension, courses
from other universities using on-line instruction and from commercial "dot com" providers. There was
also general agreement that an inventory describing institutional organizational activities that support faculty
in their development of courseware could be helpful.
3. Humanities Commission
The APC endorsed the final draft of the charge to the Humanities Commission. Provost King and Council Chair Coleman
are accepting nominations of individuals–largely but not exclusively from the Humanities--who have a broad outlook
and are regarded as intellectual leaders. They will make their selection in the coming month. The Commission will
be expected to finish its work in the year 2000, with staffing provided by the Office of the President.
4. Enrollment Updates
The APC members were brought up to date on the myriad activities taking place throughout the system related to
planning for increased enrollments. The systemwide Steering Committee on Enrollment Growth has been identifying
systemwide issues, and groups have been formed to address specific topics (e.g., the LRDP Group and the Student
Incentives Task Force). In addition, existing groups are studying issues such as the estimated cost of capital
needs, and ways of expanding education abroad (EAP), among many other topics. The Governor did not include a buyout
of existing summer operations in his budget, but was encouraging about using expanded summer instruction as one
of several ways of meeting the enrollment demand. He will continue conversations with the higher education segments
this spring to resolve policy and funding issues related to expanded summer enrollment.