1. Consultation
a. Alumni Advisory Committee on Long-Range Planning
The APC agreed to invite the Alumni Association of UC to establish an Alumni Advisory Committee on Long-Range Planning.
because there has not been a clear mechanism for acquiring advice from alumni about the University's important
planning choices.
b. Briefing by Council of UC Staff Assemblies
After an introduction to the history and activities of the Council of UC Staff Assemblies, Chair Albert Aubin (Los
Angeles campus) and Vice Chair Cheryl Hagen (Riverside campus) urged the APC to recognize four principles for strategic
UC planning in hard times: 1) improve the balance of staff and faculty in consultative processes; 2) recognize
who carries out "value- added" principles in a decentralized management model, and where; 3) ensure communication
that lets administration, faculty, staff, and students "buy in" to changes; and 4) clarify staff and
faculty responsibilities for planning in one another's arenas.
APC members explored with Chair Aubin and Vice Chair Hagen how to articulate a UC vision in a climate of precipitous
change. The APC applauded the contributions of staff to campus planning and acknowledged the need to carry a strong
message to staff about their high value to UC.
2. Intercampus cooperation
a. Intersegmental advisory group on Library and Information Science
The APC discussed an Academic Council proposal to convene an intersegmental advisory group on Library and Information
Science. The purpose of the group would be to advise on how the segments can work cooperatively to meet future
State needs for library and information science education and research, given the transformations now under way
at the Berkeley and Los Angeles campuses. The APC decided to ask the chief UC, CSU, and CCC academic administrators
of the southern region to discuss the proposal at their June 2 meeting. In addition, the California Library Association
has impaneled a similar task force; Academic Affairs staff will discuss with its chair how the APC can proceed
in cooperation with the CLA.
b. Promotion of intercampus cooperation within UC
The APC is asking the Deans of Letters and Science, who meet in Irvine on May 19-20, to advise on APC's proposal
for establishing an incentive fund to foster cooperation in delivering instruction among UC's campuses.
4. Reducing coursework normally taught in high schools
The Nicol Subcommittee convened the first meeting of the Steering Committee on Student Preparation on April 28,
which brings together the Chairs of BOARS, UCPE, and the ICC Committee on Student Preparation; Director of Admissions
and Outreach Services; and other Senate and OP members. The Steering Committee will coordinate activities to set
in motion actions endorsed by the APC: a plan for recognizing California schools that show the most improvement
in preparing students for UC and better approaches to placement in composition. Committee convener Malcolm Nicol
reported that UC and CSU representatives are now working with the State Department of Education on a Golden State
Exam in composition for possible use by 11th graders either to satisfy Subject A or to identify deficiencies in
composition requiring more work in the 12th grade.
The Steering Committee will meet shortly on issues of overlap between UC and the schools in student coursework
in elementary foreign languages.
5. Consultation with Professor Jeannie Oakes on the report "Educational Initiatives for Troubled Times: a
Call to Action"
In presenting the UC Advisory Committee's report on professional programs in Education, Professor Jeannie Oakes
(Los Angeles campus) stressed that the Committee chose not to evaluate UC's Education programs or defend Schools
of Education. Instead, it highlighted guiding principles for improvement, actions to realize those principles,
and six scenarios showing ways to enact the principles. She recommended five high priorities for UC action: 1)
configure funding according to unique programmatic units ( Action item 1.1); 2) expand the academic calendar to
accommodate more practitioner-students in research ( Action item 1.6); 3) experiment with using the clinical professor
series (Action item 1.7); 4) develop clear standards in merit and promotion for practice-based research (Action
item 2.3); and 5) establish on each campus an intercollegiate task force (Action item 6.1).
APC members held a frank exchange with Professor Oakes on fragmentation in Schools of Education and the difficulty
of reconciling school expectations of practice-oriented research with the Academic Senate Academic Personnel (CAP)
committees' expectations of theoretical research. The APC asked staff to identify possible systemwide actions derived
from the report.
6. Streamlining and expediting program review
Subcommittee Chair Aimee Dorr led APC members through an initial examination of the draft compendium that proposes
ways to streamline and expedite current systemwide review processes. The proposal is complex, in that it covers
all processes for academic units and programs requiring systemwide actions. Proposed streamlining includes concurrent
rather than sequential reviews, reduction in the number of steps involved in reviews, concurrent rather than sequential
paper transmission, and expanded use of e- mail transactions. When work has been completed on the compendium in
June, it will be sent to the Senate and campuses for review and comment, preparatory to instituting changes.
7. Continuing activities
A charge to a committee to review the proposed changes in the Agricultural Experiment Station (AES) should be finished
shortly. Solicitation of nominations representing AES and non-AES campuses and California agriculture is proceeding.
Campuses and the Senate have requested more time to respond to the recommendations in the report of the Task Force
on Intercampus Programs and Distance Learning.
In commenting on the discussion paper on undergraduate enrollment planning, campuses and the Senate have concurred
that consideration of future undergraduate enrollments must be linked to graduate enrollments. An Academic Affairs
discussion paper on graduate enrollments is expected to be sent to the campuses and Senate at the end of May. The
APC asked that Vice President Con Hopper lead a discussion of enrollment planning in the health sciences at the
June APC meeting.
The APC, Academic Senate, and COC plan to hold an early fall orientation on critical planning issues to be addressed
during the upcoming academic year.
The next APC meeting will be held on June 7 in Oakland.