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Academic Affairs Council

Members

  • William Sallak, Associate Professor, at-large, AH, 25-28
  • Andria Moon, Associate Professor, PS, Chair, 24-27
  • MD Rasedul Islam, Associate Professor, NS, 24-27
  • Heidi Sherman, Associate Professor, AH, 23-26, Convener 25-26
  • Andrew Austin, Associate Professor, SS, 23-26
  • Student TBD, Student Rep, 25-26 (ex-officio non-voting)
  • Courtney Sherman, Associate Provost, Administrative Liaison (ex-officio non-voting)

Committee Charter

Upon request of the appropriate Dean(s), the Academic Affairs Council shall approve or disapprove of all new programs or on modification to existing programs (majors and/or minors), and on all new credit courses or modifications to existing credit courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

The Academic Affairs Council shall have the responsibility and authority for review of all credit courses and all academic programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Its official response, including its decision, shall be forwarded to the Faculty Senate through the University Committee. The Faculty Senate will publish all curricular decisions made by the Academic Affairs Council in the minutes of its monthly meetings and forward them along with copies of all official Academic Affairs Council correspondence to the Provost/Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.

In a case where the Academic Affairs Council does not approve a new course or program, the initiator of that new course or program may ask the Academic Affairs Council for reconsideration of the decision, providing new arguments or supplementary evidence in support of the claim or making appropriate modifications in the proposal to meet the Academic Affairs Council's published objections. If this initial appeal fails to produce a satisfactory conclusion in the view of the initiator, a second appeal to the University Committee is possible. In such cases the University Committee may investigate the appeal themselves or establish an ad hoc committee to do so. If the University Committee chooses to overturn the second no approval decision, the results of that deliberation will be reported to the Senate, published in the Senate minutes and forwarded to the Provost/Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.

The Academic Affairs Council shall have the responsibility for examining the interrelationships among program areas in the University and for overseeing for the faculty the total academic plan and its various programs and components. This examining and overseeing function shall include, but not be limited to, the reviewing of course titles and content for duplication, and the monitoring of records pertaining to enrollments in lower division courses, upper division courses, the graduate program and career and adult education courses. The final decision of the Council shall be forwarded to the Faculty Senate through the University Committee. The Faculty Senate will publish all curricular decisions of the Academic Affairs Council in the minutes of its monthly meetings and forward them along with copies of all official Academic Affairs Council correspondence to the Provost/Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.

On its own initiative, or upon request of the University Committee, the Academic Affairs Council may advise the Faculty Senate about issues of educational policy and implementation that fall within the jurisdiction of the Faculty.

The Academic Affairs Council shall annually provide the Secretary of the Faculty and Academic Staff, for inclusion in the Faculty Governance Handbook, a current list of: 1)Interdisciplinary Units and 2) approved academic programs (including majors, minors, emphases, graduate programs and certificate programs) and the Interdisciplinary Units responsible for them.