Promoting Academic Excellence at UNL
Dear Colleagues:
Our University of Nebraska-Lincoln faculty and students can celebrate a milestone accomplishment, the adoption of Achievement-Centered Education (ACE), our university's new general education program. All eight undergraduate colleges approved the ACE program in actions taken during the Fall Semester 2007. And this January, the University Curriculum Committee and the Academic Planning Committee both have endorsed ACE. In addition, ASUN and our Faculty Senate have endorsed ACE.
Additionally, we are pleased to announce that Nancy Mitchell has accepted appointment as Interim Director of General Education. A professor of advertising in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications, Dr. Mitchell has served on the General Education Planning Team and the General Education Advisory Council, and she has participated in AAC&U's Summer Institute on Assessment in Higher Education. Professor Mitchell is a former chair of the Academic Planning Committee and former chair of the advertising sequence in the college. The position is a .75 appointment and runs through December 2009. An internal search for a permanent director will occur in the fall of 2009.
I recognize and thank the many faculty members who were deeply engaged in the general education review and reform process. You took a difficult issue and crafted an academically sound, outcomes-based curriculum common to all eight undergraduate colleges and 150-plus majors. I particularly wish to thank John Janovy Jr., Varner Professor of Biological Sciences, for his leadership. The General Education Advisory Committee, the General Education Planning Team and all college faculty members who were engaged in thoughtful discussion deserve our gratitude. Members of ASUN and the Faculty Senate also are to be commended for remaining engaged and attentive during the process.
The benefits of ACE are many. We have streamlined the process by which students move through the UNL curriculum and attain their degrees. Transfer students will find the program requirements to be more transparent. And -- most important -- our students will be able to articulate the meaning of a baccalaureate degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Our expectations and outcomes are stated, known and measurable.
ACE promises to be a leading program among research universities-- addressing general education outcomes directly and making clear to our students what we believe to be the foundation of a college education.
We still have much to be done. Our next pressing order of business is the appointment of an Interim ACE committee to facilitate review and approval of the initial set of ACE-certified courses. Each undergraduate college will appoint a faculty member to this committee.
We also will need to appoint and train a set of ACE Course Facilitators. Ten faculty members will be named to represent each of the undergraduate colleges. The College of Arts and Sciences will have three ACE Course Facilitators: one for the sciences, one for the humanities and one for the social sciences. These course facilitators will help our faculty in colleges and departments submit successful course certification proposals for the ACE program.
Finally, I am happy to announce that Chancellor Perlman has approved departmental and unit incentives to produce ACE-certified courses. For each course certified by the ACE committee, the home department or academic unit receives a one-time $1,000 incentive; up to five new or revised courses per department/unit are eligible for ACE incentives. Additionally, upon implementation, the home department/unit will be awarded an additional $500/course bonus.
The work completed so far exemplifies our success as a university committed to quality undergraduate education. Our students are the clear beneficiaries of the time, talent and thinking that underlie our Achievement-Centered Education program.
I thank all of you for your commitment and hard work.
Barbara Couture
Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
2nd Open Forum on Strategic Plan Set for Jan. 24
The UNL community has a chance to review and comment on the first public draft of the UNL Strategic Plan at an open forum running from 1-3 p.m. Jan. 24 in the Nebraska East Union.
The document, A Strategic Plan for UNL: Setting our Compass,
is designed to describe a general direction for university efforts.
Chancellor Harvey Perlman, Barbara Couture, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs, and John Owens, IANR vice chancellor, will host the forum; a similar forum convened Nov. 27 in the Nebraska Union.
For more information, go to http://www.unl.edu/ucomm/chancllr/compass.
Notes and comments from the Nov. 27 forum and January 24th meetings will be posted.
UNL participates in Focus the Nation
UNL joins more than 1,000 other institutions participating in Focus the Nation, an educational initiative on global warming solutions for America on Jan. 31. As the largest teach-in in U.S. history, Focus the Nation is preparing millions of students to become leaders in addressing the environmental challenges associated with global climate change. Several events have been scheduled at UNL the week of Jan. 28, 2008, culminating with the teach-in.
UNL Student President David Solheim, and his colleagues Brigid O'Holleran and Cara Waldo, are spearheading efforts at UNL. Our events are affiliated with the Nebraska Colloquium, a new initiative that engages the entire University of Nebraska-Lincoln community in thoughtful discussion of issues of overriding importance. This year's topic is the environment, and there is much congruence between the colloquium and the events associated with Focus the Nation.
- Here is how you can get involved. Participate and encourage your students to:
- attend the Low Carbon-footprint meal in the Cather/Pound/Neihardt Dining Center on Jan. 28;
- attend the showing of
Who Killed the Electric Car?
at the Nebraska Union Jan. 29; - Participate in the national webcast presented by Stephen Schneider, senior fellow, Stanford Institute for International Studies, a leading scientist on global climate change on Jan. 30; and
- attend lectures and other activities, which are now being scheduled for Jan. 31.
For more information, the following web sites are helpful: www.focusthenation.org or http://www.unl.edu/nc/. Look for more information next semester from ASUN, E.N. Thompson Scholars and the Office of Undergraduate Studies. Or you may email Brigid O'Holleran at brigid_oh@hotmail.com or Cara Waldo at cwaldo@bigred.unl.edu.
Council to recommend a focus for UNL international programs
A nine-member council is working to articulate a strategic vision for international programming. The International Programs Advisory Council will define a forward-looking focus for the university's international work.
IPAC will support the ongoing international relationships and work by UNL faculty, and will promote visionary planning.
Two recent task forces on international programming, including a report generated by the Task Force on International Initiatives in 2005, suggested that a more focused look at international programming would reap benefits.
- The council is charged with the following duties:
- To think
big,
helping to catalyze and focus UNL efforts in international programming. - To make recommendations to the chancellor, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs, the vice chancellor for IANR and the council of deans for focusing funding support and international programs in curriculum and research.
- To propose campuswide measures and benchmarks for assessing UNL efforts in international programming.
- To think
The council is to meet two to three times per semester or as necessary. It is to report to the chancellor, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs, vice chancellor for IANR and the council of deans after each meeting, and is to make regular progress reports to UNL deans so college leadership can provide direct assistance with specific projects that require their collaborative efforts to succeed.
The council is composed of the following individuals: Susan Fritz, associate vice chancellor for IANR, (co-chair); David Wilson, associate vice chancellor, academic affairs, (co-chair); Kim Espy, associate vice chancellor for research; deans Wayne Drummond (Architecture), David Manderscheid (Arts and Sciences) and Marjorie Kostelnik (Education and Human Sciences); two faculty engaged in international work, Ann Chang-Barnes, music, and Stephen Mason, agronomy and horticulture; and a student, Kyle Groteluchen.
The deans, faculty and student serve two-year terms.
China Initiatives: Confucius Institute offers first Chinese Language Courses
The Confucius Institute's first non-credit Chinese language courses begin Jan. 22. Four different sessions will be held on city campus. The classes, open to anyone in the UNL community as well as the general public, are designed to provide beginners and those with a little familiarity with the language to begin to understand written and spoken Chinese.
Cost for each course is $150, which includes the cost of course materials.
Sections for the general public are: Section 1, Jan. 23-March 3 (Mondays and Wednesdays) 3:30-5 p.m. or Section 2:,Jan. 22-Feb. 28 (Tuesdays and Thursdays) 6:30-8 p.m.
Parents are encouraged to join the following sections geared for children ages 6-12: Section 3 (some familiarity with Chinese required), Jan. 26-April 19, (Saturdays) 9-10:30 a.m. or Section 4, Jan. 26-April 19, 10:45-12:15 p.m. Neither section will meet March 22 due to UNL Spring break.
The Confucius Institute at UNL is a non-profit public institute with a mission of teaching Chinese courses to students of all ages and grades (K-12 through university), interested members of the public, and interested others, especially families who have adopted Chinese children.
For more information on classes or to register, call (402) 472-2175, or toll free (866) 700-4747 or e-mail extservice@unl.edu.
Update on UNL Partnership with Xi'an Jiaotong University
Students in UNL's Partnership Degree Program at Xi'an Jiaotong University City College celebrated the holiday season "Big Red" style.
In December visits to Beijing and Xi'an, Barbara Couture and David Lou, director of UNL's Confucius Institute, attended the Second Annual Conference of Confucius Institutes and met with students, faculty, and staff from Xi'an Jiaotong University and its City College to further UNL's partnership with these institutions.
In Beijing, Couture and Lou attended the Second Annual Confucius Institute Conference, where they and Professors Yuxia Song, Zhenping Feng, and Xiaoping Song from Xi'an Jiaotong University learned about the achievements of Confucius Institutes and visited with institute directors from around the world. Chinese officials from Hanban, the official Chinese language education arm of the Chinese government, were quick to complement UNL on the quality of its partnership with Xi'an Jiaotong University and our commitment to the program. UNL has now submitted a proposal to Hanban for a second year of funding for the UNL Confucius Institute.
In Xi'an, Couture and Lou met with XJTU Board Chair, Jianhau Wang and administrators and faculty from XJTU City College about our partnership degree program, which will enroll 400 transfer students from XJTUCC at UNL by FY2014.
Currently, 74 freshmen, 14 sophomores, and 6 upperclassmen have applied to the UNL partnership degree program. Couture spoke with freshmen in the English class of taught by Professor Jeanne Arnold, our UNL faculty member who is preparing students to pass the English language exam in preparation for coming to the U.S.
"These students from China are very eager to come to the University of Nebraska," Couture said. "I was impressed by the depth of their questions and their interest in assuring that they are academically prepared for the transition to UNL."
Included in our newsletter is a scene from a holiday party, held for Xi'an Jiaotong University City College students who are in the partnership program. It's easy to see that they too believe "There is no place like Nebraska!"
UNL participating in national College Portrait project
Students and parents searching for information about colleges and universities will soon have one more tool - the College Portrait. UNL is participating in this national project that aims to provide consistent apples to apples
information so users can compare schools on a number of parameters.
College Portrait is product of the Voluntary System of Accountability project, a partnership between the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC) and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) with funding from Lumina Foundation for Education. More than 82 committee members drawn from 70 public colleges and universities, including the University of Nebraska, helped create the system.
College Portrait is a five-page template designed to provide consistent, comparable and transparent information on the undergraduate student experience. Participating colleges and universities will host College Portrait on their campus web site. A web site providing an overview of College Portrait and links to participating colleges and universities can be viewed at http://www.voluntarysystem.org/.
College Portrait data elements were identified based on input from student/family focus groups, feedback from the higher education community and higher education research. There are three sections: Student and Family Information, Student Experiences and Perceptions, and Student Learning Outcomes.
The three-page Student and Family Information section addresses issues such as cost of attendance, degree offerings, living arrangements, student characteristics, graduation rates, transfer rates, and post-graduate plans. While some of this data is already collected by colleges and universities, the report also includes two significant innovations: the College Cost Calculator and the Student Success and Progress Rate. The College Cost Calculator will assist students and their families to more accurately estimate the net cost of attending a participating college or university. The Student Success and Progress Rate, using data from the National Student Clearinghouse, will provide a more accurate picture of student progress within the higher education system and offers a valuable alternative to the current method of reporting graduation rates.
The second section, Student Experiences and Perceptions, provides a snapshot of student experiences and activities and their perceptions of a particular college or university. Participating institutions can report the results from one of four student engagements surveys: College Student Experiences Questionnaire (CSEQ), College Senior Survey (CSS), National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), and University of California Undergraduate Student Experience Survey (UCUES). The survey results focus on six specific areas of student engagement: group learning, active learning, experiences with diverse groups of people and ideas, student satisfaction, institution commitment to student learning and success, and student interaction with faculty and staff. This type of information is important as students who are actively involved in their own learning and development are more likely to be successful in college.
Student Learning Outcomes, the final section, will focus on student learning using two methods: links to institution-specific outcomes data such as program assessments and professional licensure exams and a pilot project to measure student learning gains in critical thinking (including analytic reasoning) and written communication through one of three examinations: Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP), Measure of Academic Proficiency and Progress (MAPP) or the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA).
UNL's Office of Institutional Research and Planning will take the lead in collecting data for the College Portrait. The academic deans and the dean of Undergraduate Studies will look at ways to measure student success as required by the Student Learning Outcomes section.
Progress in building UNL's site will be reported periodically.
UNL Self-Study Document Wins Silver Award in Writing Competition
UNL's Institutional Self-Study received a silver award in the recent Council for Advancement and Support of Education's District VI communications contest. The self-study was entered in the category of Best Solution to an Institutional Relations Challenge.
Team members who worked on the Self-Study were Barbara Couture and David Wilson, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs; James O'Hanlon, dean emeritus of Teachers College and Accreditation captain; Susan Fritz, Office of the Vice Chancellor for the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources; and Lori Anderson and Kim Hachiya, University Communications.