PUBLIC LIBERAL ARTS TASK FORCE REPORT TO FACULTY SENATE
David Carroll Marshall Johnson Teri Kronzer Wendy Kropid Melissa Nelsen Deborah Schlacks Gregory Trudeau, Chair
HISTORY
In the February 5, 2004 document Summary and Analysis of the North Central Association Team’s Report, Joel M. Sipress, NCA Progress Report Coordinator, summarized the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools visit to UW-Superior. A copy of which is attached as exhibit A. The report states that in the spring of 2003, a team from the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools visited UW-Superior as part of our regular re-accreditation process. This team raised serious concerns regarding the degree to which UW-Superior had fully “operationalized” its stated mission as a public liberal arts college. Because of these concerns, the NCA has requested that UW-Superior submit a progress report by December 15, 2006 specifying the steps that we will take to advance our public liberal arts mission.
Under the principles of shared governance, faculty have the primary responsibility for advancing the academic mission of the campus. On April 9, 2003, the Senate Executive Committee proposed that Faculty Senate appoint a faculty task force of 5-7 members. Faculty Senate at the April 2003 Senate meeting agreed and established a Faculty Task Force on the Public Liberal Arts Mission. Members to the task force included, David Carroll, Marshall Johnson, Terri Kronzer, Wendy Kropid, Terri Kronzer, Wendy Kropid, Melissa Nelson, Deborah Schlacks, and Gregory Trudeau.
The charge given to the task force from Faculty Senate was two-fold:
	1.	To foster an inclusive faculty and campus discussion regarding concrete initiative that should be pursued to further UW-Superior’s public liberal arts mission.
	2.	To make recommendations regarding a finite number of concrete initiatives that should be pursued to further UW-Superior’s public liberal arts mission.
PROCESS
The first meeting of the task force was held on Wednesday, August 27, 2003. The committee elected Gregory Trudeau to chair the committee, agreed to meet weekly, and discussed the process to be implemented in gathering information. On September 3, 2003, the committee agreed to complete the findings and be ready to disseminate this information in April 2004.
During September the committee solicited its first request for input from the campus community at large. The request was to “briefly respond in a few sentences by October 10, 2003 (e-mail, hard-mail, or verbally) to any committee member explaining your experience, as an individual or as a member of a group (successes and/or hardships), in implementing an initiative that addresses the liberal arts mission. Additionally, ideas of potential initiates are welcome.”
The task force received two distinct types of responses: 1. initiatives addressing the liberal arts mission and, 2. concerns individuals had regarding the process. Responses of initiates were accumulated, discussed at length, and categorized into emerging categories. Responses of concerns were kept in mind as the committee proceeded with the task of gathering information. The concerns were also forwarded the to the Senate executive, the body that initiated the charge to the Task Force. Individuals who submitted concerns were informed of the handling of their concerns on October 24, 2003. At this time these individuals were again invited to submit any initiatives that specifically addressed their previously submitted concern.
On November 14, 2003 the task force again contacted the campus community at large to invite them to discuss initiatives during three different sessions which were held during Spring Orientation Week (January 13-16, 2004). The campus was also informed that the Task Force grouped the initiates received to date into the categories listed below. It was explained that these categories were fluid and, as such, subject to change as the Task Force proceeded with its charge.
	1.	Shared Experience (Freshman Experience, Senior Experience, Capstone Experience, Learning Communities, etc)
	2.	Active Learning (internships, Field Work, Service Learning, Undergraduate Research, etc.)
	3.	Umbrella Curricular (Writing Across the Curriculum, Communication Across the Curriculum, Information Literacy Across the Curriculum, etc.)
	4.	Miscellaneous / Other (Foreign Language Requirement, Interdisciplinary Courses, Faculty Development, etc.)
During Spring Orientation Week, three, two hour information gathering sessions were held. On January 13, 2004, sixteen people attended, on January 14, 2004 fourteen were in attendance, and on January 15, 2004, eighteen attended. These discussions allowed an in depth discussion of various initiates that had been presented.
On January 16, 2004, the Task Force contacted the campus community thanking them for their input during the busy orientation week and informed them that the three information gathering sessions yielded the following initiatives:
	-	Freshman Year Experience
	-	General Studies Program
	-	Information Literacy Across the Curriculum
	-	Writing Center/Writing Across the curriculum
	-	Faculty Development
	-	Ethics Code
	-	Community Service
	-	Senior Seminar/Revised Capstone Experience
	-	Using Counseling Graduate Students Across Campus in Various Capacities.
The Task Force was also reminded to be conscious regarding how student development and graduate programs fit within the current discussions. At this time the campus community was again invited to submit additional initiatives, especially from those who did not have the opportunity to participate during orientation week. The campus was invited to join us on January 30, 2004 for additional submissions.
Throughout the process the Task Force discussed what constituted a liberal education and decided to evaluate the submitted initiatives using the themes described in Practicing Liberal Education: Formative Themes in the Re-invention of Liberal Learning. A copy of which is attached as exhibit B. This report states that a survey conducted by the Association of American Colleges and Universities has identified three major themes as key to a liberal education for the twenty-first century. The three themes (used as necessary qualifications) are intellectual judgment, social responsibility, and integrative learning.
The Task Force looked at the various initiatives, discussed and evaluated them in the context of the three aforementioned themes. The initiative were also discussed and evaluated on five desirable qualifications. The five desirable qualifications included: Level of academic challenge, Student interaction with faculty, Supportive campus environment, Active collaborative learning, and Enriching educational experience.
Based upon this process and framework, the Task Force suggests to the Faculty Senate, the following five concrete initiatives that should be pursued to further UW-Superior’s public liberal arts mission
	-	Community Service
	-	Freshman Experience
	-	Global Awareness
	-	Senior Capstone
	-	Writing Center
INITIATIVES
(Each initiative will now be discussed in more detail.)
ADDITIONAL FINDINGS
The task force also would recommend that individual working groups be formed with the responsibility to formulate and implement the final chosen initiatives. In addition the task force would encourage a campus-wide discussion concerning what liberal education means at the University level, the department level, and at the individual course level. Finally, the task force would encourage the administration in using the National Survey of Student Engagement (NESSIE) an established instrument from the American Association of Colleges and Universities to measure our progress towards achieving our liberal arts objectives.