REPORT OF THE PROVOST: David Prior. The noon SPPC forums were held yesterday and today. Discussions are moving along at a brisk pace and proposal for the Chancellor is being developed. Senator Kohl and Representative Obey have earmarked $300,000 in the federal budget for the aqua culture demonstration facility.

Faculty Representative--Nick Sloboda. Report from 2-27-04 meeting of Faculty Representatives.

In January, a meeting of the steering committee and all committee chairs for the ongoing BOR study updated their work and began to consolidate their work. A budget document is expected in April and a full report in May.

Of interest in the committee updates was the report by Research and Public Service which will call for attention to be given to seed money, release time, prioritization of faculty hires (instead of instructors), increasing the diversity of campus employees, and establishment of better communication with the state.

Also of interest, the Revenue Authority report in which the notion of per credit tuition experimentation on different campuses was discussed. In addition, the issue of possibly lowering non-resident tuition was addressed. This lead to a general discussion about the overall philosophy behind post-secondary education and the question of maintaining standards or simply increasing the number of people with degrees.

The Enrollment Planning committee reported that a task force has been established to address enrollment management on both individual campuses and with the system as a whole. Here, issues of concern to the BOR were also addressed, including concerns over program duplication, programs not central to the institution’s mission.

The Assessment Committee discussed the problem of the increasing demand for a variety of, at times, ongoing reviews at different levels of programs and institutions. The idea of a mid-career assessment of undergraduates was also discussed.

Finally, the General Education Committee noted that it is discussing the assessment process with the campuses which have recently completed reviews (including Superior).

At the meeting, the issue of credit transfers was also discussed. The next stages of the process were outlined. With the recent input from individual campuses, the committee will now attempt to incorporate these concerns into the ongoing implementation process.

NCA Progress Report presentation. Joel Sipress discussed the NCA Progress Report. Motion (J. Sipress/C.Scott) to endorse the NCA working group recommendations was discussed. Motion (M. Einerson/G. Carlson) to table passed with one no vote. Motion (O. Clark/G. Carlson) to amend to refer this item to the Executive Committee to bring recommendations to the April Faculty Senate meeting was defeated.