Academic Standards Committee

1996-1997 Annual Report

Submitted 5/6/97 by Joel B. Piperberg, Chair

1996-1997 Members	Department	Term Expires
J. Piperberg, Chair elected from Faculty Senate	Biology	1997
M. Chaudhary	Computer Science	2000
S. DiBartolomeis	Biology	1999
T. Greco	Chemistry	1999
A. Kelly	English	1998
J. Sciarretta	Developmental Studies	1998
D. Schultz	Mathematics	1997
D. Shanahan	Geography	1998
Z. Shao	Mathematics	1999
I. Sigler	Mathematics	1998
J. Wenrich	Elem. & Early Childhood Ed	1997
M. White	Library	1999
D. Davis	Director of Admissions (ex-officio)
M. Gonzalez	Registrar (ex-officio)
R. Wywadis	Associate Registrar (ex-officio)
Michael Morykin	Student
Josh Sosnin	Student
Jen Berstein	Student

Meetings:
A two-day meeting lasting from 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM was held after both the Fall and Spring semesters. This academic year the Fall semester meeting was held on January 21-22, 1997 and the Spring semester meeting will be held on June 11-12, 1997. No formal minutes were taken at either of the meetings. Average attendance was 15 members each day.

Motions Forwarded to Senate:
3/15/97 - A motion (see attachment) was brought to Faculty Senate proposing a four-member increase in the size of the Academic Standards Committee to 11 faculty members plus the Chair elected from the Senate. The Committee will now be divided into three groups each of which will hear appeals simultaneously. This will allow the Committee to spend an appropriate amount of time on each case while remaining on schedule. Four new members were elected during the Faculty Senate meeting on 4/1/97 to fill terms of varying lengths. As suggested in the motion, this was done so that the Committee would have a turnover of four members each year while maintaining a core of experienced members.

Other Deliberations and Actions:
As in previous years, hte IMP (Improve My Performance) program has been given the names of certain students who appear to be likely to benefit from the program. Participation is optional. Preliminary information indicates that those students who have elected to participate in the program have done better in subsequent semesters than those who have not. We will continue to steer students to the program, but have been asked to change the procedure. We have been asked to sign up imeediately students who are interested at our meetings this year and will initiate that practice with the June meetings.

The Academic Standards Committee met on January 21 and January 22, 1997 from 8:30 AM until 5:00 PM to hear the appeals of those students dismissed at the end of the Fall 1996 semester. The following table summarizes the results for the Fall 1996 semester:

CATEGORIES	NUMBER (PERCENTAGE)
1. Total number of dismissals	112
2. Total number of appeals	65 (58% of dismissals)
3. Number of appeals granted	40 (62% of appeals)
4. Number of dismissals upheld	25 (38% of appeals)

STUDENTS APPEALING THE COMMITTEE'S DECISION

1. Appeal approved	5
2. Appeal denied	3

DEMOGRAPHICS OF DISMISSED STUDENTS

The data below were provided by P. Koenig of the Registrar's Office at the request of M. Gonzalez.

1. Curriculum and Credits Earned Statistics for Academic Dismissals

CURRICULUM

MAJOR	FALL 1996	SPRING 1997	FALL 1997
ART	2
BIOLOGY	7
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION	17
COMPUTER SCIENCE	6
ECONOMICS	1
ED TECHNOLOGY	1
ELEMENTARY ED	2
ELEMENTARY SPED	1
ENGLISH	4
GEOLOGY	2
INTERNATIONAL STUDIES	1
INDUSTRY AND TECHNOLOGY	6
MATHEMATICS	4
METEOROLOGY	7
OCEANOGRAPHY	2
POLITICAL SCIENCE	3
PSYCHOLOGY	1
SOCIOLOGY	2
SOCIAL WORK	2
SPANISH	1
SPEECH COMMUNICATION	7
SPECIAL EDUCATION	1
UNDECLARED	30
CONT ED CREDIT	2
TOTAL	112

CREDITS EARNED

CREDITS EARNED	FALL 1996	SPRING 1997	FALL 1997
0-30.5	26
31-45.5	27
46-60.5	22
61-90.5	27
91+	10
TOTAL	112

2. Number of Times Dismissed (Regardless of Appeals)

NUMBER OF DISMISSALS	FALL 1996	SPRING 1997	FALL 1997
ONE	83
TWO	22
THREE	6
FOUR	1
TOTAL	112

3. Previously Appealed to Academic Standards Committee

	FALL 1996	SPRING 1997	FALL 1997
Previous Appeal Approved	16
Previous Appeal Denied	2
Total Who Met With Committee Previously	18

4. Academic Dismissals and Appeals By Semester From 1989-1997

FALL 1989 - FALL 1997

TERM	NUMBER DISMISSED*	NUMBER OF APPEALS	NUMBER OF APPEALS APPROVED	NUMBER OF FINAL DISMISSALS**
FA 89				90
FA 90	120			72
FA 91	117	59	33	83
FA 92	112	55	37	72
FA 93	105	44	37	72
FA 94	118	55	36	77
FA 95	117	55	32	79
FA 96	112	65	40	66
FA 97
AVERAGE	114	56	36	76

SPRING 1990 - SPRING 1997

TERM	NUMBER DISMISSED*	NUMBER OF APPEALS	NUMBER OF APPEALS APPROVED	NUMBER OF FINAL DISMISSALS*
SP 90	139		32	97
SP 91	124	59	27	97
SP 92	98	51	32	60
SP 93	117	63	45	64
SP 94	120	63	46	70
SP 95	128	63	46	79
SP 96	136	66	42	94
AVERAGE	123	61	39	80

* Number of students initially identified as subject to dismissal.
**Number of students currently on Registrar's probation table with dismissal code for term indicated.

Every student received verbal notification of the Committee's decision imeediately following the hearing and a formal (written) notification approximately one week later from the Committee Chairperson. Students whose appeals were granted received recommendations appropriate to their needs (e.g. counseling, academic advisement, career planning, repetition of courses, the IMP program, etc.) in order to assist them in quickly reestablishing satisfactory academic standing. the number of appeals upheld this semester is comparable to those granted during these meetings for the past five years.

2. The Committee also heard two requests for readmissions to the University under the terms of the Academic Amnesty policy. Both requests were approved by the Committee and notification of the Committee's approval was sent to the Registrar.

Matters Currently in Committee:
None.

Future Plans:
None.

Additional Information Comments:
An Addendum to this report will be filed after the spring 1997 meetings which are scheduled to take place on June 11-12, 1997.

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