Portland State University UUPP Faculty Committee Minutes

November 22, 2000 Present: Gerry Recktenwald, Maria Talbott, Bob Everhart, Jim Strathman, Jackie Temple, Terry Rhodes, Tom Luckett, Scott Marshall, Kathi Ketcheson, Juliette Stoering, David McCuskey, and Todd Schooler. Introductions Bob opened the meeting and ask those present to introduce themselves. Kathi introduced David McCuskey, the Web designer, to the committee members. He will clean up the site, and designing the process for posting content using Zope software. He will be with us until March 2001. Update on Project Meetings and Visits Kathi briefed the Committee on the October project meeting in Boston and the San Jose meeting of provosts and external stakeholders. She distributed reviewers’ comments about the PSU Portfolio that from the San Jose meeting. In general, the reviewers suggested that having all the institutional portfolios adopt a common structure and message would assist in communicating with external audiences. Specific to PSU’s portfolio, the reviewers’ comments focused on issues we are already trying to solve in the portfolio’s design, for example, ease of navigation and clear organization of content. Tom commented that his reactions were similar to the external reviewers. Kathi explained that the site is presently in transition from the previous structure to a new one. Once this is accomplished the design will be standardized and consistent across pages. The use of "bread crumbs" in the new design will help with navigation. The plan for the new design should be completed by the end of December. The next project meeting is for the project directors and takes place in January. In time for this meeting, Kathi would like to have templates for collecting and displaying content in the chapters developed and to have made progress in setting up the middle-ware and database for the site. Her hope is to share this progress with other directors to help assist them with the design of their institutions’ portfolios. Kathi reported that our site visit with the auditors is scheduled for March. It is possible that Elaine El-Khawas might substitute for one of our regular Institutional Review Board members due to scheduling conflicts. Bob asked about the future of the project after the funding period ends next July. Kathi informed the committee that Pew is moving in a different direction and will not fund as many higher education projects, including the UUPP. The UUPP leadership is drafting proposals for new sources of funding to extend and expand the UUPP. Kathi will keep us posted as the leadership progresses. Debriefing of Provost’s Comments from the Last Meeting Kathi asked for the committee’s reaction to the provost’s comments from the last meeting. After some discussion, the idea of satellite sites emerged. The Assessment Council has already begun to develop a Web-site for departmental assessment efforts. This could serve as a satellite site that the Portfolio links to and pulls content from as needed to fulfill the Portfolio’s objectives. Similarly, a Web-site could also be set up to document the institution’s planning efforts and the Portfolio could link to and pull content from it as needed. The faculty committee wants to make sure that the development of the portfolio is true to the purpose and objectives of the project. The Portfolio cannot be "all things to all people", but we need to be mindful of how it coordinates and overlaps with other campus initiatives, such as accreditation, assessment, and planning efforts. Discussion of Proposed Templates for Web Pages Kathi asked the committee for their help in making templates for the themes and chapters. Gerry reminded the committee that the guiding principle for developing the pages should be the stated purpose of the Portfolio and the overarching message PSU hopes to convey. Every page should address the stated purpose and illustrate the overarching message. The faculty committee reviewed the themes and chapters and contributed ideas for organizing the content. The theme of Research and Scholarship should include examples of great research projects at PSU, student involvement in research at the graduate and undergraduate levels, and researchers’ involvement in the city. In addition to its current content, the theme of Teaching and Learning should include a graphical display of the academic disciplines at PSU and relevant statistics such as class size. Jackie reminded the group that the underlying examples, such as a case study of a Capstone class, should be used across themes to illustrate different facets of the example. Under the Student Life theme, the committee suggested including information about the non-traditional nature of the PSU student body, the presence of students who are the first generation in their families to attend college, the range of activities supported by incidental fees, and the range of student organized clubs. Discussion of PASS in Relation to the Portfolio Bob distributed a handout describing the Proficiency-based Admission Standards System (PASS) and presented an overview of it to the committee. PASS is based on standards that describe academic skills and knowledge needed for acceptance into OUS institutions. Bob asked the committee to consider how PASS might connect to the Portfolio in the future and, more generally, how the system could be used at PSU, for example as part of placement procedures, scholarships awards, or assessment efforts. Demonstration of the Web site Kathi showed the current version of the Portfolio Web-site to the committee. She also showed a Web-site that has organization and navigation features that the project team would like to incorporate into the Portfolio.