COUNCIL ON ACADEMIC ASSESSMENT (CAA)
MINUTES, APRIL 1, 2009
UNH 200, 10:00 – 12:00
Members present: Heidi Andrade, Henryk Baran, Kristina Bendikas, Zakhar Berkovich, Irina Birman,
Daryl Bullis, Michael Christakis, Bill Roberson, Joette Stefl-Mabry, Bruce Szelest, Alex Xue
Members absent: Sue Faerman, Marjorie Pryse
The minutes of March 11 were reviewed and adopted.
The Council agreed to send to the University Senate approved minutes of its meetings for posting on its
webpage. The Council discussed the posting of the Committee reports, but decided not to pursue that
action, since those reports might contain sensitive material.
The Council then reviewed the report of the Program Review Committee for East Asian Studies. Members
asked for clarification of several points. The report was approved.
Next, the Council reviewed the General Education Assessment Committee draft summary report. One
member asked about the intended audience of the report. At present, the GEAC reports are not shared
beyond the Council, but could be. Members agreed that, at this time, a summary report is valuable, if only
for archival purposes. The members of the General Education Assessment Committee agreed to prioritize
and cluster the recommendations at a separate meeting. The Council agreed with the GEAC’s
recommendation to ask the General Education committee to consider moving FRE221 and FRE 222 from
the Oral Discourse category to the Foreign Language category.
The Council moved from a discussion of the recommendations to a conversation about the current General
Education assessment process. It was agreed that the General Education assessment process is not
providing faculty with the data that it needs for appropriate levels of reflection and improvement. It was
suggested that SUNY Administration be contacted to request that the General Education assessment review
be deferred in 2009-2010 to give the Council, the General Education Assessment Committee, the Vice
Provost for Undergraduate Education and other interested parties the opportunity to work on revisions. The
proposal will be taken up at the next meeting. In the meanwhile a justification will be drafted for review.
Finally the Council turned to the FYE Task Force Report. It had been asked to provide feedback by April
4th. Members agreed that the assessment plan of the report needed significant revision to address their
concerns about staffing, management, compliance, budgeting issues and the proposed learning goals. They
debated how to frame a response in a way that would accurately reflect their views, yet not stifle the
conversation around the first-year program experience. Comments were recorded during the discussion
and will be sent to the Council Chair to shape into a collective statement.
Action Steps
1. Bendikas will send approved CAA minutes to Senate Council secretary for posting.
2. Bendikas will notify the Chair of the GEC of the request pertaining to FRE 221/222.
3. Bendikas and Roberson will draft a justification for deferring General Education Assessment review in
2009-2010.
4. Bendikas will draft initial CAA response to FYE Task Force and send to Baran for finalization.
The meeting adjourned at 12 noon.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Kristina Bendikas
