MINUTES OF A RETREAT OF THE
BOARD OF VISITORS OF
VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY
November 16, 2001
A Retreat of the Board of Visitors of Virginia Commonwealth University
was held on Friday, November 16, 2001, at 12:30 p.m. at the Virginia Crossings
Conference Resort located at 1000 Virginia Center Parkway.
Present were Messrs. Flippen, Gresham, Long, Markel, Plymale, Pyon,
Slater and Rigsby; Drs. Perkinson, Smith and Wootton; and Mesdames
McMichael, Petera and Riddick. Messrs. Axselle and Baldacci were absent.
Also present were Drs. Huff, Kontos, McDavis, Mattauch, Sesnowitz, Sneden
and Torr; Messrs. Ross, Timmreck and Wyeth; and Mesdames Balmer, Messmer
and Price.
Mr. Flippen called the meeting to order. A report on the Measures of Faculty
Productivity and Effectiveness in Teaching, Research, and Service in Academic
Units with Undergraduate Programs was presented. A presentation was made
followed by discussion. The typical faculty load for most faculty is three courses
per semester with about 25% of time allotted to research and service. All faculty
are evaluated in writing each year, based on the individual annual work plans in
teaching (including student feedback), research and service.
A report on Measures of Undergraduate Student Outcomes was
presented. Student learning outcomes:
• Need to exist for each degree program major, minor, track and
concentration
• Can be set only by faculty
• Are easier to set and assess in "professional" programs
• In many disciplines, are national standards or expectations
• Are sometimes dictated by external forces, e.g., programmatic
accreditation or standards
• Differ from departmental goals
Principles of Good Practice for Assessing Student Learning are:
• The assessment of student learning begins with educational values.
• Assessment is most effective when it reflects an understanding of learnin
as multidimensional, integrated, and revealed in performance over
time
• Assessment works best when the programs it seeks to improve have
clear, explicitly stated purposes.
• Assessment requires attention to outcomes but also and equally to the
experiences that lead to those outcomes.
• Assessment works best when it is ongoing, not episodic.
• Assessment fosters wider improvement when representatives across the
educational community are involved.
• Assessment makes a difference when it begins with issues of use and
illuminates questions people really care about.
• Assessment is most likely to lead to improvement when it is part of a
larger set of conditions that promote change.
• Through assessment, educators meet responsibilities to students and to
the public.
A look at how assessments of student learning outcomes are now and in the
future was presented on each of VCU's schools.
A report on Building Community in Academic Units with Undergraduate
Programs was presented. Faculty members discussed each school's
involvement in creating a sense of community among the students and the
academic units. Schools and programs represented in the discussions were:
^ College of Humanities and Sciences
• School of Business
• School of Engineering
^ Life Sciences
The meeting was adjourned at 4:45 p.m. and will reconvene on Saturday,
November 17, 2001, at 9:30 a.m.
Lindley T. Smith, SecretaryEdward L. Flippen, Recto
