FRIDAY, MAY 10, 2002

Members Present: Lajos Balogh, Katarina Borer, Kitty Bridges, Thomas Brock,

Bruno Giordani (chair), Kathryn Meiners, Scott Stoltenberg, J. Hunter Waite, Mark Wenzel, Victor Wong, John G. Younger

OVPR:   Judy Nowack, Marvin Parnes, Judy Crecelius (staff)

Guests:  Linda Gillum. Sandy Gregerman, David Scobey, Freda Herseth, Wayne Petty, Laura Taylor

Pre-meeting discussion about bio- terrorism.  Contact Toby Smith at <tobys @umich.edu>  or Rob Todd at <robtodd@umich.edu>

1.      The minutes from April 12, 2002 were approved.

2.      Undergraduate Education at UM -- The Arts, Culture, Research and Community Engagement Subcommittee of the Undergraduate Council’s overview and background is covered in The Second Chapter of Change: Renewing Undergraduate Education at the University of Michigan.  (Handout)  The committee is interested in gathering some “do-able things” that would not require large capital outlays.  They are looking to grab the “low growing fruit” with an eye on building structures to further support the system sometime in the future.

Discussion points follow:

Find new ways and incentives to involve the undergraduates in the non-sciences. 

Undergraduate research doesn’t require a lot of money, but it does take time. 

It’s understandable for faculty to expect a lessening of their workloads.  Some solutions to the time issue -- use a more flexible calendar, summer or winter special sessions; use of Spring/Summer terms for alternative programs; the summer to organize a conference or provide classes that would address these coordinated connections, eg. Undergraduate Rackham Summer Institute.

Programs that give undergraduates a chance to taste something new and different.

The University has several classes that are interdisciplinary as seen in the “life sciences class” that involves medicine, the arts, and engineering.  Another example is the collaborative between George Shirley and Freda Herseth (Music School), Gregory Wakefield (EECS), and Norman Hogikyan (Medical School).

Suggestions: We could provide an opportunity during sophomore semesters, like the UROP program.  The Dewey Center Programs in Dearborn and Kalamazoo also give sophomore students an opportunity to try various fields.

More comments: 

• “One size doesn’t fit all.”  Research sciences have grants. Humanities may need additional financing.
•  Plan a conference where a group of students read certain books and then have a conference where the authors would participate in discussions. 
• Give students that are passionate about a topic or field, the opportunity of seeing a group of people that are actively involved in those fields.  It could be an interdisciplinary group that would formulate together in an informal setting.
• Shadow a person in the student’s area of interest for a day.
• Sandy Gregerman mentioned a program at SUNY- Stony Brook that could be used as a model.   For six weeks a group of graduate students and freshmen formulate a project and procedure.  The students are rotated weekly among all of the graduate students.  A faculty member would oversee the group.

ACTION:   Write several lines on your experiences and what would be helpful in your field and send them to Sandy Gregerman at   < sgreger@umich.edu>

4.  Experience under the Regental Research Policy -  Judy Nowack

Judy Nowack reviewed the history of secret and classified research at the University of Michigan and described the features of the Regental Research Policy, adopted in 1987.  She presented figures on requests for classified and non-standard restrictions in the previous year and compared them with the long-term trends. 

The committee voted unanimously to adopt a resolution approving OVPR’s implementation of the Regental Research Policy during FY 01.

http://www.research.umich.edu/policies/um/Regents_policy.html

5.  Future Topics for Discussion     --  

• Elaine Brock, Associate Director, DRDA, and Director, Medical School Office of Technology Transfer and Corporate Research.

• SACUA -  Bring in an international student to assess changes since September 11^th.

• Discussion of implications of the “Patriots Act” http://thomas.loc.gov/cgibin/bdquery/z?d107:HR02975:@@@L&summ2=m& - summary

6. Next meeting proposed for Friday, June 14, 2002