Provost's Task Force on the Academic Progress of Undergraduates

Charge Letter

July 14, 2003

Dear Members of the Task Force:

Thank you for agreeing to serve on the Task Force on the Academic Progress of Undergraduates. As demand for higher education increases in the state of Washington and state budgets decline, the UW must examine how undergraduate students make progress through our courses and curricula in pursuing their degrees. The recent enactment of E2SSB 5135 relating to excess academic credits taken by undergraduates underscores the importance of student academic progress and how the University may more effectively manage institutional enrollments. I ask you to bring your expertise in advising and working closely with students to assess these concerns.

The Task Force should identify problems that undergraduates have in completing their degrees and also develop strategies the University must adopt to remedy these problems. In pursuing these objectives, please study and report on:

• Institutional policies (and practices) on satisfactory academic progress for undergraduates.
• Data for at least three annual cohorts of students on progress to degree for undergraduates.
  
• Characteristics of students who accumulate extraordinarily high levels of academic credit and the factors contributing to the accumulation of credit (e.g., academic goals, difficulties gaining access to needed courses, ineffective decision-making about majors).
  
• Institutional barriers that prevent students from completing degree requirements in a timely manner (such as inaccessible required courses or majors).
  
• Strategies employed by other institutions with similar missions and student populations to address enrollment challenges.
  
• Institutional remedies that will eliminate barriers to timely completion of degree requirements.
  
• Implications of these remedies, and other strategies for increasing satisfactory progress, for diversity among UW students.

I ask you to provide a draft of the report required by E2SSB 5135 no later than Friday, January 9, 2004. As you prepare this report, please also develop an institutional plan for routinely monitoring students' progress to degree in the future. Please complete and submit your final task force report by Friday, June 4, 2004.

I have asked Vice President for Minority Affairs, Rusty Barceló, and Dean and Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education, George Bridges, to co-chair the Task Force. Within the next few weeks, you will be receiving materials and an agenda from them about the first meeting.

I look forward to learning your findings and recommendations. Thank you again for agreeing to participate in this important academic endeavor.

Sincerely,

David B. Thorud
Acting Provost

c: Dr. Lee L. Huntsman