Members Present: Present: Co-Chair Padilla, Barbara Davis, Catherine Koshland, Christina Maslach, Ellen Meltzer, Kwong-Loi Shun, Mark Tanouye. Staff: Cynthia Schrager, Alix Schwartz, Karen Warren.

Unable to Attend: Co-Chair Porter, Alice Agogino, Erin Bardin, Robert Brentano, Jen Chang, Aisha Knowles, Michael Mascuch, Sonja Redmond, Angy Stacy, Ling-Chi Wang. Staff: Gail Kaufman.

Hand Outs

• Gregg Thomson Outline (see below)
• The Mid-Career UC Berkeley Undergraduate Experience Survey: Spring 1997 (Gregg Thomson)
• DRAFT Progress Report on the Commission’s Work and Plans (Alix Schwartz)
• Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (Ellen Meltzer)

1. Gregg Thomson

   1.Summary of the Berkeley Pledge First-Year Transitions Project

   2.The origins of qualitative research in student intellectual development: The example of William Perry at Harvard.

   3.Survey research at Berkeley: The Undergraduate Experience Survey.

   4.Some thoughts on the power of qualitative research in an electronic age: The Berkeley version of the Harvard tradition.

   The Berkeley Pledge First Year Transitions project was developed out of the need to identify what is meant by at risk for our students.

   Gregg Thomson presented this qualitative and quantitative research in depth and remarked that we can use the data we have on our own students to develop a follow-up study. We have the ability to zero-in with a great deal of precision on specific students with this data.

   After Gregg’s presentation, the Commission discussed survey methods, and how best to deliver a survey with the least cost and greatest results. Gregg advocated for an email survey.

   Gregg’s handouts can serve as a framework for the questions that we want to ask on our survey. Genaro suggested that we use the subsets used on the Mid-Career Spring Survey in order to guarantee a degree of continuity, but develop our own questions to get the information that we want. Alix remarked that we can use the groupings in order to follow up with specific student responses gleaned from this previous survey, in order to elaborate and get further information from these same students in our survey.

   The Commission determined that it would be helpful to use the groupings on the Mid Career survey in order to strive for some consistency in developing a ,longitudinal survey. Gregg remarked that longitudinal research is so powerful that we have the opportunity here to really create a powerful survey that uses data that we already have and a new survey to expand upon that data.

   Genaro suggested that it would be most helpful if Gregg could identify a group of first year students that we could follow throughout their time at UCB and examine them at crucial points along the way.

   Alix asked if the Pledge is continuing with the students that they started with for the next 2 years and Gregg indicated that it is undecided.

   It was decided that each sub-committee should brainstorm questions in their next meeting for the questionnaire.

2. Organizing the Work of the Sub-committees for the Remainder of the Semester

   Each sub-committee will brainstorm questions for the survey in their next meetings.

   Alix indicated that our final concept paper is to be completed by the end of May. She suggested that each sub-committee produce a draft that can easily be incorporated into that document according to a working framework (handout). It will end up as one report.

3. Approval of Context Memo to Chancellor Berdahl

The Commission then reviewed the draft to the Chancellor and provided their specific structural feedback to Alix.

Final Announcements

Advising Conference: Karen Warren announced that Gail Kaufman’s proposal to present the CUE framework for an undergraduate education was positively received by the Advising Conference planning Committee and that they accepted the program for the conference to take place on March 28. CIUE agreed to offer a morning and an afternoon session on the topic, so as to maximize the amount of feedback w will receive from advisors attending the conference.

Ellen distributed "Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education."

Cathy Koshland announced that she went to the UCLA Systemwide Meeting on Undergraduate Research and that it confirmed that in fact we are quite organized and that many campuses are less so. There are many different efforts taking place on the different campuses on how to incorporate inquiry and discovery into the curriculum. Cathy remarked that the UCLA website has a great information on this particular meeting if anyone is interested.

Minutes submitted by:

Karen L. Warren