David Ambrose 6 June 2007

Aidin Castillo

Aime Castillo

Lizeth Cazares

Adrienne Reininga

Hayley Steffen

Executive Summary- Student Sounding Board

Team Mission/Core Purpose:

The core purpose of the Student Sounding Board is to provide a reliable and representative student voice to the Academic Senate and Academic Senate committees. The Student Sounding Board will ensure effective dialogue between students and faculty regarding academic decisions and provide a forum for students who serve on Academic Senate committees.

Major Goals/Objectives:

Historically, the student voice is provided to Academic Senate committees by only one to two ASUCD-appointed students. These students are inevitably limited in the scope of experience and academic perspective they can provide. Further, many of these seats often go unfilled or become vacant at the start of a new quarter as the appointed student’s schedule changes. By creating an undergraduate Student Sounding Board we are ensuring the Academic Senate has access to a more reliable and academically diverse student voice that can better represent student perspectives and concerns in academic matters.

The Student Sounding Board will serves as a safeguard of student opinion, strengthening the current mechanism of student input. The Student Sounding Board endeavors to ensure effective dialogue between students and faculty regarding academic decisions, and to provide a forum for students who serve on Academic Senate committees.

Activities Undertaken:

Fall:

• Held regular DHC team meetings twice per week
• Met with the Chairs of the General Education Committee, Katherine Radke and Jay Lund
• Met with members of the General Education Task Force
• Met with the Assistant Vice Provost in order to finalize our project
• Met with the Chair of the Academic Senate to evaluate the feasibility of creating a Student Sounding Board
• Presented our 3^rd year project on Global Citizenship as a potential GE requirement during International Education Week
• Linda Bisson, Chair of the Academic Senate agreed to sponsor this project
• Created and presented a PowerPoint to DHC

Winter:

• Held regular DHC team meetings twice a week
• Wrote formal Student Sounding Board proposal and bylaws
• Conducted a survey through SARI to determine whether or not undergraduates feel well represented in terms of academic decisions and policies
• Met with Linda Bisson the Chair of the Academic Senate several times
• Generated publicity via numerous listserves, Facebook, flyers, in-class presentations
• Made a concerted effort to involve the larger student body in discussions regarding the new GE requirements
• Presented our 3^rd year project on Global Citizenship as a potential GE requirement at the Undergraduate Research Conference
• Contributed an article to the Aggie newspaper, followed by several letters to the editor to clarify our intent
• Collected applications and chose six students to fill the remaining positions
• Met with Student Faculty Relations Committee to discuss our proposal
• Held first meeting to discuss new General Education requirement proposal; submitted written feedback to GE Task Force
• Participated in the ASUCD sponsored GE Student Forum
• Created and presented a PowerPoint to DHC

Spring:

• Held regular biweekly Student Sounding Board meetings to discuss course materials fee, time-to-degree, course availability, and to gather ideas for future discussions
• Gave several presentations about our philosophy and progress
• Met with our sponsor, Linda Bisson biweekly to discuss our progress
• Launched second recruitment drive via numerous listserves, Facebook, flyers, in-class presentations, and the Chicana/o Studies Peer Cultivation Program
• Received 25 new applications and conducted interviews
• Met with the Chair of the ASUCD Academic Affairs Commission
• Met with several ASUCD Senators to write a resolution in support of the Student Sounding Board
• Presented our proposal and ASUCD resolution to the Academic Affairs Commission; all members of the commission were in favor (1 abstained)
• Presented our resolution at the ASUCD Senate meeting; resolution passed unanimously
• Contributed an article to the Aggie newspaper about our ASUCD resolution
• Presented our proposal to become a sub-committee of the Academic Senate Executive Council; brainstormed ideas for potential methods to implement our proposal
• Attended and participated in the GE Town Hall Meeting
• Selected a Chair and Vice Chair of the Student Sounding Board for the 2007-2008 academic year
• Created a transition binder containing documentation of our progress thus far for use by the incoming Student Sounding Board members
• Met with Linda Bisson and incoming Student Sounding Board members to discuss plans for the continuation of this project

MAJOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS:

During Spring quarter, we conducted a survey through Student Affairs Research and Information in order to evaluate the need for a Student Sounding Board. Through the MyUCDavis website, we asked all undergraduates “How well represented do you feel in terms of policies and decisions that affect your academic experience?” We received 2,258 responses. 23% felt “not at all” represented, 27.1% felt “not well” represented, 34.2% felt “somewhat well” represented, 11.6% felt “fairly well” represented, and 4% felt “very well” represented. After responding to the first question, students were given the chance to write in a comment box. The overwhelming majority of these comments reflected the fact that 51% of respondents do not feel that the existing avenues for voicing opinions and concerns are adequate. This belief was echoed by members of the Student Faculty Relations Committee, the ASUCD Senate, and members of the Academic Senate Executive Council.

PROVISIONS FOR CONTINUATION:

We have taken several steps to ensure the Student Sounding Board will continue next year.  We have six students who are committed to continuing the Sounding Board from the various different academic divisions. One of the students has volunteered to act as next years Chair. We have also set up a final meeting wit the new Student Sounding Board members and our sponsor. Next year the group of students will continue to work with Professor Bisson as the Executive Committee of the Academic Senate decides the best way for the board to become established and official. Therefore they will continue to give feedback to the Academic Senate as well as help contribute ideas as to how the board should be integrated into the Academic Senate.  In addition we have created a transition binder that contains documents of our progress and accomplishments so far. The binder also contains information about procedures, important contacts, and suggestions.  We plan to stay in contact with the group throughout next year to ensure everything is running smoothly.