Academic Affairs Committee (AAC)

Chair: David Chunyu, 2025-2026, dchunyu@uwsp.edu. Please check here for committee membership​. (Committee memberships are listed by acronym at the bottom of this Excel Workbook. Requires a logon.)

Scope & Authority: The committee shall have the authority to make recommendations on matters and policies including: 

1. The mission of the university: The committee shall regularly review the mission and the long-range goals of the university and may recommend changes in both. 

2. Outreach programs: The committee shall recommend policies pertaining to the organization, curriculum, and staffing of such programs as continuing education, online programs, summer and interim sessions, and international programs. 

3. Learning resources: The committee shall recommend policies pertaining to learning resources and to related facilities and services. 

4. Advising: The committee shall recommend policies pertaining to advising. 

5. Academic standards: The committee shall recommend such institution-level policies as those pertaining to preadmission counseling, admission, grade review, academic probation and dismissal, readmission of students, graduation requirements, and assessment of students. 

6. Interorganizational collaborations: The committee shall review, prior to formal signing, all academic agreements with other universities or organizations which will lead to interinstitutional affiliation. 

7. Other matters of academic affairs, including policies related to any of the below subcommittees:

  • Assessment Subcommittee: Chair, Cuiting Li
    The Assessment Subcommittee recommends policy pertaining to the assessment of students and serves as a university resource regarding assessment.  The Assessment Subcommittee reviews departments' assessment  in and provides constructive feedback. Here you will find the Assessment of Learning website 

  • Associate Degree Subcommittee: Aaron Steffen, Associate Degree Coordinator
    1. The subcommittee shall make recommendations on matters and policies involving: 
    1. Associate degree programs, in accordance with the educational aims of the university and the criteria to meet these aims.   
    1. Designating courses as meeting associate degree requirements and establishing the procedures for assessing those outcomes. No course may become part of the associate degree curriculum without the approval of the subcommittee. 
    1. Gathering assessment evidence regarding the associate degree programs. This includes both course-based assessment data provided by instructors and institutional-level assessment data compiled by the Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness. 
    1. Evaluating assessment data and making recommendations to improve associate degree programs to the Academic Affairs Committee and appropriate administrative units.
       
  • Program Review Subcommittee​: Chair, Ken Menningen
    The Department/Program Review Subcommittee is responsible for conducting all local program reviews. The goal is to complete review of programs within each department and school on a regular cycle. The Self-Study Template, the Program Review Cycle, and the Program Review Process and Timeline Diagram are linked on the Form and Resources page of this site. Program review procedures are outlined in the University Handbook, Chapter 7, Section 4. 

Process and format for submitting academic proposals:

  1. Prior to being submitted to the Academic Affairs Committee, all proposals should be completed and approved appropriately (i.e., department and dean approvals).
  2. The proposal should be forwarded electronically to the Academic Affairs Committee chair and the Common Council secretary (common.council.office@uwsp.edu)
  3. If an electronic signature is used, only the Word document with the electronic approval signature need be submitted. If the signature is handwritten, a PDF document showing the approval signature is also required (in addition to the Word doc). 
  4. Departments will be notified by the AAC chair when the proposal will be discussed.  
  5. Please use the most current text from the catalog, constitution, and University Handbook when submitting proposed revisions.  
  6. Format for proposals is strike-out for deleted text and underscore for new text.
  7. When copying/pasting catalog text, click on "print-friendly page" in the upper right corner, copy desired text from the print-friendly page, and paste "text only" to remove all Acalog formatting.

Forms: 

Articulation/inter-institutional agreement template

For New Program Authorization Guide, Cost and Revenue Projections for Newly-proposed Programs worksheet, and other resources, see UW System site: Academic Program Planning, Review, and Array Management