Preliminary Working Group

In the fall of 2013, John Gatta, the Dean of the College, asked six faculty members who had oral expression components in their courses to serve as an ad hoc Preliminary Working Group on the QEP. The six faculty represented a broad range of academic departments and programs:

  • Marcia Mary Cook (Theatre Arts)
  • Larry Jones (Biology and Office of the Dean of the College)
  • Karen Kuers (Forestry and Geology)
  • Chip Manning (the Babson Center for Global Commerce)
  • Charles Peyser (Psychology)
  • Elizabeth Skomp (Russian and Humanities)

As the group’s convener, Peyser reported on the group’s progress at the December 2013 faculty meeting and submitted a final report to the Dean of the College in February 2014 that summarized the results of a faculty survey and outlined the group’s recommendations regarding the development of the QEP.

Task Force

In December 2013, the Preliminary Working Group recommended that the Dean of the College create a QEP Task Force that would report to the Curriculum and Academic Policy Committee. It was further suggested that the Task Force membership should include those who indicated in the faculty survey that they would be willing to serve on such a committee as well as some continuing members from the preliminary group assembled by Dean Gatta, with others as needed. The composition of the committee included faculty and staff representing a wide range of University departments and programs. The following were named to the QEP Task Force:

  • Karen Kuers, co-chair (Forestry and Geology; Environmental Studies)
  • Mae Wallace, co-chair (Education; Anthropology)
  • Bill Engel, co-chair (English; Humanities)
  • Angela Jordan (Spanish)
  • Betsy Sandlin (Spanish; Co-Director of the Center for Teaching)
  • Elise Kikis (Biology)
  • Virginia Craighill (English; Director of Writing Across the Curriculum)
  • Chip Manning (Babson Center for Global Commerce)
  • Tim Garner (Faculty Technology Specialist)
  • Vicki Sells (Associate Provost for Information Technology)
  • Kevin Reynolds (Associate University Librarian)
  • Elizabeth Skomp (Russian; Humanities; Associate Dean for Faculty Development)
  • Marcia Mary Cook (Theatre Arts, emeritus)
The QEP Implementation Committee

The QEP Implementation Committee will be co-chaired by two Associate Deans from the Office of the Dean of the College. The Associate Dean for Faculty Development will have primary responsibility for tracking the progress and assisting in the implementation of the various initiatives of the QEP, including faculty development, and the Associate Dean of the College for Faculty Affairs, who currently oversees assessment for the College, will have primary responsibility for tracking the assessment components of the QEP. Because the QEP Implementation Committee will work closely with the Center for Speaking and Listening, the Center for Teaching, and the Writing Center, the Directors (or a representative) of each of the Centers will be part of the Implementation Committee. As outlined in the QEP, the Director of the Center for Speaking and Listening will play a key role in the implementation of the QEP, concentrating efforts on establishing the center, training tutors, and moving forward many of the initiatives of the QEP. Four members of the college faculty (one each from the college’s four divisions: Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Sciences and Mathematics), along with two associate academic deans and representatives from Institutional Research, and Library and Information Technology Services, will comprise the 11-person committee. It is planned that a student member will be added to the committee in 2016-17.