A Finding Aid for the Education Planning Committee Records 1968-1987

Collection Summary

Collection Title: Educational Planning Committee Records

Creator: Ferris State University. Educational Planning Committee.

Dates: 1968-1987

Abstract: The Educational Planning Committee was formed in 1970 to assess educational structure and to provide faculty with an outlet to advise the administration on long range planning. The records consist of correspondence, minutes and reports. There are also specific curriculum proposals and program reviews.

Language: English

Quantity: 3.0 cubic feet; 2 record center boxes

Identification: UA 31.2.1

Repository: Ferris State University Archives and Records Management Program

Historical Note

In 1968, Mr. Keith Fuller, the chair of the Representative Faculty Advisory Council, proposed a faculty curriculum council to oversee the addition, deletion and revision of all courses and academic programs of the college. President Victor Spatthelf had previously proposed an educational planning body that would help to shape the education that would take place within the many new buildings being built on campus, but he opposed this proposal which he felt merely dealt with "curriculum machinery." Another faculty member, Mr. Otis Dickens, was subsequently appointed to head a task force to edit the proposal. After extensive negotiation, a set of guidelines including the purpose, membership and responsibilities was adopted by the Board of Control at their February 28, 1970 meeting.

The new board consisted of two members of each school (at that time six), elected by the faculty. Terms would be for two years (except for a few initial one year appointments) and elections were to be held in the spring. This committee was to serve as an advisory board to the President and was separate from the RFAC. It was not to replace the Committee on Instruction, which was the administrative advisory board to the President on similar topics. The original committee consisted of: chair Edwin F. Wigglesworth (School of Business), Louis Warner (School of Business), Dr. Donald Hecker (College Services), Vordyn Nelson (College Services), General Education (Dorothy Milton), Dr. Henry Osowski (Health Sciences and Arts), Esther Sherrod (Health Sciences and Arts), Dr. Harry Swartz (Pharmacy), Dr. Rodney Orr (Pharmacy), Dr. George Storm (Teacher Education), Dr. John Doneth (Teacher Education), Mathias Brejcha (Technical and Applied Arts) and Paul Prins (Technical and Applied Arts). In the initial years the committee heard both generalized reports from the deans of schools and specific curriculum proposals such as the applied engineering/surveying program. They also focused on subcommittee projects related to the working of the committee.

The committee meet usually on a bi-weekly basis, and continued to have meetings during the summer. In the first decade of the committee, time was devoted to reports/presentations related to the larger educational planning picture, as Spatthelf had envisioned. In 1972, the committee produced a substantial two part report entitled Ferris' Educational Mission. Subject matter included both the goals of education and the role of continuing education. In the late 1970s, a task force was formed to look at the issue of graduate programs. Surveys were completed and the committee discussed the issue at length.

Another responsibility of the committee was the review of new and revised courses. At first proposals were on the program level, but later the committees minutes included smaller changes such as the change of a title or a single course. Some committees presented multiple versions to the committee of a program before garnering a positive recommendation. The committee then made recommendations to the vice-president or assistant vice-president for academic affairs. Formal academic program review did not begin by the committee until after 1981. As the committee assumed more responsibilities for curricula, it began to create several subcommittees.

While committee was run separately from the RFAC, they had close relational and budget ties. Elections were held at the same time, and reports about the EPC activities are frequently found in the RFAC newsletters. When the Academic Senate was ratified by the Board of Control in May 1986, both the RFAC and the Educational Planning Committee ceased to exist as separate elective boards.

Chairs of the Educational Planning Committee

Year	Chair
1970-1971	Edwin Wigglesworth
1971-1972	Rodney G. Orr
1972-1973	Edward M. Griffin
1973-1975	Charles Bond
1975-1976	Roger Peterson
1976-1977	George Storm
1977-1978	Paul Jackson
1978-1979	William D. Barnes
1979-1980	Robert Krueger
1980-1981	Sid Sytsma and Ray Dickinson
January- June 1982	Ray Dickinson
1982-1983	Jack Buss
1983-1984	Ray Dickinson
1984-1985	Lois Conrad
1985-1986	Mike Ryan

Scope and Content Note

The Educational Planning Committee (more commonly called the EPC) served a dual function- to provide consistency for course/program approvals across the various schools and division and to provide advice to the president on the general issues of educational planning.

The first series contains much of the administrative paperwork that one expects to see with committees. Some material relates to the mechanics of the election of members. Additionally, there are the usual agendas, minutes, rosters and reports. There is also a fairly complete set of correspondence from the chairmen. In 1985-1986, the chair created a notebook which was an indexed binder of all papers related to their activities. This has been retained. Several reports are in the collection. Two major reports relating to the educational program of Ferris include the 1972 Ferris Educational Mission and the 1981 Program Discontinuance Report. Other reports relate to academic policies such as the pass/fail option, academic program review and the formulations of guidelines for program evaluation.

Much of the work of the EPC relates to course and program approvals and changes. The second series documents such proposals that were donated to the archives. Some proposals may only include the original proposal. Others may include various revisions, correspondence from the committee or the committee report. This is not a complete set of all proposals. Sometimes the information about the actual approval is available through the correspondence files in Series A if no proposal remains. Coverage for the various years varies. There is an extremely complete set of information about the committee's first year of operation 1970-1971. Of interest are the exact transcripts of the sessions relating to the discussion of the surveying program. There are gaps in the seventies, but the early eighties are fairly complete.

In 1981, the academic affairs office instituted a policy of academic program review. As part of this policy, a member of the EPC was assigned to each of the program review committees (although the committees were not run by or controlled by EPC). Therefore, there are seven academic program review reports included within the series. During the first committee years, deans sometimes gave reports on their various schools, not for a formal review process, but to keep the committee members informed. This was done on a voluntary basis and are also in the records.

Arrangement

The papers are divided into a two series.

• Series 1. Administrative/Subject Records.
• Series 2. Curricula Records.

Access Information

Conditions of Access

The Educational Planning Committee Records are open for research to all users in accordance with University Archives and Records Management access policies. It is available in the reading room of the Ferris State University Archives.

Conditions of Use

Requests for permission to publish material should be directed to the University Archivist. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights.

Copyright interests for this collection have been transferred to Ferris State University. For more information, contact the University Archivist.

Subject Headings

Below are a list of names, organizations and subjects relating to the collection. Names have been taken from Library of Congress Authority headings whenever possible.

• Curriculum planning
• Ferris State College (Big Rapids, Mich.)- Curricula
• Ferris State College (Big Rapids, Mich.)- Educational Planning Committee
• Ferris State College (Big Rapids, Mich.)- History- 1970-1986
• Instructional systems- design
• Universities and colleges-Michigan-Curricula

Related Materials

Representative Faculty Advisory Council Records. (UA 32.1.1)

Administrative Information

Citations

Footnotes and bibliographic references should use the following format:
[Item], Folder, Box. Educational Planning Committee Records. Ferris State University Archives. Big Rapids, Michigan.

Provenance (Acquisition Information)

These records were donated in several segments. Major portions were donated by Glendon Hynes, a former Representative Faculty Advisory Council official in 1991, and by Ray Dickinson, former Educational Planning Committee chair in 2005. It is likely that other records were donated when the committee was dissolved in 1987. However the only documented transfers are by Hynes and Dickinson.

Processing Information

The Educational Planning Committee Records were processed to the folder level by Melinda McMartin Isler in December 2005. A finding aid was prepared in a word processing format and converted to EAD 2.0. A collection level MARC-21 record was prepared and placed in the library online public access catalog. Description based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2004).

Separated Materials

Duplicate university publications such as the FYI and copies of board packets were compared against the appropriate collections and removed. Other Duplicative materials (primarily minutes and course proposals) were also removed from the collection.

Technical Requirements

This collection consists of typed and handwritten papers. There is no specialized software required for viewing.

Content Listing

Series 1. Administrative/Subject Records. 1968-1987.

In this series are the typical governance records of a committee including rosters, committee lists, charters, correspondence, guidelines, minutes and subcommittee information. This series also includes policies/projects that the committee was involved with including the pass/fail option or graduate program feasibility study.

These records are arranged alphabetically by subject title. Within titles, files are arranged chronologically.

Box	Folder	Contents
1	1	Academic minors. Correspondence; reports. October 1985.
1	2	Academic program review. Policies; comments. January 1981-1983.
1	3	Academic Program Review manual. November 1983.
1	4	Agendas. 1970-1986.
1	5	Annual reports. 1970-1986.
1	6	API examples. Department of Education. December 1977.
1	7	Budget. 1978-1981.
1	8	Center for Competency in Education. December 1977-November 1978.
1	9	Criteria for Educational Programming above the Bachelors level. Report. April 1980.
1	10	Charter. May 1985.
1	11	Committee structure. 1983; undated.
1	12	Continuing education. Research files. Folder 1.
1	13	Continuing education. Research files. Folder 2.
1	14	Correspondence. 1970-1971
1	15	Correspondence. 1971-1972.
1	16	Correspondence. 1972-1973.
1	17	Correspondence. 1973-1974.
1	18	Correspondence. 1974-1975.
1	19	Correspondence. 1976-1977.
1	20	Correspondence. 1977-1978.
1	21	Correspondence. 1979-1980.
1	22	Correspondence. 1980-1981.
1	23	Correspondence. 1981-1982
1	24	Correspondence. 1982-1983.
1	25	Correspondence. 1983-1984.
1	26	Correspondence. 1984-1985.
1	27	Correspondence. 1985-1986.
1	28	Education for Leisure. Report. January 1972.
1	29	Elections. Correspondence. 1971-1985.
1	30	Elections. Guidelines; ballots. 1978-1985; undated.
1	31	Educational Planning Committee formation. 1968-1978.
1	32	EPC Information Bulletin. Publiciation. 1976-1985.
1	33	EPC Newsletter. Publication. 1976.
1	34	EPC Notebook. 1985-1986.
1	35	Executive Board. 1983.
1	36	Ferris Educational Mission. Part 1. Obligations and Directions. Report. September 1972.
1	37	Ferris Educational Mission. Part 2. Continuing Educatonm. Report. Spring 1973.
1	38	Ferris role and mission committee. November 1984-January 1985.
1	39	Funding formula committee. Ca 1984.
1	40	Guidelines. Ballots. October 1979.
1	41	Guidelines; purposes and responsibilities of committee. 1970-1983.
1	42	Guidelines. Research files. Undated.
1	43	Highlights of the EPC. Report. 1971-1977.
1	44	Johnson, John. Notes. 1972.
1	45	Manual. ca. 1970.
1	46	Minutes. 5 May 1970-9 October 1970.
1	47	Minutes. 23 October 1970-18 December 1970.
1	48	Minutes. 12 January 1971-14 December 1972.
1	49	Minutes. 18 January 1973-7 November 1978.
1	50	Minutes. 23 January 1979-30 November 1982.
1	51	Minutes. 25 January 1983-6 May 1986.
1	52	Murphy, David. Higher Education Issues for the Eighties. 17 September 1979.
1	53	Pass-fail option. August 1971.
1	54	Procedure for the implementation of curriculum or course changes. March 1980; 1983.
1	55	Project 1. Ferris Educational Mission. 1972.
1	56	Project 2. Role of the Student-Faculty Morale in Ferris Educational Programs. 1972.
1	57	Project 3. Enhancing or strengthening program planning. 1972.

Box	Folder	Contents
2	1	Report of the Educational Planning Committee Relative to the Joint RFAC/EPC Program Discontinuance. Study Committee report. December 1981. Folder 1.
2	2	Report of the Educational Planning Committee Relative to the Joint RFAC/EPC Program Discontinuance. Study Committee report. December 1981. Folder 2.
2	3	Report of the Educational Planning Committee Relative to the Joint RFAC/EPC Program Discontinuance. Study Committee report. December 1981. Folder 3.
2	4	Report of the Educational Planning Committee Relative to the Joint RFAC/EPC Program Discontinuance. Study Committee report. December 1981. Folder 4.
2	5	Report of the Educational Planning Committee Relative to the Joint RFAC/EPC Program Discontinuance. Study Committee report. December 1981. Folder 5.
2	6	Representative Faculty Advisory Council minutes. Includes EPC reports. 1973-1975.
2	7	Rosters. 1970-1986.
2	8	Sederburg, William A. Ancillary services and programs- higher education. March 1985.
2	9	Statement on faculty dismissal. February 1983.
2	10	Student class withdrawal policy. February 1971.
2	11	Studies list. September 1971.
2	12	Subcommittee for bylaws. June 1970.
2	13	Subcommittee for the development of academic program review criteria. 1979; undated.
2	14	Subcommittee on academic program review. 1985.
2	15	Subcommittee on advanced placement. 1972.
2	16	Subcommittee on graduate program feasibility. 1976-1977.
2	17	Subcommittee on guidelines. 1970; 1977; 1979; 1985.
2	18	Subcommittee on long range planning. 1985.
2	19	Subcommittee on the improvement of instruction efficiency through differentiation of learning groups. 1971.
2	20	Subcommittee on relationship with school planning committee. 1987.
2	21	Subcommittee to study the planning process. 1977-1978.
2	22	Task force on the improvement of the quality of student life. 1985.

Series 2. Curricula Files. 1970-1986.

These files contain the formal proposals for new programs or program reviews, along with responses from the EPC, correspondence and revisions.

These records are arranged alphabetically within an academic year, such as 1971-1972. Dates used to file the records are the date on which the proposal appeared before the committee. When that is not available, the submitted report date is used.

Box	Folder	Contents
2	23	Occupational health program. Undated.
2	24	Accounting program. 1970-1971.
2	25	Applied civil engineering/surveying program. 1970-1971.
2	26	Building construction technology program. 1970-1971.
2	27	Business administration programs. 1970-1971.
2	28	College of Optometry proposal. 1970-1971.
2	29	Community school education program. 1970-1971.
2	30	Health services management program. 1970-1971.
2	31	Law enforcement/criminal justice program. 1970-1971.
2	32	Medical laboratory technician program. 1970-1971.
2	33	Office studies program. 1970-1971.
2	34	Optometric technician program. 1970-1971.
2	35	Respiratory therapy program. 1970-1971.
2	36	School of Business programs. 1970-1971.
2	37	School of Health Sciences and Arts programs. 1970-1971.
2	38	School of Pharmacy programs. 1970-1971.
2	39	Social services technician program. 1970-1971.
2	40	Teacher education program. 1970-1971. Folder 1.
2	41	Teacher education program. 1970-1971. Folder 2.
2	42	Teacher education program. 1970-1971. Folder 3.
2	43	Architectural drafting program. 1971-1972.
2	44	Journalism program. 1971-1972.
2	45	Surveying program. 1971-1972.
2	46	Educational media technician program. 1972-1973.
2	47	Heavy equipment service program. 1973-1974.
2	48	College of Optometry. 1977-1978.
2	49	Environmental quality programs. 1977-1978.
2	50	Medical records program. 1977-1978.
2	51	Respiratory care program. 1977-1978.
2	52	Accounting- 5 year program. 1979-1980.
2	53	Pharm.D. task force. 1979-1980.
2	54	Advertising/public relations program. 1980-1981.
2	55	Construction technology program. 1980-1981.
2	56	Energy management/RHAC program. 1980-1981.
2	57	Nursing program. 1980-1981.
2	58	Pharm.D. task force. 1980-1981.
2	59	Plastics engineering technology program. 1980-1981.
2	60	School of Allied Health. Academic program review. 1980-1981.
2	61	Public administration program. Academic program review. 1981-1982.
2	62	Training and development program. 1981-1982.
2	63	Journalism program. Academic program review. 1982-1983.
2	64	Nursing program. 1982-1983.
2	65	Printing program. 1982-1983.
2	66	Recreational leadership and management program. Academic program review. 1982-1983.
2	67	Surveying program. 1982-1983.
2	68	Welding engineering program. 1982-1983.
2	69	Court and conference reporting program. Academic program review. 1983-1984.
2	70	Diversified business programs. 1983-1984
2	71	Electronics/Electrical engineering technology program. 1983-1984.
2	72	Heavy duty engine technology program. 1983-1984.
2	73	Numerical control programming technology program. 1983-1984.
2	74	Masters in occupational education. 1983-1984.
2	75	Environmental health management program. 1984-1985.
2	76	Nuclear medicine technology program. 1984-1985.
2	77	Nursing program. Academic program review. 1984-1985.
2	78	Technical communications program. 1984-1985.
2	79	Vision science program. 1984-1985.
2	80	Allied Health curriculum. 1985-1986.
2	81	Applied biology- biotechnology program. 1985-1986.
2	82	Business management program. 1985-1986.
2	83	Energy management program. 1985-1986.
2	84	Health services management program. Academic program review. 1985-1986.
2	85	Heavy equipment services program. 1985-1986.
2	86	Professional tennis management program. 1985-1986.
2	87	Social services program. Academic program review. 1985-1986.
2	88	Computer information systems management program. 1986-1987.
2	89	Mathematics program. 1986-1987.
2	90	Spanish program. 1986-1987.
2	91	Speech communications program. 1986-1987.