PURDUE UNIVERSITY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
ACADEMIC AND STUDENT AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
FEBRUARY 14, 2023 | MINUTES

A meeting of the Academic and Student Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees convened at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, February 14, 2023, in Room 119 of Hovde Hall on the campus of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

All committee members were present: JoAnn Brouillette, chair; Professor Colleen Brady (ex-officio); Vanessa Castagna, Mark Gee, and Shawn Taylor (virtually).

Officers and administrators in attendance were: Patrick Wolfe, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs and diversity; Cherise Hall, vice provost for finance and strategic initiatives (virtually); Beth McCuskey, vice provost for student life; Jenna Rickus, vice provost for teaching and learning; and Kris Wong Davis, vice provost for enrollment management.

I. CIVICS LITERACY UPDATE

Patrick Wolfe, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs and diversity, provided a reminder that the University agreed that the Civics Literacy requirement would be in place for all undergraduate students entering Fall 2021 onwards at PWL. He shared the options available for completion and noted that 1300 students have completed the requirement as of now. Jenna Rickus, vice provost for teaching and learning, mentioned that so far about half of the students have chosen the events pathway and the other half of the student choices are split evenly between the course option and C-Span Podcasts.

Committee Chair Brouillette asked about the process for qualifying events. Jenna Rickus shared that David Reingold, dean of College of Liberal Arts, chairs a committee that meets regularly to review the learning outcomes that were defined for the proficiency and that is the measure against which events are considered for qualification. Provost Wolfe provided information about the event submission form which is used to determine if it would qualify. An update regarding successful implementation was provided. Those include creating student awareness and scaling up/scaling out pathways to completion. It was mentioned that three-quarters of the students have actively engaged in some way showing positive outcomes regarding student awareness.

A copy of the material shared was filed with the minutes.

II. TRANSFORMATIVE EDUCATION 2.0 UPDATE

Provost Wolfe began with the reminder that Transformative Education 2.0 is one of Purdue’s Next Moves. He noted that its main purpose is to upgrade our infrastructure in a way that will support students better, strengthening the student experience.

Kris Wong-Davis, vice provost for enrollment management, mentioned when considering the degree planning software, she believes Purdue is asking the right questions and focusing on the right things that allow the University to be more competitive when it comes to student ability to have more ownership of their degree planning. Students want flexibility, opportunities to double major or minor and certificates and experiences and they want to see how that would play out. She noted that the largest challenge currently is how to communicate with students who don’t want emails. Cherise Hall, vice provost for finance and strategic initiatives, provided input regarding capabilities that the software has for future add-ins. Jenna Rickus, vice provost for teaching and learning, shared the progress with EduNav and where the academic colleges stand with the plan for implementation. She noted that Fall 2023 all colleges will be utilizing EduNav for new students and it will be live in January 2024.

Provost Wolfe transitioned to the topic of Innovation Hub. Jenna shared this is piece of Transformative Education 2.0 that is funded externally by a $5M Lilly Endowment Grant. Provost Wolfe mentioned the challenge of operating on such a large scale with a lot of options without sacrificing personalized experience. This led to discussion of some faculty-led innovations that were launched.

Vice Provost Rickus noted that Experiential Education is a three-phase project and shared that we are on schedule currently in phase two. Experiential Education would increase the quality and quantity of career-relevant opportunities for all students by enhancing and scaling experiential education and building capacity. She informed the Committee that in the Fall 2023 Purdue will pilot a new online tool to maximize visibility and scalability of career-relevant experiences for students in six areas. Beth McCuskey, vice provost for student life added it’s not just about doing things but also about reflective learning and how what they learned would help them advance. The current plan is to be fully implemented mid-year 2025.

In closing Provost Wolfe referred to Student Communication and Engagement by collaborating with Purdue Student Government on a coordinated solution to improve individual student communication, engagement, and success at speed. This entails working with students to design an enhanced student communication experience that is personalized and targeted, with variable-driven content delivered at scale. Vice Provost Wong-Davis shared that they are working on ways to communicate that are effective and have student groups providing input. She shared they are investigating a variety of options, student portals, chat boxes, and apps.

A copy of the information shared was filed with the minutes.

III. ADJOURNMENT

By consent, the meeting adjourned at 11:37 a.m.