Approval of Previous Minutes —

Meeting minutes from Sept. 28, 2023. Motion to approve by Scott Harris. Seconded by Williams Collins. Motion passed unanimously.

Unfinished Business —

1. Agenda Item: Provide resources and ideas for both instructors and student athletes regarding how to handle missed absences in addition to the new excused absence policy (including providing clear direction to athletes on attendance policies).  (Assigned to Josh Arpin)
   1. Josh shared strategies and statistics from his current teaching. He has noticed an increase in requests for make-up opportunities, including some repeat absences. Josh added that those students did not do as well later in the course. The documentation issue is challenging, but scheduling make-up exams is the biggest challenge. Instructors can still offer other solutions, such as a final exam counting for a higher proportion of the grade, but it must be up to the student.
   2. The Physics Department has been testing out a testing center run by GTAs. The SAC Testing Center has restricted hours and only 50 seats. Student athletes can take tests while travelling, but that poses its own challenges. Ryan King shared that sometimes the host school proctors exams, while other times it is an academic advisor travelling alongside.
   3. Susan Williams shared that the biggest observed issue has not been around student athletes, but the larger documentation issue. There is a lack of education among faculty, who often send students to Student Affairs. A goal for the current year is to gather data on understanding and education.
   4. Josh shared additional best practices and recommendations on handling excused absences, both for instructors and students, including sample language for instructors to send to student athletes. There was some discussion that this might be an ambitious model for most instructors. Josh has also heard some anecdotes of instructors knowingly refusing to follow policy, including final exam regulations.
   5. Josh recalled a prior conversation in a different body about the possibility of creating a Canvas resource site for students, with all relevant policies and deadlines.
      1. Student Senate has been talking with Student Affairs about developing this. Same with graduate student side.
      2. Megan Greene mentioned instructor and student resources that auto-populate Canvas course shells.
   6. Suggested ACTION: Develop a 1-page student and instructor guide for travel.
   7. The issue remains that sometimes students miss too many classes to succeed overall. This is not an issue for student athletes because they know their absences ahead of time. Faculty are concerned about losing the ability to set that threshold, though the intention of the policy is NOT to take this autonomy away. This needs to be communicated to instructors.
2. Agenda Item: Is there one course (preferably a core class) that the majority of international student athletes need that could be added as an in-person session 2 summer class? (Assigned to Megan Greene, Brett Bricker, Scott Harris, Luke Parker)
   1. Scott shared that the Communications Department is willing to create a 200-level class that fulfills the same requirement as public speaking, but we need to be sure that it will enroll. With the KU Core changing, we need to figure out what requirement it should fill. This topic is on the agenda of the next Internationalization Steering Committee meeting, which Dean Mafi will attend. The issue should be solved in the College, Dean Mafi just needs to commit to backstop one course, which will also benefit other international students. It is difficult for Athletics to know ahead of time how many incoming international student athletes there will be.
   2. Megan has preliminarily scheduled a U.S. History class that she will teach.
   3. Luke Parker shared with the committee that the C&T Department is planning to offer two in-person, 500-level courses for Summer Term B. The department chair has been in touch with Ryan King to discuss how these courses might align with their focus, as they were already scheduled to run during this time.
   4. Roberta Pokphanh, Associate Vice Provost in International Affairs, also shared that she has met with Ryan to share more about how KUIA is managing the summer term. The Applied English Center (AEC) is planning to offer an in-person course, AESP 160, that can be taken by any new international student. It would be an elective course (it does not meet any core requirements) and their necessary enrollment target would be a minimum of 6 students.
   5. CONCLUSION: 4 identified courses, with 2 good lower-level options.
3. Agenda Item: How do we get more coordination between the athletic academic advisors and the school academic advisors to ensure athletes are on track both with prerequisites and graduation requirements? For example, should there be a requirement for student athletes to get their next semester schedules signed by a school advisor? Or should there be specific advisors in each school that are assigned the student athletes? (Assigned to Jana Fitchett)
   1. Jana spoke with both student athletes and advisors. It seems helpful for one advisor from each school to be the contact person for student athletes. They do not necessarily need to meet with every student, but they can be a resource and point of contact for athletic advisors.
      1. Ryan suggested picking experienced advisors since there are a lot of moving parts. There could be additional training for selected advisors.
   2. Susan observed that the challenges student athletes face are often issues for all students. Regular advising is not required in all schools, while it is still in place in some, e.g., School of Engineering.
      1. Ryan shared that student athletes already have a double-check system to make sure they are meeting requirements.
      2. There was discussion that requirements and NCAA eligibility should be the minimum. What about career counseling, shifting academic tracks, manipulating courses for the best possible outcome?
   3. The student athletes on the committee will ask their teams about rates of student athletes using KU LEADS, which is a benefit they get that normal students do not. Is JAA filling that need? How can it?
      1. They like the idea of having a school-contact advisor for career advising.

New Business —

Ryan King and Susan Williams will present on student athlete enrollment numbers.