Brenda Koerner, chair of the Academic Affairs committee and professor of biological sciences, reads through a proposed policy for expedited programs. The Kansas Board of Regents is looking at revising the current policy to allow for an expedited process at both the campus and KBOR level.
Academic Affairs meeting was presented with proposed amendments to the Kansas Board of Regents expedited program approval process policy by Steve Lovett, president of Faculty Senate and assistant business administration professor, during their meeting Tuesday.
These proposed amendments could mean the formation of an expedited process for programs, so they can be approved “faster” than the conventional way, according to Lovett.
“This has been very rarely used and some requirements fora program to qualify,” Lovett said. “I can give you a scant number of examples where it’s been used in the past…It’s not that it happens everyday.”
The expedited program would still have to be approved by KBOR after it is approved by the university.
“Feedback from the provost about why we were asked to even consider an expedited review process is because at some point he tried to put a program up through this (policy) pipeline, to expedite it through KBOR,” said Brenda Koerner, chair of AA and associate biological sciences professor. “They came back and said ‘Why should we expedite it if you don’t?’ Which is somewhat of a valid point.”
It is believed that this process is not to be used in “bad faith” and to simply move the process along more quickly, according to Michael Behrens, assistant professor of English, modern languages and journalism.
Instead this is to help universities respond to opportunities for new programs more quickly. There was a concern about redirecting funds if a new program was expedited.
“It goes through quickly so you’ve got to adjust quickly, within one fiscal year,” Lovett said. “How are you going to do that?”
The next Academic Affairs meeting will be at 3:30 p.m. Sept. 25 in the Miller Room in the Memorial Union.