GENERAL PURPOSE
This purpose of the Academic Structure Exploratory Committee (ASEC) is to recommend the most appropriate and cost-effective system for organizing the academic division. Put another way, if one could imagine the perfect academic organizational structure for this college, what would it look like?

The ASEC is being jointly charged by the provost and by the Faculty Assembly leadership. To arrive at its conclusions, the committee will solicit ideas from the faculty, develop its own ideas on the subject, analyze the implications of all proposals on the division (and also on the unit curriculum plan now being considered), and present its recommendations in a written report.

DELIVERABLE
A final report will be submitted to the provost, with copy to the Faculty Assembly president for distribution to the faculty. A special Faculty Assembly meeting will be held during the In-Service Day in May 2004 to consider and respond to the ASEC report. The provost will discuss the report with the Provost Advisory Council (PAC) and with the faculty before deciding what, if any, recommendations he will make to the president.

WORK PERIOD
The committee will begin its work in late Fall 2003, meet intensively through the Winter 2004 session, and complete its work during the Spring 2004 semester.

MEMBERSHIP
The committee will comprise two tenured or tenure-track faculty elected from each of the five schools, one faculty member elected from the Library (because the Library has considerably fewer faculty than the schools), and one academic administrator designated by the provost--for a total of twelve members. As for the two members from each school, one must come from faculty with ten or fewer years at the college and the other from faculty with eleven or more years at the college (counting the current academic year). Committee members cannot be scheduled to teach Winter Session and must be available to meet the entire session. The committee will select its own chair.

COMPENSATION
The work of this committee is considered to be above and beyond what would be
normally required of faculty, especially given the extensive meetings planned for Winter Session. Therefore, two hours of release time will be paid to each faculty member on the committee.

SOME QUESTIONS TO EXPLORE
In attempting to accomplish its purpose, the committee will consider the following questions, among others. Note that some questions could be considered subsets of others:

1. What organizational entities would work best at Ramapo (schools, departments, programs, convening groups, etc.)?

2. How many of these entities should there be, what shape should they take, what members should they have, and what criteria for membership should be established? Also, to what degree should the entities be either parallel or unique in structure, membership, number of programs, and other features?

3. What leadership positions would work best (deans, associate deans, department heads, program chairs, conveners, etc.)? And what general responsibilities and level of authority should each have?

4. How many such leadership positions should we have and what method(s) of selection should we establish?

5. If we retain the current organizational model, should we combine convening groups, and if so in what way? Relatedly, should faculty members be limited in the number of groups to which they can belong?

6. Should the teacher education program be free-standing or remain part of another entity, and what title should its leader hold?

7. Should the international education program be free-standing or part of another entity, and what title should its leader hold? What relationship should exist between the Roukema Center and other parts of the academic structure with respect to international education?

8. Should graduate programs be placed in a separate unit, and if so what title should the leader of all the graduate programs hold?

9. Should each degree major have only one academic home, rather than multiple homes as is sometimes the case in the current arrangement?