Academic Policy Committee – Annual Report – 2024-2025

Members:

Name	Rank	Department	Div	E/A	Term Ends	Email
Ai Bo	FAC	Social Work	PR	E	2027	aibo@uwm.edu
Nathan Salowitz	FAC	Mechanical Engineering	NS	E	2027	salowitz@uwm.edu
Alexa Anderson	FAC	Nursing	PR	E	2026	andersoa@uwm.edu
Sarah Blackowski	FAC	Civil and Environment Engineering	PR	E	2026	blackows@uwm.edu
Julie Ellis	FAC	Nursing	PR	E	2026	jellis@uwm.edu
Kelsi Faust 1	AS	Zilber College of Public Health	–	A	2026	meyer378@uwm.edu
Cary Costello *	FAC	Sociology	SS	E	2025	costello@uwm.edu
Lindsay McHenry	FAC	Geosciences	NS	E	2025	lmchenry@uwm.edu
Kristin Hildebrandt	Registrar	Registrar’s Office	–	A	2025	hildebra@uwm.edu
< >	FAC	(APCC Rep)		A	2025	mznewman@uwm.edu
< >	FAC	(GFC Rep)		A	2025
Kaushal Chari	Dean	Lubar College of Business	x-o	o	2025	kchari@uwm.edu
< >	AS	Secretary of the University’s Office	x-o	o	2025
< >	Student	SA	–	A	2025
< >	Student	Graduate Student (GFC)	–	A	2025
< >	Student	UG	–	A	2025

Charter:

A1.1    Academic Policy Committee

1. Membership.  Seventeen members as follows: eight elected Faculty members; three students; one appointed academic advisor; the Chairs, or their Faculty designees, of the Academic Program and Curriculum Committee and the Graduate Faculty Committee; the Registrar or their designee; and ex-officio: the Dean of one college appointed annually on a rotating basis by the Chancellor, and the Secretary of the University or their designee. The academic advisor is appointed by the Chancellor upon recommendation of the Academic Staff Committee. Student memberships include a student member on the Graduate Faculty Committee, an undergraduate student, and another student who is an officer of the Student Association. No more than two students or no more than three elected Faculty members may be from the same college.
2. Functions
   1. On its own initiative and/or in cooperation with other Faculty committees, represents student interests and concerns in problems of educational policy which are within the purview of the University Faculty.  Educational policy includes but is not limited to, grading system, add/drop policy and the academic year calendar.  (Matters of academic program and curriculum are within the jurisdiction of the Academic Program and Curriculum Committee.)
   2. Studies and makes recommendations to UWM Administration, the University Faculty or the Faculty Senate, or other appropriate Faculty committees concerning academic policy.  The committee may arrange for public forums and referenda among students on matters which the committee is studying.
   3. Maintains liaison with the UWM Administration and the faculties of the colleges on matters of educational policy which are within the jurisdiction of these colleges for the purpose of consulting with them on matters which have been brought to the attention of the committee and which it has studied; and for the further purpose of proposing possible uniform standards in these matters.  For the latter purpose the committee may consult with individual representatives of the colleges.
   4. Consults with the colleges, schools, and departments, their executives, and relevant committees, about problems of educational policy which have been brought to the attention of the committee. In these matters the committee shall maintain close liaison with the Academic Program and Curriculum Committee, the Graduate Faculty Committee, and the University Committee.

Meetings:

The Committee met on 9/11/24, 10/31/24, 11/21/24, 12/17/24, 2/18/25, 3/18/25, 4/15/25 and 5/13/25

Actions taken:

1. The Academic Year Calendar for 2027-8 was determined and sent to the Faculty Senate for approval.
2. The APC Charter was revised to reduce the number of Faculty serving by one, add a University Staff member, and make the requirements for students serving on the Committee less restrictive. This was sent to the Codification Committee and then the Faculty Senate for approval.
3. A revision of the Academic Drop and Probation Program to the Academic Warning and Separation Program was completed. This was sent to the APCC, Codification Committee, and Faculty Senate for approval.
4. Subcommittee action was undertaken to work on the consolidation and rationalization of the multiple University unit policies governing student grade appeals. Under direction of the APC, information about and links to the varied policies were made available on a single UWM webpage. Work on this issue is expected to continue in Fall 2025 so that the disparate grade appeal policies can be reduced in number and standardized to the extent possible while respecting the varied needs of disparate departments, programs, and disciplines.
5. An internal APC policy was established that, when possible, the UWM spring break will be aligned with the MPS spring break (though this may be difficult to accomplish as the MPS spring break dates may not be announced until after the UWM calendar must be set).
6. A Preferred Name Policy was drafted by subcommittee at the request of undergraduate students who were being misgendered and/or not having their declared names-in-use respected by instructors. The policy would state that in accordance with the University’s antidiscrimination protections, UWM instructors and staff were required to refer to students by the name they declared through the University’s Preferred Name webpage, using the pronoun a student indicated they used. This work continued across a few months but was dropped after the new federal presidential administration issued an executive order declaring that gender identity is a dangerous ideology, and sex an immutable binary set at conception. The Committee concluded that given the current national political climate and federal interventions in university activities and budgets, that university administration would feel constrained from adopting such a policy at this particular time.
7. At the request of undergraduate students, the APC drafted a letter to the Chancellor and Provost expressing student desire for more open communication from administration about how new federal policies might impact students, for assurances that UWM stood behind its antidiscrimination policies, and for listening sessions at which students could communicate their fears and concerns to the UWM administration.