Attachment B
Faculty Senate Agenda
November 15, 2001

INTRODUCTION

As our enrollment increases over the next several years to accommodate demand, we must expand our facility usage in the non-prime time areas at a much greater rate than our current pattern. We do not expect large increases in physical capacity that will enable us to continue the usage patterns that presently exist. We should use this opportunity to examine our usage patterns and develop plans that will expand our levels of evening, Friday and weekend utilization. Although the Faculty Senate Work Group on Class Scheduling has identified several strategies that could be used to improve the utilization measures, we are certain that more will be identified as the colleges develop the plans we have suggested. By setting campus goals, and providing annual data, which shows the utilization patterns by college, we can challenge the colleges to develop plans that will meet or exceed the goals we have set.

A number of strategies exist that would help us achieve the campus goals of providing classroom capacity and utilizing classrooms outside of the high demand periods on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. However, each College has a different mix of undergraduate and graduate programs, small and large programs, different student profiles, etc., which necessitate a thoughtful, collaborative, consultative process to determine the strategies appropriate for each College. Consequently, this policy gives to each College dean the responsibility for establishing his or her own plans. In some cases, student demand for sections offered outside of high demand periods may be insufficient. In such cases, Colleges and departments must be given some latitude in the budget process by allowing evening and Friday courses to "make" with lower enrollments. Finally, uncertainty about the magnitude of future enrollment growth and state support for the growth will require continual monitoring of the progress toward achieving capacity and utilization goals.

Adapted from the Facility Utilization Workgroup Report to the Council for University Planning (CUP) on Accountability Measures 8.1.a-f, February 1, 2001 (http://www.csus.edu/cup/accountability/acctfacut.pdf).

Proposed amendments to the current FLEXIBLE SCHEDULING POLICY
Prepared and approved unanimously by the Faculty Senate Work Group on Class Scheduling November 6, 2001

GUIDELINES

1. The purpose of increased flexibility is to maximize the use of facilities while also increasing student retention and graduation rates. This will require optimal communication between departments, colleges and other units of the university.
   
2. Academic programs will be given top priority in the use of instructional space; use of instructional facilities by guest speakers, visiting scholars and community groups will be given lower priority.
   
3. Any scheduling system requires that departments, colleges and the university solicit input from students on a regular basis regarding the types of courses and schedules that best meet their needs.
   
4. In a period of increasing enrollments, programs will have existing section(s) exceed course enrollment limits, requiring the scheduling of additional section(s).  Initially, the number of overflow students may not meet the requirements necessary for the new section(s) to "make".  In such cases, the College should be provided with funding necessary to offer these section(s) until enrollment reaches the level necessary for the section(s) to "make".

CONTROLS (applied to the scheduling of undergraduate courses):

For purposes of this policy, "prime time" is defined as the block of time from 9:00 AM through 2:00 PM on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

1. The approved scheduling time frames (as specified below under ROOM UTILIZATION) must be enforced. Departments offering two-day 3-hour lecture (non-lab) sections should do so on a MW, WF, MF or TR basis. Exceptions may be made with University approval only if they can be made consistent with the final examination schedule.
   
   
2. Colleges using 75-minute "prime time" periods on MW, MF and WF must have sections during the same time period in the same classroom during the missing day.
   
   Use of the classroom during the missing day may be provided by any department (or program) in the College, or any department (or program) in another College.  Colleges have flexibility in meeting this goal.
   
   
3. All 3-hour laboratory and lecture sections must stay within the time blocks as specified below under ROOM UTILIZATION.  Two-hour and shorter laboratory and lecture sections must be scheduled in a manner compatible with the scheduling time blocks as specified below under ROOM UTILIZATION.
   
   
4. Colleges must have at least 30% of their 3-hour lecture (non-lab) sections outside of "prime time", that is before 9:00 AM, after 2:00 PM Monday through Thursday, or any time on Friday or Saturday.
   
   This is a goal set for the College and not necessarily for each and every program.  The College has the flexibility to meet this goal with a mixture of sections scheduled outside of "prime time" so long as the average is at least 30$.  Note.  Any sections occurring on Friday - at any time - count towards the 30% goal.
   
   
5. College programs or Departmental programs that require courses from other departments must coordinate their schedules with those service units in order to minimize the number of scheduling conflicts.
   
   
6. Departments that serve other majors must coordinate their schedules in order to minimize the number of scheduling conflicts.
   
   
7. Multiple sections of courses must be offered at different times of the day.
   
   
8. A Class Scheduling Committee must be established to 
   
   1)    Monitor progress toward achieving capacity and utilization goals,
   2)    Perform an annual assessment of effectiveness of this policy, 
   3)    Recommend changes as appropriate, and 
   4)    Identify and recommend improvements in the scheduling process.

The following are recommendations from the Faculty Senate Work Group on Class Scheduling:

The Senate recommends that 

1. The Executive Committee work with Academic Affairs to define the structure of this committee, its membership and charge, 
2. The Executive Committee and Academic Affairs give careful consideration to the following recommendations made by the Faculty Senate Work Group on Class Scheduling regarding the membership of the committee and duties to be assigned to the Committee, 
3. The Executive Committee report the results of this effort to the Senate as soon as possible, and 
4. The defined structure of the committee, its membership and charge replace this recommendation and be added to "Control 8" of this policy.

Members of the Committee would include a department chair from each of the seven Colleges (appointed by the Senate) and a College dean (appointed by the Vice President for Academic Affairs.  Staff support would be provided by an appropriate representative from Space Management and Academic Affairs.

The duties of the Committee would include but not be limited to the following:

1)    Identify the data necessary for understanding the variety of scheduling needs and for assessing both supply and demand for classrooms,

2)    Assess and report to the Senate and Academic Affairs on the performance of each College in meeting the goals specified in this policy;

3)    Work with the Colleges to identify various strategies for achieving the goals specified in this policy.  A sample of possible strategies has been provided by the Facility Utilization Workgroup in their report to the Council on University Planning (see the appendix to this policy); and

4)    Make recommendations for changes in policy and/or procedures, which would enhance the capability of Colleges to achieve the goals specified in this policy.

ROOM UTILIZATION:

Each classroom scheduled during PRIME TIME (9:00 AM through 1:50 PM) would be allocated as follows:

A room scheduled for a 75-minute section beginning at 9:00 AM requires that a second 75-minute section be scheduled to begin at 10:30 AM in the same room. A room scheduled for a 50-minute section beginning at 9:00 AM requires that two additional 50-minute sections be scheduled at 10:00 AM and 11:00 AM, respectively.

A room may be scheduled for single 75-minute section beginning at 12:00 PM. A room scheduled for a 50-minute section beginning at 12:00 PM requires a second 50-section be scheduled to being at 1:00 PM.

These room-scheduling options are summarized below:

APPENDIX.  Some strategies suggested by the Facility Utilization Workgroup in their Report to (CUP):

• Identify cohort type programs that could be offered evening/weekend.
  
• Consider changing some MW courses to MWF.
  
• Consider offering some courses on Friday/Saturday.
  
• Provide incentives for courses offered outside of high demand periods.
  
• For large departments, consider evenings and/or Friday sections.
  
• For high demand GE courses, consider evenings and/or Friday sections.
  
• Consider adding new sections in the evening and/or on Friday.
  
• Consider offering seminar type courses (upper division or graduate courses) on Fridays only or one night per week
  
• Use the annual reports to monitor the progress in achieving goals.