The president is “awestruck” by the
enormous achievements already
accomplished. The FSA president is
predicting an institutional identity crisis
but says we’ll survive it if we pull
together. The Access chairman terms it
“institutional renewal with a vengeance.”

These varied responses are referring
to the daunting task of getting down to
details in the planning of the University
College.

Employees got a chance to ask
questions of President Peter Jones and
other Access Committee members at
two forums last week.

Details were on the minds of about 40
staff and faculty who turned out in
Abbotsford, and the 15 who came in
Chilliwack.

Rob Woodside started the sessions by
asking whether UCFV planners are
using any other four year teaching
institutions as a model.

“We’re going in a different direction,
with our career degrees, than the other
three university colleges in B.C.” Jones
replied. ““We can keep one eye on other
models, but essentially we’re charting
new waters.”

Access chair Jack Gaston noted that
some other small institutions which
focus on teaching include the Evergreen
State College in Washington, Weber
State in Utah, and the universities of
Winnipeg and Lethbridge.

Madeleine Hardin asked about hiring
practices and the right of veto for UCFV
and the partner universities. Hardin also
pointed out that in many ways it’s easier

“We will have an identity crisis;
as anybody growing so fast ~
would. We’re faced with life and
career choices, and how to feel
about new people coming in with
more current degrees. It doesn’t
have to be awful. We will all be
made uneasy by it, but we have to
work with each other to make
sure we build something we can
live with.” — Virginia Cooke

to teach third and fourth year.

Jones agreed with Hardin on that
point: “In England it’s recognized that
the expertise needed to challenge first
and second year students is at least as
great as it is at the third and fourth
year.” But Jones also noted that in B.C.
the system is structured so that people
with more qualifications teach third and
fourth year.

Hiring practices

On hiring practices, Jones said that
the partner university technically has
veto power, bui ii is rarely exercised,
and that the university generally places
one person on the selection advisory
committees.

“T’m pleased to see that management
plans to keep an emphasis on other parts
of the College — ABE and ESL will
keep you honest on that,” said Marg
Penney. “But what are your specific
plans for Mission, Hope, and Agassiz?”

“Certain programs have to be offered
locally,” replied Jones. “When we
closed the Agassiz centre before there
were certain types of students, especially
ABE and ESL, who simply couldn’t
travel for school.

“In Mission, which will be the size
Chilliwack is now in 10 years, we’re
looking at a site near the Toti:Ithet
Centre which could house both
Mission’s third secondary school and a
college facility. We would look at
housing a new career program there to
give the site a focus.”

Scholarly activity

Rob Woodside brought up the
question of scholarly activity and course
releases: “How are you going to divvy
up the course releases given limited
funding?”

“We'll work out a deal with the
university that includes less coursework
for third and fourth year instructors to
give them time for scholarly activity,”
Jones replied, noting that the sponsoring
university has no jurisdiction over first
and second year. “The best we can do is
to make sure that we spread the release
time around as evenly as possible.”

Both Jones and Gaston pointed out
that a definition of scholarly activity,

Headlines/Nov. 6, 1991

Forums flesh out details on UCFV plans

which is not exactly the same as
research and may include other pursuits
which enhance excellent teaching, has
not yet been reached.

Faculty upgrading

On the question of funding PD
activity for faculty who wish to upgrade
so that they can teach third and fourth
year, Jones said that everyone agrees
that “professional development is part of
the package. We have a number of
people already striving to reach new
academic qualifications. I like the model
of Cariboo College where they make
funding available across the board, not
just to those who teach third and fourth
year, but we don’t know exact figures
va.

Admission policy

Bill Cooke asked about the Access
Committee’s recommendation that
UCFYV retain an open access policy
while at the same time ensuring that all
students have a reasonable chance of
SUCCESS.

“We're trying to reconcile the open
door policy with a commitment to
excellence,” Jones noted. “The answer is
a better organized system for ensuring
that students get into courses where they
really can succeed. Students will
continue to be accepted, but some may
have to go into college prep courses
initially so that they stand a better
chance of succeeding.”

Jones acknowledged that a wider
array of college prep courses is needed
and that there needs to be better

““We’ve talked about the need for
institutional renewal before.
Well, this is institutional renewal
with a vengeance. This all started
because we knew something was
going to happen in the Valley.
Rather than have that something
happen to us, we now have the
opportunity to address needs at
all levels.” — Jack Gaston

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