The University of Alaska Board of Regents approved a common academic calendar for all campuses within the UA System and requested that faculty develop and adopt common general education requirements for math and English.

Both moves, approved at the April 3-4, 2014, meeting at Kodiak College, are aimed at better serving students. The soonest the common calendar could go into effect would be sometime in the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2015.

The resolution requesting common general education requirements for math and English has a fall 2016 deadline. The resolution charges faculty to develop and adopt the changes, including common course descriptions, numbers and titles, as well as common placement tools and scores. It also asks that the faculty propose an implementation plan for other areas of general education, also by fall 2016.

Students support the measures, as they often take courses from more than one campus via online learning, said Student Regent Courtney Enright of Ketchikan. She said she has taken classes from UAA, UAF and UAS, but views them as one system of higher education.

The board also endorsed UA's Shaping Alaska's Future initiative, which contains a list of 23 effects, or outcomes, the university intends to achieve.

The effects are aimed at improving graduation rates, streamlining administrative processes and providing better service to students, among other things. The intent of the multi-year effort, which involves students, faculty, alumni, staff and the public, is to create a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. It's been a priority for UA President Pat Gamble.

Regent Tim Brady of Anchorage called Shaping Alaska's Future unprecedented. "I think this is an extraordinary effort," Brady said. "The results will really benefit our students, which is why we're all here."

Regents approved a number of other proposals during the two-day meeting earlier this month, including a contract for members of the adjunct faculty union; a public-private partnership for a full-service restaurant in the UAA Alaska Airlines Sports Center; a restoration project at the Akasofu building at UAF; and the second phase of a critical electrical distribution renewal project at UAF.

You can find the complete board agenda at:

http://www.alaska.edu/bor/agendas/2014/apr-3-4/