December 2003

 

2003-04 ICAS Hoted by UC Senate

 

The Intersegmental Committee of the Academic Senates (ICAS) has played a pivotal role in fostering cooperation among California’s three segments of public higher education during the past twenty years, but few in the UC community are aware of this group’s important work.

 

ICAS is a voluntary organization of Academic Senate leaders from CSU, UC, and CCC. It meets four to five times a year to discuss academic matters of mutual concern, including the California Master Plan for Higher Education, and issues related to access, transfer, articulation, general education, and educational quality and standards. For the 2003-04 committee, the budget crisis and enrollment issues are high on the agenda.

 

Among the committee’s many notable accomplishments are a series of Statements on Competencies Expected of Entering College Students, the development and implementation of the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC), and content standards in English and mathematics for high school graduates.

 

ICAS was established in 1980 mainly through the efforts of the then-Chair of the UC Academic Senate, Karl Pister, and Norbert Bishop, President of the CCC Academic Senate, to explore ways to upgrade the standards of transfer programs and reduce the rate of failure among students who transfer to four-year institutions. The ICAS membership is composed of five faculty representatives from each of the segments, including the Senate Chairs and Vice Chairs. Since ICAS has no budget, meeting expenses are borne by the “host” institution, which rotates annually among the segments. The host institution for 2003-04 is UC, and UC’s Senate Chair, Lawrence Pitts, chairs the committee.