Academic Affairs

Academic Affairs Committee

The Academic Affairs Committee is comprised of a group of Penn State students focused on engaging the entire community in maintaining Penn State’s high quality education across the nineteen Commonwealth Campuses. The committee gathers information and seeks ways to support student learning and experiences as well as program initiatives. This year, the committee will be focusing on three major goals.

Maintaining Academic Integrity

With the online and hybrid modes of learning becoming a necessity for numerous students this semester, academic integrity must be ensured. The Academic Affairs Committee believes it is vital to maintain the value of a Penn State degree and is interested in having students team up with staff and faculty to develop academic integrity tools and foster a sense of accountability. 

Establishing better Relationships between Academic Advisors and Students

There are currently many different legislations about academic advisors and how to improve their relationships with students. This year, the Academic Committee aims to advocate for those legislations and convert them into policies. These policies could include updating training for advisors, requiring advisors to keep meeting minutes and/or notes on Starfish, or encouraging students in Penn State’s 2+2 program to be introduced to their new advisors in order to ease into the campus transition. 

Creating an Evaluation System to Open Communication between Students and Professors

In addition to the end of every semester, many students have expressed an interest in filling out Student Rating of Teaching Effectiveness (SRTE) evaluations mid-semester. The Academic Committee would like to produce an evaluation system that allows students to give feedback to their professors throughout the semester. Similar to the SRTEs, it would allow the students to remain anonymous so that there is no chance of bias between a student and the professor.