GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1993

S	1 

SENATE BILL 1150

Short Title:  UNC/Undergrad. Qual. Study.	(Public)
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Sponsors: Senators Hoyle; and Perdue.
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Referred to:  Rules and Operation of the Senate.
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May 12, 1993

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO ESTABLISH THE LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION ON THE QUALITY OF UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION IN THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, AND TO MAKE AN APPROPRIATION.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.   There is established the Legislative Commission on The Quality of Undergraduate Education in The University of North Carolina (the "Study Commission" ).  The Study Commission shall include the following 18 members:
(1)	Three Senators, appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate.
(2)	Three Representatives, appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
(3)	Two chancellors, appointed by the President of The University of North Carolina.
(4)	Two members of the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina, appointed by the chair of that Board.
(5)	The President of The University of North Carolina or his designee.
(6)	Two professors recognized for teaching excellence, one of whom shall be appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and one of whom shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
(7)	The student ex officio member of the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina.
(8)	Four representatives of business and industry, two of whom shall be appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and two of whom shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
All appointments shall be made within 30 days following adjournment of the 1993 Regular Session of the 1993 General Assembly.  Any vacancy shall be filled by the original appointing authority.
Sec. 2.  The President Pro Tempore of the Senate shall designate one Senator as cochair and the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall designate one Representative as cochair.  The cochairs shall jointly call the first meeting and shall preside at alternate meetings.
Sec. 3.  The purpose of the study is to investigate the following:
(1)	Institutional and professorial rewards and incentives for quality undergraduate teaching.
(2)	The role of teaching as scholarship in the university rewards system, including methods to reward excellence in the classroom and reduce pressures that limit faculty focus on teaching.
(3)	Methods to assess and evaluate faculty teaching including self-assessment, peer assessment, and student assessment.
(4)	Current activities dedicated to faculty professional development in the area of teaching, including fiscal support to enhance those efforts.
(5)	Institutional missions and institutional planning in order to determine the emphasis placed on undergraduate teaching and learning in each constituent institution of The University of North Carolina.
(6)	Current institutional measures of quality undergraduate education, including reports on remediation, graduation rates, and time-to-graduation; and potential measures of quality undergraduate education, including efforts to simplify reports and make information more accessible to the public and other interested parties.
(7)	Freshman placement issues, including consistent use of the Academic Placement test, student success rates of remediation programs in the community colleges and universities, placement and support for academically underprepared students, and university use of internal placement tests.
(8)	Academic support systems for undergraduates.
(9)	The relationship among the constituent institutions of The University of North Carolina, the public schools, and the community colleges in improving undergraduate education.
(10)	Consistency of quality in General College (freshman and sophomore) coursework, including examination of various models and of other states' efforts to establish standards for or measure the impact of General College coursework.
(11)	Student contact with tenured faculty, including analysis of course loads for both faculty and students, the use of teaching assistants, and efforts to improve the quality of the training and evaluation of teaching assistants.
(12)	Alternative systems to provide methods for the payment of college costs, including prepaid tuition plans, zero-coupon bond programs, and need-based student aid, such as contractual plans (the Taylor Plan), work study, and others.
Sec. 4.  Members of the Study Commission shall receive subsistence and travel expenses at the rates set forth in G.S. 120-3.1, 138-5, and 138-6, as applicable.
Sec. 5.  The Study Commission cochairs may contract for professional, clerical, or consultant services as provided by G.S. 120-32.02, and may purchase or contract for the materials and services it needs.  The Legislative Services Commission, through the Legislative Administrative Officer, shall assign professional staff to assist in the work of the Study Commission.  The House of Representatives' and the Senate's Supervisors of Clerks, upon the direction of the Legislative Services Commission, shall assign clerical staff to the Study Commission.  The expenses relating to the clerical employees shall be borne by the Study Commission.  Facilitation of the work of the Study Commission may be contracted to an individual who has an excellent national reputation in the area of evaluating the quality of undergraduate education in public universities.
Sec. 6.  The Study Commission may, with the approval of the Legislative Services Commission, meet in the State Legislative Building or the Legislative Office Building.
Sec. 7.  The Study Commission shall make an interim report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee no later than April 15, 1994, and shall make a final report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee no later than January 15, 1995, at which time the Study Commission shall terminate.
Sec. 8.  Upon the request of the Study Commission, all State departments and agencies, all local governments and their subdivisions, and all institutions and departments under the jurisdiction of the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina shall furnish the Study Commission with any information in their possession or available to them. 
Sec. 9.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the General Assembly the sum of thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) for the 1993-94 fiscal year and the sum of thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) for the 1994-95 fiscal year to fund the work of the Study Commission.
Sec. 10.  This act becomes effective July 1, 1993.