A recent report by the Task Force on Undergraduate Education called for more remedial classes at the Commonwealth Campuses and appropriate rewards for those who teach them.

Remedial education in math and English is lacking at the Commonwealth Campuses, said Richard M. Smith, a task force member and professor of business administration at the Dubois Campus.

But Fred Allison (sophomore-cartography), a student at the Altoona Campus, disagreed with Smith, saying that remedial classes are a waste of time to some students.

"I could have passed English 15 (Rhetoric and Composition) without English 4 (Basic Writing Skills) easily," Allison said, adding that English 15 was easier.

But Allison also said the remedial classes may be a big advantage for some students.

Commonwealth Campus students have lower overall high school grade point averages upon entering the University, Smith said.

Professors teaching the remedial courses are also often overlooked, Smith said.

"Someone who does a terrific job teaching Math 4 (Intermediate Algebra) or English 4 deserves to be rewarded," Smith said.

Most Commonwealth Campuses rely on part-time faculty, but University Park has the benefit of a "senior faculty" and professors who have done extensive research, Smith said.

Smith didn't see this as a major problem, however, because the Commonwealth Campuses are basically involved with lower-level courses.

"It's more effective having small class sizes and personal relationships than having faculty working on current research," he said.

Most Commonwealth Campuses voted to adopt the report as their strategic plan to improve undergraduate education, said R. Scott Kretchmar, task force chairman.

"(The report has) gotten a very strong endorsement among the CES," he said.

Commonwealth Campus needs are quite different from those at University Park, so the report's recommendations do not pertain to every campus, said Mike Dooris, senior planning analyst and staff support for the Commission on Undergraduate Education. The Commission was formed as a result of the report to improve the quality of education at all campuses.

"It's always a difficult thing to be sensitive to all the campuses. It's just not practical to do all the time," Dooris said, adding that there are different problems at each campus.

The task force tried to represent all the University's campuses with five Commonwealth Campus members, Smith said.

The Commonwealth Campus representatives on the task force were "not shy about expressing their concerns and we considered them as much as possible," said Kretchmar, professor of exercise and sport science.

The task force would also like to strengthen the visibility of higher education, such as the University Scholars Program at Commonwealth Campuses, Kretchmar said.

"It seems to be running well at University Park; we're interested in more at the other campuses," Kretchmar said.