The Commission on Undergraduate Education got its feet wet last week when it met for the first time.

"It was really an introductory meeting. There were a lot of ideas kicked around," said Commission Member Nicole Gardner (sophomore-world literature).

At January's Faculty Senate meeting, University President Joab Thomas announced the formation of a commission to advise him on matters concerning undergraduate education and particularly the goals generated by the Task Force on Undergraduate Education's report released last fall.

When the commission met, Thomas asked members to focus on specific areas of the report including assessment, student-faculty interaction, academic advising and curricular relevance and coherence, said Madlyn L. Hanes, commission chairwoman and director of Academic Affairs at Delaware County Campus, in a written statement.

Thomas listed the commission's primary long-term goal as assessing the quality of undergraduate education, Gardner said.

The group will focus on developing a comprehensive and systematic program of assessing student-learning outcomes, Hanes wrote. Although some Faculty Senate committees are addressing this issue, it particularly concerns the commission.

The commission also aims to deal with the Task Force recommendations of staffing introductory courses with senior faculty. The group plans to identify strategies to encourage the amount of contact with full and senior faculty outside of the classroom, she wrote.

Another major goal is to review curriculum to ensure its relevance to life, she wrote.

Commission members also discussed forming a committee to address academic advising, Gardner said.

"I think that the faculty and administration seemed very enthusiastic, very interested," Gardner said. "I think they'll be very receptive to student input."