With three official meetings left for the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Academic Assembly, members are trying to complete ongoing projects before the end of the semester.

"I've been impressed with the continued dedication of committee members," Assembly President Mark Levin said. "The vast majority of our members are working hard, and it looks like they are going to continue to do so until the end of their terms."

To address concerns brought to the assembly last semester, the Academic Research and Action Committee will be administering a survey concerning drop/add week, said Nicole Belolan, College of the Liberal Arts representative.

She said the committee is working with the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence, which will randomly choose 5,000 students across Commonwealth Campuses to complete an electronic survey by the end of this semester.

"Some universities have a longer add period than a drop period, so it's not a radical idea," Belolan said.

Penn State currently has a longer drop period than add period. Belolan said the survey will begin with some demographic questions, such as year and campus location, continue with questions about the drop/add period, and end with a comment question, which would be used to get additional student concerns. "At the end of the day, it's about creating a good atmosphere between professors and students that want to be there," she added.

Another assembly committee is working on improving the Student Rating of Teaching Effectiveness (SRTE) surveys, said Jeff Markowitz, academic affairs director for the Council of Commonwealth Student Governments.

"The goal is to move the SRTEs online so they are administered from a Web-based form instead of a paper form," he said.

One University Park college and one Commonwealth Campus will administer an online SRTE survey pilot at the end of fall 2005, Markowitz said. According to the results, legislation may be presented to the University Faculty Senate by spring 2006. An ad hoc diversity committee is also in the process of being developed for the assembly.

Rishi Das, faculty senator for the School of Information Sciences and Technology, said the idea was not based on the diversity roundtable but is something he wanted to do to bring diversity ideas from other clubs and groups to the assembly.

He is planning to bring legislation to the table about implementing the new committee at the next assembly meeting.

So far this semester, the assembly has passed legislation proposing reform on the required first-year seminars. It has also passed resolutions on defining academic integrity, saving the American studies major and creating a sub-committee to improve the collection of student feedback for projects.

Levin said students might not be aware of what the assembly is achieving because there have not been any immediate effects of any passed legislation.

"That's the nature of the things we do," he said. "Our projects are fundamentally different from USG -- they take a lot of years to take place."