President's Task Force on "Academic Integrity and Excellence"

The President’s Task Force on Academic Integrity and Excellence was convoked by President Celeste Schenck in 2009. The Task Force has undertaken a review and renewal of the University’s policies and procedures concerning academic integrity, intellectual rigor and classroom decorum.

Charged with reorganizing the structure of the University Honor Board and student judicial services, the Task Force members were drawn from all AUP constituencies (deans, faculty, students, the Student Government Association and the Graduate Student Council, staff and trustees).

The members are updating several existing campus procedures in response to the challenges presented by various technologies that have made cheating, plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty easier and more prevalent. As a result, new policies for the conducting of examinations, the consistent application of sanctions and the speedy adjudication of appeals are being developed in accordance with the suggestions of all members of the Task Force. All recommendations are submitted to the Faculty Senate for advice and endorsement.

The Task Force has agreed that most AUP students will benefit from continuing education concerning what constitutes plagiarism. Hoping to reward original research, writing and coursework, the members prefer to emphasize educating students about the issues, rather than merely focusing on penalties for infractions. Therefore, an active awareness campaign has been launched. The student members of the Task Force, with the help of a faculty member, are initiating a poster contest to raise awareness of these issues. They also hope to foreground the concerns expressed by students who have witnessed their peers engaging in cheating and/or submitting work that is not their own.

In addition, the AUP Writing Lab offers workshops and individual consultations for all students concerned with questions about plagiarism. Writing Lab tutors are experts in citation guidelines and can explain when, why and where to attribute ownership of ideas and content included in research papers and assignments.

Finally, the Task Force will present new ‘resolution forms’ to enable faculty and students to move quickly to agreement concerning the consequences of violations of the University code of ethics. Students, faculty and staff find that an emphasis on fairness, equable treatment and consistency in applying sanctions is reassuring for all.

The AUP community has embraced the efforts of the Task Force as consistent with the core values of the University. The awareness campaign underlines the sense of integrity and accomplishment felt by graduates of The American University of Paris. The University’s academic reputation and the need to uphold the highest standards of excellence and intellectual rigor are at the heart of all our efforts. We look forward to continuing the campus discussions.

Task Force Members include Donna Al-Sudairi (AUP student), Shalani Alisharan (Director of Teaching, Learning, and Assessment), Ann Borel (Librarian and Director of the Academic Resource Center), Gail Hamilton (Dean of Academic Administration and Instructor of International Business Administration), Cary Hollinshead-Strick (Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature and English), Meghan Jennings (Student Government Association President and AUP student), Rachael Levy (Roots and Shoots coordinator and AUP student), Gail Messiqua (AUP Trustee), Marc Monthéard (Vice President and Dean of Student Services and Assistant Professor of French and Drama), Virginia Nellis (Academic Information Analyst), Anna Russakoff (Assistant Professor of Art History), Ryan Trostle (Graduate Student Council President and AUP student), Celeste Schenck (President of The American University of Paris and Professor of Comparative Literature), and Katherine Wood (AUP alumna).