Glossary of Carleton Acronyms, Abbreviations, and Terms

ACAC - Academic Computing Advisory Committee.  Also, the Administrative Computing Advisory Committee. 

ACCCR - Advisory Council on Campus and Community Relations

ACE - Academic Civic Engagement

ACM – Associated Colleges of the Midwest - A consortium of 15 independent liberal arts colleges located in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Colorado. Member colleges are: Beloit, Carleton, University of Chicago, Coe, Colorado, Cornell, Grinnell, Knox, Lake Forest, Lawrence University, Luther, Macalester, Monmouth, Ripon, and St. Olaf.

ACT – Acting in the Community Together

AFAC - Admissions and Financial Aid Committee

AGH - The Alumni Guest House and Admissions building. 

A&I - The "Argument and Inquiry" first-year seminar requirement.

ASC – Academic Standing Committee. Committee of faculty, students, and staff that adjudicates college regulations and makes decisions about students’ academic standing.

BRIDGE - The online library catalog shared by Carleton and St. Olaf.

CAASHA – Campus advocates against sexual harassment and assault.

CASTL – Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. The CASTL Program seeks to support the development of a scholarship of teaching and learning that: fosters significant, long-lasting learning for all students; enhances the practice and profession of teaching, and; brings to faculty members' work as teachers the recognition and reward afforded to other forms of scholarly work.

CBBC – College Board of Business Consultants. Collaborative effort between Carleton and St. Olaf Colleges, Northfield’s banks, the Northfield Downtown Development Corporation, the Northfield Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Northfield Enterprise Center.

CCCE - Center for Community and Civic Engagement.

CDF – Curriculum Development Fund. Grants from this fund are awarded each winter by the Faculty Grants Committee to support curricular development. Very small CDF grants may be awarded any time by the Dean.

CEDI - Community, Equity, and Diversity Initiative.  The work of this organization occurs through small task forces that focus on specific topics.  The task force coordinators serve on the group's leadership board, which will organize the actions of the task forces and plan the strategic direction of the group's work across campus.  CEDI reports to College Council.

CFD – Consortium for Faculty Diversity. The goal of this program is to assist minority scholars in the early stages of their career and to produce a pool of minority scholars who will have firsthand experience teaching at liberal arts colleges. Our goal is to hire one of these applicants as a CFD Fellow each academic year.

CF&PC – Capital Funding and Priorities Committee. Committee that manages and prioritizes funding and projects for capital renewal and investment.

CISMI – The Carleton Interdisciplinary Science & Math Initiative. CISMI supports a broad array of multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and collaborative activities between the science and math departments.

CLAE – Carleton Liberal Arts Experience. A summer program founded by a Carleton trustee, which brings talented high school juniors of African American descent, or students who have an interest in African American culture, to campus for a week-long academic college-prep program.

CMC - Center for Mathematics and Computing

COFHE – Consortium on Financing Higher Education. An institutionally supported organization of thirty-one private colleges and universities: Amherst, Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Carleton, Mount Holyoke, Oberlin, Pomona, Smith, Swarthmore, Trinity (CT), Wellesley, Wesleyan (University), and Williams Colleges and Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, MIT, Northwestern, Princeton, Rice, Stanford, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Rochester, Washington (MO), and Yale Universities.

COMPS – Comprehensive exercise for seniors, also known as the “Integrative Exercise."

CSA – Carleton Student Association

CSL – Committee on Student Life. Committee of students that advises the Dean of Students; can recommend social policy issues to the College Council. Chaired by the Dean of Students with a student co-chair.

EAC – Environmental Advisory Committee

ECC – Education and Curriculum Committee. Major policy development committee that reports to the faculty, co-chaired by the Dean. Membership includes Associate Dean Arjendu Pattanayak, a faculty co-chair, four other faculty, and five students.

ENTS – Environmental Studies

EthIC – Ethical Inquiry at Carleton. EthIC is a new college initiative that grew out of the Program in Ethical Reflection at Carleton (PERC). In response to efforts by the President and Dean's Offices, EthIC is designed to encourage and facilitate the ethical inquiry which is integral to a liberal arts environment.

EXCO – Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees. Meets during months the full Board does not meet. The Dean and other members of Administrative Council attend.

FAC – Faculty Affairs Committee. Faculty "ombuds" committee that promotes faculty interests, mediates faculty issues with each other or administrators, etc. Oversees changes to the part of the Faculty Handbook that requires faculty approval.

FCC – Faculty Compensation Committee. Faculty committee reporting to the FAC. Dean of the College and Vice President and Treasurer sit on it ex-officio.

FCPC – Faculty Curricular Planning Committee. Chaired by the Dean, with faculty elected to ECC plus Associate Dean Arjendu Pattanayak as members, the FCPC advises the Dean on curricular planning and allocation of faculty positions.

FDA - Faculty Development Account for receiving professional development funds.

FDE – Faculty Development Endowment. Fund that supports faculty fellowships on a competitive basis. “Large" grants provide up to one term’s salary and "small" grants of up to $2,500 support smaller projects.

FERPA – Family Educational Rights and Privacy Acts

FGC – Faculty Grants Committee. Committee that awards Targeted Opportunities, FDE, and CDF grants. Made up of four elected faculty members, one from each division, and the Dean.

FOCUS – Focusing on Cultivating Scientists. FOCUS is designed for students interested in science and promoting diversity in the sciences. FOCUS supports students through their entry into the study of science/math at Carleton and as they continue in the curriculum by creating a cohort which enrolls in classes together (in so far as this makes sense), meets regularly in a colloquium throughout the first year, and has an opportunity for work study in the sciences.

FORUM - Organization of exempt staff at Carleton

FPC – Faculty Personnel Committee. Committee that makes tenure recommendations to the President and Dean and oversees third-year reviews. Composed of five elected tenured faculty, the Dean, and President.

GLCA – Great Lakes Colleges Association. A consortium of twelve, private liberal arts colleges located in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. The member institutions are: Albion College, Antioch College, DePauw University, Denison University, Earlham College, Hope College, Kalamazoo College, Kenyon College, Oberlin College, Ohio Wesleyan University, Wabash College, and College of Wooster.

HEDS – Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium.  A group of 140+ private liberal arts colleges who share data on specific topics.  HEDS also coordinates or produces comparative information for a number of national or HEDS-designed surveys.

HERI – Higher Education Research Institute.  Host to the CIRP suite of surveys (Freshman Survey, Your First College Year, and the College Senior Survey).  HERI also runs the HERI Faculty Survey every three years.

HHMI – Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Major granting agency which significantly supports student research, equipment, and outreach programs in biochemistry, biophysics, and neuroscience fields at Carleton.

HUB - Carleton's online portal for viewing information such as budgets, personnel information, course information, student bills, etc.

IACUC – Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. The committee is responsible for overseeing all activities involving animals at Carleton. As mandated by federal law, the committee must review and approve all research and teaching activities involving animals, to ascertain that these activities meet ethical standards for humane animal care and use, in accord with the standards set out by the NIH and USDA.

IFSA – Interfaith Social Action. Student group that meets to reflect on the social justice commitments within each faith and to take action.

IRB – Institutional Review Board. The IRB is responsible for overseeing all research done at Carleton by faculty, students or staff that involves human subjects. The goals of the IRB are to ensure that researchers understand and uphold the following two standards dictated by federal law: 1) Human subjects should not be placed at undue risk; 2) Subjects should give uncoerced, informed consent to their participation in the research.

ITS – Information and Technology Services. Provides technological assistance and support to the Carleton community.

IPEDS – Integrated Post-Secondary Education Data System.  A collection of mandatory annual surveys collected by the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Education.

JFAC – Junior Faculty Affairs Committee. A committee reporting to the FAC to support untenured Carleton faculty.

KRLX - Campus radio station

LDC - Language and Dining Center

LTC – Learning and Teaching Center (The Perlman Center for Learning and Teaching). Led by a faculty coordinator, the Center supports learning and teaching at Carleton, runs a student observer program, organizes the mentoring program, sponsors numerous workshops and seminars and maintains a teaching and learning library.

MCAN - Multicultural Alumni Network

MIAC - Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics Conference - Carleton's primary athletic league.

MPCC -  Minnesota Private Colleges Council - An organization of 17 private, four-year liberal arts colleges whose mission is to preserve and enhance quality private higher education to serve the education and economics needs of Minnesota.

NCA – North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Our regional accrediting organization.

NNB - Noon News Bulletin.  Published by students Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the term. Publicizes events, provides a forum for personal ads, serves as a means for campus offices to relay information regarding their programs. 

NSF – National Science Foundation

NSSE – National Survey of Student Engagement

OCS – Off-Campus Studies. Usually refers to the faculty committee which oversees the off-campus studies program, setting calendar and making policy. Sometimes refers to the office administering the programs or the programs themselves.

OIIL – Office of Intercultural and International Life

PAC – Parents Advisory Council

PDA – Professional Development Account. An account available to tenured and tenure-track faculty against which they can draw for professional expenses.

PEPS – Presentation Events and Production Support

POSSE – A team of underrepresented students selected to attend Carleton College by The Posse Foundation. A Posse is a simple concept that works for both students and college campuses, a concept rooted in the belief that a small, diverse group of talented students, a Posse, carefully selected and trained, can serve as a catalyst for increased individual and community development.

QuIRK – Quantitative Inquiry, Reasoning and Knowledge

SAC – Staff At Carleton. Organization of Carleton non-exempt staff.

SCIC – Student Computing Information Center

SCRNC - Pronounced "scrunch." Term used for taking a term credit/no credit as opposed to the norm of taking the course for a grade.

SDA - Student Departmental Adviser

SERC – Science Education Resource Center. SERC works to improve education through projects that support educators. Although the work has a particular emphasis on undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education, SERC works with educators across a broad range of disciplines and at all educational levels.

SFDP – Senior Faculty Development Program. Year of reflection, self-designed, special activities, and planning in which tenured faculty participate roughly every ten years.

SoTL – Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

SWA - Student Wellness Adviser

SWP – Summer Writing Program

The Tuesday Group (formerly ADCO - Administrative Council). The President’s staff of senior administrators plus the faculty president.

TOM – The Occasional Meeting. Meeting of deans, directors, and department heads organized by the President.

TP&PC – Technology Priorities and Planning Committee. Committee charged with understanding, keeping abreast and discussing important initiatives undertaken by ITS and helping to articulate and establish strategic priorities for future initiatives.

TRIO/SSS – TRIO/Student Support Services (TRIO/SSS) program is federally funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

WAC – Writing Across the Curriculum