Acronym List
Dean of the College Office
Alphabet Soup Glossary

Glossary of Acronyms, Abbreviations, Terms

ACCCR - Advisory Council on Campus and Community Relations.

ACM – Associated Colleges of the Midwest. A consortium of 14 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, Macalester, Monmouth, Ripon, and St. Olaf.

ACT – Acting in the Community Together.

ADCO - Administrative Council. The President’s council of senior administrators plus the faculty president.

APC – Arts Planning Committee. An ad hoc committee of faculty, staff, and students that was formed by President Robert Oden in December 2004. The Committee’s charge was "to shape a vision and outline a plan to relocate the arts more centrally in the educational program at Carleton and to position the College to be a national leader in the arts for decades to come" (from President Oden’s Charge to the Arts Planning Committee).

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

CAASHA – Campus advocates against sexual harassment and assault.

CAI – Center for Academic Integrity.

CALL – Collaborative Assessment of Liberal Learning. Four-college project on student learning funded by the Teagle Foundation.

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.

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.

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.

CIRP – Cooperative Institutional Research Program, a national survey instrument.

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

CLA-Collegiate Learning Assessment. An assessment “tool” Carleton is administering as part of a grant.

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.

COACHE – Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education

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.

College Council. All-campus governing body, composed of administrative officers, staff, faculty, students, an alumnus/a, and a Trustee, chaired by the President. Makes budget and policy recommendations to the Board of Trustees.

Comps - Comprehensive exercise for seniors, also known as the “Integrative Exercise”.

CSA – Carleton Student Association

CSEQ – College Student Experiences Questionnaire. The predecessor to the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE).

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.

C-TAK – Carleton Technology Assistance and Knowledge.

DARC – Digital Asset Resource Center.

DIG-Diversity Initiative Group. DIG exists to discuss, assess and strengthen the College’s campus climate, work culture and institutional commitment to diversity. DIG also makes recommendations and proposals for changes in diversity policies and programs to College Council, of which it is a subcommittee. DIG is chaired by the President, and its members who are appointed by the President, are drawn from the faculty, staff and students. DIG meets monthly and its deliberations are reported at each College Council meeting.

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 Liz Ciner, a faculty co-chair, four other faculty, and five students.

ENTS – Environmental and Technology Studies.

ESL – English as a Second Language.

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.

Faculty Council -The chairs and heads of faculty governance: President of the Faculty, Chair of the Faculty Affairs Committee, Faculty Members of the College Council and the faculty co-chair of the Education and Curriculum Committee.

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 Liz Ciner as members, the FCPC advises the Dean on curricular planning and allocation of faculty positions.

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.

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.

FRISCE – Freshman Interdepartmental Science Cohort Experience.

FYILLAA – First Year Information Literacy in the Liberal Arts Assessment. A collaborative project that looks at student self-assessment as well as ability to apply skills in the area of information literacy.

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.

Headley House - Headley House offers faculty and staff a place for collegial discussion, dinners and gatherings, and group meetings. It may be used for departmental and program receptions or retreats, special celebratory events, as well as short residences from distinguished speakers invited to stay for several days or weeks to engage with the community in formal and informal settings.

HEDS – Higher Education Data Sharing.

HERI – Higher Education Research Institute

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.

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.

ILP- Integrative Learning Project. A grant from the AAC&U and the Carnegie Foundation to examine students’ skills across the curriculum.

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 – collected by the National Center for Education Statistics

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

LGBT - Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender.

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.

MSC – Math Skills Center.

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

NCIF – Northfield Community Investment Fund.

NDDC – Northfield Downtown Development Corporation.

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.

OIL – Office of Intercultural 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.

RAD – Recognition and Affirmation of Difference. RAD was adopted in 1988 as a graduation requirement. Students must take one course certified as centrally addressing diversity issues in a country, tradition, or art from outside Europe or the United States, or with issues or theories of gender, class, race or ethnicity found anywhere in the world.

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

SAGE – Study Abroad for Global Engagement. Is an undergraduate survey designed by the University of Minnesota to discover how study abroad influences civic commitments.

SCIC – Student Computing Information Center.

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.

SMP – Summer Math Program.

SoTL – Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

STEM -- Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

STI – Summer Teaching Institute.

SWP – Summer Writing Program.

TMM - The Monthly 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.