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University Curriculum Forum (UCF)

Minutes 9/18/97

Present: B. Horn, C. Serchuk, J.Feng, J. Ulian, P. Cascella, R. Workman, J. Tait, D. Savage, J. Mills, M. Hamilton-Lee, A. Seidl, M. Shea, D. Holt, L. Yacher, P. Beals, F. Harris, K. Swenson, M. Bunco, J. Kidney, M. Spence, M. Kuss, B. Madara, E. Budris, B. Wein, F. Hetata, P. Gallup, J. Rakfeldt, D. Emmelman, J. Granfield, S. Jensen, J. Sullivan, L. Kohrn, C. DiSano, R. Mullen, D. Mitchell, C. Davis, J. Kavanagh, F. Miller, R. Cretella, B. Gelbach, D. Fredeen

I.    Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by DonnaJean Fredeen at 9:40 am.

II.    Approval of Meeting Minutes: The minutes of the previous UCF meeting (9/4/97) were approved, with two abstentions. The following paperwork was distributed: a copy of the meeting minutes (9/4/97), a report from the New Programs and Innovations Committee, a report from the Notifications Management Committee, a report from the University-Wide Impact Committee, a report from the Ad Hoc Rules Committee.

III.    Introduction of Secretary: Paul Cascella was introduced as the UCF Secretary.

IV.    Committee Reports:

  • Notifications Management: (See report). Peggy Gallup (chair) reviewed information from the report of the first meeting of the Notifications Management committee. This report included the committee's intent to: establish rules of operation, define its role, outline the process for applications regarding new courses or courses previously presented (i.e., Spring, 1997), and develop a mechanism for notifying chairpersons and administration of new or revised processes. Ellen Budris was introduced as Co-Chair of this committee. Topics for consideration by the entire UCF committee were introduced. 

Discussion: Currently, two schools (Professional Studies, Arts & Sciences) do not have school curriculum committees.

  • University-Wide Impact: (See report). Polly Beals (chair) reviewed information from the report of the first meeting of the University-Wide Impact committee. Topics included the UWIC's responsibilities and procedures regarding L and HD courses. Topics for consideration by the entire UCF committee were introduced.

Discussion: A discussion was held regarding new, L and HD courses. New courses will be reviewed by the Notifications Management committee. Courses seeking an L or HD designation will be reviewed by the University-Wide Impact Committee. When there is a new course which seeks an L or HD designation, it will be initially reviewed by the Notifications Management committee and then resubmitted for review by the University-Wide Impact committee.

Sections of courses receive an L or HD designation. For example, there may be 3 sections of COM 310 offered in a semester, one with an L designation, one with an HD designation and one without either.

  • New Program & Innovation: (See Report). Camille Serchuk (chair) reviewed information from the report of the first meeting of the New Program & Innovation committee. Topics included: mentoring new programs, communication with chairpersons, and the design of a prototypical proposal in the application process.

Discussion: A discussion was held regarding Special Topics courses. The number of times a Special Topics course is offered needs to be monitored.

  • Program Review & Assessment. Bob Gelbach (chair) reviewed the information from the first meeting of the Program Review & Assessment committee. Topics included: program review occurs on a five year schedule instead of a ten year schedule, Ellen O'Sullivan is participating on this committee as a representative of the University-Wide Assessment committee, and Betty Horn is a member of this committee.
  • Steering: DonnaJean Fredeen (chair) reviewed information from the first meeting of the Steering committee. Committees of the UCF will accept work from the academic departments as of 10/16/97.

V.    Ad Hoc Rules Committee: (See report). DonnaJean Fredeen introduced the report submitted by the Ad Hoc rules committee. The UCF discussed the following topics as identified on page one of the report and designated as 1, 2, 3, and 4.

  • A motion was made, seconded and unanimously approved as follows:

move that the election of the at-large faculty representatives will be conducted by the Faculty Senate. The ballot is to read: "the constitution of the newly formed University Curriculum Forum (UCF) includes among its voting members three at- large faculty representatives. These faculty members represent the interest of the University faculty, not the interest of a particular department or school. No school can have more than one at-large faculty member on the UCF".

  • A motion was made, seconded and unanimously approved as follows:

move: departments having Special Topics "shell" courses in place and wishing to offer Special Topics sections in the spring, 1998 semester are to notify Ingrid McGowan using the current forms for Special Topics notifications.

Discussion was held regarding the Special Topics "shell" courses. Topics included the review process, procedures, timelines and the expedition of Special Topics courses.

  • A motion was made, seconded and approved unanimously (with two abstentions) as follows:

move: for those departments wishing to offer a special topics coursefor the spring, 1998 semester, and who do not already have a shell course in place, approval to submit a proposal to the Notifications and Management committee via Ingrid McGowan by Monday 9/22/97 at 4:30 pm. The Notifications and Management committee will expedite their decision on the shell course proposal and the decision of the committee will be final. The proposal will follow procedures previously required for approval within each academic department.

  • A motion was made, seconded and approved unanimously (with one abstention) as follows:

move that the UCF will not accept any proposals for consideration, other that the Special Topics notification mentioned in #2, until October 16, 1997. This is to allow Schools enough time to establish a School Curriculum Committee and the Standing Committees to establish operating procedures.

  • A motion was made, seconded and passed with two opposing votes and one abstention as follows:

move that the Standing Committees will provisionally apply the standards, criteria and procedures used in the past in reviewing proposals.

  • A motion was made, seconded and passed with three abstentions as follows:

move that the Steering Committee will set a deadline for the Standing Committees to have in place any modifications to those initial procedures.

VI.    New Business:

  • A discussion was held regarding motions documented in the Notifications and Management committee's report. The first motion regarding use of previous processes (i.e., UCIC/UCC) for course review was identified as having already been reviewed by the UCF committee.
  • A motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously as follows:

move that the second and third motions identified by the Notifications and Management committee be referred to the Rules committee.

VII.    Announcements:

There were no announcements made.

VIII.    Adjournment:

  1. A motion to adjourn the meeting was made, seconded and passed unanimously.
  2. The meeting was adjourned at 10:50 am.

Minutes recorded by:

Paul W. Cascella
Department of Communication Disorders