Undergraduate Curriculum Forum (UCF)

Minutes 12/12/02 (amended)

Present:

E. Emenyonu, C. Wieder, S. DiFrancesco, R. Glinka, H. Podnar, J. Tait, C. Coron, J. Mills, B. Achhpal, N. Marano, N. Henderson, D. Soneson, C. Lukinbeal, T. Paddock, M. Thompson, N. Disbrow, W. Shyam, J. Fields, R. Mugno, K. Burke, W. O'Brien, R. Page, T. Gemme, S. Bochain, L. Rebeschi, R. Volkman, K. Buterbaugh, C. Durwin, V. Breslin, J. Bloch, B. Elwood, C. Barrett, M. Heidmann, K. Mauro

I. Call to Order Jim Tait called the meeting to order at 9:45 a.m.

II. Announcements

Jim Tait reported on the last senate meeting, where AAUP President Walsh and SCSU President Adanti discussed budget cuts. UCF members are encouraged to attend a faculty dialogue with President Adanti this coming Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. in the classroom formerly known as EN 135. Governor Rowland has asked for faculty cuts at all levels. He is not asking for money back, just faculty cuts. SCSU is targeted for 21 faculty cuts. This goal makes no sense, and he may back off, and some of this may be political posturing. Jim encourages everyone to become informed on these issues.

Next semester, UCF should consider writing an open letter to newspapers, to counter a public image of all state employees as overpaid and complacent. We may want to take the opportunity to set the facts out and correct misinterpretations. We are underfunded, in inadequate facilities, understaffed for even basic courses, serving a large body of mainly working students who cannot afford tuition increases. As enrollments continue to grow, and faculty size shrinks, there is a fundamental problem here. Members should focus on influencing legislators, since Governor Rowland's political ambitions will make him uncooperative -- he wants to appear fiscally tough.

III. Approval of Meeting Minutes

The UCF meeting minutes of November 21, 2002 were approved, with one revision. Within Standing Committee Reports, Steering Committee, under "A brief discussion followed", point e. should read, "W. Elwood indicated that, at Chair meetings, the concept of the rewards was of foremost concern."

IV. Standing Committee Reports

Steering Committee

Jim Tait attended arts and sciences chairs meeting to discuss the writing program. The chairs, without exception, objected to giving faculty additional credits for L courses, due to the problems of credit overloads and scheduling difficulties that would result. The chairs want to emphasize class size reductions over other alternatives. They recommended focusing on necessary conditions to do a superior job teaching writing, instead of framing the discussion as rewards for faculty.

Assigning writing-intensive designations to faculty instead of courses received mixed reviews. On the issue of grandfathering versus recertification using a departmental template, the chairs requested more information on department templates. While the specifics on templates have not been developed, general principles of joint development, and examples from other universities, can be discussed. The chair of the writing subcommittee, Dan Soneson, agreed to lead that discussion. He will give some examples of how the template would work, and problems it would solve. He will discuss the concept of joint development, which is not imposed important.

Notifications Management (NMC) minutes were accepted as amended below:

It is the recommendation of the committee to allow email confirmations of departmental notification, rather than formal letters. In either case, departments always have the right to come to the committee meeting, or to the UCF, to appeal any decision.

Under MDS 350, the sentence on Karen and Wes engaging in implied formal negotiations will be deleted.

New Programs and Innovations (NPIC) minutes were accepted as amended below:

The committee recommends tracking minors as a topic for future discussion by the UCF.

Troy Paddock entered into the record 5 special topics courses for Fall 2003:

HIS 298 Canada since Confederation

HIS 398 (01) American Environmental History

HIS 398 (02) The Balkans

HIS 398 (03) Ancient Greece

HIS 398 (04) Military History through Film

Program Review and Assessment (PRAC) minutes were accepted.

Currently the committee's role of monitoring evaluations is rocky - they do not get needed info from the administration. Since the assessment process is being reformed, PRAC asked for information and participation in its revision. Information is promised but not forthcoming, and meetings are routinely postponed by administrators.

While departments do assessments, the administration never commits to take action. Should the UCF ask the Senate to force them to sign formal commitments? Are these delays the result of disorganization or is it deliberate withholding from the UCF? Bill Elwood noted this process involves an enormous amount of work, and if it does not result in anything, it is an insult to the faculty. Jim Tait deferred discussion of these issues to the first UCF meeting of 2003.

University-Wide Impact (UWIC) minutes were accepted.

V. Discussion

Discussion of the WACC continued with a motion by Bill Elwood to approve the committee on a provisional basis, and allow the steering committee should move forward with it. Some members objected, stating that this was not necessary, since the committee was already approved by the UCF last fall. Consequently, the steering committee was asked to issue a call for volunteers to serve on the new WACC.

VI. Items for Further Discussion

WACC issues:

What policy should govern the participation of non-voting volunteer observers attending WACC?

How should the departmental template process be monitored and evaluated?

How should re-certification process reforms be monitored and evaluated?

Should certification processes focus on courses or instructors?

Should the UCF insist on a monitoring and evaluation function to assess writing course effectiveness?

What is the process for submitting ongoing feedback about the writing program?Undergraduate Curriculum Forum

 

Minutes recorded by

Rob Page, UCF Secretary