Undergraduate Curriculum Forum (UCF)

Minutes 2/13/03 (revised)

Present:

J. Manzella, K. Skoczen, C. Wieder, J. Pang, G. DeJarnette, S. DiFrancesco, R. Glinka, H. Podnar, J. Tait, C. Coron, J. Halstead, B. Achhpal, N. Marano, N. Henderson, D. Soneson, C. Lukinbeal, T. Paddock, M. Thompson, N. Disbrow, W. Shyam, J. Fields, R. Mugno, R. Page, S. Lueder, T. Gemme, S. Bochain, K. Gatzke, K. Buterbaugh, C. Durwin, V. Breslin, S. Jackson, E. Johnston, C. Ogbaa, C. Barrett, L. Cruz, M. Heidmann, K. Mauro, K. Swenson

I. Call to Order

Jim Tait called the meeting to order at 9:50 a.m.

II. Announcements

Jim noted that everything we approve will be included in the next catalogue, so we need to keep the time requirements inherent in catalogue changes and printing in mind.

This meeting's agenda was amended to include a presentation by Anthropology on a Global Women's Studies course proposal under discussion.

III. Approval of Meeting Minutes

The UCF minutes from 12/12/02 were approved.

The UCF minutes from 1/30/03 were approved, as amended. Troy Paddock noted that his comment on a Notifications management review of an Anthropology course on Global Women's Studies should include the phrase "procedurally incorrect."

IV. Standing Committee Reports

Steering Committee

Volunteers are needed for WACC committee. UCF volunteers were in short supply. Jim notes there are insufficient numbers of volunteers from schools outside Arts and Sciences to meet the new basic structural requirements of the WACC. Since meeting prerequisites might be a problem, Jim proposed that a committee member could be accepted if he or she committed to meeting those standards within a year. This suggestion was accepted without debate. Mark Heidmann suggested increasing the search, since volunteers for this committee were not a problem in the past.

Dan Sonenson and Jim met with Arts and Sciences chairs, and informed them about Writing Program issues. Major concerns were potential for assigning extra credits, certification standards and recertification issues. Jim agreed to send out announcements of developments in the WACC to all chairs. Shirley Jackson noted that since departments are facing limitations in hiring adjuncts and offering courses, student interest in L courses may increase, and enrollment caps could become a problem. Mark Heidmann noted that in the past, the average enrollment has consistently been below proposed cap, so this may not be a big problem. The WACC will to work with needs of individual departments upon request.

On the constitution, Jim spoke with Art Paulson, and agreed to send a small group to meet with Rules Committee and arrive at a workable compromise.

Notifications Management (NMC) minutes of 2/6/03 were accepted.

Two issues are under discussion: First, when it is appropriate to assign different credit loads for classes, such as classes which involve laboratory time? Second, should CPR forms be required as part of the proposal, since they are being phased out?

Shirley Jackson asked the committee why she (as chair) was not notified, when the Arts and Sciences School Curriculum Committee (SCC) was being discussed. If she could attend, she could clear up issues, add information, and present the other side of the story. Jim noted that a member of the SCC is also a member of the UCF, and was present during the discussion. Everyone agreed to work together to improve communication.

New Programs and Innovations (NPIC) did not submit minutes.

Interdisciplinary minors were discussed. Whereas area minors require 3 participating departments, interdisciplinary courses require only 2 departments, which eases coordination problems. The issue of requiring students to get advisement from a coordinator puts a huge burden on the coordinators, so it may need revision. The UCF should discuss how to coordinate a minor in a future meeting.

Banner is not tracking minors, which makes it difficult for coordinators of minor to understand what progress is being made. When students are notified by Liberal Studies to take minors, coordinators need to notified. Apparently the registrar is refusing to track minors until the UCF comes up with a formally approved form. Chris Barrett, Liberal Studies Coordinator, notes that Liberal Studies does track some minors, and offered to participate when the UCF wants to discuss the topic in greater detail.

Program Review and Assessment (PRAC) minutes of 1/31/03 and 2/6/03 were accepted.

This committee held an extended interview with Ellen O'Sullivan. Cynthia Coron summarized that the administration was not willing to change certain things, like a 5 year program assessment and evaluation cycle. They would not consider lengthening that cycle, despite the fact that often the previous assessment findings had not been implemented, or sometimes, even completed, before the next assessment cycle was supposed to begin. The assessment process has become internal self-assessment, since funds are no longer available for external reviewers. The administration will no longer give reassigned time to faculty members to work on assessment, either.

The committee concluded that some resource commitment by the administration is necessary to make this process functional, and that the committee has a responsibility to monitor that process. Unless that happens, since there are no penalties for noncompliance, departments are likely to continue tactics such as:

• Refusing to participate in the process
• Taking additional years, as they deem necessary, to complete or implement assessment findings
• Refusing to begin the next cycle of assessment until the current one reaches closure, however long that takes.

University-Wide Impact (UWIC) minutes of 2/6/03 were accepted.

V. Discussion

Discussion focused on course proposal from the Anthropology department on Women's Studies 430L -- Global Women's Issues. This course is cross listed with women's studies, and a version of it has already been approved on the graduate level (as WMT, ANT 530). This proposal is for the undergraduate equivalent.

To date, the course was submitted to the SCC on October 30, and was revised and resubmitted. On November 20 the proposal was returned by the SCC for another set of revisions. The SCC Chair, Shirley Jackson, said that the second set of revisions concerned substantive content issues. The Women's Studies Director Kathleen Skoczen found these additional set of revisions to be trivial and inconsistent with the first set, and refused to comply with them. Instead, on December 12 she presented the proposal to the UCF Steering Committee on appeal, which passed the proposal to NMC. On December 19, the NMC rejected the proposal on procedural grounds, because it had not secured the formal approval of the SCC. In the February UCF meeting, discussion of the proposal was tabled, due to confusion about the proper procedure. In this meeting, Joe Manzela proposed setting procedural issues aside, and made a motion to approve the course as it stands, regardless of what procedural channels it should have followed. The text follows:

Whereas the graduate council has already reviewed and approved ANT430L/WMS430L (submitted as WMS530) as a graduate course, Whereas the Arts & Sciences SCC has reviewed ANT430L/WMS430L and changes recommended by the SCC have been made, Whereas the Arts and Sciences SCC has subsequently asked for additional changes, Whereas Notifications Management Committee of UCF has read the proposal and finds no fault with the content of the course, and finds that ANT430L/WMS430L appears to meet both the SCC's requests for revisions, Whereas, NMC's objection to approval of the course is purely procedural, And whereas the Undergraduate General Catalog is currently being assembled, I propose that normal curricular approval procedures be waived and that ANT430L/WMS430L be approved by a vote of the UCF as a course and forwarded to the writing board to be reviewed as an L-course.

Shirley Jackson noted that the SCC was committed to approving courses once they were ready to be put in the catalogue, and that the second round of revisions were not insignificant ones. A member of the NMC noted that it was the impression of the NMC committee that the requested revisions were relatively minor, and should have been handled with greater collegiality. Joe agreed that this was an excellent course, the SCC criticisms were minor, and it should be approved to get it into the catalogue quickly, particularly since Anthropology is a relatively new major.

Betty Johnston warned that any motion to waive due process is a dangerous one, and the motion should be rejected on that basis alone.

When the question was called, 23 wanted to vote, 1 did not, and 3 abstained

The motion to approve the course was carried. 15 yes, 9 no, 3 abstained

In terms of proper procedure, there is an ongoing debate.

According to the formal flow of proposals, the UCF can conduct an appeals process only when a course proposal is formally rejected by the SCC, or when the SCC takes more than 4 months to act on a course proposal.

According to a informal, past practice version of the flow of proposals, whenever a SCC makes a decision a faculty member feels is unreasonable, they have the right to appeal that decision to the UCF, regardless of the timeline.

VI. Writing Across the Curriculum Committee

Do to consistent complaints that no one is sure where we are, or where we need to go, some members of the Adhoc Writing Board Review Committee are preparing a comprehensive summary sheet to clarify the issues and guide discussion. Unfortunately, this summary will not be ready by the next meeting, so discussion of the WACC will be delayed until March.

VII. Items for Further Discussion

1. UCF Flow of Proposals needs to be reviewed and updated (including procedures for appealing curricular committee decisions).
2. When should courses receive different credit loads (for labs, writing intensiveness, etc.)?
3. What policies are needed to manage issues around minors?
4. What is the relationship between PRAC and administration mandated assessment efforts?