Undergraduate Curriculum Forum (UCF)

Minutes 10/16/03 (amended)

Present

E. Emenyonu, C. Wieder, G. DeJarnette, S. DiFrancesco, R. Glinka,H. Podnar, J. Tait, C. Coron, B. Eldridge, N. Marano, M. Shea, E. Schmitt, M. Thompson, N. Chrissidis, C. Kim, W. Shyam, L. Bier, J. Fields, R. Mugno, W. O'Brien, S. Bochain, K. Gatzke, J. Critzer, C. Novosad, M. Vancour, S. Jackson, J. Tolis, J. Sullivan, C. Ogbaa, C. Barrett, J. Mielczarski, N. DeCrosta, K. Mauro

I. Call To Order

The meeting was called to order by Jim Tait at 9.43 a.m.

II. Announcements

No announcements.

III. Approval of Meeting Minutes

The UCF minutes of 10/2/2003 were approved subject to some minor corrections.

IV. Standing Committee Reports

Steering Committee

Presented a motion to change the way the UCF currently receives the minutes of UCF committees. A member suggested that the word "approval" in section (b) of the motion be put in italics. R. Eldridge suggested that section (c) be added to the motion as follows: "recommendation of such motions are considered moved and seconded". The motion was put to vote and accepted without any opposing vote or abstentions.

Notifications Management (NMC)

The NMC minutes of 10/09/03 were received as amended.

The NMC made a motion to approve the change in numbering of Advanced French from FRE 498 to FRE 496. The motion was approved without objections and abstentions.

New Programs and Innovations (NPIC)

The minutes of NPIC meeting of 10/9/03 were received. Jim Tait talked about the need to look into the nature of Special Topics. Bob Eldridge sought to know whether we are not setting up two different ways of having courses put on the schedule, with the special courses going through a short cut via the UCF Chair as opposed to going through the normal channels of course approvals. Eldridge suggested that having those two approaches might be problematic. A member suggested that having the two approaches builds some flexibility to enable departments to respond in a more timely manner to evolving issues.

A member suggested that we limit our activities to just receiving the minutes of the subcommittees and defer discussion till later.

Program Review and Assessment (PRAC)

The minutes of PRAC meeting of 10/9/03 were received.

University-Wide Impact (UWIC)

UWIC did not submit any minutes.

V. Discussion

That we need to approve the minutes from the previous UCF meeting. For the subcommittee minutes, we will simply receive them and there will be no need for any oral presentation of the committee meetings. The committees can identify any issues that demand discussions for future deliberations. A member suggested that subcommittee minutes be broken down into a section for motions and another section for discussions. Bob Eldridge sought clarification as to whether, when a subcommittee has a motion, that means that the motion gets put off till the next meeting. A member suggested adding as an agenda item 4: "Reception of Committee minutes and approval of motions."

It was decided that we will not use items in the minutes of the standing committees as point of departure for discussion during the presentations.

Jim Tait disclosed that the Board Of Trustees (BOT) has passed a resolution requiring students at Southern to do whatever remedial work they need to do with their first 24 credits hours before they can proceed with their other courses. He pointed out that there are two issues which we need to be concerned about. First is the fact that they have set a deadline of January 2004 for this to kick in. This requires allocation of resources to accomplish this resolution - it might require new faculty hires and reallocation of existing faculty to teach courses they might not have been teaching previously. We need to decide how to handle the issue of remediation. We could consider raising the bar for admission.

A member sought to know whether there was any thing in the BOT resolution that addresses the issue of resources. The same member asked whether it might not be a good idea to get some of the chairs to come and talk to the UCF about the impact of this resolution. Another member suggested that we invite John Doyle, the BOT member responsible for Academic Sub Committee, to a UCF meeting. The same member reminded the UCF that a similar motion was passed previously by the UCF, but it could not be implemented due to resource constraints. A member sought to know whether the UCF has any power to change or alter admission standards. Jim Tait answered that we can recommend on anything that impinges on curriculum, but whatever we recommend is in an advisory capacity to the President. Bob Eldridge objected that he is concerned that this might be the beginning of the BOT dictating to the UCF how to run the curriculum of the University.

Another member suggested that we need to do something about this issue. Jim Tait responded that we need new resources to do this. E. Emenyonu commented that we need to find out what is in the BOT resolution and also what our role ought to be to inform our discussions. A member suggested that the UCF needs to take back the initiative instead of allowing the BOT to be in charge of this issue. Another member suggests that we need the facts.

A motion was moved and passed to invite the Chairman of the Academic Subcommittee of the BOT, John Doyle, to address the UCF on this issue.

VI. Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 10.47 a.m.

Minutes recorded by:

Emmanuel N. Emenyonu.