Undergraduate Curriculum Forum (UCF)

Minutes 9/18/03 (revised)

Present

E. Emenyonu, C. Wieder, G. Kowalczyk, G. DeJarnette, S. DiFrancesco, R. Glinka,H. Podnar, J. Tait, C. Coron, B. Eldridge, N. Henderson, N. Marano, E. Schmitt,L. Berman, C. Kim, W. Shyam, L. Bier, J. Fields, R. Mugno, K. Burke, W. O'Brien,S. Bochain, K. Gatzke, J. Dolan, J. Critzer, C. Novosad, S. Jackson, J. Tolis, J. Sullivan, C. Dellinger-Pate, C. Ogbaa, C. Barrett, J. Mielczarski, M. Heidmann, K. Mauro

I. Call To Order

The meeting was called to order by Jim Tait at 9:45 a.m.

II. Announcements

Jim Tait explained the necessity for meeting members to arrive on time so that meetings can start at 9:35 a.m. He also reviewed the plan for today's meeting, which included a review of the goals and business for the academic year, a discussion period, and an early end to the meeting so that the steering committee can meet.

A member indicated that she is concerned about students being bumped out of classes at the last minute. She wondered what procedure should be used to address such an issue. Jim Tait recommended that the issue be brought to the Academic Senate.

Mark Heidmann had two announcements. The first was that the invitations to serve on the Writing Across the Curriculum Committee have been mailed to chosen faculty. Responses are beginning to come back, and letters of appointment are scheduled to go out next week.

Mark's second announcement was that last year's L Course Writing Contest winners booklets are here. He encouraged members to take copies back to their departments and to hand out booklets in their L courses. He also mentioned that the first place winner was from Earth Sciences, which shows that critical writing can be done in many different formats and disciplines. Glenda DeJarnette commented that the contest showcases SCSU's effort to cultivate writing and suggested that the winners' writing should be made available on a Web site.

III. Approval of Meeting Minutes

The UCF meeting minutes of 9/4/03 were approved. A member requested that it be made clear that alternate representatives can vote in subcommittee meetings. It was mentioned that they can also vote in the general meeting in the absence of the primary representative.

IV. Standing Committee Reports

Steering Committee

The steering committee has now been formed. The members are Jim Tait, Joe Fields, Wes O'Brien, Cynthia Coron, and Shelley Bochain.

Notifications Management (NMC)

Joe Fields indicated that the NMC did not meet last week because there were no proposals on the table to consider.

New Programs and Innovations (NPIC)

Wes O'Brien indicated that the NPIC discussed two different Finance Department issues. Minutes will be forthcoming.

Program Review and Assessment (PRAC)

Cynthia Coron indicated that there has been much membership turnover in PRAC. At the last meeting, new members were provided with an overview of assessment at SCSU. Plans for this semester were also discussed. The PRAC minutes of 9/11/03 were accepted.

University-Wide Impact (UWIC)

Shelley Bochain reviewed the proceedings of the last UWIC meeting, which included discussion concerning the Dean's List criteria. The UWIC minutes of 9/11/03 were accepted.

V. Discussion

Change in meeting format to include a discussion period

Jim Tait posed a question to members about a change in the meeting format. He wanted to know what the members thought about instituting a period of time in the meeting to discuss curricular issues in a forum format as a regular part of the meeting. This would give the UCF an opportunity to consider various issues that do not come in the form of proposals, such as remediation, admission standards, online courses, etc.

Most members felt that discussing these other issues was a necessary function of the UCF, however there were different ideas about how to conduct these discussions:

1) A member suggested that professional development funds be requested for a retreat during which members can gather, eat, and devote a larger chunk of time to discussion than the regular UCF meetings allow. Another member indicated that the Senate has an end of spring retreat during which they discuss a list of issues and set an agenda for the following academic year. It was suggested that, if these professional development funds are requested, the UCF be very clear about which issues will be covered at the event.

2) Another member suggested that discussion items be included on the agenda after business during regular UCF meeting time. This would give the UCF an opportunity to address issues one at a time, rather than a long list at one time in the spring. It was mentioned that this format was done before and rarely worked because the discussion was never finished by the end of the meetings. However, a sense of the body indicated that there were no objections to this format.

Goals and Business for the 2003-2004 Academic Year

Jim Tait led the UCF in the prioritization of this list. Members' additions to the list included the following:

· CPR forms

Some departments wish to have paper forms in addition to computer ones.

· Online registration problems

Karen Burke expressed her concern about the lack of online gatekeepers for prerequisites, restrictions, and special conditions for classes. Members agreed that faculty have the right to ask students to leave their class if they have not met the special registration requirements for the class. It was indicated that Rick Riccardi would be the person to check with to make sure that the Banner registration loopholes are fixed.

· Fostering undergraduate research

Central Michigan University has a day set aside each year to showcase undergraduate research. It was suggested that the UCF encourage the SCSU administration to do the same.

· Assessment

Do we need a new format for program review and assessment at SCSU?

Members decided that the following items should be grouped together as a bundle entitled "Student Preparedness and Support" and labeled "high priority":

· Mathematics remediation

· Remediation committee

· Freshman requirements/report from Betty Horn

· Student Support: advisement, Writing Center, mentoring program, etc.

Other high priority items included the following:

· UCF Constitution, Bylaws/Flow of Proposals (shepherd through Senate)

· General Education Task Force and community forums

· Academic Strategic Plan review

Lower priority items included the following:

· Initiate Writing Program

· Online course guidelines

Committees were charged with the following tasks:

· Computer components to AUR's: UWIC

· Interdisciplinary studies and minors: NPIC

· Online forms: NMC/Joe Fields

Spring Schedule

Mark Heidmann suggested that members make a plea to their department chairs to check the proposed spring schedule of classes to make sure that the department has the appropriate listings for L courses.

VI. Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 10:50 a.m.

Minutes recorded by:

Christine Stanton

University Assistant for UCF