Undergraduate Curriculum Forum (UCF)
Minutes 10/14/04 (revised)
Present
C. LaDousa, J. Feng, G. Kowalczyk, G. DeJarnette, R. Glinka, S. DiFrancesco, H. Podnar, K. Barrett, C. Coron, T. Fleming, A. Abugri, B. Achhpal, N. Marano, N. Henderson, E. Schmitt, L. Yacher, T. Rondinone, W. Shyam, L. Beir, J. Fields, R. Mugno, K. Burke, C. Dellinger-Pate, R. Kustin, S. Bochain, K. Gatzke, K. Cummings, K. Buterbaugh, C. Novosad, M. Vancour, R. Hunter, S. Jackson, J. Tolis, J. Tait, W. O'Brien, P. Whelan, C. Barrett, L. Kohrn, K. Laing, M. Heidmann, K. Mauro
I. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 9:45 a.m.
II. Announcements
The chair read a poem, entitled "Wisdom".
III. Approval of UCF Minutes of 9/30/04
The UCF minutes of 9/30/04 were approved.
VI. Reception of Standing Committee Minutes and Approval of Standing Committee Motions
Steering Committee
No report.
Notifications Management (NMC)
The NMC minutes of 10/7/04 were received.
NMC discussed possible additions to the criteria for reviewing and accepting proposals, criteria stated in the "Flow of Proposals" document. Generally, their concerns had to do with the sections on the proposal forms titled "Learning Objectives." They discussed changing this to "Learning Objectives and Learning Outcomes" with an additional line about departments determining whether "outcomes" were appropriate to include. They decided to bring this to the UCF for discussion before presenting a motion. The chair said he would put this on an agenda for a later meeting.
New Programs and Innovations (NPIC)
The NPIC minutes of 10/7/04 were received.
NPIC discussed holding workshops to encourage innovative curriculum. They also expressed concern that the changes they had worked on last year in relation to special topics courses had not been implemented. This led to a discussion about the need to revisit the recommendation to change Christine Stanton's position from a part-time one to a full-time one. The chair added that Christine's work is extremely appreciated and that the discussion does not indicate displeasure with her work, but simply a move to make her position full-time.
Program Review and Assessment (PRAC)
The PRAC minutes of 10/7/04 were received.
PRAC announced that Dr. Barbara Wright of Eastern, who has a national reputation for her views on assessment, will be invited to a UCF meeting. They also continued their discussion about PRAC's role in the assessment process.
Writing Across the Curriculum (WACC)
The WACC minutes of 10/7/04 were received.
Mark Heidmann clarified that Bob McEachern is not meeting with President Norton, as stated in the WACC minutes, but with Vice President Beatty.
V. The Question about Enfranchising Interdisciplinary Programs
The chair pointed out that the constitution states we may extend representation to other groups with approval of the Faculty Senate (Article VII., item D.). Karen Burke pointed out that a member who represents a program cannot represent his or her department also.
Shirley Jackson made a motion that Women's Studies, Urban Studies, and Liberal Studies be enfranchised, but a discussion ensued before the motion was seconded, and Shirley retracted the motion.
The discussion concerned whether or not we were ready to vote to enfranchise certain programs or whether we should vote on criteria for doing so. It was also suggested that we wait until programs petition us for membership before voting to enfranchise them. Karen Burke wondered why we would make programs petition us, rather than just vote to include them. The chair explained that it is possible some programs do not want representation and to create a member that doesn't attend is a bad idea. Kevin Butterbaugh said we should then just make a motion to enfranchise Women's studies, who has already petitioned us.
Mark Heidmann, anticipating the approval needed by the Senate, said we need a coherent rationale for enfranchising programs.
Jim Tait explained that this will require a constitutional change because represented departments and other groups are listed in the constitution. Mark suggested sending this issue to UWIC to discuss.
The chair referred this issue to UWIC.
Kevin Butterbaugh presented a motion: Motion -- "The UCF will enfranchise Women's Studies." Shirley Jackson seconded it.
27 in favor --5 Opposed --4 Abstentions
Motion failed.
Jim Tait suggested that the charge to UWIC be to develop a set of criteria for enfranchisement.
VI. The Issue of Courses that are In-Progress being Counted as Prerequisites
The chair withdrew the resolution about prerequisites.
VII. Constitution and By-laws Changes
The chair presented a suggested change to the Constitution and a suggested change to the by-laws in response to the Senate's concern that UCF is not clearly providing criteria for evaluating courses. According to the chair, the main issue is that we use the term "evaluate" many times in the Constitution, but we have not yet clearly documented the standards we use to evaluate.
A. Constitution
In order to satisfy this, the chair proposed that we add an item to the constitution under Article I., item C. "The UCF shall create, maintain, and communicate to the university community a document entitled 'Standards for Undergraduate Curriculum Proposals,' which will specify the evaluative criteria for new and revised course and program proposals."
A discussion ensued about whether or not the UCF already documents their evaluative criteria. It was pointed out that much of the criteria exists, but is buried in a variety of documents, including the course proposal forms, the by-laws, and the flow of proposals. Karen Cummings said we need a document that pulls all the criteria together, and clearly indicates what it is by title. Jim Tait pointed out that some criteria are not documented, particularly on non-routine issues. There was also discussion about whether or not we need to have a by-laws and a constitutional change. Mark Heidmann said we need both because the two references do different things: the Constitution tells the community we have to do it, while the by-laws explains its status as by-laws.
A motion to accept these changes was made and seconded.
Friendly amendments concerning language were made and accepted.
Motion:
To accept the addition of Article I, item C to the Constitution: "Creating, maintaining, and communicating to the university community the evaluative criteria for new and revised course and program proposals by means of a document entitled 'Standards for Undergraduate Curriculum Proposals'."
In favor 33 --Opposed 0 - Abstentions 0
Motion approved.
B. By-laws: In addition, the chair proposed we that we strike part VII., rule B. from the by-laws and replace with the following: "Any major policy statement or document developed by the UCF or any UCF committee shall be reproduced in its final form and archived on the UCF website."
Finally, he suggested we add rule E to part VII: "In the event that the UCF proposes a resolution intended for the Board of Trustees, the chair shall bring said resolution to the Faculty Senate for their action. For archival purposes, the final form (see part VII., rule B) shall include any amendments made by the Faculty Senate."
A motion to accept these changes was made and seconded. Friendly amendments concerning language were accepted
Motion:
To strike the language of part VII., rule B. from the by-laws and replace it with the following: : "Any major policy statement or document developed by the UCF or any UCF committee shall be reproduced in its final form and archived on the UCF website." Also, to add rule E to part VII, which shall state, "In the event that the UCF proposes a resolution intended for the Board of Trustees, the chair shall bring said resolution to the Faculty Senate for their action. For archival purposes, the final form (see part VII, rule B) shall be that approved by the Faculty Senate." Also, under VII. Rules of Procedure, to strike "Any of all of these may be suspended at the discretion of the UCF Chair with consent of those present."
In favor 33 - Opposed 0 --Abstentions 1
Motion is approved.
VIII. Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 9:48 a.m.
Minutes recorded by Nicole Henderson, Secretary for UCF
