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Undergraduate Curriculum Forum

Minutes
Adanti Student Center, Room 301A
Thursday,
April 30, 2009

Present: Deborah Weiss (Chair), Y. del Amo, S. Grace, M. Das, O. Gulacar, S. Felsenfeld, R. Glinka, L. L. Foss, N. Marano, D. Marino, E. Schmitt, B. Nakamura, T. Radice, M. Hartog, W. O'Brien, J. Irving, L. Rebeschi, D. Flynn, R. Cain, K. Gatzke, K. Marsland, D. Smith, M. Kiarie, J. Mielczarski, K. Barnett, G. Cochenet, K. Rondinone, M. Shea, D. Tomasko, K. Laing, C. Thompson

Absent:  M. Narumanchi, K. Skoczen, R. Vaters-Carr, I. Antonios, A. Abugri, M. McClain, C. Coron, E. West, B. Nakamura, J. McGinn, C. Simoneau, E. Frank, R. Kustin, J. Irving, D. Pettigrew, K. Cummings, J. O'hara, J. Tait, M. Kiarie, M. Cameron, J. Sullivan, T. Lin, J. Fields, S. Graves, A. Marsoobian, M. Shea, D. Bentley-Drobish, B. Kalk

Guests:

I. Call to order

II. Announcements

• Thanks to all the members that attended the meeting. We were able to have a quorum.
• K. Laing announced that all final grades are due on June 1st by noon. Please remember that "I" grades hinder financial aid and students may get dropped from classes.
• L. Rebeshi reminded us that the LEP vote is due on May 1st and you will need to hand carry the vote to Pelz 002 if you vote on Friday.
• Q. Bright (student) announced the Speak-Out on Racism event on May 6th from 11-4pm. There will be food, music and speakers throughout the day.
• Honors Convocation is Sunday. Please attend.

III. Approval of UCF minutes of April 16, 2009

• All approved minutes of April 16, 2009, with one abstention.

IV. Standing committee reports (minutes and committee motions)

a. NPIC - minutes received and courses logged
b. NMC - minutes received
• Motion to accept two revised course proposals:
PCH 431 - Health Promotion Interventions
REC 207 - Adapting Recreational Sports Activities
• All approved motion.
c. WACC- minutes received (no courses to approve)
d. PRAC - minutes received (no self-studies to approve)
e. UWIC - minutes received

V. Ad hoc reports (per committee request)

• No ad hoc reports today

VI. Old Business -

f. The provost approved the credit load for the Undergraduate Program Review. Beginning retroactively from Fall 2008, all departments will receive .6 credit per semester for a total of 6 credits per five year review cycle.  The .6 credit is adjusted to be greater for those programs on an accelerated review cycle.
g. The PRAC timeline of Undergraduate Program Review will be online and available.

VII. New Business - Undergraduate Program Review Discussion

h. Consideration of presentations to UCF general assembly
i. Action regarding programs whose reviews do not meet the standards
j. Scheduling of review times (scheduling conflicts)

• Discussion about the presentations included whether or not they should be optional or required and how long they should be. Many liked the model of short, optional presentations.
• S. Grace suggested that PRAC not change the standards in the until all programs have gone through one five-year cycle. He also suggested that we offer conditional approval so that departments do not have to revise and resubmit.
• D. Weiss suggested that we consider changing the review cycle from 5 years to 7 years in order to make it possible for PRAC to keep up with the schedule and also to reduce the funds needed for external reviewers.
• Several members discussed the implications of non-approval of department reports by PRAC and whether or not any action should be taken.  It was recognized that PRAC is an advising body and has no authority to take action other than to recommend or not recommend the report for approval. The recommendation of non-approval will come to UCF for a vote and will also be sent to the appropriate dean.  If resources have played a role in the non-approval of a department's report, it will be up to the dean to attempt to remedy this situation for the department's next 5 year cycle.
• Several members requested that a department that is approved by an outside body be exempted from submitting a new report to PRAC.
• It is planned that during the next meeting, motions regarding the above will be presented for discussion from PRAC and/or the Steering Committee.

Adjournment - the meeting was adjourned at 10:50am.