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Undergraduate Curriculum Forum

Minutes
Adanti Student Center, Room 301A
Thursday, November 20, 2008


Present: Deborah Weiss (Chair),  J. Manzella, R. Vaters-Carr, Y. del Amo, S. Grace, N. Marano, C. Coron, C. Arboleda, B. Nakamura, T. Radice, J. McGinn, C. Simoneau, M. Hartog, J. Hong, K. Burke, M. Goralski, R. Kustin, D. Chevan, L. Rebeschi, D. Flynn, R. Cain, D. Pettigrew, K. Gatzke, K. Cummings, J. O'hara, K. Marsland, D. Smith, P. Kahlbaugh, G. Adams, E. Cornwell, J. Mielczarski, K. Barnett, G. Cochenet, A. Marsoobian, K. Rondinone, M. Shea, D. Tomasko, K. Laing, D. Bentley-Drobish, A. Todaro, Q. Bright(Student Govt.)

Absent: M. Narumanchi, O. Gulacar, S. Felsenfeld, R. Glinka, I. Antonios, L. Foss, A. Abugri, N. Henderson, M. Fede, E. W est, J. Irving, J. Tait, M. Kiarie, M. Cameron, T. Lin,K. Barnett, J. Fields, S. Graves, K. Mauro

I. The meeting was called to order at 9:35am.

II. Announcements
• K. Marsland announced that there is still an interest in other groups that can co-sponsor the visit from the author of Generation Me. 
•  D. Pettigrew announced the last Cinema du Monde on December 3rd, Lost Highway.  He requested ideas for the next semester of movies.
• The 11th annual Interdisciplinary Research conference will be March 7th. The topic: What's Past is Prologue: Whither the Humanities.

III. Approval of minutes of November 6, 2008
• minutes approved with 1 abstention

IV. Standing committee reports and ad hoc reports (per committee request)

a. NPIC
• Minutes, logging of courses
b. NMC
• Minutes
• Motion to approve proposals
New Course Proposal:
MAT 326 - Regression Analysis (Approved pending SCC signatures)

Revised Program Proposal:
B.A. in Mathematics (Approved pending SCC signatures)

• All approved motions.
c. Ad Hoc
• Minutes
d. WACC
• Minutes
• Motion to approve proposals:
EDU 414: Applications of Child Development Faculty:  B. Achhpal
REC 120: Leadership Development   Faculty: J. Panza

THR 382: The Movies     Faculty: W. Elwood

All approved motions.

e. PRAC - minutes & motion
• The Department of Journalism submitted their self-study report to UCF on October 22, 2008. Professor Frank Harris, Chairperson, presented to PRAC on October 30, 2008. At that time, Professor Harris discussed the department's mission, program goals, student-learning outcomes, and methods for measurement of student-learning outcomes.
• PRAC recommends to the University Curriculum Form that APPROVAL with conditions be granted to the Undergraduate Program in Journalism
• Motion approved with 4 abstentions.
f. UWIC - minutes & motion
• Motion voted on by UCF:

To clear up these confusions we are proposing the following motion:

1. That UCF create a new 3-credit course, HON 494, entitled Honors Prospectus, and that UCF institute a name change for HON 495 from Departmental Honors to Honors Thesis.

2. That all students undertaking an honors thesis register for HON 494 (with departmental permission as the prerequisite) in the first semester of the process, and for HON 495 (with HON 494 as a prerequisite) in the second semester of the process. 

3. That all current departmental 495 courses entitled either "Department Honors" or "Honors in xxx" be eliminated or have their titles changed to something that does not include the word "honors" effective Fall 2010.    

The department in which the student is writing the thesis would be noted in the title of the section created for the student's registration, e.g., HON 494-03 "Honors Prospectus in History" or HON 495-07 "Honors Thesis in Biology."   

Two courses now in the catalogue will not be affected by part 3 of our proposal:  EXS 495, currently entitled "Physical Education (Secondary)," and THR 495, currently entitled "Senior Seminar in Theatre." 
• Motion approved with one abstention.
V. Old Business
Discussion of Liberal/General Education Proposal
• The GenEd Taskforce was present at the meeting because they are interested in a high level discussion and will be available for clarification but not characterization.
• J. Manzella - voiced his concern over the rigidity of Tier 1 and stated his wish that the university avoid standardized testing.  He also recommended that the GenEd Taskforce present the UCF with an implementation plan and an impact statement. He recommended that we vote on the plan and then vote on the impact and implementation plans.
• D. Pettigrew reminded the members of UCF to share all of the information online about the Liberal Education Program and make sure that all members of each department spend time on all of the paperwork.
• R. Vaters-Carr recommended that we see a timeline and the new revisions.
• K. Cummings liked the "evolution vs. revolution" option - she described the idea of evolution as a more comfortable process.
• T. Fleming - voiced caution about approving LEP in segments - if we are corralled into the plan then we feel that we can't change it.
• J. Manzella - worried about constant revisions but thought we should get a straw vote on a plan.
• Quentin (Student)  - reminded the body that we need to do what is best for the students and that we vote on the program if we feel it will enhance students' education.
• K. Marsland - concerned about implementation and that it will be difficult to manage without sufficient buy-in from the faculty.  She recommended that the AUR program be used to incorporate into the GenEd program.  She recommended a straw vote to see if faculty are interested in creating Tier 2 courses.
• K. Gatske - noticed that there are three alternatives: the no-change argument, the task force - skills first option and the pro-discipline proposals presented.  Each alternative is very different and we need to decide what do we want to change and where to we want the program to go.
• R. Kustin- recommended that the committee create a list of current courses that could fill in the blanks for a lot of the Tiers so faculty could see what we have and what we still need.
• R. Vaters-Carr - responded to the Pettigrew/Levine proposal as it has a more practical implementation - using the existing AUR courses and ease the transition with built-in reviews of the courses.
• D. Pettigrew - sponsored Rex's proposal and the evolution towards goals - claimed it respects the disciplines in the way that the LEP doesn't.
• K. Burke - wants assurance that the administration will be able to support this program.
• K. Marsland - mentioned that there is a resources documentation
• D. Levine - reminded us that the Pettigrew/Levine proposal was not just about using existing courses but that the categories themselves need to be adjusted.

VI. The meeting was adjourned at 10:50am.