Search
Southern Home PageAbout Southern Connecticut State UniversityAcademicsAdmissionsStudent LifeResearchAthleticsHuman Resources at Southern
Southern Connecticut State University LibraryMySCSUSouthern DirectoryCalendar of EventsTechnologyContact Us
Department Banner

Undergraduate Curriculum Forum

Minutes
Adanti Student Center, Room 301A
Thursday, November 6, 2008

Present: Deborah Weiss (Chair),  G. Cochenet, R. Vaters-Carr, Y. del Amo, O. Gulacar, R. Glinka, A. Abugri, L. Foss, N. Marano, N. Henderson, T. Fleming, M. Fede, D. Marino, C. Arboleda, L. Olsen, B. Nakamura, T. Radice, C. Simoneau, M. Hartog, K. Burke, M. Goralski, R. Kustin, L. Rebeschi, D. Flynn, D. Pettigrew, K. Gatzke, J. O'hara, K. Marsland, D. Smith, P. Kahlbaugh, J. Tait, G. Adams, M. Cameron, J. Sullivan, E. Cornwell, T. Lin, J. Mielczarski, A. Marsoobian, K. Rondinone, M. Shea, D. Tomasko, K. Laing, D. Bentley-Drobish,A. Todaro

Absent: M. Narumanchi, J. Manzella, S. Grace, S. Felsenfeld, I. Antonios, C. Coron, E. West, J. McGinn, J. Irving, K. Cummings, M. Kiarie, K. Barnett, J. Fields, S. Graves, K. Mauro

I. The meeting was called to order at 9:35am.
II. Announcements
• K. Marsland announced that the book drive was a very successful and they will continue to collect books for New Haven Reads throughout the school year.  She also mentioned that New Haven Reads is a great place for service opportunities.
• Psychology Club, FYE and others are sponsoring the author of Generation Me.  They are interested in other groups that can co-sponsor this visit.

III. Approval of minutes of October 23, 2008
• The minutes were approved unanimously.

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

a. NPIC
• Minutes received
• The ST course, HON 298, which had been logged by NPIC, was brought up for discussion as potentially encroaching on another department (Media Studies).  It was suggested that the UCF steering committee review the policies regarding overlap of course content across departments for ST courses.  
b. NMC
• Minutes received
• No motions
c. WACC
• Minutes received
• Motion to approve proposals:

Course: ENG 301 Introduction to Literary Analysis and Critical Theory
Faculty: K. Hughes

Course: ENG 200 Ethnography in Digital Age  Faculty: A. Beaudin
• All approved motions.

d. PRAC - minutes received
e. UWIC - minutes received.  It was discussed that the current FYE committee has lost some members and needs to replace them.  The following motion was made to remedy this situation:
• Motion:  "UCF empowers the FYE committee to appoint new members to the committee, while continuing to maintain diverse faculty representation."
• Discussion: D. Pettigrew prefers to have elections to replace the members rather than having the committee appoint them.
• Vote: Motion was approved with two abstentions.
f. Ad Hoc standards goals discussed

V. New Business
g. Dr. D. Weiss reviewed some points from the chair's report.  After today's presentation of two alternative general education proposals, the next UCF meetings will be spend on discussion and questions related to the Liberal Education Proposal.  All alternative proposals that have been presented as well as any letters that have been written to UCF regarding the proposed LEP are now posted on the UCF website.  All UCF members were requested to make this known to faculty members in their department and were encouraged to discuss the LEP with their departments.
Alternative General Education proposals
h. Dr. R. Gilliland and Dr. D. Pettigrew
Several key recommendations to LEP were highlighted:
• Modify the AUR courses rather than propose completely different courses to meet the goals of NEASC.
• Offer LEP courses on a trial basis to ensure rigor and academic value.
• Offer faculty referendums on major changes to AUR/LEP.
• Sequence AURs throughout 2nd and 3rd years.
• Provide exceptions for credit-intensive majors and transfers.
• Use the original goals in a variety of ways
1. competency goals - skill-based courses
2. knowledge goals - content AURs
3. senior capstone - incorporate the values course
i. Dr. R. Glinka and Dr. J. Ullian
Several changes were recommended:
• Create new FYE courses to meet the needs. This would be Tier 1
1. FYE 1 critical thinking, creative thinking, informational literacy and written communication (Cover ENG 112 requirement)
2. FYE 2 - oral communication and interpersonal effectiveness
3. FYE 3 - technical fluency
• Tier 2 - make courses problem-based rather than intro courses
• Tier 3 - capstone course would be administered through an AUR committee (but taught in the major department). Could be team-taught, interdisciplinary and engage in real-life issues

VI. Old Business
Discussion of Liberal/General Education Proposal

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

These minutes respectfully submitted by Kathleen Rondinone.