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Undergraduate Curriculum Forum

Minutes
Adanti Student Center, Room 301A
Thursday, October 9, 2008


Present:  G. Cochenet, M. Narumanchi, J. Manzella, R. Vaters-Carr, Y. del Amo, O. Gulacar, S. Felsenfeld, R. Glinka, I. Antonios, A. Abugri, N. Marano, M. Fede, D. Marino, C. Arboleda, E. West, B. Nakamura, T. Radice, C. Simoneau, M. Hartog, K. Burke, W. O'Brien, M. Goralski, D. Flynn, D. Pettigrew, K. Gatzke, J. O'hara, K. Marsland, J. Tait, M. Kiarie, G. Adams, M. Cameron, J. Sullivan, E. Cornwell, J. Mielczarski, J. Fields, A. Marsoobian, K. Rondinone, M. Shea, D. Tomasko, K. Laing, A. Scott

Absent: S. Grace, L. Foss, N. Henderson, C. Coron, J. McGinn, R. Kustin, J. Irving, L. Rebeschi, K. Cummings, T. Lin, S. Graves, L. Kohrn, D. Bentley-Drobish, K. Mauro,

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

II. Announcements
• President Norton has eliminated funding for UCF refreshments.  Funding has been eliminated for refreshments for most other organizations on campus.
• UCF members are requested to bring copies of all meeting business with them.  In order to save paper, the UCF office will no longer make paper copies available in most instances. 
• The Art Department statement should have been included in the attachments.
• K. Marsland announced that New Haven Reads is accepting new and lightly used books through Wednesday at drop-off bins at the Psychology Department and at the information desk in the Student Center.
• N. Henderson mentioned that professors can take their classes to the Day of Service. Also FYE students need to talk to an FYE advisor before withdrawing from a class.  They can go to the "Ask Me" desk in Wintergreen.
• D. Pettigrew announced the Cinema du Monde will be Burnt by the Sun Hosted by Julia Houkom, English and Foreign Languages, and Elena Schmitt, Foreign Languages on October 22, 7:35-10:30.
• M. Shea reminded UCF that the Town Hall Meeting to discuss resources for the Liberal Education Program is on October 17 at 1:05 in Morrill Hall 108.

III. Approval of minutes of September 25, 2008
• All approved with no revisions.
IV. Standing committee reports and ad hoc reports (per committee request)

a. NPIC
• Minutes received, logging of courses
b. NMC
• Minutes received
• Motion to approve proposals
MOTIONS:

Revised Course Proposal
BIO 429 - Aquatic Biology
New Title: Limnology

New Course Proposal
GEO 381 - Geographic Information Systems for Business and Strategic Management

THR 490 - Practicum in Video Drama

MAT 370 - Number Theory  
MAT 372 - Linear Algebra

• All approved Motion.
c. WACC
• Minutes
• Motion to approve proposals as a block
Course: MGT 460-01 International Business                     Faculty: M. Goralski

Course: GEO 305 Environmental Economic Geography      Faculty: C. Heidkamp

Course: GEO 342 Middle East                                          Faculty: J. Hanson

Course: PSC 244 Research Methods in Political Science     Faculty: S. Creamer

Course: PSC 244 Research Methods in Political Science Faculty: T. Marchant-Shapiro

Course: PSC 100 Power and Conflict in Modern Societies  Faculty: J. Critzer

Course: PSC 100 Power and Conflict in Modern Societies  Faculty: S. Creamer

Course: PSC 328 State and Local Government                 Faculty: J. Critzer

Course: SOC 360 Social Change                                     Faculty: W. Donohue

Course: SOC 322 Sociology of the Family                        Faculty: L. Weber

Course: SOC 302 Social Organizations                            Faculty: J. Bloch

Course: SOC 312 The African American Experience         Faculty: S. Jackson

• All approved motion
d. PRAC - minutes received
e. UWIC -
• minutes received
• Motion to vote as a block:
Motion: That the classes CHE 101 (Chemistry in Contemporary Issues) and CHE 103 (Crime Scene Chemistry) be accepted as AUR for the Natural Science B section.
• All approved motion.

V. Old Business
Continuation of Liberal Education Program (LEP) discussion (J. Tait present and moderating)
• Many members offered suggestions and not all are mentioned by name. The secretary apologizes for not including everyone's name.
• R. Vaters-Carr opened the discussion by mentioning the art department's concerns, some of which included the developmental math courses students would need to take and how that will impact class choice in their first semester.
• Another member mentioned his concern that the body needs to carefully consider the impact of this proposal on students. 
• Another concern was the competency exams required and a fear that this will lead to standardized testing.  M. Shea observed that as long as the faculty is in charge of this, they would have to agree to standardized testing.
• M. Narumanchi requested that Economics 101 & 102 be included in the LEP.
• R. Gilliland is concerned about the lack of research on a non discipline-based model of LEP. He did not see any information on student retention or acquisition and felt that having 24 goals for students to meet adds a level of complexity that he had not seen in other programs.
• K. Cummings is concerned about the availability of resources for the proposal and looked for places to cut the most expensive sections.  She suggested that the section on having every student reviewed by a committee might be postponed until resources are available.  She recommended that we have an implementation plan for the first few years.
• R. Vaters-Carr mentioned issues with lab-based courses, especially ones with caps on student enrollment and safety issues.
• D. Pettigrew is concerned that if the first year at Southern is 'intellectually unimaginative.'
• He also reminded the body that if ENG 111 and FYE are combined, the new course must go through appropriate steps in UCF.
• W. O'Brien asked J. Tait about competencies being designated to specific departments. Since 3 of the competencies were designated to a specific department (mathematics, foreign language, English), he was concerned that other departments would try to designate competencies and that it would take away from the goal of the competencies.
• J. Tait stated that it is not true that departments are aggressively trying to designate a competency as their own. He mentioned that students who have practiced skills early-on will be better prepared and have a better college experience than those who put off required competencies for later.
• A. Marsoobian is concerned about the cost as we transition from the old system to a new one as the current Gen Ed program will need to stay in place for a number of years.
• M. Shea explained that the courses in tier 1 should use a primary source text rather than relying solely on a textbook.
• J. Tait mentioned that Intellectual Foundations at one point had been a category but there were too many credits so it is used as the overarching theme for all of the Tier 1 competencies.
• N. Henderson announced that FYE was working to create an FYE course that teaches the skills in a context.  She also mentioned that students will not take a course unless it is required.  They do not want to take a course if they do not need to take it.
• R. Gilliland is concerned because Intellectual Foundations is presented as a course and recommended that the LEP committee remove tech fluency and replace it with Intellectual Foundations.
• Discussion was halted due to lack of time.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:50am

These minutes respectfully submitted by Kathleen Rondinone.