agenda status: not approved Agenda: minutes status: not approved UCAP Minutes for meeting held on 03/30/2006 University Committee on Academic Policy Thursday March 30, 2006 Meeting Minutes Members Present: Angela Allen, Dennis Banks, Renee Canady, Richard Hallgren, Yen-Hwei Lin, Kyle Martin, Helen Mayer, Philip Moon, Tony Nunez, Sharon Pocock, Ralph Putnam (Chair), Kurt Stirewalt, Alex von Eye, Keri Zolman Members Absent: Rebecca Henry, Edmund Outslay, Nikole Patson, Sharon Senk, Colleen Tremonte, Bruce Vanden Bergh Also Present: June Youatt (Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education)
2. The Minutes of the March 16, 2006 meetings were approved. 3. Comments from the Chairperson: Ralph Putnam announced the new and continuing members of the UCAP for the next academic year. He also announced the upcoming elections for Chair, Vice-Chair, second representative to Academic Council, Athletic Council representative and Military Education Advisory Committee (MEAC) representative. 4. Comments from the Associate Provost: June Youatt explained how recommendations from the Faculty Voice committee, which are currently under consideration, may result in UCAP becoming the counterpart of the University Graduate Council for undergraduate issues. If that change is approved then there will be a discussion of representation of the professional schools in that committee. UCAP will thus not discuss this year, issues of representation on the Committee. Youatt also explained that the last program from the College of Human Ecology (Apparel and Textile Design) is initiating the process of moving to the College of Arts and Letters. 5. RET 460 Grade Point Requirement: A request from the Food Industry Management Program to require a minimum grade of 2.0 in RET 460 for its majors was discussed and a motion to approve the request was made by Tony Nunez and seconded by Philip Moon. The motion was approved by a vote of 12 to 1. During discussion of the motion, some concerns were raised about the impact of these and similar grade requirements on grade inflation and it was decided that further discussions about the general topic of grade inflation should be added to a future agenda of UCAP. 6. Working Group for the Improvement of Undergraduate Education (WGIUE): There was considerable discussion about the content and language of the WGIUE report, particularly the executive summary of that report. Youatt suggested three issues that on which UCAP might consider making specific proposals: (1) Recommending or endorsing a set of goals for liberal learning; (2) Endorsing studies to generate data to inform the implementation of the recommendations of the report; and (3) The establishment of a University Council for Liberal Learning. After discussing the background for the studies to guide the changes in academic requirements in mathematics and writing, Sharon Pocok offered the following motion: “UCAP strongly endorses undertaking appropriate study to inform an outcome-driven approach to the implementation of the Quantitative Literacy and Writing recommendations in the Report of the Working Group for the Improvement of Undergraduate Education”. That motion was second by Renee Canady and passed unanimously. Further discussion of the goals identified by the WGIUE report was deferred for the meeting of UCAP scheduled for April 13, 2006. 7. Dean’s List Policy: Youatt presented two possible options to change the description of the policy for inclusion of students on Deans’ Lists. There was also an option presented to change that policy. After a brief discussion, the issue was deferred to the meeting scheduled for April 13, 2006. 8. Subcommittee Report on Undergraduate TAs: Kurt Stirewalt reported that the subcommittee met with the University Ombudsman, Dr. Stan Soffin to discuss the pertinent issues related to undergraduates serving as teaching assistants. The practice is prevalent in many units and Soffin identified the following issues or concerns: (1) There have been complaints from parents objecting to undergraduates being responsible for teaching part of a course. (2) It is not clear when the assignment should be seen as a paid job as compared to a training experience such as an independent study taken for credit. (3) There are no guidelines for what the work load should be. (4) There is no formal training or orientation to make the students aware of University policies related to teaching. (5) Undergraduate assistants may not be aware of legal issues related to instruction and students’ privacy. Tony Nunez reported that in general, graduate TAs are positive about using undergraduates to assist in teaching. After a brief discussion the committee concluded that the subcommittee should schedule additional information meetings with key individuals to collect more data about options and best practices as initial steps to develop a policy proposal. 9. Round Table Discussion: Kyle Martin requested a future discussion of the University policy on religious observance. Philip Moon, Kyle Martin and Keri Zolman mentioned that they are working on a report on the issue of a fall semester break. 10. The meeting was adjourned at 12:02 pm. Respectfully submitted by: Antonio A. Nunez |
Agenda/Minutes > 2005-2006 >