agenda status: approved Agenda: AGENDA University Committee on Academic Policy Meeting of Thursday, February 8, 2007 10:15 a.m., Hannah Administration Bldg. Board Room
Phone or e-mail Sandra Walther (353-5380; swalther@msu.edu) if you cannot be present. Please remember that you are asked to send a substitute from your college. Attachments: January 25, 2007 Minutes (Draft) Request to Establish a Minimum Grade-Point Requirement of 2.00 in the Request to Establish a Bachelor of Science Degree in Athletic Training Graduation Honors – Request for Clarification of Implementation of Current Policy
minutes status: approved approved at meeting of 02/22/2007 UCAP Minutes for meeting held on 02/08/2007 Members Present: Renee Canady, R. Sekhar Chivukula, Peter Cobbett, Doug Estry, Richard Hallgren, Yen-Hwei Lin, Helen Mayer, Philip Moon, Edmund Outslay, Ralph Putnam, Brandon Sethi, Jon Sticklen, Colleen Tremonte, Bruce Vanden Bergh, Amanda Venettis, Connie Zheng Members Absent: Dennis Banks, Lauren Doherty, Antonio Nunez, Daniel Roth, Alex Von Eye Guests: Michael Mazzeo, Associate Dean, Eli Broad College of Business Eileen Wilson, Assistant Dean, Broad College of Business Cassandra Book, Associate Dean, College of Education Tracey Covassin, Assistant Professor, Kinesiology Kim Kittleman, Clinical Coordinator, Athletic Training Program Doug McKenna, Associate Registrar Agenda was approved. Minutes for January 25, 2007 were approved as corrected. Comments from the Chairperson Professor Putnam introduced and welcomed new ASMSU representative Amanda Venettis Comments from the Associate Provost None Request to Establish a Minimum Grade-Point Average of 2.00 in the Specialization in International Business The Committee considered a request from the College of Business to implement a 2.00 minimum requirement for a specialization in international business (February 1, 2007 memorandum from Associate Provost Stanford). Associate Dean Mazzeo provided background and rationale for the proposed requirement. The Business College has 2.0 requirements for major and core classes of the major. It is thus reasonable to set the same GPA requirement for courses in the specialization. The minimum 2.00 GPA is a de facto requirement because study abroad programs, which are a major component of the specialization, already require it. Motion by Renee Canady passed unanimously:
Discussion of UCAP Closed Meeting Rules Due to early completion of the previous item, an impromptu discussion of closed meetings rules for UCAP ensued. At issue is the practice of asking guests presenting various proposals to leave the room after presenting to allow the committee to discuss proposals in closed session. Associate Provost Estry reported that the committee could establish special rules for such issues; these rules typically are set at the first meeting of every year and renewed annually. Further discussion of this issue was placed on the agenda for the UCAP meeting of February 25. Request to Establish Bachelors of Science Degree in Athletic Training The committee considered request from Associate Provost Stanford (memorandum of February 1, 2007) to review proposed criteria for admission and grade-point requirements within a proposed new Bachelor of Science degree in Athletic Training. Associate Dean Book provided background and rationale for the proposed degree program and the specific grade-point requirements. Discussion points included:
The proposed admission and degree requirements are modeled closely after the requirements of the existing Kinesiology major, with additional requirements because of the specialized and highly demanding nature of coursework in Athletic Training. The course KIN 423 was omitted from section 2.e of Requirements for the Bachelor of Science Degree in Athletic Training, Item, and should be added Motion by Jon Sticklen passed unanimously:
Graduation Honor- Request for Clarification of Current Policy Associate Registrar Doug McKenna presented and discussed a proposal to clarify the current policy of awarding Honors and High Honors upon graduating classes. Academic Programs currently specifies that 20 percent of each undergraduate class should receive honors, with 6 percent receiving the "With High Honor" designation, and the following 14 percent receiving the "With Honor” designation. Academic Programs also specifies the minimum grade-point averages in order to achieve the desired percentage of honored graduates. The proposed change would remove the specific grade-point averages from Academic Programs and establish new GPAs each spring to be used in determining honors designations beginning the following spring. Discussion points included:
The proposed practice would prevent grade inflation from affecting the percentage of students receiving honors designations because the annually adjusted minimum GPAs would reflect changing GPAs of the student body. Concerns were raised about how students would be made aware of the current GPA minimums and about fairness for students if the GPA criteria change from year to year. The 20% policy is one of the more lenient in the Big Ten. This policy, along with using English rather than Latin to designate honors reflects the University’s land-grant philosophy. Indiana University has a similar program. Representatives Sethi and Moon offered to take the proposal to Academic Assembly for input from students. Additional information about the impact of this proposal on students receiving honors designations in each college was requested from Associate Registrar McKenna. The proposal will be considered at UCAP’s February 22 meeting pending additional information from the registrar’s office and input from ASMSU. Fall Break Subcommittee Report and Discussion The Fall Break subcommittee presented a draft proposal for discussion. The proposal specifies a Fall study break on the third Monday and Tuesday of October, along with beginning Fall Semester classes the Wednesday before the current Monday start day, resulting in a gain of one instructional day for the semester. Points raised in the discussion included:
Eliminating any days from a week of instructional days creates problems for lab courses that have students in all sections completing the same lab activities in a given week. Professor Chivukula suggesting getting information on how University of Michigan handled the problems of lab scheduling resulting from a break. Thanksgiving break could be extended to a full week, but such a break would too late in the semester to offer the desired mid-semester break. Professor Cobbett suggested the subcommittee come up with three specific options to be considered by UCAP, with the first option being approved by the committee being put forward. The Fall Break subcommittee will gather additional information and prepare a proposal for a subsequent UCAP meeting. Adjourned at 12:13 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Philip Moon |
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