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agenda status: not approved

Agenda:

1. Approval of the Agenda
   
   
   
2. Approval of the Minutes of the September 18, 2008 meeting
   
   
   
3. Comments from the Chair
   
   
   
4. Comments from the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education
   
   
   
5. Request to Add a Grade-Point Average Requirement in the Bachelor of Arts Degree in Journalism ....... (Attachment)
   Jane Briggs-Bunting, Director, School of Journalism, College of Communication Arts & Sciences
   
   
   
6. Request to Change the Admission Requirements for the Bachelor of Arts Degree in Hospitality Business ........... (Attachment)
   Ronald Cichy, Director, The School of Hospitality Business
   Jeff Elsworth, Chairperson, Undergraduate Programs Committee
   Sherri Henry, Coordinator of Academic Student Services
   
   
   
7. Roundtable: All Other Business
   

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.

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minutes status: approved

approved at meeting of 10/23/2008

UCAP Minutes for meeting held on 09/25/2008

Attendees: Mary Jo Arndt, Dennis Banks, R. Sekhar Chivukula, Peter Cobbett, Marty Crimp, Doug Estry, Mandalyn Griffin, Richard Hallgren, Caroline Hartig, Linda Jackson, Chris Kline, Hovig Kouyoumdjian, Michael Lawrence, Carolyn Loeb, Brad McDonald,
Matt McKeon, Jerry Punch, Michael Schechter, Sharif Shakrani, Mike Shields, Jim Smith, Tom Volkening

Absent: A Mahdi Saeed, Parita Shah

The Agenda was approved

The Minutes of the September 18, 2008 meeting were approved.

Comments from the Chair
Dr. Chivukula welcomed COGS representative, Hovig Kouyoumdjian.

Chairperson Chivukula reported that at the most recent meeting of the Academic Council:

• President Simon stated that, despite the turmoil in the financial markets, it is expected that payouts of University investments will not change
• University sustainability and energy conservation presenter indicated their efforts might affect classroom scheduling by consolidating classes held early or late in the day to fewer buildings.
• Students spoke in opposition to shortening fall welcome, shortening finals week and shortening the semester.
• A motion was passed by Academic Council calling for increased academic content in Fall Welcome.
• Administrators announced freshman move-in next year will be on Aug 30, classes will start on Sept 2, and finals week will remain unchanged. The fall semester will be 70 days.
• ECAC indicated it would take up academic calendar review this year. ECAC will determine how the calendar review will be handled.
• James Madison College was assured by administrators that the residential colleges would have control over the time between move-in and class start for their welcome and orientation activities.

Comments from the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education
Associate Provost Estry indicated his report, regarding shortened fall welcome would be provided to the Provost within the week. The Provost will distribute the report for comment.
Dr. Estry reported the Sustainability Specialization proposal gained the support of several colleges. The proposal could be sent to UCC this semester.


Request to Change the Admission Requirements for the Bachelor of Arts Degree in Hospitality Business
Ronald Cichy, Director, The School of Hospitality Business
Jeff Elsworth, Chairperson, Undergraduate Programs Committee
Sherri Henry, Coordinator of Academic Student Services

The committee unanimously granted voice to the representatives of The School of Hospitality Business.

Dr. Cichy, Dr. Elsworth, and Ms. Henry briefly outlined the current requirements and rationale for the requested changes, indicating removal of the 2.0 GPA requirement would lessen the misconception that a 2.0 GPA would be adequate for admission when in practice the GPA’s of students admitted averaged significantly higher than 2.0. The average GPA’s of admitted students would be posted on the School’s website rather than placing that information in the catalogue.

Committee discussion centered on the need to post minimum GPA’s on the School’s website rather than average GPA’s, since the intent is to let prospective applicants see the lowest GPA’s of those already accepted.

Motion by Mary Jo Arndt passed unanimously.

The University Committee on Academic Policy endorses the request to change the admission requirements for the Bachelor of Arts Degree in Hospitality Business and recommends The School of Hospitality Business website reflect the range of GPAs of previously admitted students and the corresponding historical data showing the trend of GPAs for those admitted to the program.

Request to Add a Grade-Point Average Requirement in the Bachelor of Arts Degree in Journalism
Janet Lillie, Associate Dean, College of Communication Arts & Sciences
Jane Briggs-Bunting, Director, School of Journalism, College of Communication Arts & Sciences

The committee unanimously granted voice to the representatives the College of Communication Arts & Sciences.

Drs. Lillie and Briggs-Bunting provided the Journalism Department’s rationale for its request to implement a 2.5 GPA requirement in two Journalism courses, with a minimum grade of 2.0 in each course, for admission to the major, indicating this change would signify to prospective applicants that more than minimum academic effort is required to be accepted. As a skill-based discipline, the increased academic requirement would enhance the potential for students’ successful degree completion. By adding this requirement, the Journalism admissions process would then be quantitative, the stipulation of a particular entry-level GPA, and qualitative, submission of a portfolio of the student’s work. The former provides evidence of academic ability and the latter allows recognition for professional-level work.

Committee discussion centered on

• The interaction of the 2.5 minimum GPA requirement in the two Journalism courses with the MSU repeat policy. Current policy would not provide the option for students with a 2.0 to retake a class in order to improve their grade.
• Student access to majors.

Motion by Sharif Shakrani passed unanimously.

The University Committee on Academic Policy endorses the request to add a grade-point average requirement in the Bachelor of Arts Degree in Journalism.

Roundtable
Dr. Estry suggested that, given the standard to repeat a course is 2.0 and the GPA requirement for graduation is 2.0, and the increasing number of requests to require GPA’s higher than 2.0 for admission to majors and progression in majors, the committee might want to consider these topics and propose changes or reaffirm the current policies.

The committee discussion centered on the following issues:

• Is Journalism’s proposed admissions practice of requiring a minimum GPA in prerequisite classes combined with a portfolio or other qualitatively assessed component one that UCAP would recommend as a best practice for programs that require a minimum GPA for admission to the major?
• What was the rationale for requiring less than a 2.0 to repeat courses and a 2.0 minimum GPA to graduate? When were these policies put into place?
• Is there a need to gather data to ascertain the relevance of the repeat policy and graduation requirements in light of current major requirements? Is there a problem with the accessibility of students to majors?
• There is a need to revisit grade inflation data, possibly disaggregating current data by college to review grade variations at that level.
• Does admission to MSU guarantee a student the right to graduate?
• Should there be a policy distinction between professional programs and other programs? How are other institutions handling theses distinctions?

Chairperson Chivukula remarked that this appeared to be an issue of interest to the committee. He asked committee members to email him with questions they think should be investigated.

Meeting adjourned at 11:30 am.

Respectfully submitted by
Sandra Walther

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