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2012 - 01/12

UCAP Meeting of 01/12/2012

2011-2012



agenda status: approved

Agenda:

University Committee on Undergraduate Studies
AGENDA
Thursday, January 12, 2012
10:15 A.M. to 12:00 P.M.
Board Room, 4th Floor, Administration Building

    1. Approval of the Agenda (Action Item)



    2. Approval of the December 15, 2011 UCUS Minutes (Action Item)



    3. Comments from the Chairperson



    4. Comments from the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education



    5. Request for a New Linked Bachelor of Science Degree in Media and Information and Master of Arts Degree in Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media (Action Item) .........(Attachment)

      and

      Request for a New Linked Bachelor of Arts Degree in Media and Information and Master of Arts Degree in Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media (Action Item) .........(Attachment)
      Steve Lacy, Associate Dean for Graduate Education, College of Communication Arts & Sciences



    6. Request for a New Linked Bachelor of Arts Degree in Journalism and Master of Arts Degree in Journalism (Action Item) .........(Attachment)
      Steve Lacy, Associate Dean for Graduate Education, College of Communication Arts & Sciences



    7. Request for New Coordinate Major in Lyman Briggs College – Actuarial Science (Action Item) .........(Attachment)

      and

      Request for New Coordinate Major in Lyman Briggs College – Mathematics, Advanced (Action Item) .........(Attachment)
      Kelly Millenbah, Associate Dean, Lyman Briggs College



    8. Roundtable

    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.



minutes status: approved

approved at meeting of 01/26/2012

UCAP Minutes for meeting held on 01/12/2012

University Committee on Undergraduate Studies
MINUTES as amended on 1/26/2012
Thursday, January 12, 2012
10:15 A.M. to 12:00 P.M.
Boardroom, 4th Floor Administration Building

Attendees: Zarena Aslami, Mark Axelrod, Henry Beckmeyer, Jan Brady, Crystal Branta, Chris McClain, Laura Dillon, Doug Estry, Fred Fico, Kathleen Hoag, Dan Keathley, Seung Hyun Kim, Nicole McCleese, Tom Morse, Mary Noel, Justin O’Dell, Patricia Rogers, Michael Scott, Ryan Sweeder, Abraham Wheeler

Absent: Milan Griffes, Evan Martinak, Ron Perry, John Reifenberg, Zachary Taylor

The Agenda was approved.

The December 15, 2011 minutes were approved.

Comments from the Chairperson
Chairperson Dillon welcomed new committee members Mike Scott from Veterinary Medicine.

Chairperson Dillon shared the news that she had spoken to President Simon and John Powell at the most recent meeting of the Steering Committee about changing the name of UCUS in order to have a less awkward acronym. The only requirement is that the word undergraduate must be in the name. She asked the committee if they wished to add this to the agenda; by informal consensus, the committee decided the topic should be discussed at a future meeting.

Dr. Dillon reported that President Simon made extensive remarks about the effort being undertaken in refreshing the goals and strategies for the Boldness by Design initiative. Groups of faculty are being asked to look ahead to forecast game changers in academia over the next 20 years. There will be more emphasis in the new initiative on citation counts, research, and multi authored work with international interest. President Simon suggested that UCUS start thinking about ways to improve our graduation rates by ensuring there are no institutional barriers. A financial model has been developed to help units understand the financial effects of choices made and to help us achieve a sustainable financial model. Committees will be asked to comment when the program comes online.

The University Research Organization (URO) will be added to the agenda of the next meeting if we can arrange for someone familiar with it to speak about it and answer questions from the committee.

Comments from the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education
Associate Provost stated that regarding the rethinking of the Boldness by Design initiative, President Simon had asked Associate Provost Karen Klomparens to schedule a series of meetings with University leadership to discuss such things as metrics to use in evaluating student outcomes, how to increase our representation with NIH and other granting agencies commensurate with a University of our size, and graduate research issues. Dr. Estry noted that it is important to identify gaps that can be addressed to improve graduation rates. The question is not if we are doing a good job--we are. The question is how do we improve upon our current performance?

Request for a New Linked Bachelor of Science Degree in Media and Information and Master of Arts Degree in Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media

and

Request for a New Linked Bachelor of Arts Degree in Media and Information and Master of Arts Degree in Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media
Steve Lacy, Associate Dean for Graduate Education, College of Communication Arts & Sciences

The committee unanimously granted voice to Associate Dean Lacy.

Associate Dean Lacy stated the new linked programs would allow the TISM department to be more competitive in recruiting its own excellent students and would have the effect of improving the quality of the program and increase the number of enrollments.

After a brief question and answer period, voice was removed from Associate Dean Lacy.

Motion by Crystal Branta was unanimously approved.
      The University Committee on Undergraduate Studies, in its consultative capacity to the Provost, has no concerns about the request for a new linked Bachelor of Science Degree in Media and Information and Master of Arts Degree in Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media and a new linked Bachelor of Arts Degree in Media and Information and Master of Arts Degree in Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media.


Request for a New Linked Bachelor of Arts Degree in Journalism and Master of Arts Degree in Journalism
Steve Lacy, Associate Dean for Graduate Education, College of Communication Arts & Sciences

The committee unanimously granted voice to Associate Dean Lacy.

Associate Dean Lacy stated the new linked program in Journalism would allow the department to be more competitive in recruiting its own excellent students and would have the effect of improving the quality of the program and increase the number of enrollments.

In discussion, it was pointed out that the request contained an error in the overall GPA to be required to enter the linked degree program. In one place it was stated as 3.0 GPA and another stated the requirement would be a 3.5 GPA. Dr. Lacy stated he would verify the correct GPA and make the appropriate changes in the document.

Voice was removed from Associate Dean Lacy.

Motion by Kathleen Hoag was unanimously approved.
      The University Committee on Undergraduate Studies, in its consultative capacity to the Provost, requests a clarification from the department on the minimum GPA required for entry into the linked BA/MA Degree in Journalism. If the result is a required GPA of 3.5, the committee has no concerns about the request.


Request for New Coordinate Major in Lyman Briggs College – Actuarial Science
and
Request for New Coordinate Major in Lyman Briggs College – Mathematics, Advanced
Kelly Millenbah, Associate Dean, Lyman Briggs College

The committee unanimously granted voice to Associate Dean Millenbah.

Associate Dean Millenbah stated that Lyman Briggs College (LBC) has a suite of coordinate majors that allow LBC students to complete their core requirements in LBC and pursue major requirements within the disciplinary department/college. This allows students to remain in Lyman Briggs and complete a major without having to leave LBC. The Math department requested that LBC consider adding Actuarial Science and Advanced Mathematics to the current suite of coordinate majors.

The committee expressed concern that the actuarial science degree required 121 credits for graduation but no further discussion followed.

Voice was removed from Associate Dean Millenbah.

Motion by Ryan Sweeder passed unanimously.

      The University Committee on Undergraduate Studies, in its consultative capacity to the Provost, has no concerns about the request for a new coordinate major in Lyman Briggs College – Actuarial Science and a new coordinate major in Lyman Briggs College –Mathematics, Advanced.


Chairperson Dillon opened a discussion regarding the possibility of renaming the committee. She noted that in her discussion with Dr. Simon, she was told the name of the undergraduate committee did not have to be exactly parallel to that of the graduate committee.

The committee discussion concluded the following:
    · any acronym that makes a word can be problematic
    · an acronym that maligns the committee should be avoided
    · the committee name should begin with “University Committee” to be parallel with other academic governance committees

The following committee names were suggested:
    · University Undergraduate Studies Committee
    · University Undergraduate Education Committee
    · Committee for Advancement of Undergraduate Student Education
    · University Committee for Undergraduate Academic Policy
    University Committee for Undergraduate Education (added as amended by the committee on 1/26/2012 )

The committee asked for time to consider possible new names and to discuss the matter carefully. As part of the process comments from other governance committees would be invited and if a new name were found it would have to be approved by the Board of Trustees. The process could take as long as a year.

Chairperson Dillon asked the committee if the topic of renaming the committee should appear on the next agenda. The informal consensus was affirmative.

After Roundtable, the meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted by
Sandra Walther.