Undergraduate Academic Council
Meeting Date:
Tuesday, April 17, 2007, 12:00 Noon-1:00 PM.
Present:
J. Philippe Abraham, Jeanette Altarriba, Scott Barclay, Maria Brown, Ivan Edelson, Susanna
Fessler, Carolyn MacDonald, John Monfasani, Karin Reinhold, Daniel Truchan. Guests: J.
Kevin Doolen, Sue Phillips
Minutes:
Minutes from the March 27, 2007 meeting were reviewed. No corrections were required, and the
Council approved the minutes.
Chair’s Announcement:
The Chair requested that Joanne Baronner copy and mail to all Council members e-mail
messages he received from departments and faculty reacting to the proposed changes in the
General Education Program. Feedback responses will be discussed at a future meeting. The
Chair mentioned the Gen Ed Committee will review feedback responses in an upcoming
meeting. The members may wish to take into consideration the departmental responses and hold
a re-vote after the Gen Ed Committee updates the Council. A final proposal will be submitted to
the Senate in May.
Curriculum and Honors Committee:
- Changes to the Requirements for the Undergraduate Major in Criminal Justice:
The committee found no problem in implementing Criminal Justice’s proposal. The proposal
would eliminate all 15 concentrations. The previous requirement entailed 9 credits of
concentration outside the School of Criminal Justice. 30 of 56 credits need to be completed at
Albany. The 3.2 gpa requirement for admission into the major remains the same, but two core
courses must first be completed.
A few Council member questions will be submitted to Criminal Justice via e-mail by Susanna.
She will forward responses to members. The Council will continue discussions at next week’s
meeting.
- Change of the title of the “General Education Studies” Minor to “Education Studies”:
The committee found no problem with the name change. People Soft has “General Education
Studies”, but the Registrar’s Office will complete that change. Council members voted to
approve name change to “Education Studies”.
- Workshop Requirement Added to Gen Ed Studies Minor Prior to Selecting the Minor”:
The Council will discuss this subject at next week’s meeting.
- New Theatre Curriculum Proposal:
Kevin Doolen, Chair of the Theatre Department, discussed the new Theatre proposal. He
mentioned a spreadsheet in the proposal detailing a course by course description for
implementation. Both faculty and curriculum changes have occurred, and the department
desired a more coherent curriculum that reflected current practice and better responded to
student needs. The department took into account the curricula of other theatre departments
UAC Minutes, 4/17/07
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across the country, the recommendations of two external reviewers, and student input. A liberal
arts oriented approach was preferred that would include visual, literary, and performing arts.
Four subcategories were created to prevent specialization since a combined gen ed and liberal
arts education is favored. Kevin pointed out that if the University did not require general
education courses, the Theatre Department would require them. The core major is liberal arts
oriented, and the department major is a combined minor and major. The Theatre Department
has 80 majors and 120 minors. As of yet, the department has not worked on changing the
minor. A member pointed out needed caution when changing course numbers. Students need
to be informed that when having completed a course that has had its number changed, they
may not repeat the same course. Another concern was course changes affecting old
requirements. Kevin mentioned that only about a half dozen transfers are received in the
spring semester along with about ten freshmen. The University is competitive with Pottsdam
and New Paltz, and he believes the new proposal would be attractive for recruiting purposes.
Although an honors version will be considered, it will be placed on hold until we are more
stable with the program, faculty, etc. An honors version would also attract better students.
The Theater Department chair agreed to a change of wording on page 5 of the proposal.
“Choose 18 credits from the following……” will have the word “additional” added and will
now become “Choose 18 additional credits from the following…..”
It was noted that both the course catalogue and the schedule of classes would need to be
updated if a fall implementation was requested. Could the proposal be implemented for the
spring semester and retroactive for the bulletin year? Due to time constraints, this proposal will
not be included in the 2007-2008 Undergraduate Bulletin before it is sent to the printers. The
Bulletin could include a statement informing students of a spring implementation with
information available on the Theatre Department’s web page.
Could the writing intensive requirements in Section 3 lead to students not having enough
completed writing intensive courses? Kevin did not believe so and pointed out that the Theatre
Department allows writing intensive classes from other departments. He mentioned that some
faculty voluntarily teach an overload without pay since they are so dedicated to the program’s
success. The department is increasing gen ed requirements. Their approach is that “no one
owns this class”. A member pointed out that some students may assume the department’s yoga
class will be an easy course. Kevin noted that yoga is 400 level, a topics class, and not
necessarily an easy course. He did state all students are welcome to attend.
The Chair pointed out that the Theatre proposal does not have to be presented to the Senate.
The Council voted to pass the proposal as reviewed by the Curriculum and Honors Committee.
Next Meeting:
The next Undergraduate Academic Council meeting will be held Tuesday, 4/24/07, 12:00 Noon,
LC-31J.
Minutes Taken:
Notes taken by Joanne Baronner, Undergraduate Education.