ASCRC Minutes 11/19/13
Poetry Corner, Mansfield Library, 2:10 p.m.
Members Present: J. Deboer, C. Henderson, L. Gillison, T. Manuel, T. Thibeau, M. Triana, E.
Uchimoto, N. Vonessen
Members Absent/ Excused: L. Eagleheart, K. Easwaramurthi, J. Laine, S. Samson , G. Weix
Ex-Officio Present: J. Hickman, B. Holzworth, N. Hinman
Guest: L. Knapp
The minutes from 11/12/13 were approved after the Degree Builder update.
Communication Items:

Loey Knapp and Interim Registrar Hickman provided a demonstration and status report on
Degree Builder. It will provide a single source of data that can eventually feed into a degree
audit system. The output will be a standardized format. Several programs in School of
Business, Forestry, English, and HHP have been testing the system. The timeline is as
follows:
12/1-12/15
Training
12/15-2/28
Roll out
2/28
All undergraduate degrees due
March
Catalog Construction
April
Catalog Review
May
Catalog Revision
June
Catalog Production
The demonstration showed how a degree is built within the system. The system will include
all majors, minors, options and certificates. The requirements are in blocks. Elements
include core courses, and the subcategories have a drop down menu to map the components
and unique characteristics. There is an ‘other’ choice which allows programs to put in text
for something not otherwise identified. Programs should keep in mind that items that are not
easily mapped will likely not work well in a degree audit system and could be confusing for
students as well.
The Academic Officers requested that the units not be required to do the data entry due to
workload issues. Student employees, presumably Peer Advisors in the Office of Student
Success, will enter the data and a single point of contact in the units will review. There are
356 degrees; 177 of them are under graduate.
There was some discussion regarding whether general education designations should be
considered in the system. Typically these are separate from the major although there may be
some overlap. The list of general education courses will still be maintained in the catalog.
ASCRC may want to consider whether course numbers should retain the general education
letters. These can be misleading to students when the course status changes.
Programs may decide to make changes as a result of mapping the degrees. These may
require review by ASCRC. Departments often realize changes need to be made when the
catalog copy is reviewed. Chair Henderson wonders whether a spring review might be
necessary.
Business

There was no additional curriculum follow-up ready for approval.

Two late requests have come in related to prereq and restriction enforcement in Banner.
ASCRC agreed to consider these. The request from Communication Studies will be sent to
an ad hoc subcommittee consisting of Professors Thibeau, Gillison, and Henderson. The
Applied Computing and Electronics proposal will be reviewed by members of the Science
Subcommittee.

Associate Vice President O’Hare requested ASCRC draft specific questions / issues that it
would like to discuss with the various individuals involved with support for international
students. The following issues were identified:
o The quality of various exam options that certify English Language Proficiency varies.
o There are different paths for foreign students to be admitted to the Universitytraditional application, ELI bridge courses, and international exchanges. Many may
be advised into EASL support courses administered by Linguistics (formerly required
by UM as per Faculty Senate policy). How else do international students find out
about support services? Are there discipline specific support services offered?
Specifically, what existing advising mechanism directly serves improficient students?
o International Students do not completely understand lectures in some business and
science courses. Are there any resources for faculty that have international students
in their courses? Does ELI negotiate with the instructors of courses identified as
appropriate to introduce international students to college-level course work?
o It would be helpful to have data on how international students perform from each path
to determine where there may be a need for support to enhance student success.
Chair Henderson will draft and circulate questions for the committee to review and then send
them to Associate Vice President O’Hare.
The meeting adjourned at 4:00 PM