Florida Institute of Technology
Undergraduate Curriculum Committee
Friday, March 30, 2012
8:00 am
F.W. Olin Physical Sciences Building
Second-floor conference room
Minutes
Meeting began at 8:00 AM. Minutes for February were reviewed and passed as presented.
Chair Jones brought up the issue of meeting minutes being posted as soon as possible to the UGCC site.
It was decided that once the minutes had been sent to the committee and any clarification or change
was made with no communication to the contrary that they would be posted on the web as ‘tentative’
until the minutes were passed at the following month’s meeting.
Consent agenda:
The following item was removed prior to the meeting at the request of the department:
Item 1. College of Aeronautics: Changing Graduation Requirements-BS Aviation Administration
Note: CRC CRM 4810 was posted to the documents but not on the agenda. It will be included
and reposted for the April UGCC Agenda
The following items were passed on the consent agenda unanimously.
Item 2. College of Engineering: Adding a new course: OCE 4515
Item 3. College of Psychology and Liberal Arts
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
ANC-COM 1010
Changing Graduation Requirements-Communications Minor
CGR-Applied Psychology, AA and BA
CGR-Criminal Justice, AA and BA
CGR-AA Liberal Arts
Other:
Tabled Items from Previous Meetings:
A. ANC ECE 3442. The information provided answered the question and was approved
unanimously.
B. ANC EGN 3050-Rep. Hadjilogiou presented the general concept that COE is attempting to
introduce research courses at every level. This is the junior level version of that research
experience. Rep. Baum raised objection to it being a 3000 level course with no prerequisites
which allows first year students to take this course. Research hours should be more than three
hours per week for a three credit course. The item has been tabled for another month pending
attendance by Dr. Kalajian who can answer the questions more clearly. Rep. Baum was
requested to post his concerns before the next meeting.
A request was made by representatives to add previously tabled item documents to the current
month on the website. That will be done in the future.
Information from the Academic Affairs Council:
A. Chair Jones asked to defer information item A regarding language about free elective
restrictions for some majors (BUS 1301 for COB and CSE 1301 for COE majors) from the
academic affairs council until Registrar C. Young could be available to clarify some questions.
B. Chair Jones presented the information on the new requirement proposed by the Academic
Affairs Council regarding students seeking multiple associate degrees must take at least nine
additional credits beyond that required by a single associate’s degree. There were no
objections with several representatives verbally agreeing this was an appropriate
requirement.
Continued Discussion on Minor Degree Requirements
Representative Archambault presented additional information regarding additional minor possibilities
resulting from allowing prerequisite courses considered as general education to no longer be required
within the minor.
Representative Archambault encouraged the committee to consider excluding the ‘core’ requirements
from the minor requirements The general idea being that more minors would be available, in this
scenario engineering, if courses that are prerequisite to a named course in the minor were not counted
in the 18-21 credits if they are meeting the general education requirements of the “core”.
Representatives Abdulla and Baum discussed the importance of advising and clarity for the minor
programs and problems that arise when advisors allow improper courses to be counted. While the
committee recognizes that issue, the goal of the UGCC is to explore the appropriate conditions whereas
the colleges must academically insure compliance and proper advising.
Representative Abdulla added that some students in their computational mathematics minor have MTH
1001 and MTH 1002 as named courses in their major. In these cases they substitute higher level math
courses as articulated in the catalog (p215) for that situation.
Representative Sale stressed that students in degrees that may not require calculus or two semesters of
a specific science, such as business or psychology, and are interested in a future engineering minor
would need to work with their academic advisor to make sure the prerequisites were met. While this
scenario is not likely to be frequent, it could happen.
Representative Baum suggested that perhaps this issue doesn’t require inclusion into the catalog but it
is important to have a working document for the use by the UGCC. Representative Baum asked Catalog
Director, Liz Fox to provide some input. She suggested a simple catalog statement at the end of each
affected minor that indicates there may be some course deficiencies that a student has to complete in
addition to the requirements for the minor. She mentioned that it probably isn’t necessary to change
the verbiage in the catalog under the general description of minors. Representative Stansifer suggested
that once language for the UGCC guideline is deiced we can then decide if there is a need to amend the
words or take them out.
The essence of the discussion regarding the exclusion of core courses for minors is articulated as the
following draft:
Minors where named courses have the prerequisite(s) of math and/or science courses considered
as meeting the general education core requirements may be excluded from the UGCC guideline
that minors cannot have “hidden” prerequisites, provided there is an acceptable rationale.
TOEFL Holds
Representative Rosiene-mentioned that he is having some issues with international students and
registrations regarding meeting their language ESL requirements. He encouraged departments to be
more judicious in allowing international students to take classes at other universities that may not
transfer back to Florida Tech or should not be taken due to the student’s language abilities. TOEFL holds
prohibit students from taking Chemistry and other courses including the lab. Chair Jones suggested that
he ask R. Taylor (HUM/COM Department Head) to mention this at the academic affairs council. He also
asked about students taking COM 1101 online and what that policy entailed. Chairperson Jones clarified
the policy.
Representative Archambault began discussion about why we not allow a TOEFL hold student to take a
course such as chemistry at another university using their TOEFL requirement. Representative
Archambault inquired whether or not it was our place to dictate safety at another university.
Representative Windsor expressed concern about not allowing an international student to complete
CHM 1101 at another university. This idea sort of excludes them from using the RTS policy to catch up.
Karin Almasi, Associate Registrar, mentioned that the TOEFL hold is in SOAHOLD which departments
have access to in Banner. Chair Jones mentioned that this was more of an Academic Affair Council issue.
“Place Holder” Problem
Representative Rosiene mentioned the issue of place-holding for registration. We currently don’t have a
system to have a waitlist and how can we prevent students from registering for courses to hold places
for their friends. This issue was also sent for consideration by the Academic Affair Council.
Meeting adjourned at 8:49 AM
Next meeting: Friday, April 20, 2012 @ 8:00 am in F.W. Olin Physical Sciences 2nd floor conference room.
Agenda items are due by Friday, April 13, 2012. We will have a final 2011-12 meeting on April 27th IF
needed.