Undergraduate Academic Council Minutes
Meeting: Wednesday, October 10, 2012 from 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm
Room: LC 31 J.
Present: Nathaniel Cady, Rick Fogarty, Sue Freed, Trudi Jacobson, Linda Krzykowski,
JoAnne Malatesta, Kathie Winchester, James Zetka
Guest: Ellen Weatherby on behalf of Karen Chico Hurst
Review of the minutes: October 3, 2012 minutes approved with correction.
Chair’s Report:
After the last meeting, Fogarty sent the committee a tracked, edited version of
the Writing Proposal in an attempt to clarify some of the points discussed in
the previous meeting that were of particular concern to committee members.
Committee Report, Curriculum and Honors:
Sue Freed reported out that the C&H Committee has reviewed three program
proposals. The first involved changes to the Chemistry B.S./Chemistry Emphasis
in both the regular and Honors sequence based on a professional certification
matter. Two advanced level lab electives would be replaced by a specific lab
and one elective. C&H approved this requirement. The second involved a
proposal to clarify the language of the minor in math to specifically exclude
AMAT106 even though the description for AMAT106 did so. The change in the
minor was approved with a suggestion that the description for AMAT106
continue to state that exclusion. The third proposal was for a change to
Journalism’s Internship course, AJRL495, to make it variable credits. This
change was approved, but the Journalism Department will be asked to justify
the portion of the proposal that added a restriction limiting it to majors with
3.0 or higher.
Discussion of Writing Program Proposal:
The third order of business was a review of the edited University Writing
Program Proposal which continued for the rest the meeting. The council
discussed specific matters and proposed alterations:

The council agreed to change the title of the proposal to, “Proposal to
Modify the UAlbany Undergraduate General Education Writing
Requirement by Creating a University Writing Program, Including a FirstYear Writing Seminar.”

The introduction now mentions explicitly the role of the program
director and staff in supporting departments as they implement the new
general education requirements.

The rationale will now include language pointing to the role of the
proposed program in student retention and satisfaction.

The council agreed to wording that clarifies the role of the proposed
Writing and Critical Inquiry course in teaching students the mechanics of
writing while embedding technical instruction in a larger project of
teaching students to engage in the kind of higher-level thinking and
writing they will need to be successful as they move on in their
academic careers.

The statement stipulating when students will take the Writing and
Critical Inquiry course will read, simply, “Students are expected to
complete satisfactorily, with a grade of C or higher, Writing and Critical
Inquiry by the end of their second semester at the University at Albany.”

The council asked for a clearer, more direct course description of the
course in bulletin format, along with a clearer statement of the
framework of the course, or its learning objectives. This is particularly
important when considering how other departments might themselves
mount courses to satisfy the UAlbany writing requirement. The chair
was charged with formulating this, for discussion at the next meeting.

Appendix A will now explicitly note that students with an AS or AA
degree from another SUNY will be exempt from WCI.

Appendix B will now include references to studies supporting the
statement that required courses like WCI increase student retention and
satisfaction.

The council removed references to graduate teaching assistants serving
as instructors in the writing program, preferring to maintain the
integrity of the program by employing full-time professional staff.

More discussion of the projected costs of the program occurred. The
chair pointed out that these matters were very likely to be the purview
of UPPC rather than UAC.

The council asked for a more forceful and clearer statement in Appendix
G that the sample syllabus therein was merely a sample, not a specific
roadmap of the course as it will actually take shape. This is an area
where the program director will retain some latitude to rely on her or
his expertise and staff to design a course in greater detail.
Next meeting October 17, 2012
Meeting adjourned at 4:00 p.m.