Undergraduate Academic Council Minutes
Meeting: Wednesday, January 30, 2013 from 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm
Room: LC 31 J.
Present: Nathaniel Cady, Sue Faerman, Rick Fogarty, Sue Freed, Janell
Hobson, Kathy Gersowitz, Trudi Jacobson, Linda Krzykowski, JoAnne Malatesta,
Caro-Beth Stewart, Kathie Winchester, James Zetka.
Chair’s Report:
UAC has completed work on a revised draft of the university’s Standards of
Academic Integrity and forwarded it to GAC for further review and input.
The Writing Program Director’s search is ongoing. The logistics committee has
met several times to coordinate such matter as scheduling rooms, planning
equipment and office space, and estimating enrollment needs in anticipation of
the Writing and Critical Inquiry course being launched Fall 2013 for all incoming
freshmen.
President Jones attended last week’s Senate Executive Committee meeting. He
discussed initiatives recently unveiled by Chancellor Zimpher, such as a
considerable expansion of online learning across the state system and a 3 year
degree designed to reduce student debt. He personally advocates for
experiential learning, increasing connections with the community on all levels.
The Chair also reported from the SEC meeting that the new SUNY-wide
Resource Allocation Method will result in this campus losing almost $2 million
of its budget allocation.
There will be no meeting next week as the Chair along with the Associate Dean
for General Education Leslie Halpern will instead meet with the CAS Council of
Chairs to discuss General Education competencies in the major. UAC will be
reviewing the plans departments submit. These plans must be implemented
beginning Fall 2014.
New Business:
Committee members discussed an amendment to Senate Bill 1112-15,
introduced by Senator Pedro Cabán at the Senate meeting of 14 May 2012. This
amendment was tabled and sent to UAC for review, which it is now
undertaking. After discussion, recognizing the merit of the issues that the
amendment raises, the council tasked its Committee on General Education with
assessing whether there is a way for the learning objectives of the International
Perspectives category to be worded in a clearer, more straightforward, and
more inclusive fashion.
Future Business:
The Chair summarized some work he anticipates for UAC this semester. This
will include discussion of procedures UAC and its Curriculum and Honors
committee will follow when moving various course and program proposals and
changes into implementation. UAC anticipates a final proposal from Public
Policy to rework the major. UAC will also be reviewing restricted majors to see
if the reasons to restrict in the first place still prevail. Such a review is
supposed to happen every three to five years.
Committee Reports:
Committee on Curriculum and Honors: The committee is in the process of
reviewing a proposal to add a course to the Entrepreneurial concentration in
the Business major.
Meeting adjourned at 3:45