Undergraduate Academic Council Minutes
Meeting: Monday, Oct 17th 2011. 1:00-2:30PM
Room: Terrace Lounge, C. Center.
Present: JoAnne Malatesta (Chair), Janell Hobson, Trudi Jacobson, Michael Steklof, Nathan
Cady, Jean-François Brière, Glyne Griffith, Sue Faerman, Bruce Miroff, Steven Doellefeld,
Bryant Barksdale, Sue Freed, Linda Krzykowski, and Karen Chico Hurst
Guests: John Pipkin (for Greg Stevens).
Review of the minutes: Minutes from 10/3 were approved as amended.
Chair’s Report: Proposed changes to the Informatics Minor, the Bioethics Minor, and the
Accounting Major were all approved by SEC and will be presented to the Senate on
October 24th
The proposed changes to Documentary Studies have been forwarded to UPPC.
New Business:
Internship Evaluation: The Chair for the Interdisciplinary Committee, presented a report
to UAC on UNI 390 internship policies. This committee was asked to review the
requirements and policies of UNI 390. There were four specific concerns areas:
1. Who can sponsor an internship?
2. What (if any) GPA requirements should remain in place for a student to be
eligible to complete an internship?
3. Should internships remain limited to students with Junior or Senior status?
4. Should current restrictions on the locations that internships may be completed
remain in place?
1) This was reviewed and discussed previously by this Council and there was a modification
to the guidelines in this regard. Therefore, UAC did not have to discuss this again.
2) The Interdisciplinary committee presented the following recommendation: There are
strong arguments on both sides of this issue. The majority of the committee felt
that the standard should be maintained at 2.5. This issue will require additional
discussion at UAC.
UAC members discussed this for a while and voted in favor of lowering the GPA 2.00. A
few small changes were agreed upon; and the bill was called to a vote. It passed, with two
opposing, and two abstentions.
3) After some discussion about limiting internships to juniors and seniors members agreed
that sophomores should be allow to participate in internships. It was also decided that
UNI 290 should be developed to make a distinction between the two courses. It was
agreed that UNI 290 should be limited to 1-4 credits. Departments and Schools will be
allowed to develop similar internship opportunities within the major and able to apply
their own additional requirements or and restrictions as they do currently. This revision
was also passed by majority.
4) At the moment UNI 390 is limited to off campus internships. Discussion ensued
regarding expanding eligibility to on campus internships as well. This part of this
proposal was also passed by a majority.
The Committee on Interdisciplinary Studies will draft a course action form for UNI290 as well as
provide updated bulletin language to reflect the approved changes.
Double Major Policy: The East Asian Studies Program has proposed changes to its
curriculum including a request to prohibit double majoring in EASIA and CHI or JPN
studies. The Japanese and Chinese majors can overlap completely with the East Asian
Studies major, essentially allowing students to double major and exempting them from
the minor requirement while only completing 36 credits.
A number of issues were raised and there was discussion regarding possible solutions or
alternatives. UAC was in consensus that this situation needs to be addressed, and will
continue discussing the matter in future meetings.
Committee Reports:
Committee on Curriculum and Honors: No report
Committee on General Education: No report.
Committee on Interdisciplinary Studies: See report above.
Committee on Academic Standing: No report.
Meeting adjourned at 2:30pm