Undergraduate Academic Council Minutes
Meeting: Monday, Oct 24th 2011. 1:00-2:30PM
Room: Terrace Lounge, Campus Center.
Present: Bryant Barksdale, Jean-François Brière, Karen Chico Hurst, Steven Doellefeld, Sue
Faerman, Richard Fogarty, Sue Freed, Glyne Griffith, Linda Krzykowski, Trudi Jacobson,
JoAnne Malatesta (Chair), Bruce Miroff, John Murphy, Malcolm Sherman
Guests: Greg Stevens.
Review of the minutes: Minutes from 10/17 were approved as amended.
Chair’s Report: The Chair gave an update on the campus Strategic Plan. UAC members
are participants on several of the “working groups” and they shared information on the
happenings to date in their respective groups. Sue Faerman noted that there are six
objectives being addressed in the Undergraduate Academic Group all of which will likely
impact UAC.
Sue Freed discussed the work of her group, which is examining advising for majors and
looking for ways to identify students in academic distress before their situations reach the
point of terminal probation and dismissal. Linda Krzykowski spoke about the Students
Engagement initiative.
New Business:
None
Old Business:
Internship Evaluation: UAC will table the discussion of this item pending the submission
of the UNI 290 proposal. UAC has been asked to consider options for transfer students
who have completed internships below the 300 level and were not able to receive credit
for those internships under current guidelines. It has been suggested that if the UNI 290
proposal is approved, transfer students could get credits for internships below the 300
level as long as they can provide proof of the academic component of their internship.
Double Major Policy: Continued discussion: The department of East Asian Studies
submitted a proposal, which requests a complete prohibition of double majoring between
CHI or JPN majors and an EAS major as it is possible for students to complete both
majors with identical coursework. Discussion ensued regarding whether the situation
that EAS is facing with double majors is unique to their programs, or whether it is a
problem faced by other majors across the university. Various viewpoints were discussed,
and the Council proposed, voted on and approved three tenets that will guide our
discussions and could serve to provide a framework for any legislation that may be
proposed by the Council in regard to this issue. They are:
1) That all students must complete a minimum of 48 discrete, non-overlapping
credits between majors and/or minors.
2) That academic departments that have multiple majors can choose to develop a
policy to restrict double majors within their programs.
3) Consideration should be given to the ability to cross-count courses between
double minors if students maintain 54 discrete credits.
The Council was in consensus that this situation needs further attention, and will continue
discussing the matter in future meetings.
Committee Reports:
Committee on Curriculum and Honors: Several proposals have been submitted recently, and
the Committee has begun to evaluate these. They expect to have more to report on in the coming
weeks.
Committee on General Education: They are reviewing General Education waiver requests, and
continue their work on the revision of the GE proposal from last year. They hope to bring
something forward to UAC for discussion in the next few weeks.
Committee on Interdisciplinary Studies: The Chair was not able to attend today’s meeting,
Committee on Academic Standing: They have been meeting every two weeks.
UAC will not meet on Monday, October 31st. Our next meeting will be Monday, November 7th.
Meeting adjourned at 2:30pm