Undergraduate Academic Council Minutes
Meeting: Monday, February 13, 2012. 12:00pm -1:30pm
Room: Terrace Lounge, C. Center.
Present: JoAnne Malatesta (Chair),Janell Hobson, Karen Chico Hurst, Sue Faerman,
Sue Freed, Rick Fogarty, Bruce Miroff, Jean-François Brière, Michael Steklof, John
Murphy, Bryan Barksdale, Steven Doellefeld, Trudi Jacobson, Linda Krzykowski and
Nathan Cady.
Guests: Greg Stevens, John Pipkin.
Review of the minutes: Minutes from 1/30 meeting were approved as amended.
Chair’s Report: Teaching faculty have been nominated and voted on to fill the
Presidential Search Committee positions; six people have been appointed.
Working Groups/Committee Reports:
Committee on General Education: The Committee has a number of items under
review
Committee on Interdisciplinary Studies: Is short on staff. Teaching faculty are
needed on committee. JoAnne will recruit two members of the teaching faculty to
help finish up this semester
Committee on Academic Standing: All is well at this time
Committee on Curriculum and Honors:
Biology proposal progress:
1) Math requirement - approved by UAC.
2) Bio 122 to be a prerequisite for labs. The department has agreed to the removal of
the C or better requirement for Bio 122. There is concern for the implications on other
programs requiring Bio labs and UAC will reach out to BIO to be sure all affected
departments are aware of and approve the changes.
3) Upper level labs approved by UAC. A 200 level designation implies a higher level of
learning.
4) Bio 217 to become a required course. Need a C or better in the prerequisites Bio
111 or 121. Bio 217 should parallel 212Y requirements.
5) The requirement for at least one course in each of three areas (Molecular-Cell
Biology, Development-Function, Ecology-Behavior-Diversity) to be eliminated has been
approved by UAC.
*UAC approved pending the feedback from departments affected by the
aforementioned changes.
New Business:
ATM Changes: Proposal to deactivate UAlbany courses, to work with HMVA on classes,
and to deactivate admissions to geology concentration and minor as of Fall 2011 are
approved by UAC.
Urban Studies: Proposal to make Urban Studies and Planning a SED-registered major
instead of a faculty-initiated interdisciplinary option. The proposal supplies detailed
information about the program and attributes about 50 students and 10 to 13 faculty
members to the program. In addition to the core curriculum the program requires six
credits of cognate coursework, which would be any two upper-level courses across
disciplines; community engagement requirements and an international focus. There is
also a request to change PLN prefixes to USP.
UAC approved the proposal and will now forward it on to UPPC.
Music: Proposal to change course descriptions to better reflect what is being
instructed and to deactivate the Electronic Music concentration. The Music
Department would like to continue offering the courses that make up the Electronic
Music concentration, but discontinue the concentration as an option due to budgetary
constraints and lack of student interest. The following is the outcome of the UAC
discussion of this proposal.
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
Changes in the General Description of the Department in the Undergraduate
Bulletin: Sue Freed is currently working on this.
Changes to the Course Descriptions for AMUS 245, 247, 345, 347, 326, 426,
429: Approved
Changes to the Music History Courses, AMUS 230 and 231 (AMUS 230
renumbered as 300 in the proposal and 231 stays the same): Approved by
UAC pending the submission of a corrected course action form from
department
Suspension of the Electronic Music and Media Concentration: Approved by
UAC
Honors Course: On hold pending circulation
Cross list Music 426, 427 and 526, 527 with Art 426, 427 and 526, 527:
Approved by UAC. 427 courses will be a shared resource with 500 level
Deactivate Mus 430: Approved by UAC
Informatics: Ran short on time. This proposal will be discussed next meeting.
Meeting adjourned at 1:30pm
Meeting for 2/20/12 will be cancelled. UAC will meet again 2/27/12.