Undergraduate Academic Council Minutes
Meeting: UAC Meeting Thursday, October 29th, 2009 -1:30-2:30pm
Room: UE Conference Room LC31J
Present: Maria Brown, Steven Doellefeld (staff), Sue Faerman, Martin
Hildebrand, Robert Keesee, Winifred Kutchukian, , Linda Kryzkowski (guest),
JoAnne Malatesta, Joan Savitt (Chair), Christy Smith, Kabel Stanwicks, Greg
Stevens (guest),Katherine Trent, Laura Wilder.
Regrets: Gregory Denbeaux and Fernando Leiva.
Review of the minutes: Minutes from 10/22 meeting were approved.
Report from the Chair: There was no report from the Chair.
New Business:
(1) The General Education Committee reported that they are considering a
proposal to have the foreign language requirement satisfied by students who
study abroad and study the language in their host country, the argument being
that this should suffice in fulfilling the language requirement here at the
UAlbany. Also under consideration is whether students who have already
matriculated at UA who take a language course at another SUNY school whose
requirements in that area are lower than UA’s should be allowed to use that
course to fulfill their UA language requirement.
(2) The Committee on Academic Standing asked the Council to look into an
increasing problem with faculty giving “Incompletes” to students. Should UAC
or the Senate draft a memo to remind them of the rules regarding incompletes?
Old Business:
The Chair conducted an anonymous survey to determine the prevailing opinion
of the members present at today’s meeting regarding minors. Three members
would keep the minors; seven would choose to make minors optional; and there
was one abstention. The Chair then proposed to talk about the objections that
could be raised regarding making the minors optional. Some members
suggested having a student and faculty poll asking if minors should be optional
or not before UAC come to a decision, but it was decided to not do so at this
time for fear of creating rumors and confusing students about the rules which
apply to them. Some wondered if departments would think that making minors
optional would be harmful or helpful to them, and if departments might further
restrict entry into upper-level courses if minors were not required.
The Chair noted that UAC should be thinking about what the defining qualities
of a UA degree would be if we eliminated the requirement of a minor. If the
minors were to become optional, in order to not negatively affect the
reputation of an Albany degree, should we be increasing the minimum of upper
division credits required? If the minors were to become optional and we were
to keep our residency requirements, should the overall number of upper
division credits that must be earned in residence be increased? And how should
we define “upper division” for this purpose, given that we have courses with
prerequisites that are at the 200-level currently counting as advanced work in
many minors?
The Chair asked for assistance in obtaining some additional information before
UAC engaged in further discussion of this issue. UAC’s staff resource person
will contact other SUNY campuses (the other university centers and Geneseo)
that have optional minors to learn how many of their students nevertheless
graduate with minors. He will also look into the combined major/minors that
we have at UA see the breakdown of courses so that UAC can see how many
300-400 levels courses are required for both major and minor.
Meeting adjourned at 2:30pm
Next meeting will be Thursday, November 5th from 1:30 to 2:30PM –
Room: Terrace Lounge, Campus Center.