Undergraduate Academic Council
Meeting: UAC Meeting Tuesday, Nov 4th 2008 @300-4:00PM -Room:
Terrace Lounge.
Members Present: William Meredith (Graduate student), Jane Kessler,
Bob Keesee, Bob Yagelski, Joan Savitt (Chair), Dan White, Steven
Doellefeld (staff), Maria Brown, Tim Groves, Maria Moon and Joel
Berkowitz.
Review of the minutes: The minutes from 10/16 meeting were approved.
Committee Reports (submitted in writing by Maria Moon)
The General Education Committee met on October 21st and discussed the
General Education Assessment 2007-2008 Report as well as how Gen Ed
course content is integrated in learning objectives. The overview also
touched upon associated processes, issues and selection involved.
Pending course petitions and waivers were also processed.
Report from the Chair:
(1)
The Chair reported that, at the request of Sue Faerman, UAC had
voted via email to award a posthumous degree to Richard Bailey.
(2) The Chair announced that the spring, 2009 meeting time would be
Wednesdays from 12:30-1:30 and thanked Robert Keesee for agreeing
to meet during his break between classes.
(3) The Senate Executive Council members raised some questions
regarding the UAC’s Bill 4 dealing with the “S/U Selection Deadline.”
Notably, they wanted to know: 1) who is filing petitions; and 2) what the
breakdown is of the petitioners by academic class.
Some data from the Registrar’s office regarding spring 2008 was provided
in response to the first question by Maria Brown in advance of the UAC
meeting. From that data, the Chair extracted the following information: A
total of 435 students elected S/U grading. 8 were freshmen, 100 were
sophomores, 152 were juniors and 174 were seniors. Most of these were in
General Educations courses, because many 100- and 200-level courses
ARE General Education courses.
UAC DISCUSSION: Members of the CAS reported that many of the most
recent appeals had been from seniors who would not graduate if their S/U
elections could not be rescinded. The Dean’s office was asked to review
the actual requests and provide a tabulation if possible in advance of the
next Senate meeting. The Chair will bring this information and other data
that will be gathered and aggregated to the next Senate meeting where the
bill will be discussed.
(4) The other three bills approved by the Senate have not been signed by
the Interim President Phillip yet.
(5) At the Senate Exec meeting, there was a report from the Graduate
Academic Council regarding the establishment of a fixed deadline for the
filing of grievances which had been suggested by University Counsel.
The Chair of UAC wondered if such rules would also have to be applied
to undergraduates. At the SEC meeting, it was stated that all such appeal
rules are constructed first at the departmental level.
UAC DISCUSSION: The Council questioned if the policies for
undergraduate and graduate students had to be the same or not. No
action was taken.
New business:
The UAC discussed whether or not a policy should be established for
Incomplete grades for students in the University in High School Program.
Members of the council would like to know what the instructors are told
by the UHS office regarding any policy in place for “I” grades before
suggesting any changes.
Continuing business:
A member asked if the Admissions Committee has made any progress in
constructing a bill for a 2nd Bachelor’s degree. The Chair reported that no
text had been submitted yet.
Meeting adjourned at 3:30PM.