Undergraduate Academic Council
Meeting: UAC Meeting Wednesday, March 18, 2009, 12:30-1:30pm
Room: Undergraduate Ed Conference room LC31J.
Members Present: Yu-Hui Chen, Diane Dewar (guest), John Delano
(guest), Steven Doellefeld, Timothy Groves, Sue Faerman, Rick Fogarty,
Jane Kessler, Bob Keesee, Wayne Locust (guest), Maria Moon, Sue
Phillips, Joan Savitt (Chair), Greg Stevens, Dan White and Robert
Yagelski.
Review of the minutes: Minutes from March 11th were approved. .
Report from the Chair:
1. The Criminal Justice Honors proposal has been resubmitted to UAC
with the minor corrections we requested. The Chair will bring the bill to
the Senate.
2. There is a concern about the reduction in the number of teaching
assistantships and how this will affect not only graduate programs but
undergraduate programs as well.
3. A proposal for consideration of credits to be awarded by UA for
students who have completed an International Baccalaureate degree was
referred to the Admissions and Academic Standing committee of UAC by
email earlier this week. Since Ann Withington, who chaired that
committee, has left UAC, the Chair asked all members of the committee to
reorganize themselves and study this proposal.
New Business
UAC heard a presentation on a draft of the First Year Experience (FYE)
Proposal. Three members of the FYE committee were present to answer
questions that UAC members might have about this proposal. At this
point, the committee is looking for feedback and ideas from senate
councils and others so they can incorporate their suggestions and move
forward with their proposal. The FYE Proposal uses UA’s Project
Renaissance, as well as programs at other universities with FYE or livinglearning communities, as their models. The FYE proposal has three
models which would vary by cost of implementation and other details.
All models have the same learning objectives:
1. The development of intellectual curiosity and information literacy
2. The development of academic, social and personal pursuits in the
research University
3. The engagement of the student with the University and community at
large to develop civic responsibility
4. The understanding of an ethical framework for working with others
5. The development of an appreciation for diversity
6. The development of themselves as independent persons
7. The development of physical and mental well-being
The models propose mandatory courses or course content for freshman
students which could be open to others, including even seniors. In one
possible scenario, these FYE objectives would be infused with those of
some General Education courses which would be taught with consultation
with a “professional mentor” who could lead discussion sections related
to topics not part of the general curriculum of each course.
Questions raised by UAC members included:
Who will design the courses?
Where are the details of these courses? Where will they come from?
What is the size of classes?
How many professional mentors and full time professors are needed for
this proposal?
How many breakout sessions will there be, for example, in a Gen Ed class
that enrolls over 100 students?
Will the faculty involved in this need to be trained? If the courses are
being taught by TAs, how will they be ready to do this kind of teaching?
Did the committee consider making the FYE courses credit bearing?
Has the committee considered transfer students? Commuter students?
Has the committee done a cost-benefit analysis?
If some other proposed programs have failed to be launched due to the
lack of funds, what are the guarantees this proposal will not be turned
down as well?
What will be the impact in departments that are already facing cuts to
their Teaching Assistantships? How much more strain will this bring to
those departmental budgets?
Some of these questions were answered by the FYE committee presenters.
However, many more questions have pending answers.
Next meeting will be March 25th in Terrace Lounge, Campus Center.