University Affairs Committee Meeting
April 8th, 2013
John Sapp Conference Room 5:30 PM
Chair: Justin Turner
I.
Call to Order
Meeting is called to order at 5:32 pm.
II.
Roll Call
Quorum is established with 4 voting members.
III.
Approval of Minutes
Motion from Sen. Morrison to approve the minutes. Second. No objections. Moved.
IV.
Approval of Agenda
Motion from Sen. Bowman to add Chris Brady to guest speakers. Second. No objections. Moved.
Motion from Sen. Morrison to approve the agenda as amended. Second. No objections. Moved
V.
Chairwoman Report and Remarks- sgauac@unf.edu
Very excited to improve and do anything I can to help the committees. The reassignments will be
done over the summer. Any questions?
VI.
Director of Governmental Affair’s Report
Been an exciting couple of weeks. Last week we attended Rally in Tally, discussed tuition and CTF fee.
The Florida senate proposed no tuition increase. We will be finding out soon if Aim Higher was
effective or not.
VII.
Student Advocate’s Report
Have a copy of the SAILS committee meeting we attended. We had perfect attendance. These are
scholarships we gave out for summer A and summer B. Also set the percentage for the next year. We
have to decide which terms get the most. We decided spring and summer. The reason is summer A
and B has doubled in money. One of the things is there is a lot of trouble when students are applying
for scholarships. This is because the applications can be too vague. Getting all the scholarships in one
simple place is an idea I am talking to Carlo about. Like the way you register to class, we would have
all scholarships in the same place. If you are able to only get all complete applications, the number of
applicants might increase. We believe we got better applicants than before, which means they are
putting more time into those. At UNF if you had an emergency, a teacher does not have to take an
excuse even if there is a doctor’s note. We are pushing to create a policy for students who have a
crisis happen and miss class to be excused. Also religious observances are excused if notified before
so I think these should be as well. I think these are good ideas to pursue.
Sen. Morrison- What happened when you went to Carlo about doing all the applications online?
He likes the idea, but we haven’t made any official steps yet. I only have 4 more days left so I hope
this is passed onto the members of this committee to pursue.
VIII.
Guest Speakers

Dr. Sam Kimball, Chair of the General Education Council. I am also a dean in college of arts
and sciences. I appreciate the invitation to come and talk to you. Your representative on the
council has been very active and done a great job. I am here to talk about the state mandated
changes and UNF’s response to that. In March of last year, Florida passed an education code
stating, “universities and Florida College systems shall work with school systems that higher
school curriculum prepares students for university work.” 30 semester hours in areas of
communications, mathematics, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. This code
means a reduction in the curriculum from 36 to 30 hours. The extra belongs to the university
and should be in place by the 2014. This in transfers when classes don’t match up from other
schools. Mandatory curriculum I have handed out to you all. The terms are 5 curricular
areas. Each would have 1 to 5 courses to choose from. Each would have to offer choices. This
is very complicated. Communications they decided only one for the menu and most students
come with that satisfied. Humanities have 5 choices. Intro to humanities is a whole new
coarse that UNF has to bring. Social science is highly contested menu. Initially wanted to add
psychology because it is the most popular coarse. Why not American history and instead its
politics, I don’t know. Natural sciences and mathematics picked very quickly.
Legislators are now creating a glitch bill to address problems in previously passed
legislation. This glitch bill is addressing 4 possibilities. Delaying the implementation until the
fall of 2015, return it back to 36 hours, increase the maximum number of courses in the five
areas, clarify the circumstances that are more advanced for a less advanced course. Not sure
the possibilities of any of these happening. This shapes the future of higher ed. This
conversation includes a higher rate for if you exceed the required hours to graduate. The
credit hour system was created to monitor what kind of productivity needed to be
demonstrated and comprehend faculty workloads. This is a historical invention. We now
have a nationwide conversation for the credit hour system. You should know that the federal
department of education has made a call for universities and colleges to general programs
awarding graduation for learning outcomes as opposed to credit hours. The state of
California has a three tear higher ed system. The intermediate tear has a budget crunch and a
backlog of students. So now a bill is going through the Florida legislation to require all state
universities to accept online credits. As long as it is in the system they have to accept that
credit. As chair, I inherited the task of trying to shepherd the UNF faculty for a new gen ed
program for UNF. I have inherited a gen ed task force. The councils is elected and appointed.
The task force is a working group. In December, the gen ed program had a state mandated
external review, this was an expert in gen ed. Some of you were able to meet her, she was
impressed by all the students she met. She said “it is clear students prefer choice. Will need
to be based on recommended experiences (learning outcomes).” Based on the principle that
we have to have clearly articulated learning outcomes. Spirit of the proposal is to focus on
what will be facing in careers when you graduate. Key benefits of the proposals to focus on
integrating the courses within a major and we are the first in the state to respond to this.
What to expect? Current options are in place, no change to curriculum except sharp focus on
the specified learning outcomes. Linkage between upper division course work and lower.
Questions?
None.

Chris Brady - Like to address the email you received from me about moving to Friday senate
meetings, starting in the fall senate will be on Fridays at 1 pm. And committee meetings will
be on Fridays as close to 1 pm as possible. Will let you know those times soon. I wanted to
make sure everyone was okay with this; we believe it is what is best for the branch. Love to
keep it Monday best for me too but this is best for others student. There are more student
events going on Mondays that we can now attend as senators. Any concerns?
Sen. Morrison- said there are two main benefits, can you explain those?
First, there are fewer classes offered on Fridays at 1. Second, there are more events going on
Mondays and less on Fridays and we need to be going to those and talking with students.
Sen- when will committee meetings are?
B and A and CSC will be before one. We will figure out this week.
IX.
Student Remarks
None.
X.
Old Business
None.
XI.
New Business
1.
Commission on Diversity- week of one reflections; funds insufficient. Next year committee
members involved. Awards going out. Awarded 2000 to winners. Looking to see enter exit
surveys for faculty involved to see why there are leaving the committees they were in. One
Jax award ceremony is May 14. Information for involvement is listed. Mosh’s race exhibit is
open until April 28.
XII.
Announcements
Summer schedule- if you are here over the summer, they will let you know the schedule.
XIII.
Final Roll Call
Quorum is reestablished with 4 voting members.
XIIII.
Adjournment
Meeting is adjourned at 6:03 pm.