University Affairs Committee Meeting
October 4th, 2013
John Sapp Conference Room 1:45 PM
Chairman: Justin Turner
I.
Call to Order : meeting called to order at 1:46
II.
Roll Call : quorum is established with 4 voting members
III.
Approval of Minutes : sept 20 minutes approved
IV.
Approval of Agenda : motion to add aarron andiron under quest speaked. Agenda
approved as amended
V.
Chairman Report and Remarks- sgauac@unf.edu : sam Kimball talk about competency
based learning. Jr about instate tutition for verterans
VI.
Director of Governmental Affair’s Report : not present
VII. Student Advocate’s Report : Monday: academic appeals committee, student has right to
appeal with president 5 days after. Library committee: will get a dean at beginning of spring,
hope to have two represenetatives on the committee. Faculty meeting: minutes found online in a
couple days
VIII. Guest Speakers: aaron: osprey voice, clarify that senators sign up for at least one spot,
two spots allows flexibility for when students can sign up, we want full participation for
senators, let him know of time slot, astric next to name with people who can do two spots. The
process: computer at the end of 6ft tables, locations: library and SU, chair behind computer,
senator sits in chair during time slot, can get out of chair to get students to fill out survey, need
35 responses to survey or you get a point. One hour to do it, appeal process possible. Give out
scantrons and pencils. Open textbox is for explanations. You have to ask them the question so
they can fill out the boxes.
IX.
Student Remarks : none
X.
Old Business : none
XI.
New Business :

JR-13F-2717: Ryan Traher presenting. This was proposed couple weeks ago. GI
bill received by veterans only covers in state tuition. Anything out of state is paid
out of pocket. Average two semester in state: $6,155, out of state: $21,434.
Florida= third largest veteran student population. Likely to increase even more.
Want to be appealing for this population coming in. Already proved leadership

and this is who we want moving to Florida to be our workforce. UNF has the
second largest veteran students in the state. UF, FSU, and USF have all endorsed
the bill. The more support the better. Would take affect July 2014. Would not be
state covering the difference, it would be lost revenue for the university. This
would not cost the state anything. It would only cost the university, but it is not
that much. Anderson: issues recently with military members greatly increasing.
Will we see extra protection for students costs? How do we pick up the cost of
those students who would not be paying otherwise? Tuition increase? Traher: no
increase in costs to other students. Turner: Estimatation of how many students it
would attract? Traher: not entirely sure. Motion to approve JR. No objections.
Mtion passes 3:0:0.
General Education Council – Dr. Sam Kimball:
Handout with updated version of general education proposal. Currently in the
process of meeting with all colleges and departments. The deans are completely in
support of proposal, but it is up to the faculty to vote for or against. Heart of
proposal: reconceive general education around four different programs. 12 credit
hours= qunatative reasoning. Critical thinking= 12 hrs. communication= 9. 3hrs=
culture diversity and culture awareness. Study abroad, internships, etc. account for
this. Needs to show an integration of learning. (pg 6-7) chart shows how proposal
maps onto current curriculum. State mandates= 5 menus. State interested in
competencies, but really focused on content specific.
Slide show presentation: benefits: bring curriculum into alignment with
recommendations of accredited agencies of professional programs, SAC,
AAC&U, US Department of Education, educational policy-making bodies of the
EU. Two models of education in conflict: tradition- 120 hr curriculum, historical
invention, organized around credit hours not competencies. Competencies are
independent of classroom. Second benefit: bring competencies into alignment
with upper level programs. Third benefit: rediscovers the most important theme of
education from the greek era to now. Socratic imparitive: organized around
critical thinking, questioning, getting outside ourselves through good
communication, and seeking knowledge of what we don’t know. Attribution
error: first person point of view. Socratic irony requires understanding how
difficult it is to know oneself. Greek conception of liberal arts: logic, grammer,
rhetoric-= knowledge free citizen had. Included music and athletics to their sense
of ideal citizen. Roman eduation= major change in gen ed. First 400 years- family
based education. 4th cenutry B.C. play schools for children arose, followed by
formal education came around and considered music and athletics to be trifling.
Medieval curriculum: trivium consists of grammar, rhetoric, logic. Quadivium
consisted of geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, music. Antedote for the lack of
logic in public discourse. Renaissance: study of humanities, excluded logic, added
history, ethics. Implication: history of education is the changes of what is known.
Recurrent focus is the object of critical thinking. Modern education= same theme.
1907 US offers very first sociology course. Major sosicological event: founding
of university of berlin in 1810- advent of the seminar- production of knowledge is
changed. There is no longer only handing down knowledge, but groups
collaborating to create new knowledge. Move away from aristocratic model.
Inventions have lead to advances in education, such as the light bulb contributed
to the creation of the lab. Genetics invented 1905. 1948: no network
communication program in the US before. 1959: first school of communications
funded. 2004: “digital humanities” appear. Content of the eduation is
continuously changing, but recurrent importance is competencies. Traditional ge
programs: usually discipline specific, available to high school students, contentbased, include intro to discipline specific majors but are not directly linked to
upper level programs of study, don’t keep up with historical changes in
knowledge. No one understands the connection between gen ed and upper level
courses. Traditional GE programs: not adequate. Brown univ. eliminating gen ed
all together. Some schools doubling down on gen ed courses. Emerging consensus
is competency based programs. First competency based program in the state
system- if unf approves it. He believes it is inevitable and will replace the credit
hour system. Conclusion: benefits: emphasize generalized learning skills, focus of
gen ed program is on critical thinking- which will vary amongst faculty from
course to course. Faculty beginning to get on board with this idea. Central to
upper level programs. Integrate first two years with in the major. Department intro
courses, not faculty- want faculty to take ownership of the content. Invites all 5
colleges to participate. Thomas Jefferson proposed the first idea of general
education, which was meant to be education that goes across all five colleges.
Program is self-adapting because it can change with the content on a historical
basis. Credit hour was made to track and compile faculty productivity. The
current economy needs good critical thinking and communication. Good gpa is an
indirect way of determining who to hire. This program has been presented.
Morrison: can’t replace credit hours. Put in place two sense of accounting. Seems
same as it is now. Kim: different sociological context. Advisor needs to help
students not with what course they need next, but what competencies they need
help on. Aaron: first university in the state of Florida? Yes other institutions have
it in place around US and Europe. This is becoming a thing all over the world.
Kimball: works on lifetime learning. Continuing education division based on
lifetime learning, variable sophistication. Four year degree= dinosaur because we
need to be learning throughout our lives. Alan: past three years, had professors
that did participate in critical thinking. Kim: can require faculty to cooperate in
standards of ciritcal thinking that we want. Alan: how can we enforce this love of

XII.
Announcements


XIII.
critical thinking in students? Kim: invitation to come into one of his classes. He
asks students the question until they answer and start to think. Justin: Are there
any negative aspects found at campuses with this program? Kimball: He is not
aware of the systematic problems, but the difficulty is found in implementing and
assessing. Turner: What is the ultimate goal of the change? Kimball: Not just
having grades dictate capability, position UNF for the eventuality of swift from
credit hour completion to competency, and get the faculty to cooperate in what is
critical thinking. How will this program change faculty? Changes how they
understand what they are trying to do, becoming more student focus. Positive
feedback? No one has objected to the historical trends. Anxiety= pragmatic about
scheduling. Overall strong support. November 7th is the up or down vote on the
proposal.
Turner: will support with a JR bill. Anderson: selling point for money and
students. Morrison: recommended simple layout of the new proposal to inform
senate appropriately.
The next scheduled Senate meeting will be October 11th, 2013
The next scheduled UAC meeting will be October 18th, 2013
Final Roll Call : quorum established with 3 voting members
XIIII. Adjournment : Adjourned at 2:53pm.