ASCRC Minutes 2/18/14
Poetry Corner, Mansfield Library, 2:10 p.m.
Members Present: J. Deboer, K. Easwaramurthi, C. Henderson, L. Gillison, S. Samson, T. Thibeau, M.
Triana, E. Uchimoto, N. Vonessen, G. Weix
Members Absent/ Excused: L. Eagleheart, J. Hickman, N. Hinman, T. Manuel, J. Laine
Ex-Officio Present: B. Holzworth, B. Howard
Guests: Paulo Zagalo-Melo – Office of International Programs, Effie Koehn –Foreign Student Scholars
Services
The minutes from 2/11/14 were approved. The meeting began with the UM Minute.
Communication Items:

Director Zagalow-Melo and Koehn were welcomed to the Committee and members
introduced themselves. Director Zagalow-Melo is aware of some issues that need to be
addressed related to the fractured structure of the internationalism framework on campus.
He understands there are concerns related to students’ proficiency of the English
language.
International students are admitted to the University three different ways. Students are
granted full admission with a minimum GPA of 2.5 and minimum TOEFL (Test of
English as Foreign Language) score of 500. This is a pretty low score. Most Universities
required between 530-580 with Business, Engineering, and prestigious schools requiring
580-600. Montana State requires 525. Students are granted conditional admission if
they meet the GPA requirement but not the TOEFL score. These students go to the
English Language Institute (ELI) until they meet the minimum TOEFL score. On
average students can increase their TOEFL score by 30 points per semester. Some
students reach a plateau at 450 and struggle to increase their score. Sponsored students
are expected to gain full admission in one year. There is not a minimum score for
conditional admission, so this could lead to unrealistic expectations and pressure. The
ELI now has a disclaimer on its website with the average time to increase TOEFL scores.
Students also apply only to ELI without the expectation of matriculated to UM. The
University is also seeing an increase of international students on a one-year exchange.
There is a Bridge Program that allows level 5 (TOEFL scores between 470-500) ELI
students to take two college courses per year. These students must have the instructor
sign and override to be enrolled and have weekly orientation meetings.
The Office of International Programs is now working to develop a Pathway Program that
should resolve some of the issues for conditionally admitted students and create more
integration with campus. The Program involves ELI students taking lower- division
credit baring courses in conjunction with ELI and integrated academic support courses.
The students take an English, Math and Orientation to the US course the first semester.
Second semester courses may include Public Speaking and a Cross-cultural/ Global
Competency course. OPI is working with programs to identify courses that would be
accepted by the major. The academic support courses will be taught by the College of
Education and Human Services as experimental courses until the program is established.
The OPI is having a workshop on February 25th and 26th and has extended the invitation
to department chairs encouraging faculty participation. Director Zagalow- Melo will send
the communication to Camie for distribution to ASCRC.
The Pathway Program also requires students to have regular meetings with their
academic advisor. If students’ GPA is below 2.0 the first semester additional academic
support will be added to their schedule. The Writing Center is involved with the program
as well and Composition is developing a section of WRIT 101 for international students.
Students are required to take the TOEFL after the first semester
Fully admitted international students should be advised to take the EASL courses. There
had been a policy that required students that scored under 580 on the TOEFL to take the
courses, but it was never really enforceable. These courses are designed to increase
international students’ comprehension in academic courses. The policy used to reside in
the admissions section of the catalog, but has been removed. The policy requires a
central administrative body to enforce. Should these courses be included in the Bridge
or Pathway program?
It is difficult to assess international students’ academic credentials. The University has
students from 75 different countries. The University had a late admission deadline – July
15th. It has a policy to reply to students applications in 2-4 weeks. There is one very
competent person doing the evaluations, but there should be back-up in place in case of
illness or other unforeseen circumstances.
The University is currently increasing recruitment of international students by engaging
agencies, faculty, and training current international students to be ambassadors for the
University. This would be a good time to increase the TOEFL score for admission. A
score of 530 would be acceptable for full admission and perhaps 440 or 450 for
conditional admission. Sponsoring agencies will likely value the higher standard. In
Japan for example there is a lot of pressure on the students to perform and sometimes the
curriculum is set by the student’s home institution. In the European Credit Transfer and
Accumulation System (ECTS) a full study year consists of 60 credits, a two to one
translation. Sometimes there is confusion with the conversions.
ASCRC would be interested in seeing the data that correlates students TOEFL scores
with academic preparedness. Director Zagalow- Melo will send the data.
Foreign Student Scholar Services provides extra-curricular activities for international
students. The Office also offers assistance in interpreting policies and university
procedures. The Office sends a weekly newsletter electronically.
One area of support that may be needed is co-requisite courses for international students
in upper-division courses where they may be struggling with discipline specific
terminology. This may be particularly helpful in the sciences and business courses.
There were additional reports of ELI student not being able to find their classes and
struggling in their bridge courses. International students typically have the same writing
problems in their second language as they do in the first. Faculty members are
encouraged to provide feedback to the OPI.
Chair Henderson summarized the three main points that require some action after the
guests’ departure.
o There needs to be better communication between faculty and ELI related to the
appropriateness of courses for the Bridge Program and students performance in
the courses.
o The ASL policy needs to be formalized and centrally coordinated.
o The minimum TOEFL scores for full and conditional admission need to be
changed or established.
It seems a mechanism for ongoing review of the support structure for international
students is needed. Chair Henderson will discuss this with ECOS. Professor Thibeau
and Uchimotto volunteered to serve on the Workgroup. Director Zagalow- Melo will be
invited to serve as well.

The General Education Language Motion passed the Faculty Senate with a 28 to 20 vote.
Chair Henderson has received a communication requesting clarification of how to count
credits. He will forward this to ASCRC. Professor DeBoer volunteered to work on a
form to be used for the rolling review of language exemptions in 2015. Professor
Gillison and Director Howard are willing to help as well.
Business

The following Mansfield Center courses were approved.
MANS
107
Elementary Korean I
NEW
MANS
207
Intermediate Korean I
NEW
MANS
307
Advanced Korean I
NEW
MANS
108
Elementary Chinese I
NEW
MANS
208
Intermediate Chinese I
NEW
MANS
308
Advanced Chinese I
NEW

A request to consider a late submission from ART was considered. The instructor
thought the e-Curr form had been submitted, but it had not. It was noticed that the course
number (ARTZ 103A ) included an A indicating it was a general education expressive
arts course. However, a general education form was also not received last fall. The
Committee agreed it should wait for next fall’s review.

Military Science would like to offer a course (MSL 305) that is on the CCN matrix but
has never been approved at UM. The Department has completed an e-Curr form.
ASCRC agreed the course should be offered experimentally this summer and reviewed
next fall during the normal review cycle.

ASCRC agreed that the pre-CCN course numbers currently listed in the catalog after
course numbers in parenthesis should be eliminated.

Professor Samson asked why information literacy was being discussed by ASCRC.
Chair Henderson indicated that the issue came up during a discussion with the Provost’s
Office in relation to students in upper-division courses unable to do research. The
Library teaches over 450 classes to 8,000 students each year. It offered 1 credit add-on
courses last semester but did not meet enrollment minimums so the courses were not
taught. More faculty need to be aware that their Library Liaisons will work with them to
imbed information literacy into courses. This is a requirement for all approved Writing
courses. The topic will be discussed further next week.
.
The meeting adjourned at 4:00 PM