Department of Educational Studies
Minutes of Special Called Faculty Meeting
November 1, 2:00 p.m., Gooch 207
Present: Gene Annaratone, Michelle Arant, Frank Black, Becky Cox, Ann Duncan,
Robert Erk, Ginny Esch, Brenda Gulledge, Patricia Hewitt, Claudia Joplin, James
Petty, Cherry Watts, Cris Whitlow
1. Welcome.
Dr. Brenda Gulledge called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m. and thanked the faculty
for attending the meeting.
2. Undergraduate Curriculum Changes
Dr. Becky Cox, committee chair, explained the proposed changes, answering
questions raised at the last faculty meeting.
Geography no longer fulfills the Global Dynamics portion of the Gen Ed
Requirements, so was deleted. Dr. James Petty asked if Philosophy 130 could be
required rather than the proposed history course. It was agreed that this would be
done if the Philosophy Department agreed.
There was discussion on the reduction of the number of hours in field experience. It
was explained that there are so many field experience hours overall that we can not
get in enough hours. Mrs. Barbara Hutcherson’s office is having difficulty getting
schools to accept student placement for field experiences. The reduced number of
hours is what was in place at the NCATE visit and was considered appropriate.
The Middle School Program was correct as sent to the faculty meeting, and was
already submitted last spring. It was just not in the catalog.
Dr. Robert Erk moved approval of the curriculum changes as presented. Dr. Patricia
Hewitt seconded. Motion carried.
3. Memo for USA Nominations
Dr. Gulledge asked the faculty to read the handout and to submit nominations to Dr.
Hall.
4. Graduate Committee
Dr. Gulledge brought a proposal from the college graduate committee regarding
graduate admission requirements. We would no longer use the formulas, and the only
test scores accepted would be from the GRE.
Students admitted unconditionally must have a 2.7 cumulative undergraduate GPA.
Students can be admitted conditionally with a 2.50 cumulative GPA or 3.00 senior
year or adjusted senior year GPA.
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Students can be admitted unconditionally with the following GRE general scores:
Verbal 450, Quantitative 530. For conditional admissions, students must have a GRE
general verbal score of 360 minimum and a Quantitative score of 410 minimum
Students within one standard deviation of the national mean may be admitted
conditionally until 9 hours are completed in the masters program at UTM with a
minimum 3.0 GPA. During discussion, it was agreed that students must make a B or
better in these classes.
Students must have a minimum GRE Writing score of 3.5 for unconditional
admission. Students who do not have this score must take remedial writing courses
and retake the exam until a 3.5 score is achieved.
It was agreed to change the wording to say “retake coursework to raise GPA to UTM
graduate school minimum requirements for conditional admission,” and to change
alternative (on the handout) to conditional.
There was discussion about wording on the recommendation letters requirements,
however, in discussion with graduate committee members to clarify the intent of the
committee it was decided to drop this requirement. There are letters required for the
counseling and EDAS programs. If letters are required for the other education
programs, the graduate committee would have to meet to approve every application
for admission.
A flowchart was distributed, showing the structure of the teaching major as proposed.
There were questions regarding this proposal, however, at this point there were not
enough faculty to vote.
It was the consensus of those present to send the first page of the packet (admission
requirements) forward and put a ballot in the mail boxes the next day to vote on the
subject area. A ballot was put in mailboxes the following day and both the teaching
major and the admission requirements passed.
There was discussion of the counseling proposals, both those passed at the last faculty
meeting and those proposed but not yet brought to the faculty. It was stated that there
needed to be more discussion and clarification of these. Dr. Hewitt moved to table
those proposals, but there were not enough faculty present to act on this motion. The
faculty were reminded that the items had not yet gone to the graduate committee, who
could send them back for clarification if necessary.
5. Adjournment. Dr. Ginny Esch made a motion to adjourn, motion was seconded, and
the meeting was adjourned at 3:30 p.m.
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