September 25, 2015

Upchurch Conference Room – Bell Engineering

Members Present:
Voting:  Paul Cronan, Jeannine Durdik, Judy Ganson, Ethel Goodstein-Murphree, Patricia Koski, Janet Penner-Williams, Manuel Rossetti, Mary Savin, Kathy Smith, and John Treat

Non-Voting:  Alice Griffin, Karen Turner, and Lindsay Turner

MEMBERS ABSENT:
Voting:  Karen Boston, Robert Brady, Carl Circo, Norman D. Dennis, Jr., Carol Gattis, John Pijanowski, Lona Robertson, Cathy Wissehr, and Tim Yeager

Non-Voting:  Lisa Kulczak

GUESTS:  Jennifer Henk, Mary Herrington, and Cheryl Murphy

Janet Penner-Williams called the meeting to order at 2:30 p.m.

  1. The minutes for the August 7, 2015 meeting were approved.
  2. Course Change Proposals:
    All course change proposals were approved without opposition.  The approved courses are listed on the CIM Course Report created by CourseLeaf and will be forwarded for consideration as appropriate to the:
    • Faculty Senate, meeting scheduled for October 14, 2015 
    • Graduate Council meeting scheduled for September 17, 2015

  3. Old Business:  None
  4. New Business:
    All program change proposals were approved with one suggested change to the CHEGMS (see below).  The approved program changes are listed on the CIM Program Report created by CourseLeaf and will be forwarded for consideration as appropriate to the:
    • Faculty Senate, meeting scheduled for October 14, 2015   
    • Graduate Council meeting scheduled for September 17, 2015
    1. Proposed undergraduate program change for the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, Department of Human Environmental Sciences – AMPDBS-BS, Apparel Merchandising and Product Development was presented by Kathy Smith.   The World Language change is to allow students to matriculate without having to take a lower level language course; the remaining three hours will move to electives. AMPD 4103 will be included in the general electives for the apparel program.  This will give additional elective options for on- and off-campus students through online delivery. The modification to the AMPDBS program MATH requirements is to clarify that students must complete a total of 6 hours of MATH credits regardless of entry level mathematics abilities. Students will not be allowed to complete only 3 hours of “higher level” math if they exempt from MATH 1203; the 6 hours total must be fulfilled (Table One). 
    2. Proposed undergraduate program change for the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Theatre – THTRBA-BA, Theatre was presented by Jeannine Durdik.  The major change to the curriculum is represented by the creation of two concentrations, namely: Concentration in Performance and Concentration in Design and Technology. The Concentration in Performance will expand on the foundational courses required of all theatre majors and strives to create competent performers, playwrights and directors through advanced coursework in Stage Speech, Movement, Playwriting, Directing and Acting. The Concentration in Design and Technology will create knowledgeable, working artists who will be able to design and provide technical expertise in a variety of theatrical venues through advanced coursework includes Scene Design, Costume Design and Lighting Design in addition to technical courses in Drafting, Rendering and Makeup.

      The newly renamed Department of Theatre is taking the opportunity to revise our current B.A. Curriculum. There are two major goals for the redesigned B.A. degree in theatre. We hope to provide a clear path to graduation in 4 years and want to prepare our graduates for the rigors of the 21st century entertainment industry. Secondly, this new curriculum more closely aligns with the Top 50 peer institutions that we consulted, as well as the national standards set forth by the National Alliance of Schools of Theatre (NAST) (Table Two, Ltr of Notifcation – Reconfig THTR-PERF, Ltr of Notifcation – Reconfi THTR-DSTC, THTRBA – Ltrs of Support).
    3. Proposed undergraduate program change for the College of Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering – ELEGBS-BSEE, Electrical Engineering by Manuel Rossetti.  ELEG 3304 and ELEG 3304H should have been listed in the third year, spring semester courses. This modification is simply to correct an error. Also adding CHEM 1123/1121 to Note 1(*), as well as CHEM 1133/1131, and including CHEM 1123/1121 as new options in Note 2 (**)(Table Three).
    4. Proposed graduate program change for the Department of Chemical Engineering– CHEGMS-MS, Chemical Engineering presented by Manuel Rossetti.  The request is to remove the Preparation of Proposals and Advanced Separations CHEG classes and change them to 6 hours of a CHEG elective. The change from required set courses to CHEG electives is design to increase the flexibility of the degree for focus on more specific areas of CHEG that individual students might be interested in. There is no overall change in the number of hours. In addition, the graduate catalog text has been updated for website changes.
      The admission criteria was changed from requiring an MS in chemical engineering to recommending an MS in chemical engineering.  This last statement will be reviewed at the Graduate Council to make sure it is correct (Table Four).
    5. Proposed graduate program change for the Department of Chemical Engineering – CHEGPH-PhD, Chemical Engineering presented by Manuel Rossetti.  Advanced Separations and Preparations of Proposals are being removed as required courses. One course is being replaced with a CHEG elective and the other course is being removed to decrease the number of hours. The reduction in course hours is consistent with the requirements in the College of Engineering as well as many of the other graduate engineering programs and also corrects a previous inaccurate calculation of the hours. The total number of hours is being changed from 48 to 42 (Table Four).
    6. Proposed graduate program change for the Department of Computer Science and Computer Engineering – CSCEPH-PhD, Engineering (Computer Science) was presented by Manuel Rossetti.  We are requesting to move the computer science PhD program to the PhD in Engineering with a concentration in Computer Science to be consistent with all the other PhD programs in the College of Engineering. We will continue to share resources with the PhD concentration in Computer Engineering (Table Four, Ltr of Notifcation – Reconfig CSCEPH).
    7. Proposed graduate program change for the Department of Industrial Engineering – OPMGMS-MS, Master of Science in Operations Management was presented by Manuel Rossetti.  Program review established the following:
      1. Pre-requisites assigned to specific courses as opposed to only the program;
      2. Adding the statement to the admissions guidelines: OMGT 5003 is foundational to all courses and must be taken in the first term;
      3. Level II requirements were mandatory in the graduate school until Fall 2014, but became recommended only. The program needs Level II language proficiency for the technical writing in coursework and has returned it to mandatory. Analytical writing returned to previous required 4.5 (from 4.0) based on faculty feedback of student performance. In addition, adding the statement: The MSOM English Language Proficiency Policy requires Level II non-native speakers of English to complete ELAC 4043 Research Writing in the STEM fields no later than the first semester of graduate level courses.
      4. The focus areas of Business Management, Industrial Management, Human Resource Management, and Safety and Health Care Management are being deleted to pursue new areas of concentration this year. No focus area previously led to any certificate or transcript entry (Table Four).
    8. Proposed graduate program change for the Department of Curriculum and Instruction – ETECME-MED Educational Technology was presented by Cheryl Murphy.  The program is seeking to remove the GRE/MAT admission requirement from the ETEC M.Ed. program. Our pool of potential students consists entirely of adult working professionals seeking career advancement. We have structured our curriculum such that the ETEC M.Ed. is a practitioner-based program, focusing on preparing students for advancement in the workplace. Our program offers working professionals the opportunity to learn skills they can immediately apply in their workplace, and as such, we recruit and attract students who are interested in job improvement and career advancement, as opposed to a path to a Ph.D. Because of the workplace focus of our program, and because we require applicants to submit a professional writing/work sample as part of the application process, we do not believe the GRE/MAT test requirement is necessary for us to adequately review potential applicants. Thus, we respectfully request a waiver from the Graduate School for this requirement (Table Four).
    9. Proposed graduate program change for the Department of Rehabilitation, Human Resources and Communication Disorders – ADLLED-EDD, Adult and Lifelong Learning was presented by Janet Penner-Williams.  Each year ADLL program faculty review student progress. From these reviews faculty have determined that students who earn a "C" are still capable of remaining in good standing and completing their degree.  The only modification being made is to remove the statement, "Courses with grades of "C" or below will not count toward the degree". While the Footnotes section reflects a change, none was made (Table Four).
  5. Other Items for Consideration:
    1. Tesseract Center for Immersive Environments and Game Design proposed as a new administrative unit shared by Alice Griffin.  (Informational item only.  New centers do not require approval by faculty.)
    2. Alice Griffin announced that ADHE has revised all the program/unit change forms.  Please share this information within each college.  Delete any old forms that may have saved to a desktop.  The revised forms can be found on the Registrar’s Office website at:  http://registrar.uark.edu/program-unit-changes/index.php. 
    3. Alice Griffin shared that the graduate courses under the subject heading CHLP have all been changed to PBHL. 
  6. Next meeting:  October 23, 2015 at 2:30 p.m.  (Agenda deadline October 9, 2015.)

Meeting adjourned at 3:15 p.m.