January 26, 2018

• U of A
• Undergraduate Council
• Meeting Minutes
• January 26, 2018

Upchurch Conference Room – Bell Engineering

Members Present:

Voting:  Jeannine Durdik, Jim Gigantino, Ethel Goodstein-Murphree, Fran Hagstrom, Douglas Karcher, Patricia Koski, Kathleen Lehman, Cathy Lirgg, Ketevan Mamiseishvili, Jared Pack, Jennie Popp, and Manuel Rossetti

Non-Voting:  Kierstin Bible, Lisa Kulczak, and Alice Griffin,

MEMBERS ABSENT:

Voting:  Karen Boston, Paul Cronan, Norman D. Dennis, Jr., Will Foster, Lona Robertson, Joel Thornton, and Timothy Yeager

Non-Voting:  Amanda Corbell 

GUESTS:  Freddie Bowles,

Jeannine Durdik called the meeting to order at 2:30 p.m.

1. The minutes for the December 15, 2017 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 February 14, 2018
   • Graduate Council meeting scheduled for February 15, 2018
     
     
3. Old Business: 
   1. Proposed undergraduate program change for the College of Education and Health Professions, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, EGEDBA – English Education, Bachelor of Arts in Teaching was presented by Freddie Bowles. 
      
      The Bachelor of Arts in Teaching English Education, French Education, German Education, Spanish Education, and Social Studies Education is a new degree program in education leading to licensure in the respective content areas (K-12 or 7-12 depending on the major).
      
      The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education, August 2016, identified 6 subject areas that are currently “high-need fields”: bilingual education and English language acquisition, foreign language, math, reading specialist, science and special education. In Arkansas, the list includes art, computer science, family and consumer sciences, journalism, library, mathematics, music, physical science (chemistry, physics), social studies, Spanish, and special education for 2017-18. Vacant positions across the state for 2016-17 totaled 1572, not including administrative positions. Vacancies in English totaled 115; foreign language totaled 35 (not disaggregated by language); and social studies totaled 73.
      
      Doug Karcher moved to accept the changes. Jim Gigantino seconded the motion.  The motion passed (3a_egedbat_newlicense_ltrofintent, 3a_prof_educ_prog_proposal_egedba, 3a_egedbat_reptjan262018).
      
      
   2. Proposed undergraduate program change for the College of Education and Health Professions, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, SSEDBA – Social Studies Education, Bachelor of Arts in Teaching was presented by Freddie Bowles.
      
      The Bachelor of Arts in Teaching English Education, French Education, German Education, Spanish Education, and Social Studies Education is a new degree program in education leading to licensure in the respective content areas (K-12 or 7-12 depending on the major).
      
      The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education, August 2016, identified 6 subject areas that are currently “high-need fields”: bilingual education and English language acquisition, foreign language, math, reading specialist, science and special education. In Arkansas, the list includes art, computer science, family and consumer sciences, journalism, library, mathematics, music, physical science (chemistry, physics), social studies, Spanish, and special education for 2017-18. Vacant positions across the state for 2016-17 totaled 1572, not including administrative positions. Vacancies in English totaled 115; foreign language totaled 35 (not disaggregated by language); and social studies totaled 73.
      
      Doug Karcher moved to accept the changes.  Jim Gigantino seconded the motion.  The motion passed (3b_ssedbat_newlicense_ltrofintent,  3b_prof_educ_prog_proposal_ssedba, 3b_ssedbat_reptjan262018).
      
      
4. New Business:
   The following program change proposals were approved on the CIM Program Report without opposition.  The program changes will be forwarded for consideration as appropriate to the:
   • Faculty Senate, meeting scheduled for February 14, 2018
   • Graduate Council meeting scheduled for February 15, 2018
     
     
   1. Proposed undergraduate program change for the College of Engineering, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, BENGBS – Biological Engineering, Bachelor of Science in Biological Engineering was presented by Manuel Rossetti.
      
      There are two parts to this request:
      (1) elimination of the degree requirement of BIOL 3863, General Ecology.    Due to varying student interests and career paths, not all of our students optimally benefit from taking BIOL 3863, General Ecology.
      
      (2) The addition of a degree requirement of a 3 hour Biological Elective, selected from among a list of acceptable courses. A list of acceptable courses will be maintained by the department. At present, the courses we have chosen to populate the list are:
      BIOL 3863, General Ecology
      CSES 2203, Soil Science
      ENSC 4023, Water Quality
      CHEM 3613, Organic Chemistry II
      CHEM 3813, Elements of Biochemistry
      BIOL 2533, Cell Biology
      
      The Biological Elective will give students some flexibility in choosing the required biological content (allowing some courses in addition to Ecology) to accommodate varying student interests and career paths (4a_bengbsreptjan262018).
      
      
   2. Proposed undergraduate program change for the College of Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, CHEGBS – Chemical Engineering, Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering was presented by Manuel Rossetti.
      
      Graduation requirements are being changed so that all students complete at least 30 hours of Chemical Engineering (CHEG) courses at the U of A.
      
      Currently, transfer students could earn a degree in Chemical Engineering by completing 30 hours of 3000-4000 level classes, but these classes do not have to be specific to the major (4b_chegbsreptjan262018).
      
      
   3. Proposed undergraduate program change for the College of Engineering, Department of Computer Science and Computer Engineering, CSCEBA – Computer Science, Bachelor of Arts was presented by Manuel Rossetti.
      
      We are adding CSCE 3513 Software Engineering and CSCE 3613 Operating Systems as required courses and removing 6 hours of CSCE elective courses.  
      
      Changes of this nature were suggested in a recent program review of the BA program (4c_cscebareptjan262018).
      
      
   4. Proposed graduate program change for the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, BENGMS – Biological Engineering, Master of Science in Biological Engineering was presented by Manuel Rossetti.
      
      Added the requirement to produce a journal quality paper. Set a maximum number of 4000 level course that can be used for the degree.
      
      Changes in the graduate catalogue were made to clarify the degree requirements so students are able to better process the information. All of the changed parts had been the department policy and have been stated in the department's graduate handbook for over 7-10 years as described in the “DESCRIPTION” section. For example, the “preparation of a paper suitable for submission to a refereed journal” has been required at least for the past 7 years for both MS and PhD degrees in BENG. However, we found that the Graduate Catalogue has not clearly reflected the degree requirements, causing confusions for the students. The 4000 level course requirement aligns the program with ADHE requirements.
      
      UCPC changed the language regarding the GRE requirement in order to more closely match the Graduate School’s policy regarding a score on a standardized exam (4d_bengmsreptjan262018).
      
      
   5. Proposed graduate program change for the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, BENGPH – Biological Engineering, Doctor of Philosophy was presented by Manuel Rossetti.
      
      Adding the requirement to produce a journal quality paper. Clarifying the number of 4000 level credit hours that can be used in the degree. Removing administrative details of the examinations.
      
      Reduce the verbiage in the catalog and refer students to the departmental graduate student handbook for administrative details. While the details may change from time to time, the program requirements themselves will not change. Align the use of 4000 level courses with ADHE requirements (4e_bengphreptjan262018).
      
      
5. Additional items/Announcements:
   New Administrative Unit – Blockchain Center of Excellence (BCoE), Department of Information Systems, Walton College of Business (5_bcoe_newadminunit_ltrofnotify, 5_bcoe_newadminunit_proposal).
   
   
6. Next Meeting:  February 23, 2018 at 2:30 p.m. (Agenda deadline is February 9, 2018)

Meeting adjourned at 3:00 p.m.