January 26, 2024

UNDERGRADUATE COUNCIL
MINUTES
January 26, 2024
2:30 p.m.
Upchurch Conference Room, BELL 3162

MEMBERS PRESENT: 
Voting:  Alan Ellstrand, Chris Liner, Casey Harris, Kevin Hall, Paul Calleja, Rhett Hutchins Megan Hull, Lona Robertson, Garry McDonald, and Manuel Rossetti

Non-Voting: Gina Daugherty, Lisa Kulczak, and Suzanne Kenner 

MEMBERS ABSENT: 
Voting: Adriana Gonzalez, Ethel Goodstein, Rodney Thomas II, Samantha Robinson, and Laurie Apple
 
Non-Voting:  Tiffany Murphy, Suzanne Kucharczyk, and Amanda Corbell

GUESTS:  

Chair Alan Ellstrand called the meeting to order at 2:30 p.m.

1. The minutes for the December 15, 2023 meeting were approved.

2. Course Change Proposals: 

a. 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 to the Faculty Senate, meeting scheduled for February 14, 2024.

b. 2023 Annual Course Review – Registrar’s Office (2b_undergraduate_4-5_years_active_decision_sheet_01262024). The Annual Course Review list was approved without opposition and will also be forwarded for consideration to the Faculty Senate, meeting scheduled for February 14, 2024.

3. Old Business:  

a. Follow-up discussion on the Council’s interpretation of two questions on the program proposal form in CourseLeaf.

i. “Is this program interdisciplinary?”

The Council was concerned that there is no campus definition of “interdisciplinary” and that guidelines around previous interpretations are not codified in written policy.  Chair Alan Ellstrand shared Vice Provost Gigantino’s response to the Council’s questions and asked Council members to discuss with their colleagues in each college.  The Council will revisit this at the January meeting.

After additional discussion, the Council requested a list of what programs are currently designated as interdisciplinary in order to better understand the context and impact of this question.  Gina Daugherty from the Registrar’s Office and Lisa Kulczak from the Provost’s Office will follow up on this and present their findings at the February meeting.  Additionally, Chair Ellstrand and Lisa Kulczak will draft verbiage to help clarify the intent behind both questions, so submitters have a better understanding of when it is appropriate to answer them in the affirmative.  The draft will be sent out to the Council ahead of next month’s meeting to facilitate discussion at the meeting.

 

ii. “Does this proposal impact courses from other colleges?”

While the current understanding of this policy is that selecting an affirmative response to this question only needs to be done if/when the change being proposed is to add or remove a course from another college as part of program requirements.  Chair Alan Ellstrand shared Vice Provost Gigantino’s response to the Council’s questions and asked Council members to discuss with their colleagues in each college.  The Council will revisit this at the January meeting.

See the comments above.  The plan is to add Help Bubbles to both fields on the CourseLeaf form with instructions/guidelines for submitters.

4.  New Business:  

The following program change proposals were approved on the CIM Program Report.  The program change proposals will be forwarded for consideration to the Faculty Senate, meeting scheduled for February 14, 2024.

 

a. Proposed undergraduate program change for the Walton College of Business – HRMGUM – Human Resource Management Undergraduate MicroCertificate presented by Alan Ellstrand.

Adding a MicroCertificate in Human Resources Management.

Having an understanding of the Human Resources Management function of an organization is important for anyone working in an organization. The Human Resources Management MicroCertificate will provide students with basic skills and understanding of Human Resources Management (4a_hrmgum_report_01262024).

 

b. Proposed undergraduate program change for the Walton College of Business, Department of Management – ORLEUM – Organizational Leadership Undergraduate MicroCertificate presented by Alan Ellstrand.

Adding a MicroCertificate in the area of Organizational Leadership.

Leadership skills are in great demand in all types of organizations. The MicroCertificate in Organizational Leadership will provide students with basic skills and understanding of leadership that will be valuable to them in the workplace and in their daily life (4b_orleum_report_01262024).

 

c. Proposed undergraduate program change for the College of Engineering, Department of Industrial Engineering – IEOABS – Industrial Engineering and Operations Analytics, Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering and Operations Analytics presented by Manuel Rossetti.

⦁ We are updating the name of our undergraduate major and degree from Industrial Engineering to Industrial Engineering and Operations Analytics.

In addition: (1) We are updating our students' technical elective options. (2) We are adjusting one of the state minimum core social sciences electives because we no longer need it to satisfy the requirements associated with General Education Outcome 3.3.

⦁ First, regarding the name change ...

For decades, industrial engineers have been recognized and valued for their skills in the design and improvement of the operations of systems of people, equipment, and information in a wide variety of industries including transportation, retail, healthcare, and production. In fact, the disciplines of operations research and operations management have long been associated with industrial engineering. Here in the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Arkansas, we used to offer a graduate degree in Operations Research, and for many years, we have managed a very successful graduate program in Operations Management.

With recent advances in computing power, industrial engineers have become more skilled in applying the tools of analytics to operations design and improvement efforts. In this context, analytics refers to the use of data-driven models to describe past performance of industrial systems, to predict the future behavior of industrial systems, and to prescribe policies and procedures for operating industrial systems. The analytics tools that are part of the modern industrial engineering skillset include traditional statistical models, artificial intelligence techniques, mathematical optimization models, and computer simulation models. In addition, the modern industrial engineer is expected to have the computing skills required to implement these models quickly and effectively.

Recently, the recognition and use of the tools of analytics have rapidly become widespread. Industrial engineers skilled in analytics are highly sought after in many industries, and analytics are becoming widely used in new areas such as politics and sports. Because of the high demand for engineers skilled in the tools of analytics and industrial engineering’s long history in operations analysis, engineering, and improvement, our department recently created a new graduate program in Operations Analytics.

Motivated by the analytics needs of our industrial stakeholders, our department recently overhauled the curriculum for the Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering. The new curriculum has an increased emphasis on computing, a more modern approach to data analysis, earlier training in mathematical modeling, and more application-driven courses in operations analysis, engineering, and improvement. The new curriculum has been well received by our students, our alumni, employers of our graduates, and our colleagues at other academic institutions.

Therefore, to more appropriately capture the education our undergraduates now receive, we propose renaming our undergraduate degree the Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering and Operations Analytics and our undergraduate major Industrial Engineering and Operations Analytics.

Regarding the two additional changes ...

We want to clarify students' options regarding the honors thesis. We want to give our students some additional options.

Because of additions to the list of courses approved for General Education Outcome 3.3, we no longer need our year 4, semester 1, state minimum core social sciences elective to satisfy General Education Outcome 3.3 (4c_ieoabs_report_01262024, 4c_ieoabs_title_change_ltr_of_notification_rev_bot_01262024). 

5. Additional Items/Announcements:

a. Smart Ferroic Materials Center – New administrative unit (5a_smart_ferroic_materials_center_new_instructional_center_ltr_of_notification_rev_bot_01262024).

 

b. The Classical Studies (CLSTBA, CLSTBA-CRDH, CLSTBA-LANG) program proposals tabled at the December 16, 2023, meeting have been cancelled at the request of the College.  Therefore, they are not included as old business on this month’s Undergraduate Council agenda.

 

Next Meeting: February 23, 2024 (agenda deadline is February 9, 2024).

Meeting adjourned at 2:59 p.m.