September 26, 2025

UNDERGRADUATE COUNCIL
MINUTES
September 26, 2025
2:30 p.m.
Upchurch Conference Room, BELL 3162

MEMBERS PRESENT: 

Voting:  Jackie Mosley, Garry McDonald, Ethel Goodstein, Chris Schulte, Laurence Hare, Timothy Yeager, Matthew Ganio, Cory Butts, Kevin D. Hall, Manuel Rossetti, Megan Hull, Rhett Hutchins, Judith Anne Garretson Folse, Muskan Taori, Chris Goering

Non-Voting:  Gina Daugherty and Lisa Kulczak
 

MEMBERS ABSENT: 

Voting:  Ellen Urton and Samantha Robinson

Non-Voting:  Tiffany Murphy, Suzanne Kenner, Ed Bengtson, and Lindsey Aloia

GUESTS:  Shane Barker and Miran Kang

Chair Matt Ganio called the meeting to order at 2:31 p.m.

1. The minutes for the August 22, 2025, meeting were approved.

2. Consent Agenda:

⦁ The proposal for INST 20103 was pulled from the agenda by the college at this meeting.  All other course change proposals were approved without opposition.  The approved courses listed on the CIM Course Report created by CourseLeaf will be forwarded for consideration at the Faculty Senate meeting scheduled for October 8, 2025.
Additional details on course proposals can be viewed at:  https://nextcatalog.uark.edu/courseadmin/.  Search for the course(s) you want to view.  If the course is still in workflow, you will see a date and time of Undergraduate Council approval in the Approval Path along the RH side of the page.  If the course has completed all approval steps and is "at rest", you can still view prior proposals by clicking on the links in the History section along the RH side of the page.

3. Old Business:  

⦁ Student representative for the Undergraduate Council

• • • Chair Ganio followed up on the questions discussed at last month's meeting, sharing that the Board of Trustees Policy 880.1 mandates that all Campus Faculty committees (except for the Committee on Tenure) have at least one student representative as a member. 
    • Welcome to our new student representative, Muskan Taori.
                  

4. New Business: 

The following program change proposals were approved on the CIM Program Report.  The program change proposals will be forwarded for consideration at the Faculty Senate meeting scheduled for October 8, 2025.

a. Program Change Proposals 
     Additional details on program proposals can be viewed at:   https://nextcatalog.uark.edu/programadmin/.  Search for the program(s) you     
     want to view.  If the program is still in workflow, you will see a date and time of Undergraduate Council approval in the Approval Path along
     the RH side of the page.  If the program has completed all approval steps and is "at rest", you can still view prior proposals by clicking on the
     links in the History section along the RH side of the page.

• • • Proposed undergraduate program change for the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, Department of Architecture – ARCHBA – Architecture, Bachelor of Architecture
      
      
    • Proposed undergraduate program change for the College of Education and Health Professions, Department of Curriculum and Instruction – STEMCP – STEM Education, Certificate of Proficiency
      
      
    • Proposed undergraduate program change for the College of Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering – CHEGBS – Chemical Engineering, Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering
      
      
    • Proposed undergraduate program change for the Sam M. Walton College of Business, Department of Finance – FINN-M – Finance Minor for Non-Business Students
      
      
    • Proposed undergraduate program change for the Sam M. Walton College of Business, Department of Finance – WFIN-M – Banking/Financial Management/Investment Minor for Business Majors

b. Updates to Council Membership

• • • Proposal to update Undergraduate Council by-law to align with a change made to Faculty Senate leadership roles in May 2025

Current Undergraduate Council by-law:
Voting Council membership consists of a representative to be appointed by the Dean of each undergraduate college or school, a faculty representative selected from each undergraduate college and school, a representative of the university libraries appointed by the Dean of Libraries, an undergraduate student member selected through appropriate ASG procedures, the chair of the Campus Faculty, and the Vice Chair of the Faculty Senate. 

Proposed amendment:
Voting Council membership consists of a representative to be appointed by the Dean of each undergraduate college or school, a faculty representative selected from each undergraduate college and school, a representative of the university libraries appointed by the Dean of Libraries, an undergraduate student member selected through appropriate ASG procedures, the chair of the Campus Faculty the Faculty Senate Chair-Elect, and the Vice Chair of the Faculty Senate.

The Council passed the amended by-law via a “courtesy” vote.  (Membership noted this item needed no vote, since the Council is a sub-committee of Faculty Senate and, as such, adheres to Faculty Senate by-laws).

5. Additional Items/Announcements:

⦁ Update on Undergraduate Council website archiving

    The Council website has been successfully captured on the Wayback Machine and can be accessed here:
    https://wayback.archive-it.org/6471/*/https://ugrdcouncil.uark.edu/.
    In collaboration with the University Libraries archivist, Amy Allen, work has begun on archiving agendas, minutes, and   
    attachments from prior years’ meetings, to be housed in the Institutional Repository, ScholarWorks.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 3:15 p.m.

 

 

Next Meeting: November 21, 2025 (agenda deadline is November 7, 2025).