Minutes of the Undergraduate Studies Committee
11/08/2016

Attending Voting Members: G. Pulliam (HUM/CAC), J. Twombly (SSB), T. Pan (CAAE), S. Hong (CHBE), M. Bauer (CS), X. Guan (CHEM), N. Menhart (BIO), M. Safar (INTM), R. Steffenson (SSCI), P. Snopok (PHYS), G. Popovic (MSED), J.Hajek (ITM), A. Moller (PSYC), P. Troyk (BME), C. Torres (COA)

Also attending: G. Smith (UGAA), G. Welter (UGAA), N. Novak (Galvin Library J. Gorzkowski; (UGAA), A. Hall (Registrar), G. Papavasilious (BME), S. Spicknall (Tech News), C. Emmons (Assessment), M. Lopez (OneStop), J. Hignight (Registrar), J. Chong (CHEM), B. Mandal (CHEM)

Departments with absent voting members: MMAE, SGA, CAAE, ECE, ROTC, AMAT

Quorum declared at 12:45

Adjourn at: 1:33

Documents for this meeting are available at:

http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/documents/

Meeting chaired by Ray Trygstad.

Minutes recorded by Rebecca Steffenson.

1. Minutes of the 10/11/16 Meeting [Trygstad]

Minutes approved unanimously.

http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/10-11-2016minutes.html

2. Proposed changes to criteria for graduating with honors [Trygstad]

The current academic policy for receiving the honors designation at graduation states “a student must complete a minimum of 60 graded hours at IIT.” This policy does not include P/F hours.

Proposal 1: make no change to the existing statement; requires no action or motion

Proposal 2: remove the word “graded” from the current statement

Proposal 3: For purposes of Honors or High Honors designation, PASS/FAIL courses are considered graded courses. However, if the student has elected PASS/FAIL grading, a lower bound on GPA will be calculated utilizing the lowest letter grade qualifying as PASS for those courses, and this lower bound on GPA will be used to determine eligibility for honors designations. If the course is only offered as PASS/FAIL (i.e. not student elected) it will not be included in this minimum bound calculation. [N. Menhart – Biology] These proposals will be discussed today and any votes will be taken at the next meeting.

Discussion focused on whether it is fair for students to potentially receive the honors designation with only 51 graded hours, given that the designation is meant as recognition of academic success and that incoming freshman must maintain their GPA for more than twice as many credit hours. UGAA recommends amendment to proposal 1 from “graded hours” to “GPA hours”. Members should consult their faculty as a vote will take place on 11/22.

3. Revisions to the Biomedical Engineering Curriculum – Neural Engineering and Imaging Tracks [G. Papavasiliou – Biomedical Engineering] http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/documents/BME%20320-325%20revision%20Letter_signed.pdf
http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/documents/Course%20AddChangeDelete%20Request%201478%20BME%20325%20ISSUE76999%20PROJ17.pdf

The revision is designed to improve the quality of degree by changing one lab to a more applicable course. Informational item.

4. B.S. in Molecular Biochemistry and Biophysics (MBB) Co-Terminal degree with the M.S. in Molecular Biochemistry and Biophysics [N. Menhart – Biology] http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/documents/Form%20802%20sections%20BSMS%20MBB.pdf http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/documents/MBB%20BS%20MS%20coterminal%20v2.4.pdf

The co-terminal degree is different from the existing B.S. and M.S. degrees in that it removes one elective choice from the list of possible undergraduate electives. This course is mandatory for M.S. students and is not one of the double counted courses. It was noted that this could raise issues for assessment: we do not currently assess co-terminal degrees because they are supposed to be identical to existing degrees. We will vote on this co-terminal degree on 11/22.

5. Proposed new Bachelor of Science degrees in Chemistry [B. Mandal – Chemistry] BS in Bioanalytical Chemistry BS in Environmental Chemistry BS in Forensic Chemistry BS in Medicinal Chemistry BS in Computational Chemistry and Biochemistry http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/documents/Proposal%20for%20NEW%20BS%20Degree%20Program_IIT%20Chemistr y%20Dept_Nov%202%202016.pdf

Chemistry is introducing 5 new degree programs and will offer a total of 6 degree programs. The department was asked whether it had the capacity to offer these degree programs with 9 faculty. It responded that it did with a commitment for two new faculty. Department was reminded that it will need an assessment plan for each degree, and that it will need to offer courses even if each degree program has small enrolment. UGAA noted a small error with the listing of electives on page 11.

6. Communication Across the Curriculum (CAC) review reports on Humanities’ and MSED’s C-courses. [G. Pulliam – CAC coordinator] http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/documents/HUM-CACreview2016.pdf http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/documents/MSEDCACreview2016.pdf

CAC reports from Humanities and MSED approved unanimously.

7. Other New Business All minutes and supporting documents may be found on the UGSC website:

http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/