Minutes of the Undergraduate Studies Committee
2/13/2018
Attending Voting Members: J. Twombly
(SSB), R. Steffenson (SSCI), E. Orklu
(ECE), S. Morris (PSYC), G. Shobeiri (SGA), CW Adams
(ROTC), F. Flury (ARCH), F. Weening (AMAT), G. Pulliam
(HUM/CAC), M. Safar (INTM), P. Troyk (BME), X. Guan
(CHEM), SH Hong (CHBE), C. Wark (MMAE), N. Menhart (BIO), P. Snopok (PHY),
P. Anderson (CAEE), J. Hayek (ITM), (CS) S. Argaman
Also attending: J. Gorzkowski
(UGAA), G. Smith (UGAA), N. Novak (Galvin Library), M. Lopez (UGAA), B. Katz (ODL),
S. Pariseau (UGAA), R. Ellis (CoS),
J. Rosenberg (SSCI), M. Shapiro (SSCI), N. McClain (SSCI) C. Himes (LCHS), J. Hignight (Registrar), V. Foster (Compliance), J. Miller
(UGAA), K. Spink (PreHealth),
L. Kang (AMAT), G. Papavasilion (BME), B. Haferkamp (BME), J. Wang (ECE), J. Sanjie
(ECE), A. Hall (Registrar), T. Arshad (UGAA)
Departments with absent
voting members: MSED
Quorum declared at: 12:45
Adjourn at: 1:45
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 1/23/18 Meeting
(http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/1-23-18minutes.html)
Minutes approved unanimously.
Old Business
2. New degree proposal: Bachelor of Science in
Science, Technology and Society [J. Rosenberg – Social Science]
Proposal
is available at http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/documents/STS_Program_Form_UGSC.pdf
Following from 1/23/18
discussion: The Social Science representatives were again asked about the lack
of science and technology courses in this degree program. Shapiro (Social
Sciences) responded that other STS degrees like Cornell and UC Davis did not
have STEM requirements, that STS programs were not designed for people deeply
invested in STEM fields, and that STS was more about design issues or
innovation policy. Multiple representatives argued that STEM courses would
enhance the student experience and make the program easier to market. STS
faculty reported that they had submitted some last minute course plans
outlining how students could incorporate STEM classes into the STS degree, but
they were not requiring STEM because they wanted to maintain student choice. UGSC
members pointed out that the course plans showed that it was feasible to
include STEM courses in the degree, that there were many choices of minors,
that even with a minor there would still be a substantial number of free
electives, and that it was the role of UGSC to make sure that programs have a certain
amount of rigor and credibility. College
of Science representatives also noted that the curriculum did not match up with
the career outcomes, that it was not appropriate for the curriculum to claim to
prepare students for careers as biomedical engineers, medical doctors or bioinformatics
scientists without requiring STEM classes, and that their proposal would be
greatly strengthened if they could make linkages between social science courses,
STEM minors, and career paths. Rosenberg (Social Sciences) noted that these
same issues has been debated and discussed internally and that the committee’s
recommendations would be taken back to the Department of Social Sciences.
3. New degree proposal:
Dual Degree in Biochemistry and Psychological Science [N. Menhart
– Biology and J. Miller – Psychology]
Proposal
is available at: http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/documents/Bchm-Psyc_Dual_Degree_Program_to_UGSC_v1.0.pdf
Biology noted that the
controversial aspect of this proposal is the plan to allow students to count
two psychology major courses as S credit towards the core curriculum in order
to reduce the overall number of credit hours. UGSC must approve any exceptions to
core curriculum rules per the policy established at the November 2015 UGSC meeting.
Under this degree proposal,
students would still take courses in two different social science disciplines, and
students would not be allowed to count an additional psychology course for the
swing course. However, several departments raised concerns about the dangerous
precedent this exception could set and argued that allowing departments to
dictate H/S courses would limit student choice and could ultimately result in limited
social science and humanities course offerings for all IIT students.
This discussion is
directly linked to a new policy proposal (see agenda item 6), which would allow
students to opt to double count core courses towards dual degrees and double
majors. This policy change would be an extension of the current policy which already
allows students to double count core credits towards a minor. It was noted that
the existing policy does not allow departments to require students to double
count core requirements and minor requirements, and that many students do take
the extra courses to complete a minor. This proposed policy could help
departments reach a compromise that would balance the dual degree program
viability and the integrity of the core curriculum. In addition, this proposed
policy would maintain student choice in the H/S module.
4. New degree proposal:
Bachelor of Science in Computer and Cybersecurity Engineering [E. Oruklu – Electrical and Computer Engineering]
Proposal
is available at
The
proposal contains graduate level courses (from Law), but there are not restrictions
on requiring a grad course as part of an undergrad degree. CS asked for more
coordination with ECE given its interests and expertise in cybersecurity and
argued for more coordinated efforts, perhaps a campus wide taskforce, charged
with making sure there is not too much overlap across programs. Oruklu noted that there had made revisions based on
coordination with ITM. CS asked to be included in future discussions and
expressed a desire to see more dedicated cybersecurity courses in the degree
program.
5. Discussion:
Clarification of language on the web page covering English language
requirements for admission [G. Pulliam – Communication Across the Curriculum
Director]
This
page is at
https://admissions.iit.edu/undergraduate/apply/international-student-english-proficiency-requirement
Discussion
postponed due to time constraint
New Business
6. Proposal: Allow Core
Curriculum courses to double-count in second or double majors or degrees [G.
Pulliam –Humanities]
Change
the existing double-counting policy for Core Curriculum courses from the
current “Students who take the standard core curriculum’s distribution of
courses may apply them toward the requirements of any standing minor” to
instead read: “Students who take the standard core curriculum’s distribution of
courses may apply them toward the requirements of any standing minor, or to a
second or double major, or to a second or dual degree program.”
Discussion focused on how
to address the option of double counting in order to maintain the integrity of the
core and of student choice and members were asked whether this was an internal advising
issue or if departments could choose to publish degree programs with variable
credit hours to demonstrate what degree programs would look like with and
without the double counting option. Members discussed whether this policy
change should apply only to the H/S modules? At least one person thought that
departments should be able to dictate which IPROs students take.
7. New Degree Proposal:
Bachelor of Science in Statistics [L. Kang, M. Pelsmajer,
and R. Ellis – Applied Mathematics]
The degree proposal stems
from the growing market for data science and jobs requiring statistical skills,
and it reflects the expertise of new hires in the department. The program has a
computational emphasis and more computer science than other programs. ITM said
it would like to convene a task force on data analytics to explore
opportunities across colleges.
Proposal
is available at http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/documents/BS-Statistics-UG-Program_Proposal.pdf
8. New Co-Terminal Degree
Proposal: Biomedical Engineering [B. Haferkamp –
Biomedical Engineering]
Proposal
text is included in the documents referenced in the next paragraph.
Last
year Armour developed six new programs, and it would
now like to offer these degrees as co-terminals. They are proposing 29 different
co-terminal degree options, all of which have 6 shared credit hours.
9. New Co-Terminal Degree
Proposals: Armour College of Engineering
undergraduate engineering/interdisciplinary
graduate degrees [B. Haferkamp – Armour College]
Proposals
are available at
http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/documents/ArmourCo-terminalProposals(pdf).zip (PDF
3.8MB) or
http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/documents/ArmourCo terminalProposals(Word).zip
(MS Word 737KB) with an additional document at http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/documents/ArmourCo-terminalsUG-MEngMapping2-8-2018.xlsx.
(The
UGSC normally does not post documents in any format other than PDF but given
the size of the resulting zip file,
they
are posted here in MS Word format as well.)
10. Proposal: Use a
centralized advising process for new first-year students this summer [K. Spink
– Chair, Advising
Committee]
Proposal
is available at
http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/documents/Proposal_for_Centralized_Advising_for_New_First_Year_Students_2-12-18.pdf
Discussion
postponed due to time constraints.
11. New Degree
Specialization: Computer Science Honors Research [M. Bauer – Computer Science]
This
item is informational and should not require a vote by the UGSC. Documentation
is available at
http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/documents/Computer%20Science%20Honors%20Research%20Specialization.pdf
No
discussion due to time constraints.
12. Minor Curriculum
changes: Bachelor of Information Technology and Management courses [J. Hajek – ITM]
This
item is informational and should not require a vote by the UGSC. Documentation
is available at
http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/documents/ITM_Information_Items_Jan_2018.pdf
No
discussion due to time constraints.
13. Minor Curriculum
change: Bachelor of Architecture Site Planning course [C. Torres –
Architecture]
This
item is informational and should not require a vote by the UGSC. Documentation
is available at
http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/documents/Bach.%20of%20Architecture%20Site%20Planning%20Course.pdf
No
discussion due to time constraints.
14. New Minor: Statistics
[L. Kang, M. Pelsmajer, and R. Ellis – Applied
Mathematics]
This
item is informational and should not require a vote by the UGSC. Documentation
is available at
http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/documents/StatisticsMinor-AMAT-2-12-18.pdf
No
discussion due to time constraints.
15. Discussion: Apparent
need to require more detailed justification of change of grade for reason
“Other”
[C. White via R. Trygstad – Chair]
Recently
a change of grade form was submitted requesting a change of grade for a student
who had submitted late work. In the reasons on the change of grade form, this
would be marked as “Other.” Is this acceptable? Does the oneliner
of the form attached to “Other” provide sufficient space to explain the
circumstances, or should additional documentation be provided? Thoughts? Do we
need a policy on grade changes for late work, or do we need a policy on justification
for changes of grade for “Other”?
Discussion
postponed due to time constraints.
16. Report: Late
administration of the Writing Placement Exam / Basic Writing Proficiency [R. Trygstad – Chair]
Proposed
new Undergraduate Bulletin language regarding Basic Writing Proficiency was
approved by the UFC. The
approved
language is at: http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/documents/BWP_Bulletin_Language.pdf
Discussion
postponed due to time constraints.
17. Report: Approval of
CAC subcommittee review of the College of Architecture and CAEE department [R. Trygstad – Chair]
The
report at http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/documents/ARCH-CAEEreviewmemo.pdf was
approved by the UFC.
18. Other New Business
19. The next UGSC meeting
will be February 27, 2018 at 12:45pm in WH 115.