Undergraduate Studies Committee

Attending IIT Guests: D. Geiger (Student Affairs), P. Troyk (BME), G. Welter (Ed. Serv.)

The meeting is chaired by Greg Fasshauer.

The minutes are recorded by John Snapper.

Convene 12:50 PM. Adjourn 1:45 PM.

The Chair notes that there is a quorum for business.

The minutes of the Feb 10, 2009 are approved by unanimous consent.

Prof. Troyk draws the attention of the UGSC to an action at the Spring 08 meeting of the full faculty. At that meeting, the faculty asked the UGSC to review a motion to include the following statement in the Faculty Handbook, appendix P, #III.

Changes to the definition of the General Education Requirement, or designation of courses used to satisfy the General Education Requirement shall be reported to the Undergraduate Studies Committee. Approval of all changes, or course designations, shall follow the procedures as described in III/D/1,2,3,4,5. All changes submitted to the voting faculty, as described in III/D/3 shall be submitted to the voting faculty, in writing, not less than two weeks prior to the faculty meeting.

It was moved and seconded on 2/10/09 that the UGSC endorses the following statement:

It is moved and seconded that the motion be amended to read as follows:

The UGSC endorses the inclusion of the following statement in the Faculty Handbook: ≥Changes to the definition of the General Education Requirement, or designation of courses used to satisfy the General Education Requirement shall be reported to the Undergraduate Studies Committee. Approval of all changes to the definition of the General Education Requirement shall follow the procedures as described in III/D/1,2,3,4,5.

The amendment to modify the motion passes by unanimous consent.

The motion itself passes by unanimous consent.

It was moved and seconded on 2/10/09 that:

The UGSC will formulate a process for a review of the General Education Program with a focus on the question ≥Is the general education program the correct general education for IIT?≤ The UGSC will then implement such changes to the general education program as are proposed and approved consequent to that review.

The motion passes by unanimous consent.

The UGSC asks Prof. Kallend to chair a subcommittee to review the General Education program. The committee is charged to present back to the UGSC by November 2009 recommendations on and changes (in any) to the General Education policy. The following members of the UGSC volunteer to serve on the committee: Krawczyk, Snyder, Spink, Trygstad, and Williamson. The UGSC urges Prof. Kallend to ask for a student representative to the committee.

The UGSC notes that the University Faculty Council is charged to present the Provost with a list of candidates to chair the UGSC in 2009/2010. The UGSC suggests that the UFC consider suggesting Kallend, Snapper, or Williamson to the Provost for the position.

It is moved and seconded that

The UGSC will adopt the following process for certification and periodic review of C courses:

Three-member, academic unit-specific committees, composed of

o CAC Director (chair)

o AU faculty member appointed by chair/director

o Outside AU faculty member, nominated by CAC director, approved by AU chair/director

∑ Each AU committee to meet once every three years, on a rolling basis, to review existing C-courses

∑ Each AU committee to meet as necessary to approve adding C-designation to existing or new courses

∑ CAC director to inform UGSC at beginning of each regular semester which AUs will be reviewed

∑ AUs to provide the review committees with relevant materials for review

∑ Review committees are charged with interpreting CAC requirements for C-courses in the discipline, and ensuring they are being met

∑ Courses judged to not be meeting CAC requirements to be reported to chair/director, who may either

∑ Drop the courses' C-designation, or

∑ Bring the courses into compliance with the requirements

By UGSC policy, there can be no vote on the motion until the April meeting of the UGSC.

It is moved and seconded that

The criteria for C-Course designation be revised as follows:

The existing CAC requirements for C-course designation are:

1. Students must receive instruction in writing or speaking.

2. They must have the opportunity to practice the skill.

3. They must get feedback on their efforts.

4. They must have the opportunity to try again.

The revised requirements would be:

1. Students must receive instruction in, or modeling of, discipline-specific discourse, written and/or spoken.

2. They must have the opportunity to put their skill/s into practice.

3. They must get feedback on their efforts.

4. They must have the opportunity to incorporate feedback into subsequent efforts.

By UGSC policy, there can be no vote on the motion until the April meeting of the UGSC.

It is moved and seconded that

Academic units should put into place a process for periodically assessing the effectiveness of the communication-related activities in its C-courses.

By UGSC policy, there can be no vote on the motion until the April meeting of the UGSC.

It is moved and seconded that

Some courses offered under the COM rubric, which are fundamentally about communication, but which do not require significant communication activity, may receive a C based purely on their content.

By UGSC policy, there can be no vote on the motion until the April meeting of the UGSC.

J. Snapper, Secretary to the UGSC