Undergraduate Studies Committee

Attending IIT Guests: J. Doyle (Undergraduate Admissions), D. Geiger (Student Affairs), C. Hannigan (Communications Across the Curriculum), P. Patrowski (Library), 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 March 10, 2009 are approved by unanimous consent.

Dr. Matthew Bauer (CS) led a discussion of a proposed program in computational thinking across the curriculum. With Profs. Hood (CS), Fasshauer (Math), and Rempfer (MMAE), he is presenting a proposal to the NSF to fund a pilot program.

Prof. Fasshauer presented a report, prepared by the IPRO program, on activities of and resources for the IPRO program. The UGSC agrees, by unanimous consent, to accept the report. The secretary will convey the report to the University Faculty Council.

At the meeting of 3/10/09, it was 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

The motion passes <11/1>

At the meeting of 3/10/09, it was 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.

The motion passes <12/0>

At the meeting of 3/10/09, it was 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.

The motion passes <10/3>

At the meeting of 3/10/09, it was 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.

The motion is defeated <4/9>

On behalf of CAE, Prof. OíLeary described the course work required to satisfy the Professional Specialization in Civil-Environmental Engineering. The Specialization has appeared in the Bulletin for many years, but lacked a formal statement of the required course-work. Since the program is an established program, it is the view of the UGSC that the program does not now require further authorization by the UGSC. The UGSC views the presentation as a for-information item.

The UGSC decides to hold a meeting on the first Tuesday of May, in order to complete the work of the present academic year.

J. Snapper, Secretary to the UGSC