Minutes of the Undergraduate Studies Committee - 4/8/2014

Attending Voting Members: M. Snyder (CAEE), M. Bauer (CS), G. Pulliam (HUM/CAC), J. Cesarone (MMAE), B. Steffenson (SSCI), R. Trygstad (ITM), J. Twombly (SSB), G. Popovic (MSED), K. Spink (BIOL), R. Ellis (AMAT), A. Aderele (SGA), EJ Lee (PSYC), L. Coffey (PHYS), B. Koehr (ROTC), J. Saniie (ECE), N. Karuri (CHBE)

Also attending: G. Welter (UGAA), J. Gorzkowski (UGAA), L. Massengale (GL), G. Smith (UGAA), M. Lopez (One-stop), Thimmaiah H. (SGA), R. Wadhwani (SGA), M.V. Penmathsa (SGA).

Absent departments:  ARCH, BME, CHEM, INTM

Quorum: 12:48

Documents pertaining to this meeting are at:

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

Meeting is chaired by Jack Snapper.

Adjourn: 1:45 p.m. Minutes recorded by Pulliam.

Old business

1) Minutes of 3/25 meeting approved unanimously.

2) (Trygstad) Bachelor of ITM revisions. Changes approved 9-3. Dissent was due to the requirement of a minor for four-year students, but not for transfer students.

3) (Snapper) Faculty council has approved Kathryn Spink as 2014-2015 UGSC chair, as requested by the UGSC.

New business

4) (Aderele) SGA representative introduces the three candidates up for election to succeed him.

5) (Snapper) Next UGSC meeting to be held on 4/22 at 12:45 p.m.

6) (Snapper) “E” for ethics designation for courses—currently only SSB and Naval Science courses have that designation.  Consideration of extending it to courses across the university. Discussion to be continued with input from CSEP.

More old business

7) (Snapper) Natural Science/Engineering (N) designation has been approved by the two-person committee of A. Unni and J. Kallend for FST xxx.

8) (Pulliam) General education revision – four separate proposals are introduced, to be voted on individually in the 4/22 meeting.

Proposal 1: Change the official name of the program from General Education to Core Curriculum.

Proposal 2: Minor changes to the standard curriculum.

Proposed “Core Curriculum” (47 hours)

Collaborative, Interdisciplinary and/or Professional Experiences (8 hrs)

· May be satisfied with up to 2 hours of ITP and six hours of IPRO.

· Other ways of satisfying this requirement may be brought to the committee for approval.

HUM 10x/20x       (3 hrs)

STEM Module       (18 hours)

CS                   2 hrs                                     

Math              5-6 hrs                                            

Sci/Eng        10-11 hrs                                       

Human Sciences Module (18 hours)

300+ (H)      6 hrs

200-level (S)          6 hrs

300-level (S)          3 hrs

H/S (swing)            3 hrs

Communication-Intensive (C) courses

36 hours (12 in the major +12 outside the major +12 more anywhere)  

Proposal 3: Themes

In order to give students more options within the core curriculum (general education), including the option of satisfying the goals/objectives for general education in a more cohesive manner, we propose allowing themed sets of courses to replace either the STEM or the Human Sciences module within the core curriculum.  Such themes will only be possible for students whose major curricula allow it.

· Themes are to be at students’ discretion; an AU may not require that its majors take a theme.

· Three-year trial period, after which the program ends unless renewed by the UGSC.

· If revised or ended after 3 years, students already pursuing an existing theme may complete it.

· Students who begin but cannot complete a theme, may count theme courses already taken toward the previously replaced module, but must choose remaining courses according to core curriculum guidelines.

Approval process for standing themes (available to any student whose curriculum allows)

· Themes may be proposed by colleges, AUs, or UGAA.

· Majority of courses/hours in themes must come from courses within the replaced module; otherwise, approving colleges may set their own standards.

· If a theme is less than 18 hours, any and all remaining courses/hours must be taken in disciplines within the replaced module.

· Lewis College (with SSB input) will approve themes that replace HS module.

· College of Science (with ACE input) will approve themes that replace STEM module.

· Review committee for HS themes will be made up of a representative from two AUs in Lewis College and one from the Stuart School.

· Review committee for STEM themes will be made up of a representative from two AUs in the College of Science and one from Armour College.

· Themes approved by Lewis/SSB or Science/ACE go to UGSC for final approval.

· Approval should be based on the proposed theme’s coherence and on its adherence to general education goals/objectives established by the UGSC.

· Theme application for approval to include:

o Rationale for the theme

o List of required/elective courses

o Curriculum map to general education objectives

o Rationale and syllabus for any external course

Approval process for ad hoc themes (a student-petitioned theme, just for that student)

· Majority of courses/hours in themes must come from courses within the replaced module.

· If a theme is less than 18 hours, any and all remaining courses/hours must be taken in disciplines within the replaced module.

· UGAA will approve ad hoc themes for both HS and STEM modules, in consultation with LCHS and CoS, respectively.

· Approval should be based on the proposed theme’s coherence and on its adherence to general education goals/objectives established by the UGSC.

· Approval is good for that student only.

· Theme application for approval to include:

o Rationale for the theme

o List of required/elective courses

o Rationale and syllabus for any external course

· Additional students wanting the same theme will require additional petitions, up to 3 in any 2-year period, wherein a standing theme application should be generated by UGAA.

Proposal 4: Students who take the standard core curriculum’s distribution of courses may apply as many of them as possible toward the requirements of any standing minor.

9) (Aderele) Course re-take policy changes. Subcommittee has no proposal as yet. UGSC expects to approve any changes to this policy before they can take effect. 

More new business

10) (Steffenson) Information item: new Minor in Public Policy is now available from SSCI.

11) (Bauer) Co-terminal with BS in Computer Science and Master of Data Science (AM). Approved 14-0.

12) (Pulliam) Report from CAC acting director on the review of Stuart School of Business’s communication-intensive (C) courses. Vote on accepting the report to come at 4/22 meeting.

Adjourn.