Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
12:45 p.m. Online via Zoom

Attending Voting Members: Gruia Calinescu (CS), Promila Dhar (BME), David Gidalevitz (PHYS), Erin Hazard (HUM), Steve Kleps (CAEE), Kathiravan Krishnamurthy (FDSN), Eva Kultermann (ARCH), Nicole Legate (PSYC), Yuting Lin (BIOL), Yuri Mansury (SSCI), David Maslanka (AMAT), Victor Perez-Luna (CHBE), Ray Trygstad (ITM/Secretary), John Twombly (SSB), Murat Vural (MMAE), Fred Weening (Chair)

Also Attending: Anri Brod (Libraries), Joe Gorzkowski (AA), Mary Haynes (UGAA), Melanie Jones (Armour Academy), Sang Baum Kang (SSB), Gabriel Martinez (Armour Academy), Abby McGrath (Enrollment Services),Tracey McGee (ELS), Nick Menhart (DVP Accreditation), Nichole Novak (Libraries), Shamiah Okhai (LCSL), Kiah Ong (AMAT), Ayesha Qamer (Registrar), Zipporah Robinson (Academic Success), Gabrielle Smith (AA), Katie Spink (BIOL), Despina Stasi (AMAT), Mary Jorgenson Sullivan (ELS), Jeff Wereszczynski (UFC Chair)

  1. Approval of Minutes from the March 26 meeting.
    Kathiravan Krishnamurth moved for approval of these minutes and Eva Kultermann seconded.

  2. Approval of Minutes from the April 2 meeting.
    David Maslanka moved for approval of these minutes and Yuri Mansury seconded.

    Both sets of minutes were approved by unanimous consent.

  3. Update from Academic Affairs.
    Academic Affairs had no update at this time.

  4. Recommendation for Chair of the Undergraduate Studies Committee was discussed by the current Chair Fred Weening.
    He pointed out that normal practice for UGSC is for the Vice Chair to step into the Chair roll at the end of their Vice Chair term and asked Vice Chair Kathiravan Krishnamurthy if he was willing to serve. Kathir indicated that if someone else wanted to volunteer he would be happy to step aside but otherwise, yes, he was willing to serve. Fred noted that while we do not technically elect our Chair as the Chair is appointed by the University Faculty Council, in practice the University Faculty Council normally follows the recommendation of the UGSC in this matter.

    The committee voted 14 - 0 to recommend Kathiravan Krishnamurthy as UGSC Chair for academic year 2024-2025. It was also noted that Ray Trygstad would step down as UGSC Secretary at the end of this year as he was filling out the last year of Greg Pulliam's elected term, and at this time no one has stepped forward to serve as Vice Chair or Secretary for the next term but both positions would need to be filled.

  5. A second reading of the proposal to place Bachelor of Science in Food Science and Nutrition (FDSN) on hiatus was presented by Kathiravan Krishnamurthy.
    The program has only enrolled a total of eleven students and of the first group of students only one graduated and four others withdrew or changed majors. The undergraduate program requires a large number of extra courses and with 120-130 graduate students and only seven faculty members the department is not able to support this degree. There were assurances that all students currently enrolled in the degree would be able to complete this program.

    A motion to place the Bachelor of Science in Food Science and Nutrition on hiatus was made by Eva Kultermann and was seconded by Yuri Mansuri. The motion passed on a vote of 15 - 0.

  6. Extension of the I-Course Pilot Program was moved until later in the meeting as Sang Baum Kang was not yet present to discuss it.

  7. A Proposed Change to the Integration Points in the Biology-Psychology Dual Degree Program was discussed by Katie Spink.
    With the degrees in Biology and Psychological Science moving to 120 hours, it was necessary to change the dual degree to 135 credit hours. This proposal corrects some errors in an earlier version. Instead of two core biology classes counting as psychology technical electives and two psychology classes counting as biology electives it will instead be one and one, with one additional shared technical elective. Since biology determined some additional psychology classes could be accepted as biology technical electives, it broadened the number of possible electives from four to eight.

    A motion to approve the proposed change to the Biology-Psychology Dual Degree was made by Kathiravan Krishnamurthy and was seconded by Yuting Lin. The motion passed on a vote of 15 - 0.

  8. Proposals to change the number of required credit hours in the B.S. in Game Design and Experiential Media and the B.S. in Humanities to 120 were presented by Erin Hazard.

    After a brief discussion, David Maslanka moved and and Nichole Legate seconded the motion to reduce the credit hours in these degrees to 120. The motion passed on a vote of 14 - 0.

  9. Proposals to change the number of required credit hours in the B.S. in Psychological Sciences and the B.S. in Behavioral Health and Wellness to 120 were presented by Nichole Legate.

    After a brief discussion, John Twombly moved and and Ray Trygstad seconded the motion to reduce the credit hours in these degrees to 120. The motion passed on a vote of 14 - 0.

  10. Extension of the I-Course Pilot Program was discussed by Sang Baum Kang.
    He stated that not enough information had been collected in the initial to allow conclusions to be drawn as to the success of the program. Gabrielle Smith stated that Undergraduate Academic Affairs has been informed that the I-Course program had not been extended and no courses other than IPROs are currenlty being allowed for IPRO credit. There was some discussion that the lack of clarity surrounding the program was a source of confusion for students. Katie Spink pointed out that academic year 2023 was the last extention of the program, so there is no I-Course program that is current to extend. San Baum Kang stated that he would revise and expand the proposal to address the concerns that faculty and administration had raised and bring it to the next meeting to seek approval.

  11. Periodic Curricular Review reports of the Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics, the Bachelor of Science in Statistics, and the Bachelor of Science in Data Science were presented by Kiah Ong and Despina Stasi.
    Member of the Applied Math faculty briefed the committee on the contents of these reports.

    David Maslanka moved and and Ray Trygstad seconded the motion to accept these Periodic Curricular Review reports. The motion passed on a vote of 10 - 0.

  12. A Proposal to change the number of required credit hours in the Bachelor of Science in Social and Economic Development Policy from 130 to 124 was presented by Yuri Mansury.

    After a brief discussion, Eva Kultermann moved and and Erin Hazard seconded the motion to reduce the credit hours in this degree to 124. The motion passed on a vote of 9 - 0 with one abstention.

As no more time was available, the Chair adjourned the meeting at 1:46 pm.