Undergraduate Studies Committee                          Minutes 5/5/09

Attending Voting Members: M. Bauer (CS), J. Chong (BCPS), R. Gordon (Psych), M. Gosz (MMAE), M. Pelsmajer (Math), V. Perez-Luna (ChBE), G. Pulliam (Hum), J. Saniie (ECE), M. Shapiro, (SS), K. Spink (BCPS), J. Twombly (SSB).

Attending IIT Guests: C. Hannigan (Communications Across the Curriculum), G. Welter (Ed. Serv.), P. Zachocki (Registrar).

The meeting is chaired by Greg Fasshauer.

The minutes are recorded by John Snapper.

Convene 1:15 PM. Adjourn 1:45 PM.

The Chair notes that there is a quorum for business.

The minutes of the April 14 meeting are accepted by unanimous consent.

Carrie Hannigan, co-director of the Communications-Across-the-Curriculum program discussed the aims and resources of the present program. She asks the UGSC for help in publicizing the program offerings.

Mr. Bauer expressed the view of the Office of the Provost of Undergraduate Affairs that there should be direct faculty involvement in the advising process of every undergraduate student. It is the consensus of the UGSC that undergraduate advising should not be left entirely to non-faculty staff, as seems be the case for some undergraduates at present. It is the consensus of the UGSC that each undergraduate program must make available and must encourage faculty advising and faculty mentoring for all undergraduates.

Dr. Shapiro expressed the dissatisfaction of the Social Science department with the present course offerings in non-calculus based statistics, a requirement in the degree programs offered in his department. Dr. Shapiro suggested that faculty in the Department of Social Sciences might teach a version of the course designed for its degree programs. The UGSC believes that the issues raised by Dr. Shapiro are broadly of importance to the teaching interests of several units, including Applied Mathematics, Psychology, Humanities, and Business. The UGSC forms a subcommittee to review the needs and course-offerings in non-calculus based statistics. Drs. Shapiro, Gordon, and Twombly expressed interest in serving on the committee. Dr. Fasshauer will recruit a member of the mathematics department to work on the committee.

J. Snapper, Secretary to the UGSC