Undergraduate Studies Committee 9/13/11

Attending Voting Members: Mark Snyder (CAEE), F. Ruiz, (MMAE), K. Spink (BIOL), S. Sennott (ARCH), J. Ovhori (SGA), R. Trygstad (ITM), G. Fasshauer (AM), S. Whitney (MSED), M. Safar (INTM), B. Cage (CHEM), M. Beckman (CS), Y. Torun (PHYS), J. Twombly (SSB), D. Kamper (BME), G. Pulliam (HUM).

Also attending: M. Gosz (Provost's Office), J. Tate, T. Jacobius (IPRO), J. Dorr (Galvin), P. Zachocki (Registrar), M. Lopez, G. Smith, G. Welter (UGAA), Elnaz Moshfeghian (SGA).

The meeting is chaired by Matt Bauer.

Chair notes there is a quorum at 12:50 p.m. Meeting is convened.

Adjourn: 1:42 p.m. Minutes recorded by Greg Pulliam.

1) The chair provides an overview of the committee's charges and responsibilities.

2) The minutes of the April 12th meeting are approved.

3) Discussion of the IPRO subcommittee of the UGSC.

-Membership, chair and other issues: Shall the chair be a member of the UGSC? Shall we ask current members of the IPRO committee if they wish to continue? Should there be a vice-chair serving s chair-in-waiting? Shall the IPRO committee report regularly to the UGSC? General consensus (but no vote taken) was "yes" to all these.

4) Discussion of a new 100-level CS course, and its potential to satisfy the general education two-hour CS requirement. It is moved and seconded that:

CS 110 be approved to satisfy the general education 2-hour CS requirement.

Vote to be taken at the next UGSC meeting.

5) Discussion of student/teacher comments on the 6-week summer sessions. Further discussion of what types of courses to offer to attract first-year students in the second 6-week session. Suggestions include CS 105 or 110, COM 101/111, HUM 102. More discussion to come after departmental input.

6) Discussion of a framework for the undergraduate general education committee now constituted as a subcommittee of the UGSC. Issues it should address include critical thinking, communication, applicability, flexibility (e.g. math options), less prescriptiveness, ITPs, different teaching and learning styles (e.g. project-based). More discussion to come after departmental input.

7) Old Business-Information item: new INTM specialization in Industrial Sustainability (ST), presented by Mazin Safar of INTM.