UNDERGRADUATE COUNCIL MEETING March 4, 2004 Members present: Deborah Baumgold, Deborah Exton, Steven Pologe, Ron Severson, Karen Sprague, Colleen Bell, Dave Hubin, Herb Chereck, Julie Newton, Mark Thoma, Tyler Neely, Emily Gilkey, Laura Vandenburgh, Hilary Gerdes, Martha Pitts, Jim Imamura, Harry Wonham, Gordon Sayre Members, Absent: John Postlethwait, John Lysaker, Paul Engelking, Kathy Roberts Proposal for a Medieval Studies Major Martha Bayless had distributed an electronic version of the recurring and non-recurring courses offered for the Medieval Studies major for Council members to review prior to the meeting. A motion to approve the Medieval Studies major was approved unanimously. Update on Senate consideration of UGC Group-satisfying Motions Deborah Baumgold presented this revised draft document to the Senate Executive Committee: Motion 1: Credits Required for Fulfillment of UO Group Requirements Draft 2-19-04 Proposal: allow students to fulfill a UO group requirement for the B.A. and B.S. degrees with coursework totaling 15 credits, given that their coursework fulfills the UO’s breadth and depth requirements within Groups. The Senate Executive Committee had the following suggestion for revision: 1. Add ‘instead of 16’ after the number 15 in the first sentence. A motion to approve the proposal with this revision was approved unanimously. Notice will be given at the March Senate meeting that this motion will be on the April agenda. Motion 2. Amend Criteria for Group-satisfying Courses Deborah distributed the draft motion, and background information, that had been presented to the Senate Executive Committee. At that committee’s suggestion, the draft motion has been distributed to the InterCollege General Education Review Committee, the University Curriculum Committee and the CAS Curriculum Committee (March 1, 2004) and will be an agenda item on March 8, 2004, at the CAS Department Heads meeting. The tentative plan is to give notice at the April Senate meeting so that this motion can be on the May agenda. Deborah also distributed a letter from Vice President Davis to the Undergraduate Council outlining two points in the motion that Vice President Davis feels warrant further study: 1. “One is the stipulation that all courses that fall outside of the standard 10 or 4 week structure should not be qualified for application to general education requirements carries an impact that would be difficult to manage without some careful thought, due process and transitioning”. 2. “Another area that caught my attention is the ‘required posting of electronic syllabi’ by faculty or departments. As a requirement, this Council recommendation would need to through a full including moving through the Faculty Senate. I understand that this proposed requirement has the unanimous support of the Undergraduate Council. In reviewing the web report of this committee decision, there is some ambiguity as to where and how this posting would occur and who, actually, would carry the burden - the faculty member, or the department.” Comments from the curriculum committees and from Vice President Davis will be discussed at a subsequent council meeting. Herb Chereck offered technological staff support and training from the Registrar’s office for departments that need help linking on-line syllabi to Duck Hunt (now called Schedule of Classes). The Registrar’s office currently has a PowerPoint presentation prepared for this purpose and will also provide support to departmental staff. Dean’s List Herb Chereck distributed a document showing the distribution of students on the 2002/03 Dean’s List with respect to course load. The criteria for the Dean’s list are: students must be enrolled for a minimum of 15 total credits, with 12 of them graded, and have earned a minimum GPA of 3.75. When the Banner system was set up, the credit criteria were inadvertently set at 12 credits – total and graded. Moreover, the UO catalog now agrees with Banner even though the legislation on the books has not changed. Herb would like the Council to consider whether: 1. the university should carry out the current policy of requiring 15 total credits, including 12 graded and a 3.75 GPA for Dean’s list; or 2. possibly the university should change the standards to reflect the move to 4 credit classes and require Dean’s list students to be enrolled for a minimum of 16 credits, with 12 of them graded. A motion to re-implement the existing standard of 15 total credits, with 12 graded, and a 3.75 minimum GPA was passed unanimously. Next Meeting The next Undergraduate Council meeting will be during spring term. Council members have been asked to return availability grids with their spring term commitments, and will be notified when the spring term meetings have been scheduled. The last packet of syllabi with winter and summer term 100- and 200-level group-satisfying courses was distributed to Council members. The discussion of survey data will continue at the next meeting. 
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