UNDERGRADUATE COUNCIL MEETING April 24, 2006 Rowe Conference Room, the Knight Library
Present: Andrew Bonamici, Herb Chereck, Kelsea Feola, Hilary Gerdes, Patrick Bartlein, Steven Pologe, Kathy Roberts, Ron Severson, Margarita Smith, Karen Sprague, Mark Thoma, and Glenda Utsey Absent: Deborah Exton, Anne Laskaya, Martha Pitts, Dave Hubin, Julie Newton, Mary Ann Beecher, Malcolm Wilson, Paul Engelking, and Kate Wagle
Guests: Katya Hokanson, Undergraduate Advisor for Comparative Literature
Minutes:
The motion was made to accept the minutes from the March 13, 2006 meeting.
Moved: Glenda Utsey Seconded: Steven Pologe The motion to accept the minutes passed unanimously.
The motion was made to accept the minutes from the April 10, 2006 meeting.
Moved: Glenda Utsey Seconded: Margarita Smith The motion to accept the minutes passed unanimously.
Announcements: Andrew Bonamici updated the Council on actions being taken to improve Educational Technology in the classrooms:
- links are being added to the Classroom Apprentice and Tutorial Programs on the classrooms database page; - e-mail alerts are set up for instructors who teach in rooms with unresolved major technical problems, if Media Services knows about them. However, minor problems (such as blown bulbs) do not trigger alerts. Teams have been assigned to actively “sweep” different sections of campus on a nightly basis for the purpose of equipment maintenance; - installation of a bridge phone system to Media Services from classrooms is under way - mobile AV carts will be available in critical areas in late spring / early summer.
The Council was encouraged by the actions being taken by Education Technology, but suggested that more still needed to be done. An episode of technology failure during a Recruiting event was cited in which there was poor service from Educational Technology, Media Services and the EMU (where the event was held). The technology failure itself, compounded by the lack of any technological assistance, created an embarrassing situation for the University and frustrated the Associate Dean of Sciences, who was making the presentation to a large group of prospective students and their parents. Andrew responded that talks were ongoing between the EMU and Media Services about the need to respond immediately to emergencies and urgent requests for assistance.
Andrew also mentioned the need for campus-wide attention to the issue of security, citing an incident of computer theft from a student in the Knight Library. The Council agreed that theft is a problem in various areas of the university including Lawrence Hall, science labs, the School of Music, as well as the library, which must be available for use at nearly all hours of the day, but cannot be monitored.
Agenda COLT Proposal to institute a new minor Ron Severson introduced Katya Hokanson, Undergraduate Advisor for the COLT program. Katya presented the rationale for introducing a COLT minor, which is to expand the opportunity for students to study Comparative Literature and to demonstrate their familiarity with and expertise in the discipline. COLT is a very inter-disciplinary major, coordinating closely with foreign language departments and requiring upper-level literature courses in a foreign language. The proposed minor would differ from the major by omitting the requirement for this advanced mastery of a foreign language. Therefore, the minor would be accessible to students in a wide range of majors that do not emphasize language study.
· Discussion The Undergraduate Council raised some questions: - What is the minimum number of credits required for the minor? A minimum of 24 credits are required for the minor, but generally the COLT minor will probably be 28 credits. - What will be the grade minimum for the minor? A grade minimum has not been specified for the major, and has not been needed because students in the COLT program are generally “A” students; however, a grade minimum should be established for courses in the minor, since a larger and more heterogeneous group of students is likely to be interested in the minor. - How will the existence of the minor affect the enrollment and the teaching load in the COLT program? The courses required for the COLT minor are already being taught in the program. There is no addition of courses and no increase in the faculty course load. Since current classes in the COLT major are not completely filled, the additional enrollment created by the minor should not be a problem.
In further discussion, the Council noted that clear and regular communication with other departments involved in the interdisciplinary aspect of the program is desirable. The trend toward interdisciplinary minors could be beneficial to the University. However, care should be taken to avoid creating interdisciplinary programs that do not originate from productive scholarly interactions of the faculty. The Council was enthusiastic about the proposal to create a new minor in the Comparative Literature program, noting that it would be interesting and beneficial to many of their majors. The Chair called for a motion.
The motion was made that the Undergraduate Council strongly endorse the COLT proposal to create a minor. Moved: Mark Thoma Seconded: Margarita Smith
The motion passed unanimously.
Karen distributed the Undergraduate Programs section from the draft document and invited comment from the members (via e-mail) after they had the chance to read it.
The meeting was adjourned.
The next UGC meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 8, 2006, 1:00pm in the Rowe Conference Room, the Knight Library. 
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