Undergraduate Education, Council on - Minutes - 2007-2008
Council on Undergraduate Education (CUE)
Minutes for 9/7/07:
Members Present:
J. Rust, Chair, B. Kirby, I. Schmidt, D. Barlage, M. Chu, G. Weinberg, J. Wheatley, K. Lewis, C. McLean, A. Nowel, T. Morant, R. Foy, S. Carson, J. Jameson, M. Atkinson, J. Spurlin, M. Shearer, J. Tector, B. Matthews, D. Howard, H. Kellner, A. Dupont, C. Ashwell, J. Ambrose, C. Freeman
Meeting opened at 1:40 p.m.
Comments from the Chair: Chair Jon Rust welcomed the committee members, both new and returning, back for another busy year. Members introduced themselves to each other around the room. The chair then reviewed the committee charge and asked the members to look over their new binder materials, which should have arrived in the mail.
Chair Jon Rust and committee coordinator Catherine Freeman walked the committee through a presentation on committee responsibilities. Ms. Freeman briefly went over the new binder materials, the committee members’ responsibilities, how committee materials will be distributed and posted, and the new checklist sheets and guidelines for going over materials. If not able to attend a meeting, contact Catherine Freeman in advance.
Comments from the Associate Dean of the Division of Undergraduate Academic Programs: Dr. John Ambrose, Associate Dean, welcomed the members to the 07-08 academic year. Dr. Ambrose will provide an update on the GEP later in the meeting.
- Determine Quorum
The chair opened the discussion for setting quorum for the committee this year. The committee members also discussed developing a strategy for processing business in case the quorum is not met at a meeting. As pointed out by the chair and associate dean, this year could be very busy for CUE should the new GEP be approved. Members discussed strategies for emailing when a vote is needed, no quorum, as well as the need for possible proxy members if current members cannot make a meeting.
- Motion to approve setting the quorum at 14.
- Approved unanimously.
- Approval of 5/4/2007 Minutes
Minutes from 5/4/2007. Motion was made to approve the minutes from the last meeting. Approved unanimously.
Discussion:
- CUE committee seat composition recommendation requested by the Committee on Committees – Dr. Ambrose
The chair and associate dean opened the discussion to address the composition of CUE (number of seats, seat type, etc) per a request by the Committee on Committees for a recommendation. Questions addressed include: What should be the composition of CUE? Should it be reduced, enlarged, or stay the same? In regards to the upcoming workload that will stem from the new GEP proposal when approved as recommended by the GER Task Force Proposal, CUE would be the committee to handle much of the work associated with defining new categories and reviewing the objectives for all the GEP categories as well as reviewing and recommending the GEP lists. The work would also include developing and defining processes to help streamline approval processes and help colleges and departments prepare for the new GEP.
Members discussed that many times smaller colleges have trouble getting more than one member for the committee and it is beneficial to have at least one member from each college represented on the committee. Many agreed that the current composition was fairly good with the mix of faculty and administrators and had knowledgeable representation from all colleges. Some members asked about the process for how members are chosen, specifically in regard to members past experiences with undergraduate education and general education.
-A motion was made to keep CUE at the present composition and size. Vote was unanimous and the motion carried.
- New General Education Proposal update – Dr. Ambrose
Dr. Ambrose brought the committee up to date on the status of the GEP proposal. The most recent revised proposal (included in the mailed out binder materials) was presented to the Provost on June 29, 2007. The Provost requested a vote recommendation from the 2006-2007 CUE members, which was taken via email and the vote was held open for three weeks. The results of the electronic vote were as follows:
Yes: 23
No: 2
Abstain: 1
Total: 26 votes
This voting recommendation was forwarded to the Provost. The GEP Proposal will be presented to the full Faculty Senate on September 25th. Dr. Ambrose presented an overview of the Proposal that was submitted to the Provost and discussed CUE’s responsibilities in relation to the course lists. The chair made a motion to extend the meeting to 3:10 p.m. Motion carried and the committee continued to discuss the GEP proposal for the last few minutes of the meeting.
- STS courses will move forward into the IP category and will be subject to review within a 3 year period. All grandfathered courses will fall into the 3 year review cycle.
- The 2 co-requisites require no additional credit and must be satisfied.
- Establish process for handling situations such as study abroad and other course types that could satisfy GEP requirements.
- Allen Dupont spoke to the assessment and a sampling approach will be used so that not all faculty teaching GEP courses will be asked to do a course based assessment.
- New GEP will apply beginning the second summer session 2009. Brief discussion about students who may want to transfer into new GEP from the old. Initial problems with doing so may include limited course offerings in new categories of the GEP and credit hours may be lost or additional hours required in the transfer depending on the courses previously taken and what is needed to fulfill the new GEP requirements.
A copy of the drafted GEP Proposal is available online at:
http://www.ncsu.edu/uap/committees/gertf/ger_reports.html
Announcements:
- Nominations for CUE Chair-elect for 2008-2009 will begin with the September 21st meeting.Send nominations to Catherine Freeman. A vote on those nominated is planned for the October 19th meeting.
- Beginning January 1, 2008, the agenda and actions will be sent via PDF to members. No hard copies will be mailed.
- The committee recommended that hard-copy mailings end now and only sent upon member request. The committee agreed. A request for hard-copy of materials should be sent to Catherine Freeman.