Minutes Undergraduate Council Meeting

March 22, 2005

Members Present: Joe Anderson, George Bratton, Lynn Burley, Richard Gaughan, Mary Harlan, Joe Horton, Jennifer Johnson, Kevin Kendrick, Bill Kordsmeier, Mike Scoles, Elizabeth Smith, Ann Witcher, Jeff Whittingham, and Steve Zeltman.

Members Absent: Michelle Bridges, Lorien Foote, Charles Harvey, Conrad Stanitski, and Tony Sitz.

The items on the agenda included:

1.    Meeting was called to order by Mary Harlan, substituting for Chair Dean Sally Rodin, at 1:44 p.m.

2.    Minutes of February 15 meeting were approved as circulated. Motion by Horton; seconded by Smith. Passed                 unanimously.

3.    Report of Subcommittee I—chair Ann Witcher

a. The subcommittee recommended approval of Span 3315 Motion by Witcher; seconded by Bratton. No discussion. Motion approved unanimously

b. The subcommittee recommended tabling Span 4350 until a rationale was submitted by the department. Motion by Witcher; seconded by Zeltman. No discussion. Passed unanimously.

c. The subcommittee recommended tabling the Nursing courses since the department’s intention is to make substantial curriculum changes next academic year. The committee felt it would be better to consider all the changes at one time. Motion by Witcher; seconded by Zeltman. No discussion. Passed unanimously.

d. The subcommittee recommended tabling the Psychology courses pending editorial changes, inclusion of university policies, and questions answered regarding catalog descriptions, students’ responsibilities and the grading criteria. Motion by Witcher; seconded by Scoles. No discussion. Passed unanimously.

4.    Report of Subcommittee II—Joe Horton, chair

Motion to remove MKTG 3360 Fundamentals of Strategic Selling from table by Horton; seconded by Bratton. Passed unanimously.

The subcommittee recommended approval of MKTG 3360 Fundamentals of Strategic Selling. Motion made by Horton; seconded by Zeltman. 12 yea votes; 1 abstention. Motion passed.

Motion to remove from table MGMT 3305 Social Issues in Management by Horton; seconded by Burley. Motion passed unanimously.

The subcommittee recommended approval of MGMT 3305 Social Issues in Management. Motion by Horton; seconded by Kordsmeier. Discussion ensued: Has the Department of Philosophy been consulted about this course and what is their position? Dr. Rubach from the Department of Management was invited in to address this question. He said he spoke with Dr. Charles Harvey (chair of Philosophy) and explained that their accrediting body for Marketing and Management is mandating a Business Ethics course, so Harvey stated he was agreeable to adding it to the curriculum. A vote was taken and passed unanimously.

The subcommittee recommended approval of Geography’s response to the External Review. The subcommittee had requested their strategic plan and received it. Motion made by Horton; seconded by Whittingham. One question was asked about why the Undergraduate Council approves this type of document. The consensus was that the document must go through official channels and this was one step in the process. Motion passed unanimously.

5.    Subcommittee III—chair, Elizabeth Smith

The subcommittee recommended approval of THEA 3334 and THEA 3335, but noted that the Theater Department would need to do the paperwork to delete the course these two will replace. Motion by Smith; seconded by Horton. No discussion. Passed unanimously.

The subcommittee initially recommended tabling the item to replace THEA 4310 with THEA 2310 because it was unclear whether or not there were also content changes in the course rather than just a level change. The subcommittee wanted to see a past syllabus to compare the two courses. Also, an information item that would change the course description of THEA 4310 would also have to be tabled. Dr. Kevin Brown was invited in to address the possible content changes. Basically, there is another course, THEA 3310, which should follow THEA 4310 but obviously the sequencing is out of sync. The Theater department wants to remedy this. There would be no changes to the course content. After this clarification, the subcommittee recommended approval to replace THEA 4310 with THEA 2310. Motion by Smith; seconded by Horton. Passed unanimously.

The subcommittee recommended approval of GEOG 3335 Geography of Russia with editorial changes in the course description/bulletin. Motion by Smith; seconded by Horton. Passed unanimously.

The information items included:

1. Middles/Secondary Education and Instructional Technologies:

a. Accept MUS 2300 and THEA 2300 to meet fine arts requirement for language arts/soc. Studies major

b. Accept ENGL 2380 to fulfill humanities requirement for math/science majors

c. Replace GEOG 1305 with GEOG 1320 for math/science majors

d. Replace HIST 3310 with HIST 4355 for math/science majors

2. SPAN 4350 – Advanced Grammar and Phonetics title change to Introduction to Spanish Linguistics

3. Bulletin revisions:

a. SPAN 4350 – Introduction to Spanish Linguistics

b. THEA 3310 – Costume Design

c. THEA 2310 – Costume Construction

d. Revise French, German and Spanish minors by adding electives and changing some required courses

4. Prerequisite changes:

a. THEA 3310 – Costume Design

b. THEA 2310 – Costume Construction

Upon a call by Harlan for any additional concerns, Witcher requested that, because our packets for these meetings are often very large and weighty, smaller packs of paper be stapled together so that when the envelop rips, which sometimes happens, the papers falling out won’t scatter everywhere. Harlan said the concern will be brought to Ms. Andis’ attention as she is responsible for the copying and mailing of the packets.

Motion to adjourn by Horton; seconded by Bratton.

Respectfully submitted by substitute secretary, Lynn Burley.