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2-24-2010 Administrative Boards Minutes

MINUTES OF THE
MEETING OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE BOARDS
of the General College and the College of Arts and Sciences

Wednesday, February 24, 2010
3:00–5:00 p.m.
3020 Steele Building

The meeting was called to order at 3:05 p.m. and chaired by Senior Associate Dean Bobbi Owen.

Members in attendance:  Allen Anderson, Yaakov Ariel, Carolyn Cannon, Karen Gil, Kevin Guskiewicz, Sudhanshu Handa, Li-Ling Hsiao, Kenneth Janken, Roberta Kelly, Erika Lindemann, Louise McReynolds, Bobbi Owen, Abigail Panter, Gary Pielak, Steve Reznick, Nick Siedentop, Monika Truemper-Ritter, Adam Versenyi, Barbara Wildemuth.

Guests: Laurie Holst, Anna Li.

1. Comments to and Remarks from Dean Karen Gil, and Assessment of the Undergraduate Curriculum
Dean Karen Gil gave a brief history of the “Making Connections” curriculum and outlined her expectations for the upcoming review.  (See the attachments “Making Connections: A Proposal to Revise the General Education Curriculum” and “General Education Requirements.”)

Dean Owen explained that the Administrative Boards will be divided into five curriculum subcommittees for the review: Foundations, Approaches, Connections, Supplemental Education, and Miscellaneous. (See the attachments “Reviewing the Curriculum” and “Criteria for General Education Requirements”.)  These subcommittees will be expanded to include students, advisors, and faculty across the divisions.  The subcommittees will meet independently and as a group.  Erika Lindemann, Nick Siedentop, and Laurie Holst will help facilitate the subcommittees’ work.  Anna Li, in the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment (OIRA), has been collecting baseline data and will make her information available.  (See the attachment “Assessment.”)  Deans Gil and Owen thanked Abigail Panter, who will chair the review and serve as the review spokesperson.

The proposed schedule anticipates that Boards members whose terms expire in July will remain until September.  New members will be brought onto the Boards early, before July 1.

2. Requirement Modification for the “Carolina Research Scholar” Transcript Designation
The requested Carolina Research Scholar Program (CRSP) course modifications were approved by the Administrative Boards:

All participants in CRSP must complete the multidisciplinary research requirement.  This requirement can be fulfilled in one of three ways:

  • Students can complete IDST195, Modes of Inquiry, an introductory, one-credit pass/fail course
  • Students can complete one research-exposure course (3 credit hour minimum) with a grade of C or higher.  Research-exposure courses are defined as courses in which students use the methods of the discipline to pose questions, apply those methods in investigation, and communicate their findings to others in the class.  The OUR maintains a list of these courses and updates the list yearly.  To meet the multidisciplinary CRSP requirement, the course must be from a different department than one or both of the research-intensive courses that the student uses to fulfill requirement #2.
  • Students can complete one additional research-intensive course (3 credit hour minimum) with a grade of C or higher.  Research-intensive courses are defined as courses in which over half of the course is devoted to students conducting original work and presenting research conclusions.  The OUR maintains a list of these courses and updates the list yearly.  To meet the multidisciplinary research requirement, the course must be from a different department than one or both of the research-intensive courses that the student uses to fulfill requirement #2.

The transcript remark “Carolina Research Scholar” is one of several hundred remarks approved by the Provost and the Educational Policy Committee and placed at the end of a transcript.

3.  New Minor in Naval Science
Courses in the proposed minor will be taught by faculty in the Curriculum in Peace War and Defense. The naval science minor will follow the same guidelines established by the Boards for the aerospace studies minor, approved in December 2009.  The naval science minor was approved by the Administrative Boards, but with the proviso that students be allowed to complete at least two credit hours with a grade of D or better.

4.  Joint Certificate Proposal: Consortium in Middle East Studies (Duke and Carolina)
Concerns were raised about the amount of consultation that had taken place with Carolina faculty in the departments offering courses for the proposed certificate.  The issue is especially concerning to faculty in the Department of Asian Studies, who are in the process of developing a graduate program that may serve some of the same students envisioned as participants in the certificate in Middle East Studies.

The Boards asked that letters of support be secured from the chairs of the UNC-Chapel Hill departments offering courses for the proposed certificate: Art, Asian Studies, Geography, History, and Sociology. (The chair of the Department of Religious Studies already has submitted a supporting letter.)

The proposal was tabled to the March 23 Administrative Boards meeting.

5.  What Is a UNC-Chapel Hill Course?
Associate Dean Erika Lindemann reported that she sought the opinions of Bob Miles, Associate Dean for Study Abroad, Kathryn Goforth, Associate Director of Advising, Study Abroad, and Jim Leloudis, Associate Dean of Honors, in developing the definition presented in “What is a UNC-Chapel Hill Course?” (attached).  The Administrative Boards unanimously approved the following definition:

A UNC-Chapel Hill course is any course accepted for graded credit by the University, regardless of where the course is taught.  This does not include transfer credit.

Note: Following the meeting, the Interim Registrar sought clarification concerning the status of courses taken through such institutionally approved programs as the interinstitutional program and the Robertson Scholars Program.  Courses in these programs are also regarded as UNC-Chapel Hill graded courses because, although students take them at particular North Carolina universities, the grades appearing on students’ transcripts have been converted in accordance with this institution’s grading system.

6.  Assessment of the Undergraduate Curriculum
Included in Item #1.

7.  Curriculum Committee Report
Associate Dean Erika Lindemann presented the course review completed by the Curriculum Committee during January and February 2010, and the reports (attached) were approved by the Administrative Boards.

8. New (Old) Business
Dean Bobbi Owen distributed data, “Minors of May 2009 Bachelor Degree Recipients” (attached).  At the Administrative Boards meeting in December 2009, members had asked for enrollment figures for undergraduate minors.  Several of the minors listed have recently been added to the curriculum.
____________________
The meeting adjourned at 4:25 p.m.

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The Administrative Boards of the General College and the College of Arts and Sciences are responsible for advising the Dean of the College about the undergraduate curriculum, including changes in that curriculum, approving individual courses offered in Departments and Curricula of the College, and making decisions when requested on specifications for degrees.