Members present:      Faye Chadwell, Herb Chereck, Hilary Gerdes, Dick Koch, Wendy Mitchell, John Nicols, K. J. Park, Stephen Ponder, Scott Pratt, Marian Smith, Karen Sprague, Glenda Utsey

Members absent:       Paul Engelking, Wayne Gottshall, Craig Hickman, Anne Leavitt, Kathy Roberts, Bob Zimmerman

Meeting began at 8:35 a.m.

Discussion of the Motion

John has presented the motion to the senate executive committee and they have basically accepted it.

John Outlines Two Major Changes that the Council’s Approval is Needed on 

1.      One is to change wording describing frequency with which 300-level group-satisfying courses must be offered – from “biannually” to “every other year.”  This is a change in vocabulary, but not meaning.  That is, the earlier proposal to increase the frequency to “twice in three years” has been dropped.

A discussion of the appropriateness of General Education courses at the 300-level follows, but it is recognized that this is a complicated question that should be put off for consideration later.  It is probably best examined in the context of re-thinking General Education as a whole.  The discussion of General Education was initiated about a month ago, at a Humanities Center noon seminar.  It will certainly continue – probably in the senate, as well as in other settings.

2.      The second item pertains to the nature of the review process for General Education courses.  This is described in point one of the motion.  A key feature is two levels of review outside the school or college where the proposal originates.  John explains that the two committees catch different things.  To his knowledge, all the deans support this review procedure.

Changes in Wording

The various changes in wording proposed at the previous meeting were discussed:

·        Scott’s new language explaining the term “liberal” is accepted.

·        KJ reports that two of the three original panel members (Mike Posner and Frank Stahl) approve the new wording for the science group criteria.  The third did not respond.

·        The new wording is accepted by consensus.

John takes a moment to acknowledge the contributions of a number of the members and says that it has been a pleasure to work with everyone.

Guidelines Section

John directs members’ attention to the Guidelines for Deciding whether a Course Qualifies for Group Status.  John notes a correction in the second to last bullet point.  The corrected sentence should read, “Although laboratory courses are not automatically excluded from group status in the sciences, to acquire this status, the courses must not focus primarily on techniques or data collection.”

John will re-write the “guidelines” section to clarify it.  He will circulate the computer-edited document electronically and the council will meet next week (3/8) to consider it for the last time.

Professional School Group Requirements

The problem of whether to require depth (two courses within the same subject code) in all three groups for the professional schools is discussed.

The motion requires this and was not intended as a change from current practice.  We realized belatedly, however, that the current official requirement is for depth in only two groups. 

Requiring depth in three groups would simplify matters because it would bring the requirement into alignment with the BA/BS requirements of CAS.

There is discussion of whether meeting a requirement for depth in all three groups would be a hardship for professional school students.  The consensus is that it would not be, and that the wording of the motion as written is acceptable.

Suggestions for Convocation Speakers

Cornell West

Gore Vidal

Bill Moyer

John recommends a physicist/rector at the University of Heidelberg.

Seamus Heaney

Multi-Media Proposal

Consideration of this proposal is post-poned because Craig Hickman is not present.

The Subject of General Education is Re-Opened

Karen explains that she is very interested in General Education but would like to put off the discussion until sometime in the spring term.  She would like to work soon on foreign language and math – foreign language especially.  She explained that she is currently working with the language departments on placement exams.  Her goal is to get these up and running by next spring.  Placement exams will be taken online before IntroDUCKtion and students can then be appropriately placed in language classes.  The tests are nearly ready for Japanese and Spanish, and she would like to see German and French catch up.  Karen indicated that many students end up repeating what they’ve already taken in high school because we don’t make good use of placement tests.

Meeting adjourned at 9:28 a.m.

Undergraduate Council, 5256 University of Oregon • (541) 346-1221 • Last Update: October 15, 2001