October 21, 2013

1. Exceptions Sub-Committee discussion

Robert Hayes, Chair of the UK Core Exceptions Committee, attended to discuss the appeals process. 

• Petitions are submitted via Qualtrics, and each petition is assigned to one committee member for review
• Students provide a syllabus and course description with their petition
• Committee member reviews the curriculum at the student’s home university to see if the course they are petitioning was part of the gen ed program there
  • If so, it will be accepted for UK Core credit in the corresponding area
  • If not, the committee may have to contact the appropriate UKCEC area expert for assistance in making a determination
• Students are told to expect a decision within 2-3 weeks of submission
• Discussion points:
  • The exceptions committee members should provide a brief synopsis of the petition when emailing the area expert, including any reservations they have about accepting the course
  • Include a deadline for response from the area expert in the email (within 2-3 days, etc.)
  • Area expert should include a brief explanation in their response as to why the petition is being accepted or denied; this is useful to the exceptions committee when they respond to the student
  • Any petitions that have been sent to the area expert for review will be added to the Course Approval table (attached to each agenda) for tracking purposes
  • The UKCEC will be given a report in the spring, including the number of petitions handled this year, and the approval rate

2. Approval of minutes from September 23, 2013 meeting

                Approved by consensus.

3. Consent agenda

HIS 357 – “Japan at War, 1850 to the Present” (Global Dynamics)

-Approved, with a slight revision to the course review form (mini-exams and final exam used as assessment artifact)

EPE 374 – “Theories of College Student Development and Mentoring” (Social Sciences)

-Approved

4. UKC courses

UKC 13x – “Historic Preservation: How the Past Informs the Future”

-Requested revisions were sent in by proposer

-Approved as UKC course, with slight revisions to the syllabus (revise the policy for excused absences to align with Senate policy, remove +/- grades from the grading scale)

5. UKC course review process

The current process is a 48-hour review by the full committee and an electronic vote.  If there are issues or concerns with the proposal, it is presented at a UKCEC meeting.  Ben compiles comments from the committee and requests revisions from the proposer. 

Proposed changes to the process:

• Send the proposal only to the appropriate area expert for a 72-hour review
• If there are no issues, send the proposal to the full committee for a 48-hour review and electronic vote
• If there are issues, the area expert can communicate with the proposer and request revisions.  The course will only be sent to the full committee when the area expert is ready to recommend it for approval.

                -Proposed changes accepted by the committee

6. UKCEC spring meeting schedule

Members should respond to When is Good request as soon as possible, and the schedule will be discussed at the next meeting.

7. Other Items

-Future discussion item: each UK Core area now has a distance learning course approved; students could potentially complete all UK Core requirements through DL.

-Common Reading Experience group would like to connect the Common Reading book with the UK Core.  Think about how to get faculty interested in doing this.  A list of book options will be distributed to faculty and the UKCEC to see if a book will fit in any UK Core area.

8. Meeting adjourned at 3:00 pm.

Prepared by Joanie Ett-Mims on October 22, 2013