March 25, 2013

1.     Approval of minutes from 2/18/13 meeting: approved by consensus

2.     Course Approvals

CPH 310 (Natural Sciences) - approved

EE 167 (Natural Sciences) – approved-pending: need to strengthen information literacy component on syllabus

PHY 130 (Natural Sciences) – approved-pending: need to strengthen information literacy component on syllabus, correct naming inconsistencies between syllabus and eCATS

CPH 202 (Social Sciences) – approved-pending: explanation for how class time is spent (one movie shown per week would take up entire weekly meeting time), and why was film chosen (some fictional) to teach this content?

PCE 201 (Social Sciences) – approved-pending: learning outcomes need to be expanded and strengthened (seem to all rely on one paper)

3.     Exceptions Committee discussion – review process for UK Core and USP course exceptions requests

The Exceptions Committee is currently a committee with five members, including academic advisors and a representative from the Registrar’s office.  Students may petition that a course taken at UK or another institution satisfy a UK Core or USP requirement if it’s not already included in the program.  Petitions are considered by an individual committee member, who may contact a UKCEC area expert for guidance in making their decision.  A proposal for the organization and operation of the committee exists but has never been formalized.

Issues that should be addressed:

-        How to determine UK Core credit for international work: if the courses are equated as gen ed but not for a specific Core course, does the student have to submit petitions for all courses to satisfy Core requirements?

-        If a student transfers in from out-of-state (not part of GETA) but had completed the gen ed program at their previous school, they are considered to have completed the UK Core requirements (add to proposal).

The proposal will be revised and presented for UKCEC formal approval at an upcoming meeting.  In the future, the UKCEC would like to have an annual meeting with the Exceptions Committee to review the year and make adjustments accordingly.

4.     Mike Shanks – transfer courses taken on a pass/fail basis counting for UK Core

An individual student has taken courses at the Art Institute of Chicago, where courses are only offered on a pass/fail basis.  Some of the courses taken equated to UK Core courses at UK, but Senate Rule 5.1.4 does not allow pass/fail courses to count as UK Core.  Should an exception be made for this student, since there was no option to take the courses for a letter grade?

UKCEC suggests first contacting the student’s previous institution to see if it would be possible to assign the student a letter grade for each of these courses based on the instructor’s evaluations.  Otherwise, under SR 5.1.4 it would be up to the Senate Council to make an exception for this student. 

5.     Meeting adjourned at 3:25 pm.

Prepared by Joanie Ett-Mims on March 26, 2013.