UUCC Minutes 02-17-2020
Wayne A. Reaud Building Room 202
Attending: Michael Saar, Library Services; James Armacost, Ashwini Kucknoor, Randy Yoder, Arts and Sciences, Barbara Hernandez, Education and Human Development; Tracy Benson, Alberto Marquez, Engineering, Zanthia Smith, Fine Arts and Communication, Katy McCall, SGA, Melissa Riley, Faculty Senate Rep, Garrick Harden, A&S, Judy Smith, Nursing, Serdar Ilban, Fine Arts and Communication
Via Proxy:
Absent: Sara Hillin, Mamta Singh, Qin Qian, Millisent Musyoka, Stefan Andrei
Ex-Officio: Joe Nordgren, Acting Associate Provost; David Short, Registrar, James Nelson, A&S CC Chair, Craig Escamilla, Acting Exec Dir Student Achievement & Retention; Liv Haselbach, Engineering CC Chair, Tony Mulvaney, COB,
Ex-Officio Absent: Belinda Lopez, Ed and Human Dev CC Chair, Kurt Dryhaug, Fine Arts and Comm, CC Chair, Theresa Hefner-Babb, Kayla Halloway
Executive Associate Academic Affairs: Aida Lasher
Guests: Edythe Kirk, Jeremy Shelton
Presiding: Michael Saar
Call to Order: 3:35 pm
Michael Saar opened the meeting by talking about the upcoming BOR deadline -Mar 19. Mentioned that sub-committee members should receive an email sometime next week, and then to be discussed with the College CC, Dean’s council, after which it will be discussed with the broader committee members. Michael Saar also proposed to have the next meeting on Mar 9th, due to the Spring Break week.
Approval of Minutes: Minutes were not approved, as Judy Smith brought up the issue that full names were not listed for the people who made motions and seconded. It was decided that those edits will be made prior to approval.
- B.S. in Chemical Engineering degree plan: Tracy Benson explained the proposal, all the members agreed.
Xanthia Smith motioned to accept the degree plan, Judy Smith seconded the motion. All voted in favor, and the motion passed.
- CHEN 2374, 3311, 3340 –All three were considered as one package, there were no issues with the paperwork.
Motion to approve was proposed by Katy McCall, seconded by Serdar Ilban. Motion passed to be approved.
- Change to Business Degree plans – Tony Mulvaney explained, B.B.A. to require Math 1324 instead of 1325. David Short suggested that that would depend on Math 1324 being added to the core curriculum or not. All agreed that was a good consideration.
Motion to approve all degree plans contingent upon status of Math 1324 as a core was proposed by Judy Smith. Barbara Hernandez, seconded the motion. All voted in favor of the motion, and the motion passed.
- MGMT 3310: The proposal was withdrawn by Tony Mulvaney.
- PSYC 3390: Positive Psychology- There was a lot of discussion on this following Garrick Harden’s analysis of this course from last meeting. Edythe Kirk explained the need for this course; said that it was part of APA divisions, it’s a popular course for variety of reasons, a lot of transfer students come with this course from other schools in Texas. James Nelson asked if this course was taught as a Special Topics, and the answer was yes. Judy Smith asked if it was a compulsory course or was it an elective. Garrick Harden said that he was concerned about the fact that positive psychology dealing with older concepts which are controversial, and perspectives present as cultural universals, talk about the six virtues; transcendence and spirituality etc. Jeremy Shelton tried to explain whether the above assumptions were correct. He added that the operational definition is presented based on research findings and not based on philosophical or religious virtues. Michael Saar mentioned that the course outline talks about discussion and not an iron clad dogma. There was a long discussion of using journaling as one of the requirements in the course, the pros and cons of it, both Jeremy Shelton and Garrick Harden said that they have used journaling in their courses, and how certain students will include very traumatic experiences and some will only include their everyday stressful experiences such as not doing well on a test etc. Jeremy Shelton further explained the common misconception of positive psychology in the field and clarified certain aspects that were questioned by the committee. Michael Saar said that the initial concerns may not be all that serious, after what we had heard from Jeremy Shelton and Edythe Kirk today, particularly, the journaling of traumatic experiences on blackboard, and its implications. Katy McCall provided her view from a student’s perspective, and said that students want to learn whatever is offered, and that students would have the knowledge about the fact that their experiences they wish to document will be out there on Blackboard for the rest of them to see, and so, it will be the students’ call to pick and choose what they would like to put in the journal. Edythe Kirk added that these are some of the activities that are used to increase student engagement in an online course. Judy Smith mentioned about the implications of other students bullying about any personal experiences on the discussion forum, and Barbara Hernandez echoed the same concern. Katy McCall said that it should not be a problem in the first place, when students are aware of what they are supposed to do. Jeremy Shelton further explained the details and clarified few other concerns related to how the positive psychology has evolved from its original form when it was initially started. There was discussion regarding the proper wording of the course outlines for the same course used by other schools, and the current description in this course syllabus is consistent with that of others. Edythe Kirk also clarified regarding the instructor’s qualifications and that he has a two Master’s degrees and a certificate in positive psychology.
Tracy Benson motioned to approve the course, with changes on Page1 and Page 3 (change I/O psychology) and Serdar llban seconded the motion. All voted in favor of the motion, and Garrick Harden abstained from voting. The motion passed.
- COSC 4345, CPSC 4363 – Title change and change of content, needs to include ABET accreditation learning outcomes.
Judy Smith motioned to approve both course syllabi, pending addition of ABET learning outcomes. Katy McCall seconded, and all voted in favor of the motion.
- PEDG 4620- new course, 6 credit hrs, teaching in field, max-repeat-0, contact hours should be more than 45. Pre-requisites need to instructor approved or CPRC committee approved. Needs to update degree plan.
Judy Smith motioned to approve pending changes, Serdar Ilban seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.
Closing Remarks: Michael Saar announced that the next meeting will be on Mar 9th.
Next Meeting –March 9th
Adjourn: Motion to Adjourn at4.35 by Katy McCall; James Nelson seconded and the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted: Ashwini Kucknoor, Biology