Academic Senate wants plan for University Program update by Dec. 1
The Academic Senate requested the General Education Subcommittee on Tuesday to develop an implementation plan to update the University Program by Dec. 1.
The A-Senate, which held its first meeting of the year, would like to receive a plan as soon as possible in order to apply the changes to the program, said Phil Squattrito, A-Senate chairman and chemistry professor.
With the changes, incoming students will have a different curriculum to complete.
Some variations include the creation of a competency requirement in quantitative reasoning, a reduction in the number of courses in the UP, the elimination of one subgroup in a UP, the elimination of the written English competency requirement, called Writing Across the UP, and its replacement by a new requirement called Writing Intensive Courses in the UP.
The plan was approved May 5 by the General Education Program. It is expected to address procedures and timetables for evaluation and approval of quantitative reasoning competency courses, University Program courses and writing intensive courses.
The General Education Council proposed several revisions to the General Education Program of the university on March 2, 2008.
The A-Senate proposed to receive a written draft from the General Education Subcommittee of the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee of the plan no later than Dec. 1 for further consideration and feedback.
According to an Academic Senate document, the revision will be beneficial to students by concentrating on the general education program’s resources into a smaller number of courses.
Rushing it?
Robert Stecker, professor of philosophy and religion, disapproved of the Dec. 1 deadline at the meeting.
“It may be rushed,” he said.
Voting was done by voice at the meeting, and Stecker was the only senator who opposed. Stecker proposed the deadline to be reassigned during the spring semester, before or after spring break.
It is a long process that takes time, Stecker said.
“The vast majority of the senate agreed that the suitable deadline for the implementation plan is the end of the semester,” said Phil Squattrito, chairman of A-Senate.
Interim journalism department chairman Tim Boudreau initially agreed with Stecker’s opposition.
“After Phil explained that the chairman of the General Education Committee said it would be a priority and that it would get done, I felt that there was no need to push back the deadline,” Boudreau said.
