University Faculty Council 11 March 2005, Illinois Institute of Technology

Attendance: Jeff Budiman, Kevin Cassel, Joyce Hopkins, Joel Goldhar, Bill Grimshaw, Sanjiv Kapoor, Bogdan Korel, Robert J Krawczyk, Art Lubin, David Peterson, Ganesh Raman, Ken Schug, Ken Stagliano (guest), Phil Troyk(Chair), Don Ucci(guest),

Meeting was called to order about 12:10 by P. Troyk

Graduation with Honors criteria.

The recommendation for a change in definition of the three categories of graduation with honors submitted by the Undergraduate Studies Committee was discussed. A motion to endorse the change and submit it for a vote at the Spring faculty meeting was defeated (3 ayes , 8 nays).
A motion to endorse the change and report this endorsement to the faculty passed unanimously.
NOTE: The proposed minimum GPAs are: 3.90 for summa cum laude, 3.80 for magna cum laude, and 3.50 for cum laude with an implementation date of January 2007

Nominees for Business School Dean Search Committee

Consistent with the UFC decision at its February 25 meeting, the following non-Business School faculty were selected for the list “of at least six” to be submitted to the Provost who will select three for search committee membership:
Guillermo Atkin, Thomas Bielecki, Gerald Brown, Peter Lykos, Paco Ruiz, Mohammed Shahidapour, Ron Stout

Interprofessional Project (IPRO) Requirement
The January 2005 report from the Undergraduate Studies Committee recommending that “The General Education requirement be reduced to three credit hours of IPRO”[sic] was put on the table.
Joel Goldhar provided a long term overview of IPRO which included its potential to provide an important experience for undergraduate students not available in traditional courses and its poor management over the years. He suggested that reducing participation to one semester would so reduce its impact that it would be better to cancel the program. The chair provided additional historical perspective from his own participation in IPRO. Other UFC members reported on their individual departmental preferences, raised the question of what would happen to these three General Education credit hours, referred to ABET's position, and reported on recent efforts to substantially improve the content and management of IPRO.
The following motions were made by J.Goldhar and seconded by K. Schug:

MOTION: A task force will be formed by UFC to review and evaluate the IPRO/ENPRO program and recommend such changes as may be appropriate. The task force will report its findings to the full UFC by the end of the Fall, 2005, semester. Motion passed 6-5.

MOTION: To refer the January 2005 UGSC report to the UFC Task Force on IPRO/ENPRO evaluation. Specifically the Task Force will address the issues of credit hours allocation and how to provide appropriate project experiences for IIT's undergraduate students. Motion passed 8-3

The chair requested all UFC members to bring names of task force nominees to the next meeting.

Report of Restructuring Committee

J. Goldhar, chair of IIT Restructuring Committee which was appointed in response to the Provost’s request for faculty input, presented an oral report which he will put in writing for distribution to all UFC members. The proposal would reduce the number of "non-Dean" individuals reporting directly to the Provost from the present ten to six by combining the Graduate College, the Library, and the academic subunits of the Undergraduate College under an Associate Provost (or other title) for Academic affairs and combine several other extracurricular units and the remaining subunits of the Undergraduate College under an Associate Provost for Student Affairs. Both of these positions would be filled by tenured faculty members, thus increasing faculty governance. This item will be featured at the next UFC meeting

Report of Sabbatical Leave Committee (Jeff Budiman)
Fourteen applications were received; seven given very highly recommended (VHR) rating, five given highly recommended (HR) and two not recommended because if insufficient residence time.

Combined Degree Program with Illinois College of Optometry (ICO)
Ken Stagliano submitted a revised version of a proposal for an "Illinois College of Optometry and Illinois Institute of Technology combined 3 + 4 Bachelor of Science in Biology and Doctor of Optometry Degree Program" which included revisions designed to answer concerns raised at the February 25 UFC meeting. The chair read these concerns from the minutes of the last meeting and, after a brief discussion, the Program was unanimously approved.

Meeting was adjourned about 1:50 pm; k. schug, interim secretary