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Pass, Fail proposal, new co-terminal degree, and more move closer to reality at UGSC meeting

Soren Spicknall
TEC H N EWS W RITE R

On Tuesday, April 12, representatives
of the majority of Illinois Tech’s various
academic departments met in a Wishnick Hall
classroom to discuss, propose, and approve
new policies impacting undergraduate
students at the university The Undergraduate
Studies Committee (UGSC), which assembles
twice every month during the academic year,
is one step on the route from an idea to an
enforced institutional practice for any item
which impacts undergraduate education,
pushing its own initiatives as well to increase
the quality of academic life afforded to the
growing undergraduate population of the
Illinois Institute of Technology While most of
the committee’s decisions must be finalized and
approved by the University Faculty Council
(UFC), the UGSC plays a vital role in the
administrative life of the university and some
of its most important academic decisions

During the April 12 meeting,
a great variety of topics were covered: To
start, Dr: Greg Pulliam, the group’s Secretary
and representative of the Department of
Humanities, presented a summary of a recent
review of courses with communication7
intensive designations (C7courses) within
the biology and biomedical engineering

 

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departments: An internal designation with
loose requirements, C7course criteria are meant
to ensure that certain classes expose students
to “discipline7specific” communication skills
in a manner that allows them to practice and
develop those skills: BIOL 490 and BIOL
491, both independent study courses, were
unanimously stripped of their C7course
designation, BME 491 and BME 492 were
unanimously turned over to a representative
of that department for annual review, and
all other classes surveyed were approved
for continuing C7course designation These
decisions were unanimously approved by the
UGSC and forwarded on to the registrar:

After some discussion and UGSC
approval of a new co7terminal degree (BS
in Chemistry and MS in Sustainability
Management), the representative of the
chemistry department was advised to bring
that proposal to the next step in the process
so that the degree could become a reality in
the next year or two: Following that vote, the
group elected a new Chair, Ray Trygstad, Vice
Chair, Dr: Greg Pulliam, and Secretary, Dr:
Becky Steffenson, a decision now pending
UFC approval:

The dominant discussion of the
meeting, though, came with some final
haggling over the language of the SGA7
proposed pass/fail proposal, which has been

 

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considered continuously throughout this
semester: In the end, the UGSC voted nearly
unanimously to adopt the following language:

Undergraduates at IIT may take up
to 3 courses as Pass/ Fail, provided that any
such course meets the following criteria:

1: The department offering the course has
designated it as eligible for the Pass/ Fail
grading option, and

2: The course is:

a: A free elective within the student’s
major program, or

b: Designated as eligible for Pass/
Fail grading by the academic unit or other
authority which oversees the student’s major
and/or minor programs, or

c: A course taken above and beyond
all of the student’s programs’ requirements for
graduation.

7 Ifa student takes a course as Pass/
Fail, a Pass will be earned for the equivalent of
a standard grade of A, B, C or D, and will not
figure into GPA calculations; a Fail will equal
the standard grade of E, and will figure into
GPA calculations:

7 Students must declare their
intention to take a course pass/fail by the end
of the add/ drop period:

7 A course taken initially as pass/
fail may only be repeated for a grade change as
pass/fail; likewise, a course taken initially as a

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standard graded course may only be repeated
for a change of grade as a standard graded
course:

While it has been approved by the
UGSC, this policy must go through the process
of UFC approval before it can become an
official part of the university’s undergraduate
programs: Given the scheduling and grading
system logistics involved, it will likely not be in
place until Spring of 2017 even if immediately
approved by UFC:

The final topic of discussion during
the UGSC meeting was an issue that had also
been discussed briefly at the previous meeting
on March 22: improving midterm feedback
from professors, especially in 3007level courses
and above (which currently have no strict
feedback requirements at the midway point
of each semester): It had been determined
since the last meeting that the majority of
such courses did not have any midterm grades
entered at the time of the withdraw date, and
two alternate proposals were put forth for
inclusion in official university materials with
the aim of making midterm feedback standard
practice among faculty Discussion was cut
short due to time constraints, but the topic is
set for expanded consideration at the UGSC’s
next (and last) meeting of the spring semester:

All documents related to meetings
of the UGSC can be found at iit:edu/~ugsc:

  
 

  

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Great Lakes Student Conference from April 14716: 550 students from 19 schools competed in a series of difi’er7

Photos by Khaleela Zaman