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HomeSenate Senate ActivityUndergraduate Council Minutes September 26, 2016

Meeting Notes – September 26th, 2016

In Attendance: Norm Goodman, Hanna Nekvasil, Leo Bachmair, Dana Haugh, Kane Gillespie, Diane Bello, Jennifer Dellaposta, Ellen Hopkins, Arlene Feldman, Charles Robbins, Cheryl Hamilton, Ayyan Zubair, Robert Kukta, Christopher Joseph, Ismael Rodriguez

The agenda for the September 26th meeting of the Undergraduate Council is as follows:

  • Approval of the minutes of the September 12th meeting.
  • The problem of the unavailability of some necessary SBC courses (Ellen Hopkins and Arlene Feldman)
  • Veterans on the Stony Brook campus (Ismael Rodriguez)
  • Selected items for UGC consideration (Charlie Robbins)

Minutes from previous meeting approved. – Motion Accepted.

SBC Courses need, availability and overall requirements in general: Ellen Hopkins and Arlene Feldman:

  • TECH - Some concerns on how students can fulfill the TECH requirement.
    • Are there enough courses? Do students have the needed pre-reqs? Are they prepared? Too difficult? Students don’t have enough background to be successful.

Jennifer Dellaposta shared with the group that there were 9 courses, 1,179 Tech seats for non-tech majors. Each semester Jenn also provides a list of recommended Tech courses for non-Tech majors. How is this information communicated with students and advisors?? Should there be a recommended Tech courses for non-Tech majors page, handout or communication.

  • STAS – similar to DEC H
    • Do students have the pre-reqs? Are there enough seats?
  • 3 out of 4 Deeper Understanding
    • EXP+, need more courses, not enough varieties for students
    • PSY 310 is a good course – not all majors have a deeper understanding course available – how can we help students in this area? What is needed?
  • Two handouts (Major Course Planning Guide and Degree progress Checklist) with helpful information on what is needed and what some of the concerns are.
  • For the upper division (WRTD) and speak (SPK) students do not know how to enroll. Need to communicate to students/advisors the process.
  • How many seats are needed? Roughly 15,000/8 semester =1,875/semester
  • Courses are available – students do have choices - this semester was better than the past – may not be at exact times/days students want to take them, but they are available. We also have limitation on classroom space – we need to spread out the offerings.
  • All requirements can be met – moving in the right direction to meet student needs.
  • TECH/STAS – students are concerned about some of the titles of the courses.
  • Do we offer the number of courses needed?
    • Using prior enrollment we project future need.
    • Students maybe avoiding or just don’t know to take certain requirements sooner rather than later.
    • Can we get a breakdown of CEAS and others who need Tech??
    • Which courses do CEAS students take to fulfill the Tech requirement?
    • Students may wait to take harder courses to protect their GPA when applying for graduate school.
    • We need to offer enough seats in each area.
      • Need offer the right seats in the right courses.
      • Diverse day/times and courses for requirements

Veterans on the Stony Brook campus (Ismael Rodriguez) – Handout provided with a lot of good details.

  • Izzy has been at Stony Brook for 16 years.
  • Fall 2016 179 enrolled Veterans for the term
  • Last year 224 enrolled Veterans
    • This can include dependents – parent/spouse killed in action, transfer benefits to child or spouse, active duty.
    • Some are not returning because: personal issues, expectations to be successful, too hard to get into the program, coursework is harder than expected, don’t have pre-reqs.
    • Housing program - Need to take brick and mortar courses or it will impact their benefits. Could receive less benefits if they take on line courses.
  • This week and next week will be busy for them – once the veterans don’t receive their checks they realize they need to take action.
  • The veterans are usually an older population, usually have family obligations (housing, loans, bills, etc) and now going to school. May need to find a job in addition to adjusting to civilian life.
  • In the military they were very structured – told what to do and when.
  • Academic is a whole new world – not only are they adjusting to being out of the military – they are also adjusting to their new lives and demands.
  • Usually do not ask for help.
  • Often first generation college students.
  • Need help with resume to change the language from military to civilian.
  • Hard for them to request services – most likely will not. 1 of 5 have a documented disability and need services.
  • Accommodations for their disability is challenging. Also they may not share that they have a disability – don’t want to be labeled.
  • Lack of belonging, connection to the community.
  • National Guard want to stay state side.
  • There are many programs for veterans-
    • SCCC Partnership program
    • Intercollegiate Veterans Coalition of Long Island (IVCLI)
    • SBU Veterans Office is working with the Science Nursing program.
    • Vets 4 Vets Integration program
    • Veteran Student Organization
    • NYS Veteran Counselor
    • ROTC program
    • Mentoring program – connects with same major, continuing/incoming
  • 21.6 million vets – 6 million deployed after 9/11, 75% male, 25% woman

Selected items for UGC consideration (Charlie Robbins)
Dr. Robbins will be back at our next meeting as we ran short on time.

  • Would like to discuss work of committee – wants to build on the relationship with the UG Council.
  • Looks forward to working collaboratively and partnering with the council.
  • Some of the items he would like to work on:
    • Disability accessibility
      • Some courses should be fully accessible for disable students.
      • New federal regulations are coming down that also speak to this
      • Some disabilities are not apparent – ex: mental illness
      • Create a video for faculty/staff/students to educate them on the issue
  • We would like to hear from DSS and CAPS on what is currently in place?
  • How do we support students in need? What is the referral process?
  • SBC – Implementation Committee
    • Meets weekly to discuss issues
      • Working on launch to access SBC
  • Looking at ethical conduct of research
  • Diversity of versatility

Meeting adorned at 5:07 - submitted by: Diane Bello

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