View in portable document format.

3912 DOCUMENTS OF THE GENERAL FACULTY CHANGES IN THE BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES IN THE COLLEGE OF NATURAL SCIENCES CHAPTER OF THE UNDERGRADUATE CATALOG, 2006-2008 Dean Mary Ann Rankin of the College of Natural Sciences has filed with the secretary of the Faculty Council proposed changes to the Bachelor of Science in Geological Sciences in the College of Natural Sciences chapter in The Undergraduate Catalog, 2006-2008. The faculty of the college approved the changes on October 7, 2004. The dean approved the proposed changes on February 4, 2005, and submitted them to the secretary on February 7, 2005. The secretary has classified this proposal as legislation of exclusive application and primary interest to a single college or school. The edited proposal was received from the Office of Official Publications on March 8, 2005, and was sent to the Committee on Undergraduate Degree Program Review from the Office of the General Faculty on March 10, 2005. The committee forwarded the proposed changes to the Office of the General Faculty on April 1, 2005, recommending approval. The authority to grant final approval on behalf of the General Faculty resides with the Faculty Council. If no objection is filed with the Office of the General Faculty by the date specified below, the legislation will be held to have been approved by the Faculty Council. If an objection is filed within the prescribed period, the legislation will be presented to the Faculty Council at its next meeting. The objection, with reasons, must be signed by a member of the Faculty Council. To be counted, a protest must be received in the Office of the General Faculty by May 2, 2005. <signed> Sue Alexander Greninger, Secretary The Faculty Council This legislation was posted on the Faculty Council Web site (http://www.utexas.edu/faculty/council/) on April 25, 2005. Paper copies are available on request from the Office of the General Faculty, FAC 22, F9500. 3913 CHANGES IN THE BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES IN THE COLLEGE OF NATURAL SCIENCES CHAPTER OF THE UNDERGRADUATE CATALOG, 2006-2008 On pages 438-441, under the heading DEGREES, in the BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES section in the College of Natural Sciences chapter of The Undergraduate Catalog, 2004-2006, make the following changes: BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES The Bachelor of Science in Geological Sciences serves as a professional degree for students planning careers as geologists or teachers, as well as for those planning to pursue graduate work in the geosciences and related areas. Employment opportunities for students with this degree are dominated by the petroleum and related energy industries, but include the gamut of jobs that relate knowledge of the earth to resources, the environment, and human use of raw materials. When finite resources are in increasing demand, professional geologists trained to seek and develop raw materials serve a vital role in industrial society. Professional employment is also available in state and federal agencies, with consulting firms, and with service companies subsidiary to the energy and mineral industries. Careers include such areas as resource evaluation, environmental control, reclamation concerns, building foundation evaluation, groundwater contamination studies, soil testing, regional planning, watershed management, and mineral exploitation. Students seeking the Bachelor of Science in Geological Sciences degree must choose one of [four] five options--general geology, geophysics, hydrogeology/environmental geology, [or] teaching, or geology honors. Admission to the geology honors option requires completion of the application process described on page 418 . PRESCRIBED WORK [COMMON TO ALL OPTIONS] 1. Rhetoric and Composition 306 and English 316K. In addition, in taking courses to fulfill other degree requirements, the student must complete two courses certified as having a substantial writing component; one of these courses must be upper-division. If the writing requirement is not fulfilled by courses specified for the degree, the student must fulfill it either with electives or with coursework taken in addition to the number of hours required for the degree. Courses with a substantial writing component are identified in the Course Schedule. 2. Options I–III: Courses 506 and 507 (or the equivalent) in a single foreign language, and a three-semester-hour course in the same language for which 507 or the equivalent is a prerequisite; or as much of this coursework as required by the student’s score on the appropriate language placement test. Students in [the teaching option] options IV and V are exempt from this requirement. For students in all options who enter the University with fewer than two high school units in a single foreign language, the first two semesters in a language may not be counted toward the total number of hours required for the degree. 3. Six semester hours of American government, including Texas government. 4. Six semester hours of American history. 5. Three semester hours of coursework in economics, upper-division coursework in anthropology, or upper-division coursework in geography. 6. Three semester hours in architecture, art (including art history, design, studio art, visual art studies), classics (including classical civilization, Greek, Latin), fine arts, music (including music, instruments, ensemble), philosophy (excluding courses in logic), or theatre and dance. 7. Thirty-six semester hours of upper-division coursework must be completed in residence at the University. For students in options I, II, [and] III, and V, at least eighteen of these hours must be in geological sciences; for students in option IV, at least twelve hours must be in geological sciences. For all students, at least twelve of the thirty-six hours must be outside geological sciences. ADDITIONAL PRESCRIBED WORK FOR EACH OPTION 3914 No changes to options I through IV. OPTION V: GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES HONORS 8. An honors-designated mathematics course that is restricted to those who have earned credit on the College Board Advanced Placement (AP) Examination in Calculus. Algebra courses at the level of Mathematics 301 or the equivalent may not be counted toward the total number of hours required for the degree. Students who enter the University with fewer than three units of high school mathematics at the level of Algebra I or higher must take Mathematics 301 without degree credit to remove their deficiency. 9. Six semester hours of coursework in biology or physics. 10. Honors sections of Chemistry 301 and 302. 11. Geological Sciences 416K, 416M, 420H, 420K, 422K, 428, 468K, and 476K. 12. A six-semester-hour field or internship course chosen from Geological Sciences 660, 679J, and 679G. 13. Natural Sciences 301C (Research Methods). 14. An honors section of Rhetoric and Composition 309S. 15. Geological Sciences 379H and a three-semester-hour upper-division research course approved by the departmental honors adviser. 16. Twenty-five additional semester hours of coursework approved by the departmental honors adviser. 17. Six semester hours of coursework in the College of Liberal Arts or the College of Fine Arts. Coursework in a modern foreign language in which there is extensive geologic literature is recommended. 18. A total of at least 120 semester hours. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS The student must fulfill the University-wide graduation requirements given on pages 18-19 and the college requirements given on page 421. He or she must also make a grade of at least C in each course counted toward the degree. Geological sciences majors may not repeat any geological sciences course more than once without written consent of the undergraduate adviser. To graduate and be recommended for certification, students who follow the teaching option must have a University grade point average of at least 2.50. They must earn a grade of at least C in each of the professional development courses listed in requirement 16 and must pass the final teaching portfolio review; those seeking middle grades certification must also earn a grade of at least C in each of the courses listed in requirement 17. For information about the portfolio review and additional teacher certification requirements, consult the UTeach-Natural Sciences academic adviser. To graduate under option V, students must earn grades of A in the departmental research and thesis courses described in requirement 15 above and must present their research in an approved public forum, such as the annual College of Natural Sciences Poster Session. Students must also have a grade point average at graduation of at least 3.50 in coursework taken in residence at the University. Students who fail to maintain an in-residence grade point average of at least 3.25 will usually be academically dismissed from option V; under special circumstances and at the discretion of the departmental honors adviser, a student may be allowed to continue under academic review. RATIONALE: Since its inception, Dean’s Scholars has striven to challenge the very best and brightest of the young science and mathematics students who attend the University of Texas at Austin. By adopting a formal curriculum, the honors program will be able to continue in its efforts to meet the needs of the most intellectually ambitious of our students by deepening their grasp of the basics, broadening their general education, and intensifying their entire learning experience so that they are prepared for a lifetime of learning. After intensive efforts by a curriculum development committee, this formal curriculum has been finalized and approved by the relevant departments. We are seeking inclusion in the catalog at the mid-point in order to be 3915 able to move forward with implementation as quickly as possible. Locating the Dean’s Scholars degree plan in the departments as an option allows for greater departmental input into the education of the top-ranked students. Since the departmental faculty will also supervise lab work and ultimately the required thesis for the students, they should logically have jurisdiction over this aspect of the degree plan within their own departmental policies. And finally, a decentralized system places less stress on the infrastructure of each department as the necessary record keeping will be contained within the department.