UpDate - Vol. 15, No. 19, Page 2
February 8, 1996
Senate approves honors degrees

     The University Faculty Senate Monday approved three new honors
degrees in engineering  and extended the drop-add registration period
to eight weeks for all students.
     Bachelor's degrees with honors were established by the senate in
chemical, electrical and mechanical engineering. According to Robert
Brown, University Honors Program, a similar honors degree proposal is
expected soon from the Department of Civil Engineering.
     Previously, only first-semester freshmen were allowed to withdraw
from courses without penalty up to eight weeks after the semester
began. An amendment, proposed by Ken Koford, economics, chairperson of
the senate's Graduate Studies Committee, included graduate students in
the new extended deadline.
     In other business, a new undergraduate minor in materials science
was approved.
     Earlier in the meeting, Provost Mel Schiavelli announced that
undergraduate admissions applications  are up by 12 percent and
applications to the Honors Program are up by 25 percent, compared to
this time last year. Schiavelli also said the 1996-97 University
budget has been balanced without any cuts to academic programs and he
expects a similar situation next year.
     In a policy change,  Schiavelli said, all overhead funds
(operating costs) from research grants will be returned to the
colleges that generated the grants, with the originating department
continuing to receive 28 percent of these funds. Previously, the deans
had received 9 percent, and 63 percent of the overhead went to the
University's general fund. The provost said this change will give the
deans more flexibility, allowing them "to be in control of their
destinies."
                                                        -Cornelia Weil