THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE
                         FACULTY SENATE 

                                                             
Senate Document Number   1796S
Date of Senate Approval  1/18/96

Statement of Faculty Senate Action:

          APC 15:  Oral Competency Policy in Psychology

A) Effective Date:  Fall 1996

B) Deletions:
Delete section titled Other Departmental Requirements for Track
in General Psychology (p. 198) and also Track in Reading Educa-
tion (p. 198):

C) Additions:
Add following new section for both Track in General Psychology
(p. 198) and Track in Reading Education (p. 198):

III. Other Departmental Requirements 
     1) Competency in Psychology:  The capstone course, PSYC 390,
     History and Systems of Psychology, includes the demonstra-
     tion of competency in Psychology.
     2) Oral competency:  Psychology majors must successfully
     complete an oral presentation prior to graduation.  The
     presentation must be evaluated in writing by at least one
     department member and can occur either 
          a) at a research symposium or conference (e.g., UNCA
          Symposium, regional psychology conference, national
          undergraduate research conference) or 
          b) within a 300-/400-level Psychology course offering
          the option of an oral presentation (e.g., PSYC 390).
     Students must contact their research supervisors or instruc-
     tors prior to their presentations to request that they be
     evaluated for oral competency.

D) Impact Statement:  The policy will have minimal impact on both
Psychology majors and instructors.  Approximately 10-15% of our
majors currently make presentations at research sympo-
sia/conferences and their research supervisors typically attend
these presentations.  All students currently have the option of
making an oral presentation in PSYC 390, our required capstone
course; almost 50% of our 300-/400-level elective courses also
include an optional or required oral presentation.  All presen-
tations currently are evaluated either formally or informally by
department faculty (i.e. course instructors or research supervi-
sors).  The primary change is to require at least one formal
evaluation during the student's undergraduate career.  A sample
form for evaluating oral presentations is attached to this
proposal.

E) Rationale:  The proposed mechanism for demonstrating oral
competency is consistent with our department's emphasis on
undergraduate research and dissemination of research findings. 
The availability of several upper division courses for demon-
stration of oral competency provides students with several
opportunities to achieve success in oral presentation prior to
graduation.



                    PSYC 101/102 Name Changes


A) Deletions:
Delete course titles for PSYC 101 and PSYC 102 on p. 199 in
section on Psychology and p. 53 in section on General Education
Social Science Requirement.

 PSYC 101  General Psychology I: Basic Processes
 PSYC 102  General Psychology II: Individual and Social Processes

B) Additions:
Add the following new course titles for PSYC 101 and PSYC 102 on
p. 199 in section on Psychology and p. 53 in section on General
Education Social Science Requirement.

 PSYC 101  General Psychology: Brain and Behavioral Processes
 PSYC 102  General Psychology: Personality and Social Processes

C) Impact Statement:
Our goal in renaming these courses is to provide a better de-
scription of their content and to reduce confusion about the need
to complete them in a particular order.  The anticipated impact
is lower demand for seats in PSYC 101 and higher enrollment in
sections of PSYC 102.

D) Rationale:
Although neither course has a prerequisite and either course may
be used for the General Education Social Science requirement,
there is significantly more demand for seats in PSYC 101.  We
believe this results from two factors:
     (1) The use of the Roman numerals I and II in the current
     course titles implies that PSYC 101 should be taken before
     PSYC 102.
     (2) The use of the phrase "basic processes" in the title for
     PSYC 101 implies that it covers more elementary information
     and thus should be taken before PSYC 102.

We have tried a variety of techniques to reduce these mind sets
during the past two years.  The Psychology catalog section notes
the lack of prerequisites for either course.  The General Educa-
tion section lists both as options for the Social Science re-
quirement.  During 1994-95 we included explanatory memos in the
orientation packets for all new freshmen and transfer students;
this year we also sent these memos to all faculty listed as
advisors of freshmen and transfer students.  Despite our best
efforts, significantly more General Education students seek to
enroll in PSYC 101.

The revised titles more effectively: (1) portray the relationship
between PSYC 101 and 102 (i.e. neither course is labelled as "I"
or "II") and (2) describe the subset of general psychology topics
included in each course.