THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE

                         FACULTY SENATE 
                                                                  
                         Senate Document Number    1397S 

                         Date of Senate Approval  1/23/97


Statement of Faculty Senate Action:

         APC DOCUMENT 11: Catalog Changes in MLA Program


EFFECTIVE DATE: Fall 1997

DELETE: From the 1996-97 catalog on page 169, under the heading
"Degree Requirements" delete the following sentence: "At least 21
of these credits must be taken at UNCA."  Also, from the 1996-97
catalog on page 169, under the heading "Degree Requirements...IV. 
Transfer credit--", delete the following sentence: "Students may
transfer up to 12 semester hours from other accredited graduate
programs, provided that the work is relevant to the MLA program."

ADD: To the 1997-98 catalog in the MLA section, under the heading
"Degree Requirements" add the sentence: "At least 27 of these
credits must be taken at UNCA."  Also, to the 1997-98 catalog in
the MLA section, under the heading "Degree Requirements...IV. 
Transfer credit--", add the following sentence: "Students may
transfer up to 6 semester hours from other accredited graduate
programs, provided that the work is relevant to the MLA program."

IMPACT STATEMENT: MLA students will be able to transfer fewer
graduate courses taken elsewhere.  They will have to take more
UNCA MLA courses.  This should improve enrollment, program
coherence and program quality.  Since relatively few students
petition for graduate transfer credit under the current rules,
the need for additional courses and staffing should be minimal. 
No other department or program will be directly affected by this
change.

RATIONALE: After using the current policy since the inception of
the program in 1989, the Graduate Council believes that 12 hours
of transfer credit is too large a portion of the 33 credit hours
required for the MLA degree.  Students need to complete a larger
number of classes designed specifically for the MLA program and
taught by UNCA faculty.  Moreover, the current more generous
allowance encourages current and prospective MLA students to
petition for transfer credit for far too many courses which are
not appropriate for a graduate liberal studies program.

ADD:  To the 1997-98 catalog in the MLA section, under the
heading "Degree Requirements...IV:, add the sentence: "Only
graduate courses in which the student has earned a grade of "B"
or higher can be considered for transfer credit."

IMPACT STATEMENT: This "change" will have no impact, since the
current policy of the Graduate Council is not to consider
transfer courses in which the petitioner has earned less than a
"B."  This action simply puts that policy in print and forewarns
petitioners.  (Note: the Graduate Council follows the UNCA
Registrar's practice of disregarding "+" and "-" grades, so a 
non-UNCA transcript indicating a "B-" would be treated as a "B").  No
other department or program will be affected by this change.

RATIONALE: The Graduate Council has not been accepting transfer
credit for graduate courses in which the student has earned less
that a "B" grade.  A grade of "B" is widely regarded as the lowest
passing grade in American graduate schools and UNCA MLA students
are required to have a 3.0 average to graduate.  This change
simply makes explicit in the catalog a policy which the Graduate
Council has always followed.

DELETE: From page 170 of the current catalog, in the "Progress"
section, delete the following sentence: "It is expected that a
student will need no more than five years to complete the MLA
degree."

ADD: To the 1997-98 catalog, in the MLA section, the "Progress"
sub-section, add the following sentence:  "It is expected that a
student will need no more than ten years to complete the MLA
degree."

IMPACT STATEMENT: This change will reduce paper-work and anxiety
by allowing students longer to compete their MLA degree
requirements without losing their status as matriculated
students.  This change does not alter the existing requirement
that a student must take at least one class in any twelve month
period in order to retain matriculated status.  No other
department or program will be directly affected by this change.

RATIONALE: The great majority of MLA students work full time, are
married and have children.  As a result most of them take only
one course at a time and many of them need to take a semester off
with some frequency.  Therefore, the average time to complete the
degree is currently almost five years.  Under these
circumstances, too many students who are making reasonable
progress toward the degree hit this 5 year limit trip wire.  The
current rule serves no good purpose and causes needless extra
work for the Graduate Council.  Changing to a 10 year limit, with
option to petition for extension, combined with the existing one
course in 12 months rule, will still let us eliminate drop-outs
from the computer without imposing unwarranted burdens on either
the students or the Council.