Bendeck, Berberich propose consistent scheduling for freshmen, sophomores

On Oct. 2, Yvette Bendeck, associate vice president of enrollment management, presented a new “scheduling proposal” at a Student Government Association (SGA) meeting alongside Steven Berberich, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost.

Bendeck proposed that all first- and second-year courses should be offered at the same time every semester rather than inconsistently or once a year, for example.

“There have been no changes in the schedule grid for 1000- and 2000-level courses since it was established in fall 2014,” Bendeck said. “We embarked on a project to better coordinate lower-level coursework across colleges to reduce potential scheduling conflicts and promote timely progress towards graduation.”

Izuh Ikpeama, president of SGA, said there was a lot of confusion when the proposal was first mentioned because it was unclear what was actually being proposed.

“Numerous students who thought the proposal would eliminate upper-level, three-hour courses reached out to SGA to try and put a stop to it, Ikpeama said. “Some students even declared that they would no longer be able to attend UHCL without the upper-level, three-hour courses that are often offered at night. Thankfully, Dr. Bendeck and Dr. Berberich laid these various rumors to rest when they presented the proposal at a fall SGA meeting and ensured students that these upper-level courses would not be affected.”

Berberich broached the topic by giving some background information leading up to the decision for the proposal. He explained that in 2014, the university started offering freshman and sophomore courses, rather than just junior- and senior-level courses.

“The leadership team looked at the current schedule for freshman and sophomores and realized there were some conflicts that were not allowing students to be as successful as they needed to be,” Berberich said at the SGA meeting, explaining that Bendeck, in July, was tasked with finding a solution.

“We’re trying to make sure students progress toward graduation in a timely fashion,” Bendeck said at the meeting.

There were no questions asked at the meeting. When asked for more specifics regarding the proposal after the meeting, Bendeck declined to comment on the specifics of the plan, citing the project was still in the early stages. Berberich also declined to comment except to say “UHCL is still working through a schedule focused on making sure certain students can take the courses they need as freshmen and sophomores.”

Andrea Baldwin, lecturer of communication who teaches first-year public speaking courses, would like to see expanded scheduling options.

“I believe in a mixture of both consistent scheduling, as proposed by Dr. Bendeck, and some sort of rotating schedule,” Baldwin said. “The new dorms go a long way in accommodating traditional freshmen and sophomores and consistency is very good for those students. However, older people with lives outside of school would be left out.”

Proposing a hybrid of those schedules, Baldwin offered to adapt her teaching schedule to make things easier for her nontraditional students. However, she is locked into a block schedule that dictates first-year courses be taught in the early part of the day.

Right now, she teaches three back-to-back public speaking courses on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 a.m. through 12:50 p.m.

“I would be happy to teach an additional public speaking course at night,” Baldwin said.

Ikpeama doesn’t believe any single scheduling solution would be fit for everyone.

“Realistically, nothing is ever going to be a good fit for all UHCL freshmen and sophomores,” Ikpeama said. “A compromise for the students scared of change and the administration those changes depend on could come in the form of implementing the new block schedule in addition to the current schedule, rather than instead of.”

Ikpeama supports consistent scheduling for lower-level classes to reduce scheduling conflicts but hopes this is just step one in looking for solutions.

“I think this is a good step forward to solving this problem,” Ikpeama said. “The next step would be offering more online courses so that more students can enroll and work on their degree plans at their own pace.”