University of
Annual Report of the
Curriculum Committee
For 2005-2006
The Curriculum Committee (CC) held seven regular meetings
during the academic year 2005-2006. There were three meetings held during fall 2005
semester and four during spring 2006 semester.
FALL SEMESTER
CC discussed how courses are
approved i.e. regular approval and provisional approval.
Regular approval is what is done at curriculum committee
level; provisional approval allows a new class to be taught on a temporary
basis for the duration of the current catalog only.
Regular Approval was given to these courses:
Science
and Math
Physics
Phys 3003 Computer Modeling of
Materials
Social Science
History
Hist 3708 European Women’s
History, 1600 - present
Political
Science
Pol 4507 Pol, Violence, Terrorism,
Peace
Geography
Geog 3251 The
Politics of Claiming and Reclaiming Space.
Humanities
Studio
Art
ArtS
1002 Visual Studies for Non-Majors: Digitally Assisted Design (New Course)
English
Engl 3032 Creative Nonfiction (new course)
Philosophy
Phil
2151 Philosophy of Mind (reactivate old course with expanded description)
Theater
Th 3304 Art Direction for Film and Television (new course)
Interdisciplinary
Studies
IS 3011 English Language teaching Assistant Program for Majors
IS 3810 Practicum in the Humanities
Continuing Education
WSS 2007 CE Sports Officiating
(course change) approved as a new course WSS 2311
ArtH 3311 CE Italian Art in Context
Fren 1312 CE Morocco: History,
Story, Myth (New Course [same as Hum 1312]) approved with the phrase (2
repetitions totaling up to 8.0 credits) deleted.
Hum 1312 CE Morocco: History, Story,
Myth (New Course [same as Fren 1312]) approved with the phrase (2 repetitions
totaling up to 8.0 credits) deleted.
Hum
1552 CE Literature and History of Jewish and Muslim
Theme change for First Year Seminar
was discussed
General Education as a possible theme for FYS was introduced
to the Curriculum committee; this will be brought up to the campus by Schwaller
and discussed further during the first Spring semester
2006 curriculum committee meeting.
SPRING
SEMESTER
Regular Approval was given to these
courses:
Science
and Math
Biology
Biol 1052 Intro to Conservation
Biology (Title change)
Biol 1071 Plants of
Biol 4351 Conservation Biology
Computer
Science
CSci
1201 Digital Media Computation
CSci
4456 Advanced Operating Systems
CSci
4657 Programming and Languages: Programming Languages for Client-Server Systems
Geology
Geol 2161 GIS and Remote Sensing
Physics
Phys 1005 Journal Club I
Phys 1062 Light and Color
Phys 2101 Modern Physics [Revised
(longer lab hours)]
Phys 3005 Journal Club II
Social Science
History
Hist 3209 Modern Germany (revised
course)
Humanities
Art
History
ArtH 3112 Byzantine Art and the
ArtH 3113 Islamic Art and Culture
Studio
Art
ArtS
1003 Visual Studies for Non-Majors: Beginning Painting
[The following ArtS Media courses were made to be repeatable
up to 9 credits (they are 3 each)]
ArtS 3001 Media Studies: Public
Space, Installation Art, and New Media
ArtS 3002 Media Studies:
Artist’s Books
ArtS 3003 Media Studies: Tilemaking
Arts 3004 Media Studies: Mural
Project and Public Art
ArtS 3005 Media Studies: Digital
Imaging
ArtS 3006 Media Studies: Feminist
Art: A Studio Perspective
ArtS 3007 Media Studies: Printmaking
ArtS 3008 Media Studies: Woodfired Kiln Design and Construction
English
Engl 1002 Fundamentals of Writing II
Engl 3005 Understanding Writing
Engl 3262 Twentieth Century American Poetry: From Modern to
Contemporary
Engl 4022 Rhetoric and Narration
Humanities
Hum 1571 Contemporary Latin American
Women Writers
Speech
Spch 2071 Introduction to the
Principles and Practices of Speech Communication (GER changed to E/CR from HUM)
Interdisciplinary Studies
IS 3720 Tutoring Writing across the
Disciplines
Continuing
Education
Hum
1105 CE: Italian Cinema
IS
1038 CE: Talking about a Revolution: Dissent and Freedom of Expression in
Today’s World
Mgmt
1301 CE: Legal Environment of Business-New Gen Ed Web course
First Year Seminar Theme Change:
Discussion was held as to whether or not to change the theme
for First Year Seminar, Schwaller had asked for comments about this campus wide
and had gotten little feedback except for those against the change. The
Assessment of Student Learning Committee had forwarded the request this past
fall. In the absence of a concrete
proposal, it was recommended that the Curriculum Committee table this discussion. Motion was made and passed with the
following discussion on tabling a subject.
The question was asked if the committee is required to revisit the
subject in our next meeting. Schwaller clarified by saying that when tabling a
subject the Curriculum Committee can revisit it at any point in the
future. He also stated that when
the Campus Assembly accepted the report of the Task Force a few years ago and
re-approved FYS there was no request to bring the issue back to Assembly within
a specific term of years. FYS became another permanent part of the curriculum.
Directed Study to be used for
General Education Requirement
Schwaller read
the proposal from the Scholastic Committee and asked for discussion.
The
proposal is this: Does the Curriculum Committee approve the use of directed
studies to cover General Education Requirements?
The following
issues were brought up by members of the Committee:
§
Is
there a limit in the number of Directed Studies that might be used to fulfill
General Education Requirements? All
directed studies have limits on the number of times they may be taken but not a
limit on how many can be used for graduation.
§
Where
will the approval level be? The Scholastic Committee envisioned that the
faculty and student would together make the decision and indicate on the
Directed Study that it would fulfill a General Education Requirement.
§
Is
there a disparity as to what General Education Requirements are and what
Directed Studies are used as?
General Education Requirements were usually filled using a broader
classroom experience and that a Directed Study was a more in depth study of a
subject of interest to the student.
A member
brought up that there are categories where a General Education Requirement
could probably not be fulfilled by a Directed Study for instance, Foreign
Languages.
Directed
Studies should be used as an extension of the classroom. A common request comes
from students who have studied abroad and want to use their experience in a
directed study while abroad as a General Education Requirement in related field
related to category in which they were studying.
A motion to
approve the use of Directed Studies for satisfaction of General Education
Requirements was made and passed.
The second
proposal is: The directed study
form should be altered so that it can be indicated that the directed study is
intended to fulfill a GER and the appropriate division approval has occurred.
In this way these directed studies can be approved ahead of time,
instead of retroactively by the Scholastic Committee.
Discussion was
held as to how the Directed Studies would be reviewed. It was brought up that it could be the
Scholastic Committee or the Curriculum Committee or the faculty/student and
Division Chairs. Jeri Mullen explained
there is a regular form (similar to one used in the past for honor classes)
that could be attached to the Directed Study form with an explanation of goals
and objectives for the course, with the instructor and Division Chair
approval. If the Curriculum
Committee were to be reviewing the forms, the GER designator would have to be
approved also. A member commented
that the Division Chairs as a group could decide if a directed Study fulfills a
A motion was
made and passed to have the Curriculum Committee approve the use of directed
studies to fulfill General Education Requirements. Student and faculty will so
indicate on the directed studies form, to be amended to carry such a check
off. The student and faculty member
would then, on another form, outline how the proposed directed study will
satisfy the goals and objectives indicated for the
Discussion: a
member explained that the request for General Education Requirement Designator
and the Directed Study form will be separate. Also, the question was raised, as
to, what if anything will be changed in the catalog? Due to time restraints the committee
could not go into rewording the catalog at this meeting.
The revised directed
study form indicating GER requirement
Helsper
suggested that the word “petitioning” be changed to
“requesting” on the form.
There are separate forms the directed study course could go on without
the GER requested by the student.
The Division Chair and the Instructor should have the final say as to
whether or not it needs to go to committee. The credit for courses was discussed,
namely 2 credit courses, it was mentioned that the art performance requirement
can be fulfilled with a 1 credit course.
The new forms should be made effective immediately because they have
been approved by Campus Assembly. Motion was made and passed to accept the
forms with the revisions: “You should allow several weeks for a
decision. Requests submitted after
April 15, will be approved during the following fall term.” And the date of revision changed to the
present date.
EDP Subcommittee
The call for EDP applications was been sent out with a
deadline of March 24, 2006. Van Gooch, Maggie Stewart and Tap Payne volunteered
to serve on the EDP subcommittee. It was noted that there is $8,000.00 in
the EDP budget this year.
The following faculty have been awarded an EDP grant: Jamey
Jones: Sci and Math; Pareena Lawrence: Social Science; Nic McPhee: Science and
Math; Ted Pappenfus: Science and Math; Timna Wyckoff: Science and math.
New business: Courses
in the Continuing Education brochure
There was some
discussion on the inclusion of inactive courses and wrong course names and
descriptions in the brochure for May Session and Summer Sessions. It was asked of the committee and for
the purpose of record keeping what do we do about the students who are trying
to register for these courses, only to find out it is not possible. A question was asked if the courses are
correct when looked at on the Web and APAS, they are correct. A member mentioned that they (students)
mainly look at what is on the website; rarely do they look at the brochure
publication. The Scholastic
committee has already had a student come forward where he needed them to allow
a GER change. A member said we
should address the origin-don’t advertise the Gen Ed designator until it
has gone through, advertise it as pending Campus Assembly approval. A member of the Curriculum Committee
asked if the CE staff could work with Jeri Mullen when putting the brochure
together. It was asked by a member
if this was something the Curriculum Committee and Scholastic committee should
be dealing with, it seems more administrative than academic. The question was
asked, can we avoid this in the future? Even though the number of students
affected is low, it should not be occurring.