UMM CURRICULUM COMMTTEE

2008-09 MEETING #8 Minutes

October 29, 2008, 8:00 a.m., Behmler 130

Present: Cheryl Contant (chair), Brenda Boever, Mark Collier, Janet Ericksen, Van Gooch, Sara Haugen,

Donovan Hanson, Michael Korth, Judy Kuechle, Pareena Lawrence, Axl McChesney, Alex Murphy,

Gwen Rudney, Dennis Stewart, Clare Strand, Nancy Helsper

Absent: Veronica Lei

Visiting: Jayne Blodgett, Jeri Squier

In these minutes: Request to withdraw change to IS 1001; Curriculum Changes to Art History Major/Minor; New courses His 3162, Phil 3162, and WSS 2008; and Brainstorming about future agenda items.

1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – October 15, 2008

MOTION by Kuechle/Lawrence to approve the October 15, 2008 minutes.

Discussion: Contant announced that there was a typo on page 3.

Motion passed by unanimous voice vote.

2. Request to withdraw change to IS 1001-First Year Seminar

Contant announced that she received a request from professor Ratliff-Crain to withdraw the course changes he presented at the October 15 meeting. The changes were approved by a vote of 5-1-2, on October 15. Given the less than unanimous vote and limited campus-wide consultation prior to the vote, he would prefer to withdraw the proposal until a resolution can be made on more than just the proposed changes.

MOTION (Lawrence/Ericksen) to approve the request for IS 1001 changes previously approved by the Committee on October 15 to be withdrawn.

Discussion: None.

Motion passed by voice vote.

3. CURRICULUM CHANGES

Art History Major and Minor Changes

MOTION (Ericksen/Kuechle) to approve the course changes in Art History.

Discussion:

Ericksen explained that the reason it is appearing after the Humanities catalog changes were presented is because the discipline thought the changes had gone through the Curriculum Committee last spring, but it had only gone through the division. The change is proposed to alleviate problems students have had in planning around the three basic studio courses. Now they will have the alternative to take two visual studies courses for non-majors, in two different media, as a substitute for the basic studio sequence, freeing them to more easily meet the requirements and graduate in four years. Also, inactive courses are deleted, and other courses are added to the list of electives.

VOTE: Motion passed (10-0-0)

New Cross-listed Courses:

Hist 3162-The Scottish Enlightenment: Texts and Contexts (IP; 4 cr)

Phil 3162-The Scottish Enlightenment: Texts and Contexts (IP; 4 cr)

MOTION (Gooch/Lawrence) to approve the new courses Hist 3162 and Phil 3162.

Discussion:

Lawrence explained that this is a study abroad course with a double-listing across two disciplines. Kuechle asked if the courses had been provisionally approved. Squier answered that they were provisionally approved and were offered last summer. They are now asking for regular approval, to be listed in the catalog.

Lawrence stated that it is cross-listed with history and philosophy, depending on which professor is teaching it. Strand informed the Committee that APAS looks at cross-listed courses as if they are totally interchangeable and equivalent. If a student with a philosophy major takes the course as a history course, it will be automatically pulled into the philosophy major by APAS. Collier answered that he was fine with it being cross-listed. Strand asked why it needed to be listed both ways and not as one course that is either history or philosophy. Ericksen stated that in English, different assignments are given to student, depending on which course they are registered for.

Lawrence asked whether a discussion on same-as courses will be held as a separate agenda topic later. Contant agreed that it is on the list of future agenda items, and now there are two slightly different examples of double-listed courses to consider.

VOTE: Motion passed (11-0-0)

New Course:

WSS 3008-The World of Soccer: A Brazilian Experience (IP; 4 cr)

MOTION (Lawrence/Murphy) to approve the new course WSS 3008.

Discussion:

Contant stated that this was a provisionally approved course and is now being considered for regular approval.

Rudney stated that she knew students who took the course and had a great experience. However, she voiced her continued concern that courses such as this one, with a designator within the division of education, have not gone through the same process as the other courses in the division. Contant confirmed that this course did not go through the same process of “divisional” review as other WSS courses offered by Continuing Education. Gooch asked how it got on the table if it had not gone through divisional approval. Collier asked what the normal process of approval is for these courses. Also, it is difficult to make an informed decision about a course without seeing the content of the course. Contant concluded that since this course had not gone through a divisional approval process, it may be slightly out of order for the Committee to address it. If the Committee chooses to send the course back to be forwarded through the regular process, it could be considered later, but would not likely be included in the catalog. Korth asked if the Committee was voting on sending the course back or voting on approving it. Contant answered that there is a motion on the floor to approve it as presented. Korth answered that he will vote against it because he questioned giving 4 credits for going to Brazil and playing soccer.

VOTE: Motion failed (0-11-0)

Contant asked if there were any courses pending approval, or if the Committee had completed its catalog work. Squier answered that there was one additional course yet to be approved, but it wasn’t ready in time for the Committee to consider it. Strand stated that there are three courses that asked to have the FL designator removed. Lawrence responded that the change to those courses was withdrawn and the FL designator will be discussed later. Helsper announced that all the course proposals going forward to Campus Assembly are available for review on the Curriculum Committee Web site. Strand added that anyone with an x.500 password can look at any course that exists in ECAS or any program in PCAS. Squier asked if the changes approved today in Art History will make it on the Campus Assembly agenda for the November 5 meeting. Contant stated that they would, and announced that she had asked the division chairs to prepare cheat sheets for her of significant changes so she can highlight ones that the Committee, division chairs, and divisions considered significant.

4. BRAINSTORMING SESSION

Contant listed the topics that came up during earlier Committee meetings but had been held for future meetings when they can be discussed in more depth. The Committee agreed to volunteer for subcommittees to review issues and draft proposals or lead discussions at a Committee meeting. Subcommittees were formed and agendas were set as follows:

November 12 Meeting

1. Same-as/cross-listed courses

Subcommittee: Stewart/Strand

2. The 32 credit max for internships

Subcommittee: TBD

This refers to internships across the disciplines, not just the interdisciplinary internships.

November 19 Meeting

1. FL designator on 1001 language courses

Subcommittee: TBD

2. Notification of faculty who teach courses that are listed as electives or required courses for other majors/minors

Subcommittee: TBD

Upcoming Meetings

1. Areas of Concentration (prototypes and listing in catalog)

Subcommittee: Lawrence/McChesney/Boever/Strand

Areas of Concentrations are individualized majors students can create. The question is not whether to have them, but how to market or make information about them available to students.

2. Criteria and process for deciding whether a program is no longer viable

Subcommittee: Ericksen/Collier

This issue will require time spent on determining what sunset and sunrise provisions are for programs. This was brought up when Dance, German, and WSS were discussed. It would be nice to create criteria and a process for anyone wanting to create a new major on campus.

3. First Year Seminar

Subcommittee: Boever/Collier

This is a much larger conversation that won’t happen until next semester. FYS is a specific course that falls within a broader conversation of First Year Experience (FYE). There is currently a group working on FYE outside the Committee (consisting of students, faculty and staff across campus, including areas such as Student Affairs, Advising, Division Chairs, etc.). Once that group considers curricular and academic support functions, the Committee will be asked to contribute to the conversation. Committee members with an interest in working on the FYS should volunteer to be involved with that discussion.

4. Cluster headings

Subcommittee: TBD

Neither ECAS nor PCAS allows putting courses into groupings. We need to come to a resolution about whether to or how to have the printed version match the electronic catalog. This upcoming catalog will continue with those separate versions. The hope is to make it clearer for students to see clusters in the electronic version.

5. Notification of faculty who teach courses that are listed as electives or required courses for other majors/minors

Subcommittee: TBD

A formalized process is needed to notify faculty members when courses they teach have been added to required or elective lists in other majors or minors.

6. S/N grading restriction on electives

Subcommittee: TBD

This issue has resolved itself since most of the majors that didn’t have S/N grade restrictions in their majors now have them.

7. Music Fees

Subcommittee: TBD

8. Review of General Education

Subcommittee: TBD

9. Assessment and Learning Outcomes

Subcommittee: TBD

10. National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)

Subcommittee: TBD

Rudney announced that the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the Minnesota Board of Teaching (BOT) teams will visit the campus November 16-19. The quality of UMM’s teaching programs are ensured by BOT certification and NCATE accreditation. The Education Division has been heavily involved with the upcoming visit and it will be a grueling couple of days for the visiting teams and the division faculty.

Contant announced that the November 5 meeting is canceled. That is the same date as the Campus Assembly meeting where the catalog changes will be considered for approval.

Adjourned 9:00 a.m.

Submitted by Darla Peterson