CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
College of Letters and Sciences
Meeting of February 7, 2008
PRESENT: Ellen Davis, Paul House, Pilar Melaro,
Jeff Zimmerman, Jerre
Collins, Jon
Kane, Steve Sahyun, Jolly Emrey, Elizabeth
Olson,
Richard Salem, Pete Killoran (Rep Richard Salem), Ellie Schemenauer,
and
Elizabeth Hachten,
Chair.
GUESTS: Meg Waraczynski - Psychology
The minutes of the December 6, 2007
were
approved on a Davis/Emrey motion.
Announcements: None
The issue of repeatability of the 490 courses
[specifically 490 "Workshop" and 498 " Independent Study"] was brought
to the table. Meg Waraczynski has recently had two students
who were not given degree credit for all of the Independent Study
[Research] units they had completed under her direction becauseof the
repeatability wording of the course. The course stated that it
was repeatable for a maximum of 6 units in the major but there was no
designation for the maximum number of units for the degree. This was
interpreted by the registrar to mean that the course was only
repeatable for 6 credits. It was suggested by the chair that
departments looked at the repeatability and the wording of their 490
courses to make sure they accurately state the department
intent. This wording should be specific as to number of units
accepted for major and degree among all the department's 490
courses. The question was also raised as to how to differentiate
"Research" independent study units from other types of independent
study. A suggestion was made to establish another 490 course
entitled "Undergraduate Research." Another suggestion was to
label all independent studies with a topic label. The committee
was asked to take this discussion back to their departments for further
input. This discussion also led to a discussion on the impact of
supervision of undergraduate research on faculty workload.
All agreed that some sort of recognition should be made but just how to
do it was unclear.
The question as to whether or not a change to the foreign
language requirement for the BA degree should be made and how to meet a
global
competency/international requirement was again brought to the committee
for
discussion. Few departments have had a discussion on this
question as yet. However, both Psychology and Physics
agreed that a foreign language competency test for incoming
freshmen was a good idea. As to how to achieve global
competency, the Psychology department suggested that the BA
as a whole be examined to determine if the degree requirements
reflect the intent of the degree.
The chair reminded the committee that the revisions to the
"Credit by Exam" booklet are due February 29th. Departments
should review their policies and exams and make any changes by this
date.
The
meeting adjourned on a Collins/Schemenauer motion.