Number 14
May 5, 2009
   


M I N U T E S

CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
College of Letters and Sciences
Meeting of April 30, 2009


    PRESENT:  Ellen Davis, Paul House, Pilar Melero, Trudy Witonsky, Geetha Samaranayake, Steve Sahyun, Jolly Emrey, Elizabeth Olson, Larry Neuman, Ellie Schemenauer, Jeff Heinrich, and Elizabeth Hachten, Chair.
  1. The minutes of the April 2, 2009  meeting were approved on a Davis/House motion.
  2. Announcements: 
    1. The committee secretary announced that the procedure for adding the new 498R course into a program requires a curricular action.  If the 498R course is being added to more than one program in a department and that is the only change being made to the programs and the effective date is the same for all programs involved, the change may be made on one form.  Otherwise adding the course would need to be treated the same way any other change to a program would be made.   To activate the 498R course, all that is needed is an email from the department to Pat Waege letting her know that the department wishes to have the course activated.
    2. The chair reminded the committee again that the first meeting in September (September 3rd) is the deadline to make changes to courses and programs for the new catalog. 
  3. Emrey/Schemenauer moved to add Environmental Management Minor from the Occupational and Environmental Safety & Health Department as an acceptiable minor for L&S Majors.  The motion passed unanimously.
  4. Neuman/Witonsky moved to approve the new course SOCIOLGY 499 "Senior Honors Thesis."  The motion passed unanimously.  NOTE: This was  not a new course as discovered by Dr. Monfils and thus was resubmitted to the UCC on a Form 4 as a course revision, credit hour change and repeatability change and on a Form 4R for a  prerrequisite change and title change. See the Department binder for updated forms.
  5. Neuman/Schemenauer moved to approve the change in the Asian Studies Minor.   A friendly amendment was proposed to add the 498R course to the list of electives. The motion passed unanimously.
  6. The issue of comprehensive majors vs. the traditional major/minor was brought to the table for additional discussion.  The question was raised as to whether or not this committee should establish guidelines for establishing  comprehensive majors.  It was felt that the committee should establish guidelines justifying why the comprensive major is needed and how it relates to the goal of providing a liberal arts education to students in the college.  At the March 5th committee meeting, the following were suggested as possible justifications  1) To prepare students for graduate or professional studies the the discipline (e.g. Scientist-Practitioner Graduate School Preparation Emphasis; 2) To provide a multidisciplinary program  through a unique combination of course not found in existing major/minors; and a 3rd possibility would be to act as a marketing tool for an existing major/minor combination.  A question was raised as to how the college defines  a liberal arts education.  It was suggested that we should have a definition in order to frame the guidelines for comprehensive majors.  A subcommittee consiting of Paul House and Beth Olson was formed to write a definition.  They will report back to this committee in the fall.
  7. The issue of changing the foreign language requirement was discussed. An important goal of the college is to prepare students to be "global citizens"  in today's world.  In light of this goal, the foreign language requirement is being reviewed.  Currently, a student seeking a BA degree (BS degree candidates do not have a languge requirement) may be waived from taking a foreign language without demonstrating a profieincy in the language equilivent to 1 year of college foreign language if he/she has had two years of  the same foreign language in high school .  It was strongly felt that incoming students should have to demonstrate proficiency before being waived from the requirement.  Question--If  proficiency was required, how many students would need to take one year of college foreign language?  How would that affect the staffing of the Foreign Language program and how could an increase in demand be met?  It was also asked if the university had considered making foreign language an entrance requirement.  Since no statistics are available to answer the profieiency question, it was suggested that we check with peer schools who have a higher requirement to see what their experience has been.  The chair will try to gather data over the summer and report back in the fall.
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  8. <>The meeting adjourned on a Davis/Schemenauer motion.
    Respectfully Submitted

   
    Elaine Wagner, Secretary