CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
College of Letters and Sciences
Meeting of May 6, 2010
PRESENT: Ellen Davis, Paul House, Pilar Melero,
Jennifer Thibodeaux, Trudi Witonsky, Geetha Samaranayake, Richard
Brooks (Rep. David
Cartwright),
Bob Benjamin, Jolly Emrey, Elizabeth Olson, Paul Adogamhe, Jim Winship,
Ellie Schemenauer, Jeff Heinrich,
Debra Heiber and Liz Hachten,
Chair.
GUESTS: Dean Mary Pinkerton, Peter Hoff - Languages &
Literatures
The minutes of theApril 1, 2010
meeting were approved on a
Emrey/Schemenauer motion.
Announcements:
The secretary distributed a tentative meeting schedule for
next fall only. The schedule will be finalized once the UCC
schedule for next year is distributed. Please note: the
deadlines on the meeting schedule apply to all proposals and not just
new course proposals as has been stated in the past.
The committee asked the chair to clarify the deadline for
special studies proposals. Special Studies proposals are due the
first week of classes in the semester before they are to be taught
(e.g. special studies courses to be taught in Spring 2011 are due the
first week of classes in Fall 2010).
Emrey/Winship moved to
approve the
new
coursePAX 488
"Special Topics in Peace and Social Justice." A question was raised about the
repeatability of the course since it will have variable topics.
Since this is a capstone course for the new PAX minor, it was felt that
the course should not be repeatable. The General Education Option
was removed because it is too high a level course and the Writing
Requirement option was removed because it was not relevant.
The motion
passed
unanimously.
Old
Business: The issue of strengthening the foreign language
requirement for future BA degree candidates was opened for
discussion. The chair again presented the options discussed in
previous meetings. The committee endorses the initiative to
strengthen the BA foreign language requirement. After further
discussion, those present expressed a preference for option 1B.
It states that the
requirement would change to "1
year of college foreign language OR demonstration of equivalent
proficiency
through examination OR 4 years of the same foreign language
in high school." The option was then amended to
add: "This requirement does not
apply to students who graduated high school BEFORE 2011." The main drawback to
adopting
this option is that it is estimated it would require an additional 1.75
FTE in the foreign language program to accommodate the increase in
students taking additional foreign language courses. Dean
Pinkerton was present to give her insights into the staffing and
budget issues. She stated that all of the college FTE is
committed. Therefore we would have to find ways to free up FTE in
the college or request the additional FTE from the Provost. The
question was raised as to whether we should seek staffing commitments
before we approve a curricular change or whether we should go ahead
with the curricular change and then seek staffing.
Davis/Schemenauer moved and seconded a motion to endorse Option 1B as
amended and to establish a subcommittee to further research staffing
and placement options. The motion passed unanimously. Peter
Hoff, Trudi Witonsky, and Elizabeth Hachten agreed to serve on the
committee.
The
meeting adjourned on a Schemenauer/House motion.