Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee



Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee

Minutes from September 13, 2006 Meeting

Present: Kevin Craig Wally Morris

June Deery Lee Odell

Lester Gerhardt John Schroeder

David Hess Dick Smith

Sharon Kunkel Dave Spooner

Julia Leusner Sam Wait

Chris McDermott Ken Warriner

Mike Wozny, chair

1) After introductions, the Committee reviewed and unanimously approved the minutes from the April 19, 2006 meeting.

2) School of Engineering (SoE)- Dick Smith distributed a new template for Environmental Engineering majors. He provided an overview of the template. After a brief discussion, the Committee approved the template unanimously.

3) School of Humanities and Social Science-Lee Odell provided an overview of several changes to the Electronic Arts, Media and Communication (EMAC) degree template. The department wants to build on the strengths of the department and provide the students with a sequence of preparatory work. The Committee had a number of questions and recommendations:

• Can the department offer on a regular basis all of the courses listed? Lee indicated that they can.

• David Spooner asked about cross-listing the existing Information Technology courses ITEC 2110 with the proposed course COMM 2962. He will bring the paperwork from ITEC.

• Several concerns about diminishing the ARTS requirements were voiced. The department wants their students to have breadth so they will be ready for their senior courses. The program is evolving and more specialties have been developed.

• Committee members asked why two culminating experiences are required. Is one a continuation of the first course? The Committee asked for clarification and a definition of a culminating experience.

• L. Odell asked for some latitude for the department. He will go back and ask the H&SS committee for more information on the kinds of internships the students might be involved in.

• The Committee reiterated the need for a definition of a culminating experience.

• The Committee suggested revising the wording in bullet 2) “Revised Curriculum: Instead of the capstone courses, students take two related experience courses (eight credits) or one culminating experience course and a related internship.”

• After some further discussion, the Committee unanimously approved the proposed EMAC curriculum contingent on submission of the definition of a culminating experience and the wording change in Bullet 2.

• Chris McDermott asked that the School of Management be kept in the loop so they will know what the impact these changes may have on their marketing courses.

4) Communication Intensive Implementation Update- Lee Odell thanked the Committee for their support. Approximately 300 students are taking Communication Intensive courses this fall. The Provost has provided funding for a director of a new center, formerly the Writing Center. Lee is doing outreach to other classes and his goal is to set up a website with samples of good writing. He has established a committee with representatives from each school to review courses proposed as communication intensive. The LLC department is providing support for one adjunct faculty and 2 PhD students. He hopes to develop a peer tutoring program. Dick Smith asked if the criteria for the Communication Intensive courses is ready yet so the SoE can begin to update their courses. After a lengthy discussion of the importance of and the process for getting courses certified, the Committee agreed that this will be an ongoing discussion. Lee was asked to provide the faculty with some guidelines, so they can use it in their classes.

5) Core Outcomes- David Hess suggested a more effective approach for reaching agreement on Outcomes. He suggested identifying individual outcomes and approving them one by one. More discussion is needed.

6) Issues for future meetings:

a. 72 credit PhD

b. Half TA - half RA issue

c. Emphasis on PhD education rather than master education

Mike asked Committee members to think about other issues for discussion and bring their ideas to the next meeting.

7) The next meeting is scheduled for September 27 at 9:30.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download