Number 1
September 21, 2010
 
 

M I N U T E S

CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
College of Letters and Sciences
Meeting of September 2, 2010

    PRESENT:  Ellen Davis, Paul House, Pilar Melero, Carol Rosen, Molly Patterson, Trudi Witonsky, Anglea Harlan, David Cartwright, Steve Sahyun, Jolly Emrey, Elizabeth Olson, Paul Adogamhe, Jim Winship, Michael Oldani, Ellie Schemenauer, Jeff Heinrich and Elizabeth Hachten, Chair.


    1. The minutes of the May 6, 2010 meeting were approved on a Schemenauer/Rosen motion.
    2. The Curriculum Committee guidelines for 2010-2011 were brought before the committee and approved on a Emrey/Witonsky motion.
    3. An election was held to replace Ellie Schemenauer whose term expired on the UCC. Ellie was re-elected by acclamation.
    4. Announcements: None
    5. Emrey/Winship moved to approve the change in Social Studies-Broadfield Political Science Emphasis I including a name change FROM Political Science Social Studies-Broadfield Political Science Emphasis I TO Political Science with Broadfield Social Studies Emphasis and the deletion of Political Science Social Studies - Broadfield Political Science Emphasis II. The motion passed unanimously.
    6. Patterson/Adogamhe moved to approve the course revision and diversity option for HISTRY 125 "American History Since 1877." The motion passed unanimously.
    7. Olson/House moved to  receive and record the prerequisite change for PHYSCS 364 "Thermal Physics" and the proposal to add CHEM 455 "Advanced Organic Chemistry" to the Chemistry-Professional ACE Approved Emphasis. The motion passed pending clarification of the justification for the prerequisite change for Physics 364. It was discovered that this same proposal [Physics 364] was submitted and passed at our May 6th meeting and was, therefore, not forwarded to the UCC.

    A discussion was held on curriculum planning within the college. The question posed by the chair was "Is our curriculum meeting the strategic priorities of the college especially the following: 2) Increase interdepartmental and interdisciplinary activities; 6) Increase coherence and integration of General Education/Liberal Education; 7) Prepare our students to be global citizens; and 9) Increase recruitment, support, and retention of students from under served groups.

    Ellen Davis said there is interest among the Biology faculty to renew the GENED Core science course 150 Science and Technology in Society. In the past this course was taught by more than one Science Dept. Now the number has been changed and it is only taught in the Chemistry Dept.

    Beth Olson reported on the Psychology Department's initiative to assess students' critical thinking skills across the curriculum. Jeff Heinrich commented that the Economics Department has realized that their curriculum focuses too much on content knowledge rather than essential skills. Other committee members felt that many students compartmentalize their learning and therefore do not apply skills learned in one class to other classes (e.g. critical thinking skills learned in one class are not applied in other areas where it could be helpful). The chair urged the members to continue this discussion in their departments.

    1. Old Business: The Foreign Language subcommittee has not yet had a chance to meet. However, it was reported that the college is proposing another tenure track position in Spanish which would help address the anticipated increase in demand for seats in Foreign Language courses.
    2. The meeting adjourned on a House/Schemenauer motion.

Respectfully Submitted


Elaine Wagner, Secretary