Arts and Sciences Curriculum Committee

Minutes of the meeting of September 19, 2006

Convened at 3:35 p.m.

Present: Professors Davidson, Salafia, Harriott, Rosivach (chair), Garvey, Bayers, Associate Dean Poincelot (for Dean Snyder), Wills

Agenda

1. Approval of minutes from last meeting, May 9, 2006.

2. New Business: 10 new courses needed decisions on whether to recommend them for inclusion in the Arts and Sciences curriculum.

Re: Approval of Minutes

May 9, 2006 minutes were approved, with abstentions from Bayers, Weiss, and Wills.

Re: Pending MFA Proposal

Rosivach brought to the committee’s attention that he would be forwarding a hard copy of a program proposal for a Master of Fine Arts.

Garvey noted there was a scheduled meeting for the next day regarding the proposal. She described the program, a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, as a low residency program.

Weiss asked about the specific nature of the program.

Garvey replied that students are online for the bulk of the time, and the remainder of the time they are in seminars and workshops.

Rosivach suggested further discussion of the program would transpire at the next scheduled ASCC meeting, and turned the discussion to the first course for review.

Re: Chemistry 87--Molecules of Life

Rosivach asked for a motion to approve, which came from Davidson and was seconded by Weiss.

Davidson asked why the Core Science committee meeting minutes had been included with the Chem. 87 documents.

Poincelot responded that while department approval is needed by our committee, Core Science committee approval is needed to approve the course as part of the core.

Rosivach agreed with Poincelot, stating that he had included everything he was sent in the packet even though the piece was not relevant to the A&S CC discussion.

Rosivach asked for comments on the course. Hearing none, he asked for a vote. The course was approved unanimously.

Re: AH 109—Jewish Art

Rosivach asked for a motion to approve, which came from Garvey and was seconded by Bayers.

Rosivach called for discussion.

Weiss said the description for the catalog was unusual as it didn’t seem to describe the course.

Davidson said our committee has the capacity to recommend that the description be changed. He said we ought to do an advisement to the maker rather than a motion that would impede course approval.

Garvey asked that the title be clarified as it varied in different references throughout the documents.

Rosivach confirmed he would recommend they clarify the course title and return to the catalog description, and then called for a vote. The course was unanimously approved.

Re: AH 122—Byzantine Art

Rosivach asked for a motion to approve. Salafia moved to approve, Davidson seconded.

Rosivach asked for any comments.

Salafia was concerned about our committee approving courses based on a department saying that they would offer other courses less often to accommodate a new course. We have no way of verifying whether or not this could be accomplished.

Davidson noted that most of these new courses were proposed by new faculty, pointing out that as AVP Grossman had highlighted at the recent General Faculty meeting, there are now 220 full-time faculty members. As such, our committee is likely to see an increase in courses for approval from new faculty.

Rosivach said that if a dept. said they would offer other courses less often to accommodate the newly proposed course, we had to trust that as it wasn’t in our purview to inquire any further.

Rosivach asked for a vote. The course was unanimously approved.

Re: BI 375—Biochemistry Ecology

Rosivach asked for a motion to approve. Weiss moved to approve. Poincelot seconded.

Rosivach asked for comments.

Salafia said the name needed to be kept straight. It was referred to as “biochemistry” in some places, and “biochemical” in others.

Poincelot said the course should technically be “biochemical” ecology, and in fact this was an important distinction as there may be a biochemistry program proposed. ????

Garvey said that under “academic honesty” on the syllabus, we recommend a longer policy.

Rosivach called for a vote. The course was unanimously approved.

Re: CO 331—American Media/American History

Rosivach asked for a motion to approve, which was moved by Salafia and seconded by Weiss.

Weiss noted the reference to a letter attachment from O’Connor was missing.

Davidson questioned if we even needed to approve the course since it is a moving up in level rather than a new course. As long as it is fundamentally the same course, which has been booted up, did we need to approve it?

Rosivach said as long as it’s before our committee, we can look at it. He said that we can consider it since it has been submitted. He said the missing O’Connor letter was irrelevant to CO approval.

With no further discussion, Rosivach asked for a vote. With no objections, the course was approved.

Rosivach said he would call attention to the American Studies support letter’s absence.

Re: ENW 330—Literary Journalism

Rosivach asked for a motion to approve, which came from Salafia, seconded by Davidson.

Weiss asked if a 300 level course needs 200 level pre-requisites? Around the table the answer was “no.”

Bayers noted that Simon advised all the students in the journalism courses anyway, so the level wasn’t a problem.

Rosivach asked for a vote. The course was unanimously approved.

Re: HI 272—Russia 700-1700: History and Myth

Rosivach asked for a motion to approve, which came from Davidson, seconded by Garvey.

Rosivach asked for discussion.

There was no discussion and Rosivach asked for a vote. The course was unanimously approved.

Re: HI 292 – The History of African Diaspora

Rosivach asked for a motion to approve, which came from Garvey and was seconded by Salafia.

Davidson said he didn’t know how the course would be approved by World Diversity and U. S. Diversity, but this isn’t in our purview.

Rosivach said such an issue is the UCC’s business.

Garvey asked if we need to see any readings on the syllabus itself. She questioned if we address that as a committee.

Rosivach restated the guidelines for course proposals, which includes supplementary readings, but not necessarily on the syllabus itself. HI 292 did list readings for the course in the proposal.

Davidson said that the goals of the course needs to be there. He recommended approval pending providing ASCC with the course goals.

Absent further discussion, Rosivach called for a vote.

The vote was unanimous, approval pending statement of goals and desired student outcomes.

Re: PH 157 – Questions in Modern & Contemporary Philosophy

Rosivach asked for a motion to approve. Davidson motioned to approve, Salafia seconded.

Davidson and Garvey said no items were completed on our electronic copy of the form, p. 3.

Rosivach said that in the hard copy there were responses and he read them aloud. It won’t replace another course, and it refers to a “separate” sheet which, though not supplied, he believes is implicit in item 10a as the course offering cycle is explained. He also said Joyce spoke to him about this course, which is essentially adding another course in the Modern option. Yes, they should have put this info on the typewritten form, but that won’t keep us from approving.

Rosivach called for comments.

Poincelot said it is a welcome course based on the perceptions in the Dean’s office.

Rosivach asked for a vote, so moved by Davidson and seconded by Salafia. The course passed unanimously.

Re: SO 165—Race, Cities, Poverty

Bayers recommended a statement of plagiarism be added to the syllabus.

Harriott asked whether that was required.

Rosivach suggested we discuss that in the time remaining in the meeting.

Rosivach asked for a vote. The course was unanimously approved.

Re: Academic Honesty Statement

Rosivach said that since we had the time, should we discuss the plagiarism issue given our university’s focus on the issue, and if/where this should be listed on the New Course Proposal Form.

Weiss stated that for the purposes of submitting to a faculty committee, she herself wouldn’t put that on her proposal. She would include it on her syllabus.

Bayers said it would be healthy to recommend this for course proposals.

Davidson said if we require it for new course proposals, then it will help new faculty get used to including this important information on their syllabi.

Rosivach asked for a move to amend section 6b on the course proposal form to include a 6^th item on academic honesty.

Weiss said this could open the door to our needing to include other things, such as disability, etc.

Rosivach noted there is a description of the minimum items of what is required for a course including a syllabus in the Journal of Record.

Garvey said as violations of academic honesty have an impact on student grades, it does fall under this kind of material included on a course proposal form.

Rosivach asked regarding any other discussion.

Weiss reiterated that instructor information on academic honesty is not necessary for the ASCC to see in approving courses.

Salafia agreed with Weiss and said maybe we need to clarify for faculty that what they give this committee is NOT what they will be giving to the students, though he added that he would include in a course proposal a syllabus close to what he does in the classroom.

Rosivach said to vote we have a motion to amend the application form including a statement by requesting that a statement of academic honesty be included under 6b. Motion was made by made by Davidson.

A vote was taken, with 6 in favor, 2 opposed.

Rosivach noted that more dialogue could ensue from individuals who voted for and against the amendment given that any change in the form must go to CAS faculty. Rosivach said he would request it be on the agenda of the next CAS faculty meeting.

Davidson motioned to adjourn, and Salafia seconded.

The meeting ended at 4:12.

Respectfully submitted,

Maggie A. Wills

Recording Secretary