Minutes
of the
Arts and Sciences Curriculum Committee Meeting
Canisius
100
8
May 2007
Present:
Professors Peter Bayers, Steven Bayne, Ronald Davidson, Johanna
Garvey,
Olivia Harriott, Vincent Rosivach (Chair), W. Ronald Salafia, Joan
Weiss, Maggie
Wills; Dean Timothy Snyder
Guests (present at various portions of the
meeting): Professor Michael White, Aaron
Perkus,
Professors Linda Henkel and Lynne Porter
The Meeting was called to order at 3:35 PM.
1. Announcements:
2. Minutes from April 10, 2007 meeting.
Peter Bayers moved to approve the minutes; seconded by Ron Davidson. Motion passed 7-0-2.
To accommodate invited guests Chair Rosivach asked for a motion to reorder the agenda. A Motion was made, seconded and approved to consider item 9. on the agenda: MFA in Creative Writing(White, Perkus, Garvey); followed by item 7. Psychology Department’s plan for teaching credit for mentoring students through independent study or research (Henkel); and item 8. Changes in the Theatre Arts major (Porter)
9. MFA in Creative Writing. (White, Perkus, Garvey)
Johanna Garvey began with some history of the proposal. The English Department approved the program during spring 2006 and in Spring 2007 approved the six courses (3 Residential and 3 Non-Residential).
Michael White presented an overview of the proposed MFA Creative Writing Program. There are 20 to 25 low-residency Creative Writing Programs in the country. In this proposal there are three options: fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. It consists of five 10-day residential components and four 5-month non-residential “semesters” during which students work with a mentor exchanging packets of their work. Student and mentor exchange information via email or phone. Students are expected to spend at least 25 hours per week writing and reading. In the third semester the student writes a “critical thesis” and in the fourth a publishable “creative thesis”. During the first four residential portions students attend lectures, workshops, seminars and readings. Students must attend all workshops and at least six seminars and lectures and prepare responses to each. During the fifth and final residential component, students must give an hour-long seminar (based on their critical thesis) and read from their creative thesis.
Southern Connecticut has a Professional Writing Program but Fairfield’s MFA in Creative Writing is different. There is no low residential MFA Creative Writing Program in the NYC to Boston area.
The committee members posed a number of questions and made suggestions. These included :
Because the faculty/mentors are drawn from among professional writers will there be sufficient qualified individuals? Does the state require instructors in an MFA program to have at least an MFA? White answered that there are many qualified writers who would apply to be mentors/lecturers in the MFA Creative Writing Program and suggested it would be good to require mentors to have at least an MFA degree.
Asked if a student could have one mentor for four semesters, White replied that most students would have four different mentors.
When questioned about the 60 credit hours, White replied that was the most common number of credit hours for a low residency MFA in Creative Writing and it seemed right for the Fairfield Program.
Many typos and faulty cut-and-paste items were pointed out to White and Perkus including White had no town listed on his vita, at least two “they”’s referring to unknowns and in the course proposals EN 444, 445,and 446 the incorrect listing of three credits which should be six credits, and the misplacement of sample seminar topics in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry among the proposals.
When questioned about what the MFA Creative Writing Program would add to the Fairfield University Community, the proposors suggested it would bring famous writers to campus and their Readings, etc. would be open to the campus community.
Committee members mentioned that they had questions about the survey data and budget but that these were questions the EPC should pose. Participant access to computer facilities to create their written assignments during residency was not addressed in the proposal nor fully answered, so the EPC may want to clarify this issue.
White and Perkus left the meeting.
through independent study or research (Henkel)
Linda Henkel began with a brief overview. With the three 4-credit Psychology course, there would be a ”banking” system, i.e. after teaching three 4-credit courses in the fourth semester the professor would have “banked” 3 additional credits and be eligible in the fourth semester for release from a 3-credit course. The Supervised Research and Independent Research courses also function on the “banking” system. A professor who accumulates 15 units of student research would be eligible for one 3-credit course reduction. Henkel emphasized the released time would be granted only if it didn’t infringe on the integrity of the psychology curriculum.
Davidson noted that the “banking” system for 4-credit course would be feasible in most departments, but most departments, other than psychology, would probably require additional adjuncts if the “banking” system for Undergraduate Research was implemented. Henkel agreed.
Bayne questioned the number of students at 15 in a seminar and Henkel thought 15 was about the average enrollment in the seminar courses in psychology.
Henkel left the meeting.
Lynne Porter began with a brief overview. The Theatre curriculum has been redesigned. It retains the liberal arts tradition and builds on the students’ strengths.
Several noted it was an excellent and thorough proposal..
A suggestion was made to consider including other options (for example, Greek) in the History/Drama Literature requirement.
TA 94 Theatre Fairfield Performance Practicum and TA 94, Physical Performance Lab, should probably have different numbers.
Porter left the meeting.
Returning to item 9. MFA in Creative Writing.
MOTION: MFA in Creative Writing Program be approved.
Davidson,
seconded by Wills
Davidson wanted it noted in the minutes that this proposal was put
together in a sloppy manner, misusing cut-and paste and very poorly
proofread by the proposers.
Davidson continued
that it looks
like a good program, but he expressed concern about University College
administering this graduate program and the recently approved graduate
program
in communication. Such graduate
programs are better housed in CAS.
Bayers mentioned that the Board of Directors does include English faculty.
Snyder mentioned the success of the current graduate programs in CAS and the reassignment of Susan Peterson to oversee the graduate programs in CAS. The English Department has embraced the MFA in Creative Writing.
Davidson asked Snyder if the MFA in Creative Writing could be relocated from UC to CAS. Snyder replied No.
Harriott observed the limited interaction of the students in the MFA in Creative Writing with the University community even during the ten days of Residency.
Salafia suggested that in the first paragraph on page 15 of the proposal that the English Department could be listed first and then UC instead of “The program would be administered primarily by University College, with the content and curricular control under the supervision of the English Department…” Most felt this would not be helpful.
Harriott questioned the function of the Advisory Board.
Rosivach stated it should be clarified who appoints the Advisory Board. He also suggested the proposal address how the MFA in Creative Writing fulfills the Mission Statement of the University.
This discussion led to the Motion and second to approve the MFA in Creative Writing to be withdrawn.
MOTION: Remand the MFA in Creative Writing back to
the proposers to document the
appointment
of the Director of the Program and the appointment of the Board of
Directors. The proposal should
articulate how it fulfills Fairfield University’s mission statement. The MFA in Creative Writing should be
brought under the jurisdiction of the College of Arts and Sciences. The course descriptions should be
edited .
Davidson, seconded
Salafia.
Motion passed:
7-0-2.
Return to item 7. Psychology Department’s plan for teaching credit for mentoring students through independent study or research.
[Weiss had to leave the meeting. Replaced by Olivia Harriott]
Davidson stated that since the Mathematics Department has a plan for banking credits other departments should merit the same consideration.
Salafia thought that consideration should be given on a course-by-course basis. He used as an example the lab component of his four-credit Statistics course, which is run by interns. Salafia said that he receives no bonus for teaching the extra credit.
Snyder stated that the CAS does not want to add more adjuncts and that equity does not mean equality. He went on to say that compensation is based on norms in different fields, giving as an example the different start- up packages for new hires in Chemistry (~$55,000) versus the start-up packages in Mathematics ($2,000-3,000). He stated that Henkel was asked to survey the Council for Undergraduate Research (CUR) members to get information about other schools, but noted the sampling error, as schools without a compensation system would not respond.
Snyder noted that the Psychology proposal would not increase the adjunct pool. Snyder indicated that science Chairs were asked to submit a compensation proposal and that for some departments, e.g. Biology, a compensation system could not work because of staffing issues. He furthered that well-staffed departments would be rewarded.
Davidson stated that all proposals submitted would have a burden on departments because adjuncts may be needed to cover a section.
Rosivach proposed willing creating a web site (something like the one created for taskforce 1 on core integration http://faculty.fairfield.edu/taskforce1) that would facilitate a college-wide discussion of teaching compensation and equity.
Salafia acknowledged that Linda Henkel researched and wrote the Psychology proposal.
Snyder stated that the Psychology proposal has the potential to transform the value of undergraduate research at Fairfield. He went on to ask if we should “re-section the pie,” and if a bigger piece should go to student research.
MOTION: The Psychology teaching compensation proposal be approved.
Salafia, motion was not seconded.
MOTION: The Theatre Arts major program be approved.
Davidson, seconded by Salafia
Motion passed unanimously.
Salafia moved to adjourn, seconded by Davidson. The meeting adjourned at ~5:00 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Joan Weiss and Olivia Harriott
Secretaries pro temp