Arts and Sciences Curriculum Committee

Meeting of April 8, 2008

Approved Minutes

 

Present: Professors Steve Bayne (Chair), Sara Brill, Assistant Dean Beth Boquet, Jessica Davis, Ron Davidson, Shannon Harding, Danke Li, Laura McSweeney, F. Cesar Maldonado, Jim Shanahan, Joan Weiss, Guests: Tod Osier, Dina Franceschi, and Brian Walker

 

The meeting was called to order at 3:31

 

1. Announcements

 

A.        Professor Bayne announced that he has updated the New Course Proposal Form on the College's website and on Eidos to reflect the motion concerning multiple copies.  He will copy and turn the form over to the Dean's office.

 

B.        Professor Bayne announced that he has approved a number of special topics courses including AE 399: Special Topics in Business Ethics: Moral Blinders: why Good People Make Bad Decisions and History 397A: Special Topics in Ancient History: Greece, Rome and Africa.  He is working with the History Department to get two more special topics courses, HI 397B – The Evolution of Emancipation and HI 397C: Modern Iraq.  Professor Weiss asked if Professor Bayne, as chair of the Arts & Sciences Curriculum Committee, looks at the course proposal and approves it.  Professor Bayne replied that he has spoken to Vin Rosivach about the procedure for special topics courses but that he (Bayne) would prefer everything to go through the committee.   Both special topics courses and cross listing goes only to the chair and both may benefit by coming before the A&SCC.  Professor Bayne suggested putting this topic on the agenda for the next meeting.  Professor Shanahan asked for clarification on how special topics courses are approved.  Professor Bayne explained that they must first be approved by the departments, then come to the chair of the A&SCC.  Special topics courses can only be approved once.  In the past the approval had to come from the dean.  Typically special topics are brought forth for new hires and if they are going to be taught more than once they must go through the regular course approval procedure.           

 

C.        Professor Bayne looked through the new courses listed in the Fall '08 course booklet and noticed TL 232: Documentary Production was listed as a new course.  This course was not approved by the dean at the time it was requested to be listed by the registrar.  It now has one time approval from the dean.

                       

D.        Professor Bayne announced that the math courses have not come through but Matt Coleman has said that by the next meeting they will be here.  The Graduate American Studies Course Approvals will come up as well.  A time needs to be set for the next meeting.  Most agreed that Tuesday April 29th at 3:30 worked best with their schedules.  Professor Brill made a motion to have the next meeting April 29, 2008 at 3:30, seconded by Professor Harding.  The motion was unanimously approved.

2.         Approval of minutes of March 18, 2008

 

Professor McSweeney made a motion to approve the minutes, the motion was seconded by Professor Weiss.  Discussion on two typos, changes were made.  The minutes were unanimously approved. 

 

3.         Proposal from the Program in Environmental Studies.  Tod Osier, Dina Franceschi, and Brian Walker invited guests.

 

Professors Osier, Franceschi, and Walker joined the meeting to discuss the Program in Environmental Studies.  Professor Osier gave a brief history of the program's development.  Professors Osier and Franceschi were made co-directors of the Environmental Studies Program and have assembled an advisory board of 12 to 15 faculty members with a serious interest in the program.  The advisory board has been working for a little over a year on what to do with the curriculum.  Traditionally there was a split between Environmental Studies in humanities headed by Lisa Newton and a more rigorous Environmental Science program.  What has been developed is an interdisciplinary minor in Environmental Studies. 

 

Professor Franceschi added that the curriculum has been brought up from 15 credits to 18 credits with courses drawn from three areas that reflect the interdisciplinary nature of the program.  The name has also changed in order to reflect the new direction the program has taken.  All those that have participated in the past have not been excluded and have had a voice.  They are in support of the changes.  New faculty have also been involved.  They have looked at what other universities offer as a comparison.  There are no current plans or designs for a major at this time.  They wanted to have people involved with a set of skills that can be applied to environmental studies.   A self designed major can also be incorporated but hasn't been specifically looked at yet.

 

Professor Weiss asked for a clarification on the name of the program.  Professor Franceschi stated that students would graduate with a "minor in the Program on the Environment."

 

Professor McSweeney asked how many will serve on the advisory board as this is not addressed in the proposal.  Professor Osier said that there is no set number.  There would be a rotating directorship, with the first director being brought in from outside the university, who will serve a 5 year term.  Anyone teaching a course that supports the minor can come to meetings, but no set number must attend.  Professor Franceschi said that they aspire to have everyone involved as part of the advisory board.  One previous criticism of the past programs was the number of adjuncts involved.  In this proposal they are looking at involving full time faculty.  Professor McSweeney suggested that they may want to set a minimum number for the advisory board.  Professor Osier said that they have not had trouble with attendance.

 

Professor Davidson asked how many students are anticipated.  Professor Osier stated that 2 to 7 students per year graduated from the previous programs.  With better marketing, their goal is to graduate 5 to 10 a year. 

 

Professor Davidson asked if the Environmental Science minor has been defunct.  Professor Franceschi said that both Environmental Studies and Environmental Science are gone.

 

Professor Davidson asked for clarification on the purpose of eliminating the Marine Science minor.  Professor Franceschi clarified that the minor had originally been a concentration option in biology and was made into a minor in the 1990's when there was a number of faculty to support it.  Diane Brousseau is now the only active faculty supporting the minor and she feels she cannot support it herself and that returning to a concentration is more feasible.  Professor Bayne asked for further explanation of the concentration, 1) what will it amount to? And 2) Did the biology department vote specifically to dissolve the minor or to approve this program?  Professor Osier said that he was not sure what the concentration detailed when it was elevated to a minor, but that in the biology department meeting the only discussion was to move it back to a concentration.  Professor Bayne clarified that if the A&SCC approved everything in this proposal that the committee will not be approving the concentration in marine biology, only dissolving the minors.  Professor Franceschi stated that that was understood and that they are looking only at the minor in the Program for the Environment at this time.  Professor Brousseau has been involved in the development of this minor.  It is important to have clarification to students and the registrar.  Professor Bayne said that in terms of the parts of the proposal go, the elimination of the minor in marine science seemed to be the "fish out of water."  Professor Franceschi said that the minor in Marine Biology had environmental and interdisciplinary aspects and they wanted make everything clear by eliminating it.  Professor Bayne pointed out that we would be approving removing the minor without having minutes from either a meeting in which the faculty of the program voted to eliminate it or from a meeting of the liaison faculty of the program.  Professor Osier said that Professors Steffen and Klug are liaison faculty to the Marine Biology minor and are both part of the Program on the Environment.  All other liaison faculty are not active.  They made sure to get a letter of support from Professor Brousseau, director of the Marine Science minor. 

 

Professor Harding pointed out that looking at the list of foundation courses for the minor it is not likely that a biology or chemistry major would go through this program because of the low level of the science courses required.  Professor Osier said that minors tend to succeed when they are based on the core.  They struggled with this issue because science students are at a disadvantage since humanities students can achieve the minor by taking core courses while science students need to take extra courses as electives.  The courses listed come from different disciplines and they wanted a broad view of the environmental arena.  Professor Franceschi said that she does not agree with what Tod was saying as the curriculum will cover the humanities core for a science major and the few other courses will be covered by electives.  A general discussion arose on how feasible or appropriate it would be for a science major to take a core science course.  Professor Walker said that taking these courses as science majors will mean they are going above and beyond expectations.  These courses are a very different experience than what they get in their majors courses.  Professor Osier said that it would be a one course detriment to science students but should be a parallel experience for all minors.  Professor Harding asked if they can cross list a harder course for majors.  Professor Weiss questioned the fairness of such an option.  Professor Osier said that they discussed this issue and that their decision was that if they do not get the chemistry and biology majors involved they would go back and look at the offerings.  Dean Boquet asked if there is a possibility for making course exceptions for science majors.  The purpose of the core science is for a general foundation in understanding science.  She suggested an option for a substitution for an upper level course could be a compromise. 

 

Professor Davidson asked how they plan to put together a capstone course with so many different backgrounds.  Professor Franceschi responded that that was exactly what they wanted, to show students the diversity of opinions and backgrounds on the topic.  They want this minor to educate students on how environmental studies actually comes together.  Professor Li commented that students will learn to "act locally, think globally."  Professor Franceschi said that they want to simulate the real world of environmental issues and give students an understanding of all the dimensions of environmental policy. 

 

Professor Bayne asked why Environmental Ethics is not a foundation course.  Professor Osier responded that they want to have the foundation courses taught by full time faculty that are committed to the program and not adjuncts.

 

Professor McSweeney asked if there was a reason EV 399 is listed as one course rather than two, one for Independent Study and another for Internship?  Professor Franceschi said that the new director will be able to do some house cleaning.  Professors McSweeney and Davidson agreed that they should be two separate courses.  Professor Bayne said that the internship will need to come through as a new course proposal.  Professor Franceschi said that the new director will have other courses to propose and that they will be evaluating the courses the adjuncts teach as well.  For now they stuck with what is on the books. 

 

Professor Davidson asked that with how students are advised, can that be a way to encourage science students to take this minor.  Professor Franceschi said that was right, and that if they build in some exception, that still maintains that spirit.  Professor Walker added that next semester two science courses will be clustered and open only to freshmen, therefore they will already be two classes into the program.

 

Professors Osier, Franceschi, and Walker were thanked and left the meeting.

 

Professor Bayne said he would like to divide the discussion and votes by the three tasks of their proposal.

 

A)        We wish to revise the requirements of the Environmental Studies minor and adopt a new operating name, Program on the Environment.

 

Professor Li moved to approve part A of the proposal, Professor Davidson seconded.  Discussion ensued on whether the program would be subject to a 5 year review.  It was determined that because this is a revision and not new proposal it would not.  The motion was unanimously approved.

 

B)        We recommend the elimination of the Environmental Science program.

 

Professor Shanahan moved to approve part B of the proposal, Professor Harding seconded.  The motion was unanimously approved.

 

C)        We recommend the elimination of the Marine Science minor and suggest Marine Science as a concentration within the Biology Department.

 

A motion on only the elimination of the minor in Marine Science and not the approval of a concentration on Marine Science within the Biology Department was made by Professor Shanahan and seconded by Professor Maldonado.  Professor Davidson voiced that he was a little disappointed that the minor was being eliminated, especially do to the extraordinary need in this field.   Professor Bayne stressed that the elimination of this minor is a very special case and that we are in no way setting a precedent by not requiring minutes from a meeting in which the faculty of the Program in Marine Science voted to eliminate it.  However, we have heard from everyone that teaches in the program.  Dean Boquet stressed that this is not a vote on the proposed concentration.  Professor Bayne reiterated that the proposed concentration must come before the A&SCC as a new program.  The motion to eliminate the minor in Marine Science was unanimously approved.

 

 

4.         Graduate Mathematics new course proposals.  As a result of the proposals not being moved on by the Math Department, item 4 will be table until next meeting.

 

5.         New course proposal: PH 298: Independent Study

 

Professor McSweeney moved to approve the new course PH 298 and Professor Brill seconded.  A discussion ensued on why this course is a 200 level course and not a 300 level as the course catalog describes 200 level courses as intermediate.   It was determined that this number coincides with the numbering system used by the Philosophy Department and it is believed that this number does not exclude the course from being used as a honors thesis in the Honors Program.  The motion was unanimously approved.

 

6.         Graduate American Studies Course Approvals.  Tabled until next meeting.

 

7.         Adjournment

 

Motion to adjourn made by Professor Shanahan, seconded by Professor Davidson.  Meeting adjourned at 4:36.

 

Respectfully submitted by

Jessica Davis, recording secretary