MINUTES OF THE ARTS & SCIENCES CURRICULUM COMMITTEE

A&SCC MEETING: BCC 204, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2010 3:30-5:00 P.M.

1. Members present

M. Im (Chair), Dean R. Crabtree, Associate Dean J. Weiss, E. Petrino, J. Miecznikowski,

G. Ruffini, B. Epstein, Q. Zhang, M.-A. Sourieau, M. Andreychik, J. Striuli, L. Schaffer

2. Preliminary items: Im

• Meeting called to order at 3:32.

• Appointment of Secretary pro temp (Schaffer)

• Im: working on a cheat sheet document for chairs and directors, covers procedures for things that come through ASCC. Weiss: it could even cover how to run the Committee.

• Next and last meeting: Dec. 14 if and only if more than cheat sheet is on agenda.

• Approval of Minutes (October 19, 2010), Miecznikowski, second by Sourieau: Miecznikowski and Crabtree offer corrections. Minutes are unanimously approved, with one abstention.

3. MU102 1-week course proposal (second resubmission)

Im: Proposal has come back with all materials, including the full term syllabus.

Motion to approve: Johnson, Zhang seconds.

Weiss: some inconsistencies present between full course and one-week course. Im: syllabus has been updated, so that material presented on the morning of midterm not included in midterm.

Vote: 10 approved, 1 opposed. Motion passes.

4. FR260 new course proposal

Sourieau: objective is to have course as part of a loose cluster (AY130 is followup). One in fall, followed by community service, in Mali, continue with followup course in spring. Mali already set up to handle students. Have always wanted to focus on W. Africa. Also part of global citizenship initiative, interdisciplinary. Short discussion of enrollment and costs.

Motion to approve Johnson, Miecznikowski seconds.

Zhang: are students required to go to Mali? Sourieau: optional if they have to fund their own airfare. She is looking for funding, in which case travel to Mali will be required. Ruffini: excellent class, much needed. Weiss: re/ multidisciplinary: should be taught by people from different departments., economics, history etc. Who will teach all these pieces? Sourieau: this is a lower level course, I can handle all the requirements of wide expertise, but will also bring in some outside lecturers. Im: Course should have World Diversity designation. Sourieau: would also like approval for Core in English. Need crosslisting with another course.

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A&SCC MEETING: BCC 204, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2010 3:30-5:00 P.M.

Petrino: consider learning objectives and goals for our (English) core classes. Im: when will course be taught, if approved? Sourieau: Fall 2011 Im: In terms of your normal course rotation, how does this fit? Sourieau: will not be very disruptive, we usually have to teach one or two Core courses. I can teach one less core course if this passes.

Weiss: notes that pre-requisite is high-level French knowledge, but taught mainly in English. Sourieau: but there will be some French interaction, they will need to know language at some level. For French credit, significant amount of reading and writing must be in French. Epstein: terrific contribution, in all areas. But title may confuse students, suggest dropping “Francophone”. Sourieau: agreed. Petrino: love the combinations of texts, films, music. Excellent introduction to the culture. Miecznikowski: secondary readings and web sites seem fantastic. Im: re/ name change issues, we can approve but Sourieau must resubmit with proper titles. Weiss: phenomenal course. Proposal says community service is part of course; if not, then you have to remove it from description. Sourieau: needs to get approval as service learning course. Im: if service learning is optional, course description needs to indicate that. Ruffini calls the question.

Vote: 11 approved, unanimous. Motion passes.

5. MACS minimum grade requirement change

Motion to approve: Epstein, Johnson seconds.

Epstein: proposal does not affect a lot of students. Johnson: proposal born out of frustration, amongst mathematics professors, dealing with slow students; some students are not prepared for calculus. Ruffini: grade inflation was what math wanted to avoid, but proposing a C-minimum also will cause grade inflation. Im: the worry about D/F is a different issue. Andreychik: Dean Solomon’s data seemed to argue against current policy.

Epstein: D/F is a separate issue. Dean Solomon didn’t seem to be against the change. Im: Change motivated by pedagogy. Weiss: 4/10 improvement indicated in the statistics provided by DSB is not big. Stronger admissions requirements more important for solving problem. For quantitative fields, students should come prepared in math. Epstein: Business School needs to handle this. Miecznikowski: in favor of proposal. it is important for a calculus class to move quickly enough to cover all the material (e.g. derivatives) and not be slowed down by ill-prepared students.

Vote: 10 approved, 1 opposed. Motion passes.

6. Motion to adjourn

Miecznikowski, Striuli seconds. 4:22.

Submitted,

Les Schaffer

Secretary Pro Temp