Minutes of Arts and Sciences Curriculum Commitee Meeting
March 8, 2011 –
BCC 204
Present: Robbin Crabtree
(CAS Dean), Robert Epstein, Manyul Im, Scott Lacy, John Miecznikowski,
Elizabeth Petrino, Giovanni Ruffini,
Leslie Schaffer, Roxana Walker-Canton, Joan Weiss (CAS Associate Dean), Lei Xie, Qin Zhang (Chair)
Regrets: Jerelyn Johnson
Meeting called to
order by Zhang at 3:35 p.m.
- Appointment of Manyul Im as secretary pro
tempore
- Approval of Minutes – Motion to approve by Lacy,
seconded by Xie. Discussion – minor
corrections from Miecznikowski, recorded by
Zhang. Vote: 10 favor (unanimous) for approving the minutes as
revised.
- Consideration of revised new course proposal for IL 280
– Motion to approve by Im, seconded
by Petrino. Discussion – Zhang noted
that this is a reconsideration of a modified proposal and that the
proposer, Janie Leatherman, had broadened the course from its more narrow Fullbright focus which was one source of concern for
ASCC in the initial proposal. Weiss noted that the attached appendix to
the syllabus was garbled. Zhang stated that the garbling may be due to a
file upload problem and that she would try to correct it. Weiss also noted
that on the syllabus, the Week 7 readings were on research design but that
there was also 10-page research paper due that week on research design,
leaving insufficient time in between the class sessions and the
assignment. Zhang said she would inform Leatherman of the problem. Epstein
stated that the course content was much improved but suggested that the
revised catalog description replace Ô(puzzle)Õ with Ôor puzzleÕ. Vote:
Unanimous in favor of approving IL 280 as a new course.
- Consideration of revised Anthropology new minor program
proposal – Zhang noted that this was a reconsideration of a modified
proposal and gave Lacy the floor to provide information about the
Sociology departmentÕs responses to the ASCCÕs
concerns about the initial proposal. Lacy stated that the department had
met to approve changes to the proposal in order to address the concern
that Sociology majors would be able to double-count too many courses in
getting an Anthropology minor. Lacy pointed out the change in the proposal
that allows only one overlapping course allowed for a Sociology major
– Anthropology minor program of study. Weiss pointed out an
inconsistency in the number of required courses in the description of the
minor. Lacy indicated that he would have the chair of Sociology, David
Crawford, bring the description into line with the second description on
the proposal as the department had intended. Lacy addressed the other ASCC
concern in the initial proposal about why the two required courses in the
minor are Biological or Cultural Anthropology courses rather than courses
that cover all four areas of the field. Lacy explained that the two tracks
reflected by the courses reflect the state of the field for most
Anthropology programs. Zhang wonderd which
course provides training in quantitative methods. Lacy replied that both
of the required courses would provide it. Epstein wondered whether
Biological Anthropology would be cross-listed with the Biology program.
Crabtree offered that an important related consideration is the
Anthropology course having to apply for core credit for sciences core
credit if it is designed as a science course rather than a social science
course. Lacy concurred with Crabtree. Epstein wondered whether all four
fields of Anthropology would be offered in one way or another. Lacy
affirmed that they would be, because the two required courses could not
plausibly be taught without including important elements of the remaining
two fields, such as Linguistic Anthropology. Crabtree stated that program
chairs or directors should always think about cross-departmental
cooperation in designing courses that may have significant overlaps across
disciplines, for the sake of resource optimization. Motion to
approve the new Anthropology minor program by Im,
seconded by Miecznikowski. Vote:
Unanimous in favor of approving the Anthropology minor
- Consideration of Communication Major program revision –
Zhang welcomed Maggie Wills (Chair) and David Gudelunas
(Internship Coordinator) from Communication Department for informational
session. Wills stated that the proposed revision will bring the program
better in line with other programs in the university and with
Communication programs in other universities and also that it will
formalize what many students in the Communication program are already
doing. Wills informed the committee that the main revision is to require
all 10 courses in the major to be from the Communication curriculum. Wills
qualified this by saying that the department will still encourage
enrollment in relevant courses outside of Communication through its
advising. Gudelunas added that social sciences
core requirements for Communication majors must still be taken outside of
the department (as is already required). Crabtree wondered about the
extent to which Communication chatted with, alerted, or dialogued with
chairs or faculty of other departments who might be affected by the
revision—English and Marketing, for example. Those people might
think the Communication majors had been boosting their enrollments and
might worry about the collateral effects of the change. Wills indicated
that she had discussed the issue with Jim Simon in the English department
about impact on English writing courses. Marketing will also be approached
but, Wills pointed out, the Communication student practice is already
reflected in 10 CO courses often with the addition of a marketing minor,
so the conversation with Marketing should be okay. Gudelunas
added that Communication has talked with their students and is confident
that the enrollment continuity in those other programs will remain in
place. Crabtree emphasized that there are program reviews and revisions in
the offing with some of the relevant programs, so it is important to keep
in conversation with them. Weiss suggested that it may be good to
publicize the double-counting advantages for double-majoring with those
departments, in the catalog. Crabtree added that Communication should work
on catalog copy to clarify that. Epstein wondered if Communication has
enough faculty to provide core courses for non-majors and majors, with the
increased Communication course coverage required by the change. Wills
replied that she has already reserved more spaces for majors in the
enrollment rollouts. Crabtree added that historically, Communication has
not serviced the core with quite the same demand as other social science
programs. Motion to approve the Communication degree requirement
revision by Miecznikowski, seconded by Epstein. Vote:
unanimous approval of Communication degree requirement revision.
- Consideration of Asian Studies Program Revision – Im explained that the Asian Studies minor would be
revised in two ways; first, that any three semesters of Asian language
work could count toward the minor, replacing the existing requirement that
one of those semesters had to be an advanced level course; Im noted that of the two languages, Chinese and
Japanese, that are currently offered, only Chinese even has an advanced
level course; second, that the Asian Studies Seminar, AN 310, would be
offered each term in conjunction with another course in the Asian Studies
curriculum, in a rotation that allows the teaching load to be spread more
equitably among the Asian Studies faculty. Weiss asked whether students
would be signing up for AN 310. Im replied that
that would be the case. Crabtree explained that AN 310 would be the course
an Asian Studies minor would sign up for but it would be taught at the
same time and place – and by the same instructor – as another
Asian Studies course. Weiss suggested that Asian Studies add description
in catalog copy about AN 310 that explains more clearly that the courses
taught in conjunction with AN 310 would rotate among different departments
and disciplines. Im added that the new set up
would allow Asian Studies minors to plan their course work better since
each term would have an AN 310 section
available. Motion to approve Asian Studies Program revisions by Ruffini, seconded by Epstein. Vote: unanimous
approval of Asian Studies Program revision.
Adjourned at 4:48 p.m.