Arts & Sciences Curriculum Committee Meeting
Draft Minutes
April 11, 2017
3:30-5:00 p.m.
CNS 304

In attendance: Steven Bayne, Johanna Garvey, David McFadden, Margaret McClure, Laura McSweeney, Laura Nash, Giovanni Ruffini (Chair), Terry Ann Jones, Jaqueline Vernarelli

Meeting Began at 3:30 p.m.

Approval of minutes from meeting on March 21, 2017

Note of Actions Taken by Chair:

RS 315

Ruffini:  Approved the reversal of Jewish Paths to the Sacred to its previous name, Modern Jewish Theology. The idea was that the new title would increase enrollment, but it did not.

MPA Certificate Proposal

Professor Mark LeClair: The MPA program has been in place since fall 2013.  We now have a cohort of about 36/37 students.  We are hearing there is a market for people who are interested in the ability to step into the program and take 4 classes as a certificate.  This was the first of several certificates we thought about.  This certificate program may be a way to get students (particularly from non-profits) who will decide to stay in the program as full time students after completing the certificate.  It is need driven based upon what is out there in the community.  It is a natural extension of what we are already doing. 

Gale Alberda, an election specialist, would like to put forth an election certificate. This will come out of the PA side, rather than the non-profit side. 

Two required courses:

Economics of Nonprofit sector – taught by Mark LeClair

Intro to Public Administration – taught by Gale Alberda

Two Elective Courses:

Financial Management and Budgeting (Tom Murray in the Economics Department) - OR Municipal and Nonprofit Accounting (taught by DSB Professor).

Grant Writing (with permission) OR Proposal Writing and Fund Development: Taught by the same professor that teaches the undergraduate course; students can take it, with permission, in a ramped up curriculum.

Project Management: When the program was approved by the state, the only comment they had was that they thought this should be a required course by every student.  They did not know what our resources were, so they did not require this, but this is why it is included as one of the courses.

Non-Profit Management: (DSB) The only class that was not on this list because it fell off the radar.

              In general, we would not have to hire new faculty. It is not a new program; it is under the umbrella of the degree that would be granted as a certificate.

·      Garvey-Is this classroom based or online?

·      LeClair-It is classroom based.

·      McSweeney-Are the undergraduate courses cross listed? Do they have to do extra work?

·      LeClair-They have an additional tag. Yes, they have to do extra work.

·      Jones-Have you thought about other grant writing courses? IL 280?

·      LeClair-We cannot offer anything lower than the 300 level, but I can talk to the DSB Professor that teaches this. Maybe there is something we can do there.

·      Bayne-What is the meaning of a stackable certificate?

·     
LeClair-Building towards a degree.

Discussion

• McFadden – I think it is well put together, the rationale makes sense.
• 
  Ruffini – Noted there was a series of emails, exchanged between the Academic Counsel Executive Committee, the EPC, Ruffini and LeClair, confirming that the EPC intends to discuss the MFA certificate proposal and the question of what language revision would be necessary regarding certificate programs in the Journal of Record.
  
  

RS Minor: Religion in America

• Lydia Ciollo – The minor arose out of my position and the continuation of the work that Al Benny was doing with the students.  The genesis of this minor is twofold.

1.     The department is interested in diversifying channels into our department course units.

a.     Giving them a different pathway towards Religious Studies.

b.     Marketing ourselves in a different way.

2.     Students are interested in this minor.

 The resources are already in place.  We have 9 in house courses and a few more courses down the pipeline.  It would also be a generative space to create courses.

• Ron Davidson – There was a discussion regarding if this should be Religion in the United States or Religion in America. We wanted to make it a larger tent, so we could include courses like Caribbean Religions, which Lydia already has in one of her courses. It would also be possible to do Tribal Religion and Middle American Religion. We thought narrowly describing this in the United States would be restricting. Lydia’s proposal of this minor prompted Ron Davidson to propose a new course: Buddhism in the United States. 

We wanted something that would be available to students and show on their transcripts.

1.     RS 101 is not envisioned to be simply approved as part of the minor, although it could be under exceptional circumstances.

2.     Courses outside of the department would be potentially included, but this is not necessarily moving towards a complete interdisciplinary minor. The Dean is in favor of this minor, but not interested in having an interdisciplinary minor with separate directors.  This minor does not intrude on the American Studies minor at all because there is no requirement for a Religious Studies course.  It is almost exclusively a Social Science and Literature minor.

• McFadden – What about other concentrations and minors in Religious Studies?  If you are starting to think about this, then it makes sense.
• Davidson – There is a committee formed already regarding a minor in Theology. We want to start with this one first, as this is where the student energy is. 
• Coiollo – The first tier of courses are geared towards engagement in one tradition. The second tier of courses becomes intersectional in their focus or they require a little more work. The recommendation would be to go from the first to the second tier.
• Garvey – Would the chair oversee the minor?
• Davidson – It would be handled as any other minor. The chair would oversee it.
• McClure – Is this something done in other peer institutions?
• 
  Davidson – Yes, it is relatively common in other Jesuit schools.

• Jones – Not sure about American Religion vs. U.S. Religion.
• Ruffini – Would the average student be able to make a distinction between the two?
• McFadden – We could recommend that they change this to Religion in the United States because we don’t think they have the capacity to do Religion in America.
• Bayne – They want this to be broader than the U.S, but they are not including something broader. On a student’s degree, would Religion in the U.S. would be less attractive than Religion in America, as far as the name goes?
• Jones – Yes, she agrees it would. She appreciates their interest in American Religion.
• Ruffini - If they reached the point, in terms of capacity, where they could do that, requesting a name change in the minor would be easy.
• McSweeney – We might suggest that after the review of the program in 3 – 5 years, if they are not offering courses that satisfy the name, they should change the name.

The Committee decides to amend the motion.

Motion: Jones moves to amend the original motion to include a name change to Religion in the United States. Garvey seconds; 5 in favor, 1 Abstention; motion passes.

Discussion

• Jones – I think we should call the minor what it is right now, with encouragement of revising it moving forward.

Routing Procedures for Courses Outside of Departments and Programs

Ruffini – This came back to us when I brought forward a Humanities Institute course this year.  A subcommittee from this group met last year to decide how to handle course proposals that are not coming from departments or programs.  They made a series of recommendations to this Committee and discussed what to take actions on. 

1.     The subcommittee recommends the following specific language for any exception clause approved by A&SCC:

For the purposes of new course proposals in the College of Arts and Sciences, “curriculum areas” is to be understood to include not just departments and programs, but also any appointed or elected body of faculty with a chair or director and a steering or curriculum committee that is housed in the College of Arts and Sciences.

2.  The subcommittee recommends that if any exception to the understanding of “curriculum areas” for the purposes of new course proposals in CAS is approved by    A&SCC, then that policy should be submitted to the CAS faculty for approval.

3.     Finally, since the above recommendation involves a particular understanding of the Handbook and JoR, the subcommittee recommends that if the CAS faculty approves any exception to the understanding of “curriculum areas” for the purposes of new course proposals in CAS, then that policy should be sent to the Academic Council Executive Committee for its review.

·      McFadden – This is all procedural.  If we approve this, it should go to the CAS faculty.

·      Ruffini – Correct, the motion that I proposed when I put this on the agenda was:

To adopt the three recommendations of the Subcommittee, and forward the proposed language in Recommendation 1, to the bodies of the College appropriate to amending the College’s Governance Documents.

·      Bayne - We are not going to let anybody get courses or programs approved in the College, which was initially what the members of the subcommittee thought we should do. That is why our recommendations of this are conditional.  If the ASCC wants to approve courses, we should make sure that approval should only come from bodies of faculty that have a Director and a Steering and/or Curriculum Committee. If we start approving courses from centers without having formal language indicating what counts, then we open up ourselves to all sorts of egregious abuses of curricular oversight. 

·      McClure – We were trying to be proactive.  Our thoughts were, once you approve a course that is not coming out of a department or program, you are opening a door.  We did not want to do that without formalizing what we would consider to be an appropriate body to propose a course. 

·      Garvey – Who would choose the Director? Would they be appointed?

·      McClure – We have appointed or elected in the language, but not who would do the appointing. 

·      Bayne – Recommends adding – “with the chair or director appointed within accordance to the CAS governance document”.

·      Ruffini – Reads his proposal:

        To adopt the three recommendations of the Subcommittee, and forward the proposed    language in Recommendation 1, to the bodies of the College appropriate to amending the College’s Governance Documents.

Motion: McFadden moves to approve; McClure seconds

Discussion:

·      McClure: We worked with Michael Pagano last year allowing courses, such as the one we had seen last October, to go forward with appropriate structure and foundation.

Vote: All in favor; motion passes unanimously

Motion to adjourn: McClure; McSweeney seconds; All in favor

Meeting adjourned at 4:25 p.m.

Minutes submitted by: Jean Siconolfi