Minutes

Undergraduate Studies Committee of the Faculty Senate, February 10, 2003.

The meeting was called to order at 1:05 p.m. in 130 Hullihen. Present were Kenneth Koford, Michael Arenson, Hilton Brown, Doug Buttrey, Vick Klemas, Thomas Leitch, P.K. Krishnan, Dan Taylor, Julie Waterhouse, and Sarah Acuff. Karren Helsel-Sprey of the Faculty Senate also attended.

The minutes of the January 24 meeting were approved, with several typos and Dan Taylor’s active presence noted.

Old Business

1. Political Science minor. Jim Magee, Acting Chairperson of Political Science, had sent a letter to the committee members, which described his rationale for the change in the Political Science minor, specifically deleting the POSC 300, or Data Analysis course from the requirements of the minor. The reasons were similar to those given earlier, basically lack of faculty to teach the course, and a feeling that some minors may not find the material so important.

A detailed discussion ensured. Had the matter of statistical/methodology courses been discussed with Sociology and FREC? Some faculty suggested that maybe the minor could be abolished, but this was controversial. It was suggested that the lack of faculty could be raised with the Dean, and if the response was that no faculty resources were available to teach this important course for the long run, this would be taken into consideration.

Several members expressed their interest in finding a cooperation solution, and felt that a department should have the right to find a solution to these problems. By a vote of 2 in favor of Approval and 5 in favor of further support for the changes, the Committee voted against approval.

2. The Chemistry Department informed the Committee that it had voted to reduce the total requirements for the three CHEM/BIOC BS degrees to 124 credits for graduation. This had been the only concern for these majors, which we had raised with the Department. We therefore approved the Chemistry proposals, with this amendment, 8-0. Note that this changes the requirements with specific wording, for three majors!

3. The Registered Nurse proposals were considered. Effectively, there are two parts. One involves the B.S. for the Registered Nurse Major (BRN). This was reviewed and approved by a vote of 7 in favor, 0 opposed, and 1 abstained. The other part involved the BRN transition to the Master’s in Nursing. This program is for returning nurses who will obtain first the B.S. and then go on to obtain the Master’s. However, this program requires that students take some graduate courses in nursing and some outside (in psychology). These courses are listed at the 800 level, which are supposed to be open only to graduate students. The committee voted unanimously to request that Nursing arrange for course numbers consistent with the requirements placed on undergraduates, or in some other way solve this difficulty. The vote was 8-0 in favor of this request. It was also noted that the overall BRM-Master’s proposal seemed excellent, with this one difficulty.

4. Health Studies, the new proposed major that had come before the committee a year before, was discussed in its new version. The new proposal seemed much better, but the lack of serious physiology was identified as a weakness, that could be remedied by including a course such as BIO 276 Human Physiology. It might make sense to adjust the other anatomy/physiology requirements in accordance with this.

The committee voted in favor of the health studies major including this additional course, which would make this a new major, but with temporary approval, by a vote of 8-0-0.

New Business

1. The Elementary Teacher Education revisions were reviewed. The changes were three-- deletion of a class in basic computing, reduction by one course of the number of elective classes in different fields, and reduction of the total credits to 121. These were approved 8-0-1.

2. Koford asked that review of the minor in Medical Humanities be delayed as a meeting dealing with the review of the program was scheduled later in February. He noted some oddities in the proposal, including the elimination of a core course due to lack of funding (caught between two programs?) and the lack of a home for the program --”This minor actually has no real home currently”.

3. FLL change to the wording of the College Requirement for Foreign Language. We read over this requirement, but after some discussion it was not quite clear what problem it was aimed at or how it would solve it. It clearly imposes some grade requirement as students proceed from one course to the next, but the rationale escaped us. [Koford has indicated our confusion and requested guidance from the chair of FLL].

4. Interactive Media, interdisciplinary minor. Koford noted that the minor had a governing board named but not specified further, which was permitted to approve additional courses for the minor. This seemed inconsistent with standard Faculty Senate standards, and so he had asked for clarification and presumably different language from the minor governing group. He promised to report back once something useful had been received.

5. BFA in Visual Communications, Interactive Media Concentration, was reviewed. This adds a Concentration to the BFA in Visual Communications. The committee thought that the overall idea was fine, but noted that Art History had 6 credits, contrary to other programs in Art where the ART 315 course had been deleted the Art History requirement increased. The committee wondered if there was a small omission here that should be caught, and asked clarification from Art.

Tied along with the above is the equivalent BFA in Art, Fine Art, adding Interactive Media Concentration as a Concentration. This was passed (according to my notes). I could not find a copy of this and had to go by the catalog!! Please advise me!!!!

We adjourned at 3:05, not due to laziness, but because President Roselle needed the room...