The General Education Council met on Friday, April 17, 2009 at 3:00 pm in room 224 of I.G. Greer Hall. Members present were: Dr. Mike Mayfield, Dr. Pat Beaver, Ms. Carter Hammett-McGarry, Dr. Rick Klima, Ms. Teresa Lee, Dr. Paulette Marty, Ms. Kelly McBride, Dr. Georgia Rhoades, Dr. Lynn Moss Sanders, Dr. Tim Silver, Dr. Neva Specht, Mr. Zach Grier, Mr. Peter Rowe, Dr. Dave Haney, Ms. Lynne Waugh, Mr. Nick Rudisill, Dr. Leslie Sargent Jones, and Dr. Pete Wachs. Members excused were: Dr. Tom McLaughlin, Dr. Terri Mitchell, Dr. Johnny Waters, and Mr. Delvon Blue. Guests attending were: Dr. Elaine Gray, Dr. Kim Hall, and Dr. Jim Young.
Dr. Mike Mayfield called the meeting to order at 3:10pm.
MINUTES
- The minutes of the March 20, 2009 General Education Council meeting were approved without changes.
VOTE 1 YES 12NO 0 ABSTAIN 0
ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Dr. Mike Mayfield announced that, due to the budget, the office of General Education does not know if it will be able to offer the workshops on integration and assessment planned for the summer.
- Dr. Georgia Rhoades announced that Writing Across the Curriculum/Writing in the Discipline workshop planned for Reading Day would still be held.
- Dr. Mayfield announced that the Faculty Senate will soon finish filling the Faculty Coordinating Committees for the next year.
- Dr. Mayfield reminded the members that each FCC needs to identify the level of attainment for each of the learning outcomes attached to their particular component.
NEW BUSINESS
- Dr. Mayfield introduced Dr. Kim Hall from Philosophy and Religion, who is appealing the policy that a course cannot be both in a theme and a Writing in the Discipline course. The position of the General Education Task Force was that courses in themes need to be open to all students. Dr. Hall said that all the philosophers in her department had decided that all 3000-level courses would be Writing in the Discipline, but that no course would not be open to all majors. She noted that the policy that a single course cannot be both WID and in a theme was not in the guidelines; if she had known, they would not have proposed the course for inclusion in the theme. An unintended effect that they foresee is that if PHL 3030 is the only 3000-level course not getting WID credit, it may look as though the course does not really teach philosophy. Dr. Mayfield explained that this was no specifically stated in the guidelines because the Task Force thought there was a clear difference in the audience for WID courses and courses in themes. Dr. Hall said that it is not fair to enforce a rule that was not written.
Dr. Dave Haney suggested that we consider allowing students to take the course to count for different components, but that one student could not count the course in both areas.
Dr. Paulette Marty brought up two issues. First, a WID course has a prerequisite, but the courses in themes should not have prerequisites. Second, having taught major courses with speaking and writing, it is hard to have one course trying to do multiple things.
Ms. Carter Hammett-McGarry asked about the effect of combining in one class students who are taking the class for WID credit and students taking it for theme credit.
Dr. Leslie Sargent Jones asked about the impact on the theme if that course were to be taken out. Dr. Tim Silver said that would leave only four courses in the theme.
Motion to approve PHL 3030, Feminist Philosophy for Writing in the Discipline credit, with the provision that it cannot count for both WID and theme credit for any particular student.
VOTE 2YES 7NO 6ABSTAIN 0
- Dr. Mayfield presented a proposal from the RN to BSN program asking that licensed Registered Nurses be exempt from the Wellness Literacy requirement, for the 2009-2010 academic year only.
Motion to approvea waiver of the Wellness Literacy requirement for RN to BSN students for 2009-2010 only.
VOTE 3YES 11NO 1ABSTAIN 0
- Ms. Kristin Hyle introduced a proposal that would apply the MC designator to the new History courses which have been determined by the History department to be equivalent to HIS 1101, 1102, and 1103.
Motion to forward request to AP&P to add MC designator to HIS 1110, 1120, 1130, 1400, 1501, 1600, and 2312.
VOTE 4YES 12NO 0ABSTAIN 0
- Dr. Mayfield presented a proposal from the RN to BSN program asking that their students be able to combine a 3-hour math or statistics course taken and CIS 110 taken at a NC community college to count as the 4-hour Quantitative Literacy requirement, for 2009-2010 only. Council members agreed that it would not be fair to limit this policy to RN to BSN students only, but need to allow this for all students transferring from NC community colleges.
Motion to approve CIS 110 and a 3-hour math or statistics course taken at a NC community college to fulfill the 4-hour Quantitative Literacy requirement, for 2009-2010 only.
VOTE 5YES 11NO 0ABSTAIN 1
- Dr. Paulette Marty presented courses proposed by Watauga Global Community for inclusion in the Aesthetic perspective. Both are sections of WGC 2202- Tangents.
Motion to approve the following courses for Aesthetic perspective credit, for Fall 2009 only.
Poetry Writing Workshop in the Expressions of Belief theme
28607: Days in the Life in the How We Tell Stories theme
VOTE 6YES 12NO 0ABSTAIN 0
Dr. Silver noted that the Historical and Social FCC sent all the WGC courses proposed to them back to the program, expressing their concern about fit and integration with the rest of the themes.
- Dr. Pat Beaver presented one course proposed for inclusion in the Local to Global perspective. Dr. Jim Young said that the course has been modified to deal with human-environment interaction, and the department is fully conscious of the need to work on integration when entering the theme later than other courses.
Motion to approve GHY 1010, Introduction to Physical Geography, for inclusion in the Local to Global perspective in the theme Sustainability and Global Change.
VOTE 7YES 11NO 0ABSTAIN 1
- Dr. Georgia Rhoades presented one course proposed for Writing in the Discipline credit.
Motion to approve GLS 4000, Seminar in Global Studies, for Writing in the Discipline credit.
VOTE 8YES 11NO 0ABSTAIN 0
- Dr. Mayfield presented two courses to be considered separately for Capstone Experience credit.
Motion to approve GLS 4510, Thesis/Project, for Capstone Experience Credit.
VOTE 9YES 11NO 0ABSTAIN 0
Motion to approve FCS 4610, Administration of Early Childhood Programs, for Capstone Experience credit.
VOTE 10YES 0NO 11ABSTAIN 0
- Dr. Lynn Moss Sanders presented a proposal from the First Year Seminar FCC outlining policies related to the course. A handout distributed to all Council members listed the policies.
Motion to approve the FCC-recommended policies related to the First Year Seminar.
VOTE 11YES 11NO 0ABSTAIN 0
The meeting adjourned at 4:45 pm.