Undergraduate Curriculum Council
October 3, 2013 -- 3:00-5:00p.m. in Rendezvous 301
Volume XXX, Meeting 15 (15-15)
Minutes – Approved by Curriculum Council on 10 October 2013; Accepted by Deans and Provost on 22 November 2013
A. Preliminaries
1a. Attendance:
Members: David Blakeman (Chair), Jim Bigelow, Beverly Hewett, Jeff Hill, Mary Hofle, Spencer Jardine, Greg Murphy, Keane Shuler (ASISU), Tara Young, Yolonda Youngs
Ex-Officio: JoAnn Hertz, Chris Hunt, Margaret Johnson, Emily White, Corey Zink
Absent: Mike Hansen
Admin. Asst: Catherine Read
1b. Pre-notified absences for this meeting: Wendy Ruchti
1c. Known Guests: none
2. Council unanimously approved its Minutes from September 26, 2013.
3. Report from the Executive Committee -- No meeting held this week
4. Current Subcommittee Activities:
a. BAS/BAT Committee minutes for April 26, 2013 – tabled till next week
b. GERC minutes for September 3, 2013
Discussion of the C.L.E.P. exam recommendation in GERC’s minutes for September 3, 2013, that a student take one more course in the sequence of the foreign language in order to fulfill the General Education Objective. This requirement only applied to French, German and Spanish, in order to ensure speaking competency – all other languages were satisfied by taking an exam. Problem for Registrar’s office was putting a course on a transcript for a transfer student that is not equivalent to an ISU student’s requirement for General Education credit. A course appearing on a transcript implies that all requirements are met, but in this case that is not true. Unfair to students if other universities accept C.L.E.P. credit and ISU does not. GERC’s recommendation deferred to the department’s wishes. It was noted that the department could choose not to accept CLEP exams for any of the courses; it is a fairness issue for students within ISU. Students transferring in from other universities will continue to have their coursework count towards General Education requirements.
Council unanimously accepted GERC’s minutes for September 3, 2013, with the proviso that UCC does not agree with the requirement that students must take an additional 2200 or 3300 level course in order meet the General Education requirement.
c. GERC minutes for September 10, 2013 and September 24, 2013 – tabled until next week.
d. Oct. 1st meeting notes: GERC approved 10 proposals (listed below in New Business), and approved two recommendations for UCC to consider:
1) GERC recommends that UCC remove the Spoken English item in the Objective 1 Learning Outcome in the catalog. This is a unique situation to fix an error in the Objective, and does not set a precedent.
This requirement originated with the General Education task force from a couple of years ago when they revised the General Education Requirements from 12 Goals to 9 Objectives. However, this verbal component is addressed by Objective 2: Spoken English. ENGL 1102 has sections that are taught fully online and no verbal communication is required, nor is it required in the SBOE’s General Education Reform task force’s working drafts.
Council unanimously approved the removal of the second bullet point under Objective 1, Written English to eliminate the spoken English requirement. This change would apply to all references where it appears in the Undergraduate catalog, as well as to the official 2013-2014 General Education Objectives and Learning Outcomes document posted on several ISU websites, including those of Academic Affairs and GERC.
2) GERC recommends that UCC address cross-listing of Gen Ed courses; hypothetical possibility of a Gen Ed course being cross-listed with a non-Gen Ed course, potentially creating problems with credits and transcripts.
GERC wanted to draw attention to this situation to make sure it was addressed. Discussion. Hunt said there have been times in the past when a cross-listed course meets the Gen Ed requirement and the paired course does not. Cross-listing is a scheduling issue where students in the same room are taking different courses, with different content. Equivalency means the courses both fulfill the same graduation requirement. It is technically possible for two cross-listed courses to meet different Objectives, but that would likely be caught and resolved by the Registrar’s Office. Most of the commonly equivalent and cross-listed courses do meet the same Objective.
In the particular case of HIST 2251 and CMLT 2208, these two cross-listed courses meet the same Objective, but currently are not designated as equivalent in Banner. This means a student could take both HIST 2251 and CMLT 2208, and receive credit for both courses. The crucial question is whether the content of each course is the same or not. If so, the courses should be designated as equivalent. The consensus of the Council was that the majority of the campus community is not aware of the distinction between the terms equivalent and cross-listed. Hill will share a memo he wrote describing the distinction with Council members that can be edited and forwarded to GERC. Some explanatory statement should also go into the catalog somewhere. Tabled until next week.
5. Information from Academic Affairs:
Johnson is checking on the Council’s concern raised last week about the discrepancies between signed hard copies of proposals and revised versions or changes submitted only electronically. Not all the colleges have responded yet, but so far the consensus appears to be that communication of proposal revision or changes solely through the Council’s minutes constitutes adequate notification.
SBOE has confirmed that currently changes involving program tracks and concentrations are supposed to have State Proposals submitted, but policy changes are under way for consideration at the upcoming October and December SBOE meetings that, if approved, would allow notification by letter of proposed changes to minors, tracks and concentrations instead of requiring a State Proposal be submitted. In anticipation of this, Academic Affairs Office will prepare a letter to cover all the relevant program changes in the proposals approved by this Council for next year’s catalog.
The Provost is attending the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Ed (WICHE) meeting this week. Johnson will update the Council next week with highlights of what transpired.
6. Information from the Chair: Blakeman will not be here next week.
7. Information from the Faculty Senate: Did not meet this week.
8. Other related information or questions: None
B. EXPEDITABLE – None at this time.
C. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
1. Proposal 11 from Geosciences to add GEO 4403/5503 as prerequisites for GEOL 4407/5507 and GEOL 4409/5509. History and Geosciences departments have worked together, still need to coordinate with Geomatics. Hill checked with Geosciences chair; two faculty members are working on revisions, no further word from them. Remains tabled.
2. Revised Proposal 12 from Educational Foundations to add EDUC 1110 as a new Gen Ed course. Remains tabled until GERC finishes its review.
3. Proposal 23 from Technical General Education to change the course description and number of credits for TGE 0257. GERC remanded it back to the College for resolution of the larger General Education question about course level designation. For academic credit, SBOE requires a 1000 or 2000 level course number. Remains tabled.
4. Proposal 24 from Biological Sciences to change the name, course description, and reduce the number of credits for BIOL 4415/5515 from “Human Neurobiology” to “Foundations in Neuroscience.” Was tabled last week for impacts and more information. Proposal is being revised and will be resubmitted, keeping the same number. Remains tabled.
5. Proposal 25 from Philosophy to add PHIL 2250 Contemporary Moral Problems as a new course to fulfill Gen Ed Objective 9. GERC remanded it back for the department to consider a different Objective for this course. Remains tabled.
6. Council unanimously approved Proposal 26 (Appendix 1) from Biological Sciences to clarify the eligibility of students to select Minors in Biology. Some students had been both majoring and minoring in Biology; this attempts to close that loophole. Hunt said there would be some issues with DegreeWorks which he discussed with the proposal author. No impact response received as yet from College of Education, though.
7. Council unanimously approved Proposal 27 (Appendix 2) from Biological Sciences as amended below to create a new cross-listed course BIOL/GEOL 4490/5590 Ecosystems and Global Change. Hill followed up with departments to answer Council’s questions about equivalency vs. cross-listing, and pre-requisite requirements. Proposal amended to reflect the departments’ responses:
BIOL 4490/5590 and GEOL 4490/5590 are equivalent.
CHEM 1111 is to be either a PREREQ or COREQ, meaning a student may take it either prior to or concurrently with this new course.
Add: “PREREQ: GEOL 1101 and 1101L, or permission of instructor”
8. Proposal 30 from the English and Philosophy to change Objective 9 General Education course from AMST 2200 to ENGL 2210. Remains tabled until GERC completes its review and makes a recommendation.
9. Council unanimously approved Proposal 35 (Appendix 3) from English and Philosophy, contingent upon approval of CMP Proposal 45, and the State Proposal to update the English B.A. program Professional Writing option courses without the Communications Media Persuasion (CMP) courses that were not adopted. Appropriate substitutions are provided in brackets in case the CMP courses are approved.
Per Chris Hunt: COMM 1101 is a Common Core course, and there is some question whether the Prefix can be changed -- affects both this proposal and the CMP Proposal 45. An inquiry was sent to the State Board; no decision has been made as yet. This proposal was approved pending the SBOE’s response.
10. GERC-approved ‘grandfathered’ course Gen Ed proposals
a. GERC Proposal 17 PSYC 1101 – Objective 6: Behavioral and Social Science
b. GERC Proposal 39 CMLT 2207 / 2208 / 2209 – Objective 9: Cultural Diversity
Council unanimously accepted the above courses as meeting the criteria for fulfilling the respective General Education Objectives. (Appendix A)
11. Proposal 36 from Nursing for course changes to the Traditional Nursing program, and the RN and LPN to BSN programs. Tabled, awaiting forthcoming revised version that addresses Hunt’s concerns.
12. Council unanimously approved the revised Proposal 37 (Appendix 4) from Biochemistry as amended below, for course changes to BIOL 4445 and 4437, and to switch from concentrations to a system of electives. Approval is contingent upon determination whether or not a State Proposal is required to change or eliminate concentrations, and if so, SBOE approval.
Council amended the proposal to add clarification about the required 5 credits of additional electives; the amendment appears at the bottom of the curriculum listed under:
“New curriculum format in catalog:
Core Requirements*
. . .
Additional General Education Requirements 24 cr
An additional 5 credits from any college or department 5 cr
TOTAL: 100 cr
For information only, Hunt explained that solely from a Banner/Catalog standpoint, the Registrar’s office needs to be able to differentiate between students simply taking courses, or taking courses required for a concentration in a major.
13. Proposal 38 from Philosophy to add a new course PHIL 4455 Environmental Ethics. This one goes with the Geosciences Proposal 51 – find the courses and group them together. Tabled to find out when it will be offered – need semester code.
14. Council unanimously approved Proposal 39 (Appendix 5) from Communication Sciences and Disorders to change all course prefixes from CSED to CSD to recognize the department’s current name and program.
15. Council unanimously approved Proposal 40 (Appendix 6) from Communication Sciences and Disorders for course level changes to CSED 2249 and 4455. Course prefixes will be changed if Proposal 39 is approved.
16. Council unanimously approved Proposal 41 (Appendix 7) from Communication Sciences and Disorders to update the prerequisites for CSED 4420.
17. Council unanimously approved Proposal 42 (Appendix 8) from Communication Sciences and Disorders for a CSED 4425 course correction.
18. Council unanimously approved Proposal 43 (Appendix 9) from Communication Sciences and Disorders to update CSED 3325.
19. Council unanimously approved Proposal 44 (Appendix 10) from Communication Sciences and Disorders to correct the course prefix from PHYS 3300 to HPHY 3300 in their curriculum.
20. Proposal 45 from Communication, Media, and Persuasion for the new CMP program.
CMP 4457 lists 4455L as co-req – should that be 4457L? This proposal is requesting cross-listed ART 4418 course change its title and course description, but no response from Art Department. Tara Young will check on these. Tabled.
If approved, would be contingent upon approval of the State Proposal. Johnson confirmed that the State has approved the name change, but not yet the merger.
21. Council unanimously approved Proposal 46 (Appendix 11) from Biological Sciences for consolidating BIOL 4471 and 4479.
22. Proposal 47 from Languages and Literatures for SPAN course and catalog changes.
Chris Hunt had no concerns – add statement to proposal. Blakeman had some questions – p. 2 SPAN 4460 can be repeated up to 3 times, can earn 12 credits. SPAN 2200 co-reqs are not in the catalog copy, was that intentional? The SPAN 4494 and 4495 are the same course, but are early-8 week and late-8 week courses. Banner ensures students cannot register for both. This proposal applies to Graduate level courses as well. Blakeman will inform Graduate Council when this proposal is approved by the Council. Does SPAN 2200 stay as a Co-Req, or is it eliminated? Tara Young will follow up with department. Tabled.
23. Proposal 48 from History for course updates and a new HIST 1120 Gen Ed course. Tabled for GERC’s recommendation.
24. Council unanimously approved Proposal 49 (Appendix 12) from Mechanical Engineering for program requirements changes. Hofle answered Blakeman’s questions.
REMAIN TABLED:
25. Proposal 50 from International Studies for new Gen Ed courses IS 2202 and IS 2203.
26. Proposal 51from Geosciences for substantial revisions and updates to the Earth and Environmental Systems Program to combine three B.A. tracks into a single track and revise two existing B.S. tracks. May require a State Proposal
27. Proposal 52 from Emergency Medical Services to add a new Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Concentration to the curriculum of an existing degree, the Bachelor of Science (BS) in Health Science . May require a State Proposal
28. Proposal 53 from Sociology to add a curriculum option in Criminal Justice within the Sociology B.A. program. Proposal WITHDRAWN by Department.