ASCRC Minutes 2/7/06

 

Members Present: J. Campana, S. Derry, J. Eglin, C. Henderson, C. Johnston, J. Luckowski, D. McCormick, D. Potts, M. Roscoe,  A. Szalda-Petree, H. Thompson

Members Absent/Excused: V. Hedquist, V. Pavlish

Ex-Officio Present: L. Carlyon, A.Walker-Andrews

 

Guests: Terry Berkhouse-Director Internship Services

Chair Luckowski called the meeting to order at 2:14p.m.

 

The minutes from 1/31/06 were approved.

 

Communications:

 

§     Student members Chris Healow and Rob Welsh resigned.  ASUM has been notified.

 

Old Business:

Dormant Course Review
The committee received a memo from Associate Registrar Carlyon identifying courses that had not been taught in three years separated into three categories: 1) courses that may not be offered next year, but departments have provided justification for retaining them in the catalog; 2) courses that will be deleted from the catalog because they will not be taught next year; and 3) courses that departments have verified will be taught next year and therefore retained in the catalog.  ASCRC formed a subcommittee to review the justifications of courses in the first category.  The subcommittee made the following recommendations:

  • Delete DAN 435L Arts and Culture of Bali.  The committee felt that the U.S. State Department and UM concerns about the safety of travel to Bali were sufficient reasons to delete the course. 
  • Delete IS 452 Management Science and IS 453 Manufacturing Planning and Control Systems.  The IS department offered no reason to keep these electives.
  • Retain in the catalog all of the rest of courses on the list; reasons were sufficient.

 

Associate Registrar Carlyon commented that two of the courses on the deleted list (BIO 513 and PHIL 443E) should be moved to category 3 because they have since been entered into the fall schedule. The final course lists are below.  This list will go to the Faculty Senate as an information item.

 

Category 1

COMM 220, 480

DRAM 331, 581

ECON 323

EVST 560

FOR 307, 530, 547, 548, 551, 571

GEOG 550

HIST 312H, 331H, 332H, 361H
HIST 386H, 387, 455, 471

IS 474

LS/AS/RELS 365

MATH 501, 541

MICB 520, 540

MUS 421, 423, 425

PHIL 444

RELS 100, 276, 312

SW 422

UNC 102

WBIO 472

WS/ENLT 336

 

 

 

Category 2

 

 

 

ART 331

AS 101H

BIOL 355, 413, 455, 456, 502, 511, BIOL 513, 550

C&I 478

CHEM 486

CS 204, 481, 544

DAN 435L
EDLD 664

ENLT 332, 336, 339, 352, 354

ENSL 250, 251, 450, 451

FIN 331

FOR 280S, 381, 382, 471, 472, 478, FOR 479, 524

GEOG 112N

GEOL 525, 526, 581

HHP 237, 246, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314

HIST 385, 485

HS 440E

IS 281, 282, 283, 284, 452 453

JOUR 500

LING 401, 485

LS 350E, 370H

MAR 510, 609, 686

MICB 583, 685

PHAR 515, 533, 534, 570

PHIL 443E

PSYC 669

RELS 249H, 260H, 311, 347

SOC 555

WS 375L

 

 

 

 

Category 3

 

 

 

AAS 278H, 388H, 408, 409

ART 485H

C&I 544, 557, 572

CHEM 568

HHP 117- 222 (misc. activities)

HIST 369, 388H, 409, 511

 

JOUR 360

LING 482

MAR 587

PHIL 505

SOC 342

WBIO 373

 

Internships:
There are two substantive aspects to the internship issue: the number of credits allowed toward a baccalaureate degree and the grading option.  Chair Luckowski distributed possible policy language for the committee to consider.  This language set the credit maximum at 9 with credit/ no credit grading as the only option.  Discussion followed.

 

Associate Provost Arlene Walker-Andrews shared data from summer 2004, fall 2005 and spring 2005 semesters.  There were a total of 608 students in the sample. Thirty-four percent of X98 internships were taken for credit/no credit. Eighty-three percent of the internships taken for a grade earned A’s. Grades for the general student population break down to approximately A=42%, B=29%, C=11%, D=3%, F=2%, and credit/no credit = 5%. A possible explanation for the high percentage of A’s in internships is that these are motivated upper-division students. Last year 92% of internships were taken by juniors or above.   

 

Consequences on programs are a concern.  The academic requirements in the internship course depend on the department. Some departments might need to tighten expectations while others have adequate oversight.  Departments always have the option of using the X90 supervised internship number, or independent study.  Forcing the credit/no credit option could be viewed as micromanagement especially for departments that have an established structure.

 

A compromise was reached to reduce the number of credits allowed but leave the grading option open.  The committee unanimously approved the following policy. It was suggested that a blanket title change could be added to the motion taken to the Senate as information this week.

 

Students may count toward university graduation requirements up to 6 total credits of internship credit in 198, 298, 398, and 498 courses. 

 

All 198, 298, 398, and 498 courses will be titled “Internship.”


Declaration of a major:
Chair Luckowski provided sample language for the committee to consider.  There was concern about the impact this would have on students majoring in pre- programs.  A solution to this is to require students do declare a major, but not necessarily in a degree-granting program.  Also discussed were the consequences for students who do not declare a major by a specified time.  Students who have not declared should receive heavy advising.   Various communications will go out reminding students of the requirement.  The impetus for the change is to get students out of general studies and into a department home, which has been shown to improve retention.  The language below was approved with one member opposed.

 

Students must declare a major prior to completion of 45 credits or after three semesters, whichever occurs first.

 

Curriculum follow-up / late proposals

 

o       There were several items missed on the December consent agenda that ASCRC approved in the fall.  These were discovered during reconciling over winter break.  The items will go to the Senate on the February consent agenda.

o       Radio-TV appealed the decision not to approve RTV 489, Preparing for an Internship on the grounds that the same course was approved last year for Journalism. The subcommittee discussed the issue and agreed the course could be allowed.  It was noted that the university does not allow career skills courses to count toward a baccalaureate degree; others suggested that this course does not fall into that category.  It was suggested that last year’s decision be rescinded because it sets a bad precedent. This issue illustrates the different purposes and needs of the professional schools and the college of arts and sciences. The course was approved, 7 for and 4 opposed.
 

o       CRT 108 was deferred for discussion until next week’s meeting.

o       The program modification in Health and Human Performance to add  HHP184 Personal Health and Wellness to the Health Enhancement option was approved. This is required for accreditation compliance.

o       PHIL UG 430, Philosophy of Religion was approved.

 

Chair-elect:
Allen Szalda-Petree agreed to serve as chair-elect.

New Business:

 

  • The committee will explore subcommittee procedures beginning next week.  Topics will include how subcommittee members are selected, member terms, email communication compared to face to face meetings, and how requesters are notified of decisions.
  • The committee will discuss its order of business concerning subcommittee curriculum reports, following a request from Hayden Ausland.
  • ECOS asked ASCRC to investigate courses in which undergraduates serve as teaching assistants/aides/graders in several departments, including the just approved course in Anthropology.  We need to know how many similar courses exist, how many students are taking them, what the students do, how they are titled, and what oversight is in place.  Gathering the information could be problematic, however, because the courses have various titles and numbers.  Camie will ask Rob Welsh to do some research.  

Committee Reports:

 

·        The General Education Science subcommittee has a concern that the current criteria are unclear and redundant.  Should the subcommittee make recommendations to ASCRC for more workable criteria?  If the criteria are flawed, will it hurt the current review?  This is one of the reasons a moratorium had been suggested on the approval of any new general education courses until General Education is revised.  Given that there is no timeline for when or if the General Education will have its revised plan in place, it is appropriate to make improvements in the criteria to help keep the current program functioning properly.  The two subcommittees, science and ethics, are encouraged to bring suggestion for revising the criteria to ASCRC.

There have been discussions in one of the workgroups of the General Education Committee to establish a General Education Department to assure an ongoing structure that would provide more continuity.

 

The subcommittees are planning to present the outcome of their review on February 28th.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 3:45p.m.