ASCRC Minutes
Members Present:
J. Blunt, I. Crummy, J.
Graham, E. Henderson, S. Lodmell, J. Luckowski, P. Muench, M. Nielsen, P.
Silverman, L. Tangedahl, H. Thompson, G. Weix
Members
Absent/Excused: R. Bangadi, K.
Nalty, S. Smillie
Ex-Officio Present: M. Hoell, D. Micus, A.
Walker-Andrews
Guest: Professors Gritzner, Halverson and Kamp -
Geography
Chair Thompson called the meeting to order at
The minutes from
Communications:
·
Very few faculty attended the General Education
Open Forum. Those that did had concerns
about the Ethics and Human Values Criteria/Outcomes. As a result, the subcommittee re-drafted the language. The
Department of Modern and Classical Languages continues to have objections to
the inclusion of American Sign Language in the requirement. The subcommittee
will meet with Mary Morison to discuss the issue of credits. Irish and Salish are not 5 credits. There was
also a suggestion to revise the description of Expressive Arts.
·
The Provost had provided ECOS with data on the number
of students repeating courses and paying the repeat fee. He suggests that
faculty governance consider a resolution to reduce the fee to a level that
would be an insignificant hardship to students and would be revenue neutral. The Provost will discuss the possibility of
$25.00 fee paid up front with the President
|
Average number of repeated courses/year |
Number of students who pay a course repeat fee/year |
Number of students who average their grade |
Number
of students whose grade is replaced without a fee (1st grade of W,
WP, WF, |
|
4,314 |
1,167 |
1,129 |
2,018 |
Students will need to know what to expect in terms of GPA
calculation. Therefore, it was
recommended that the GPA calculation policy be included in the fee resolution. ASCRC will need to consider this issue next
week.
Business Items:
Curriculum follow-up
Mountain Studies
The guests from Geography addressed the concerns ASCRC had about the minor in
Mountain Studies. The department has had
a mountain research focus for over 40 years.
Last year’s program review recommended the development of the minor. The
reorganization of the department with the elimination of the Central and
Southwest Asia Option will free up faculty to teach the courses offered in the
minor. Many of the courses are offered every other year. The curriculum is
designed to provide flexibility.
The department agreed to remove GEOG 538 Seminar
in Mountain Studies from the proposal.
It is not appropriate to include a graduate course in an undergraduate
minor. The title of GEOG 338 is
The proposal was approved with one member abstaining and one opposed.
Extension of ANTH 495 Post
Soviet Caucuses
Anthropology has a visiting scholar that would like to teach an
experimental course for the fourth time and is requesting an exception to
policy. The visiting scholar is
externally funded. The decision was
postponed to allow the Registrar to check enrollment.
General Education
·
ASCRC considered the revised Ethics and Human
Values criteria and learning goals. The language was approved unanimously. The rationale memo will be posted as
information to senators (appended).
The following language was suggested at the open forum.
Expressive Arts courses are activity-based and emphasize the value of learning by doing in an artistic the context of the creative process
After discussion, ASCRC voted not to change the description of the Expressive
Arts requirement.
.
Consideration of increasing the upper-division
credit requirement
·
The committee discussed the report drafted by Chair
Thompson. She is waiting for
confirmation from Rosi Keller that the state’s contribution for upper-division
credits is higher. [This is not the case. Therefore the statement was removed
from the final draft.] The report was
unanimously approved (appended).
Good and Welfare
None
The meeting was adjourned at
__________________________________________________________________
To: ASCRC, General Education Committee, and General Education Ethics
Subcommittee
From: Paul Muench
Re: New Version of Ethics and Human Values Perspective Catalog Language
The Ethics and Human Values draft
submitted to the faculty on
Tom Huff (Chair of the General Education Ethics Subcommittee) and I have therefore written a Second Version, which is attached below. This version is modeled in part on the Moral Reasoning requirement at Harvard. It allows for courses which have a European/American focus, but it also allows a wide range of courses which focus on non-Western traditions of ethical thought. The focus of this second version of the Ethics and Human Values requirement would be acquainting students with what Harvard calls “. . .the significant and recurrent questions of choice and value that arise in human experience . . .” and “. . .to help students realize that it is possible to reflect reasonably about such [ethical] matters as justice, obligation, citizenship, loyalty, courage, and person responsibility” from the perspective of a variety of Western and non-Western traditions.
Thus the requirement, as conceived in this Second Version, might include three kinds of courses:
First, courses which focus on the ethical or political traditions of the West. (Examples might include: a standard ethics course in philosophy, a standard political theory course in political science, a course on European existential thought, or courses on the ethical issues in topic areas such as terrorism, international relations, globalization, or the environment.)
Second, courses which focus on ethical or political traditions outside the western tradition. (Examples might include: courses on Native American ethical and political traditions, or on the Confucian or Buddhist traditions of self-development, or on comparative religious ethics. Again, ethical issues in topic areas relevant to these traditions would also be appropriate.)
Third, courses which focus on the ethics distinctive to the roles of professionals. Such courses would include not only the rules or codes of the profession, but also the forms of reasoning that justify those rules or codes, reflecting the special responsibility that each profession plays in its tradition. (Examples might include: medical, business, pharmacy, education, social work, or science ethics in the Western tradition, or religious practitioners such as monks, other clerics, or healers, in non-Western traditions.)
Ethics and Human
Values Perspective (Second Version)
Description
Ethics and Human Values courses familiarize students with one or more traditions of ethical thought. These courses rigorously present the basic concepts and forms of reasoning that define and distinguish each tradition. The focus of these courses may be on one or more of these traditions, or on a concept such as justice or the good life as conceptualized within one or more of these traditions, or on a professional practice within a particular tradition.
Criteria
1. Courses focus on one or more of the specific traditions of ethical thought (either Western or non-Western), on basic ethical topics such as justice or the good life as seen through the lens of one or more traditions of ethical thought, or on a professional practice within a particular tradition of ethical thought.
2. Courses provide a rigorous analysis of the basic concepts and forms of reasoning which define the traditions, the ethical topics, or the professional practices that are being studied.
Learning Goals
Upon completion of an Ethics and Human Values course, students will be able to:
1. correctly apply the basic concepts and forms of reasoning from the tradition or professional practice they studied to ethical issues that arise within those traditions or practices;
2. analyze and critically evaluate the basic concepts and forms of reasoning from the tradition or professional practice they studied.
__________________________________________________________________
DRAFT
Report
on Minimum Upper Division Credit Requirement
ASCRC
2007/2008
Academic Year
Background
Last fall, President Dennison requested that Faculty Senate consider
increasing the upper division requirement to 50 credits. Currently, all students must complete a
minimum of 39 credits in courses numbered 300 and above to meet graduation
requirements for the baccalaureate degree.
That is, more than two thirds of the credits presented for graduation
may come from 100 and 200 level courses.
Because upper division courses are typically smaller classes that
require more writing and critical thinking, as well as more direct interaction
with faculty members, increasing the upper division requirement could
significantly enhance the educational experience of undergraduates. In addition, the state contribution is
higher for upper division credits, a benefit that does not put additional
financial pressure on students. Students pay higher upper division tuition
based on their status as juniors and seniors, not on the level of the
individual courses in which they enroll.
In summary, there are compelling arguments on both academic and
financial grounds for increasing the upper division credit requirement.
Following preliminary discussions in ASCRC, a memo went out to all
academic departments and programs requesting feedback about specific
repercussions of increasing the requirement to 42, 45, or 48 credits. ASCRC
also surveyed upper division credit requirements at other institutions.
ASCRC Findings
1. The University of Montana
does not clearly articulate lower and upper division expectations of
students. Lower division courses are 100
and 200 level, upper division are 300 and above. These levels are described in the catalogue
as:
100-199
Primarily for freshmen.
200-299
Primarily for sophomores.
300-399 Primarily for juniors.
400-499
Primarily for seniors.
2. ASCRC received feedback from 11 academic units. None of the units indicated problems with a
requirement of 42 upper division credits.
However, significant concerns were raised about increasing the
requirement to 45 or 48 credits.
-The character of upper division courses will
change with more students enrolled. It
will be more difficult for faculty to find time for direct interaction with
students and careful grading of written assignments, activities that enhance
development of mature critical thinking in students.
-Time to graduation will be longer for students
in majors that require a large number of cognate courses.
-Time to graduation will be longer for students
with double majors.
-Time to graduation will be longer for students
who make radical or late changes in their major.
-Time to graduation will be longer for students
who transfer from two year programs.
-Many of the responding units indicated that 45
or more credits would only work if students can satisfy general education
requirements with upper division courses
-Several
units indicated that they would be forced to change the content and course
numbers of some required core courses in the major to the 300 level.
3. The University of
7 schools require fewer than 32%
6
schools require 32-33% UM
39/120=32.5%
5 schools require more than 33%
Therefore, UM policy is not out of line with similar
universities.
ASCRC Recommendations
1. Any language describing
100/200/300/400 level courses beyond what appears in the catalogue will be
unnecessarily proscriptive. However, the
general differences between lower and upper division courses should be
articulated for students. ASCRC started
preliminary work on this issue, but it will not be completed this year.
2. This issue is complicated by
the ongoing general education revision.
Support for increasing the upper division requirement to 42 credits
could hinge on whether a reasonable number of 300 and 400 level courses will be
approved for general education groups. ASCRC recommends that the upper division
requirement be revisited after the new general education curriculum is
established.