Faculty Senate

ASCRC Minutes 2/24/09

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Members Present: K. Barhaugh, J. Bergman T. Brockman, I. Crummy, J. Dempersmier, S. Lodmell, J. Luckowski, M. Nielsen, S. Smillie, H. Thompson, K. Unger, R. Vanita, G. Weix, K. Zoellner, D. Zolnikov

Members Absent/Excused: D. Micus P. Silverman E. Uchimoto

Ex-Officio Present: S. O'Hare, A. Walker-Andrews

Chair Weix called the meeting to order at 2:10 p.m.

The minutes from 2//17/09 were approved.

Communication

 

• The new student member Kip Barhaugh was welcomed to the committee.
• Professor Bach, who is heading up the Transferability Team at UM will provide an update to ASCRC on March 10^th. Chair Weix suggested that perhaps a member of the transferability team would be able to attend the ASCRC meeting on March 3^rd to join the discussion of the general education catalog language and conversion instructions. Sharon O'Hare, the interim Director of the Office of Student Success is on the Transferability team and is also an ex-officio member of ASCRC.

• The Registrar's Office is busy working on common course numbering and will likely not have the dormant course list available for ASCRC to review until the end of March.

• The Writing Committee is busy with the review of writing courses and therefore will postpone the request to amend the bylaws.

• There may be another town hall strategic planning meeting on undergraduate education due to the poor attendance at the first meeting.

• The transferability team is working on informing the campus community of changes to course numbers and general education. It is planning to set up a web page and brochure. It was suggested that ASCRC coordinate with this group so publicity efforts are not duplicated.

Business Items:

• The Writing Committee met yesterday and recommends the approval of approximately 30 courses. It is currently requesting follow-up from instructors and has yet to receive forms from departments that requested exceptions to the deadline (DBS, Forestry, and Wildlife Biology). ASCRC approved the appended list of writing courses.
• The General Education Implementation Workgroup submitted draft catalog language and conversion instructions for ASCRC to consider. The documents will be sent electronically. Members are encouraged to send comments and or attend the editing session on Friday at 2:00 in UH 221. The intent is for these documents to be approved at next week's ASCRC meeting so they can go to the Faculty Senate on March 12^th. It is critical that the catalog language be accurate.
  
  Several Issues require clarification in terms of students' options regarding graduating under the new or old system. The default is for students to use the catalog that was in place at the time of matriculation. However, this can be changed when they file graduation papers.
• Chair Weix met with the Chair of Applied Arts and Sciences to discuss the department proposing a new rubric for Cultural and Literal Studies. It was agreed that the course submitted as CLS (LCS) 167 will retain the AASC rubric until the new rubric for General Studies is established with additional courses next fall.

• Follow-up was received, reviewed, and approved by the General Education Subcommittees for ENLT 227L and HIST 226E. ASCRC approved the courses. A memo requesting a symbolic systems exception for the Division of Biological Sciences has been received. Approval was postponed because responses from members of the General Education Committee are still pending.
  
  There is some dissatisfaction in the way the review for exceptions to the Modern and Classical Language requirement were reviewed. ASCRC did not provide additional instructions to guide the review of exceptions to the Modern and Classical Language requirement therefore the Symbolic Systems Subcommittee used the language in the framework to guide the review.

A two semester language sequence is the default option (test out provisions apply).  Students may substitute a symbolic system sequence required by their major and approved by ASCRC.

Therefore programs that require symbolic systems courses were approved as an exception and did not have to provide a rationale. This was also discussed at the Faculty Senate and ECOS will likely charge ASCRC and the General Education Committee with an evaluation of this issue next fall. 

Another issue that requires follow-up consideration is whether students who receive associate degrees from the College of Technology will be required to take foreign language courses.  One of the sequences approved was for the Math department at the College of Technology, but this is not considered a major. 

• The ASCRC committee structure was again discussed. Chair Weix would like to make revisions for efficiency of curriculum review. There was an issue last year of finding a faculty member to chair the Business and Journalism Subcommittee. It was suggested that ASCRC should not review proposals from the School of Business unless a faculty member agrees to serve on ASCRC. Chair Weix questioned whether departments were under the appropriate subcommittee for review and whether some departments might be missing from the list.
  
  The Library doesn't really fit well within the subcommittee structure. It will remain in the Business and Journalism Subcommittee as a professional school. A few new or re-titled departments were added to the list: Information Technology, Management and Marketing, and Media Arts.
  
  Course proposals are organized according to the most logical subcommittee for review. The College of Technology, for example, submits courses in a variety of disciplines and these are reviewed by several subcommittees. Similarly proposals submitted by social science departments that have a significant science component are reviewed by both the Social Science Subcommittee and the Science Subcommittee such as Physical Geography and Forensic Anthropology.
  
  Chair Weix recommends that the rolling review of general education courses be folded back into ASCRC. The review of new general education courses would then be reviewed by the Curriculum Subcommittees. She also suggests that members on the curriculum subcommittees serve three year terms and then serve on ASCRC. It was commented that the curriculum subcommittees would be good pools to recruit from, but that members should not be expected to serve on ASCRC. It is difficult to get senior faculty to serve on committees and a better service structure should be put in place.
• Courses currently housed in the Undergraduate Advising Center should be reviewed and assigned an academic department to assure appropriate oversight.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:10.

 

 

 

Writing Courses approved at the 2/23/09 Writing Committee Meeting

Writing Courses

Forestry	FOR 220	Technical Writing
Journalism	JOUR 270	Reporting
Native American Studies	NAS 200	Native American Studies Research and Writing Methods
Undergraduate Advising Center	UNC 270	Critical Writing II
Writing Studies	WTS 120L	Introduction to Critical Interpretation
Writing Studies	WTS 184A	Beginning Creative Writing: Multiple Genre
Writing Studies	WTS 186A	Beginning Creative Writing: Poetry
Writing Studies	WTS 240	Ethics and Rhetoric: Writing Arguments on Contemporary Issues
English	ENEX 200	Advanced Composition
History	HIST 300	The Historian's Craft

Upper-Division Writing Courses

Anthropology	ANTH 314	Principles of Forensic Anthropology
Anthropology	ANTH 402	Advanced Anthropological Statistics
Anthropology	ANTH 451	Cultural Resource Management
Anthropology	ANTH 455	Artifact Analysis
Chemistry	CHEM 334	Chemical Literature and Scientific Writing
Communication Studies	COMM 377	Rhetoric, Nature, Environmentalism
Communication Studies	COMM 455	Rhetorical Criticism and Theory
Communication Studies	COMM 480	The Rhetorical Construction of "Woman"
Communication Studies	COMM 481	The Rhetoric of U.S. Women's Activism, 1960 - present
Computer Science	CS 415	Computer Ethics and Society
Dance	DAN 494	Junior/Senior Dance Seminar
Environmental Studies	EVST 305L	The Environmental Vision
Environmental Studies	EVST 487	Globalization, Justice and the Environment
Geosciences	GEOS 320	Global Water Cycle
Geosciences	GEOS 499	Senior Thesis
Health & Human Performance	HHP 372	Rehab of Athletic Injuries
History	HIST 437	The Dynamics of Diplomacy
MCLL	JPNS 311	Classical Japanese Literature in English Translation
MCLL	JPNS 312	Japanese Literature from Medieval to Modern Times
MCLL	JPNS 431	Postwar Japanese Literature
MCLL	MCLG 494	Seminar in Russian Studies
Music	MUS 424	Music of the 20th Century to the Present
Music	MUS 436	Topics in Music History
Music	MUS 437	Cultural Studies in Music
Pharmacy Practice	PHAR 550	Drug Literature Evaluation
Psychology	PSYC 320	Advanced Psychological Research Methods
Psychology	PSYC 400	History and Systems of Psychology
Sociology	SOC 438	Seminar in Crime and Deviance
Sociology	SOC 441	Capstone: Inequality and Social Justice
Sociology	SOC 460	Capstone in Rural & Environmental Change