Faculty Senate

ASCRC Minutes 3/10/09

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

Members Absent/Excused: D. Micus, H. Thompson

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

Guest: B. Bach

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

The minutes from 3/3/09 were approved.

Communication

 

• Professor Bach provided an update on common course numbering. Fifteen disciplines have been completed and 18 additional disciplines are in process. A handout listed the new subject abbreviations. The common course number transfer guide can be found on the Board of Regents website at: http://msudw.msu.montana.edu:9020/wfed/owa/musxfer.p_CCN_MAIN
  
  The decisions were made by consensus of the Faculty Learning Outcome Councils (FLOC). Each Council operated differently. When problems with the common course numbering are identified changes are made via agreement by the FLOCs

The Provost will be sending out a letter to academic chairs that provides the details.  There is an advisor training scheduled for April 7^th.   Departments will not be able to keep the old rubric for courses that are not common.  There was concern regarding the UG designation and graduate level courses.  Graduate courses will not be renumbered but they will use the new rubric.

Funding for the transferability project ends this fiscal year.  It is assumed that the project will continue through completion with the Commissioner's Office identifying funds.  There will be a procedure put in place for future changes.  The Transfer Implantation Committee has discussed a common form.

It has been suggested that a member from ASCRC serve on the Transferability Team.  Chair Weix asked for volunteers.  Professor Hinman suggested Professor Zoellner, who is also the Writing Committee Liaison.  She will consider the recommendation. 

• Chair Weix met with ECOS last week. She requested guidance in terms College of Technology students' general education requirements. Although the AA degree is intended to satisfy all general education requirements, it is not a major and therefore not eligible for the symbolic systems exception to the modern and classical language requirement. The College of Technology will need to address the issue.
  
  She asked whether ECOS would consider establishing parameters for general education courses such as how often a course is offered. No action was recommended.
  
  She would like ECOS to provide guidance in terms of ASCRC's committee structure. There are three alternatives: 1) Leave the structure the way it is; 2) consolidate the General Education and Writing Committees; or 3) fold the rolling review of general education courses back into ASCRC. It seems that the General Education Committee considers its work complete. It may be more effective to change the committee structure to be parallel with the curriculum review subcommittees. In the past the rolling three year review of general education courses was a function of ASCRC. Taking into account that most of the recent general education decisions have been made by ASCRC, the current standing committee structure with 10 members may not be necessary.
  
  If the General Education Committee was functioning properly it would be addressing all the issues related to implementation of the new framework and coordinating the efforts of the Writing Committee.
  
  ECOS suggests that ASCRC decide on the best structure for efficiency and make a recommendation to ECOS. Chair Weix requests that committee members think about what structure makes sense

Business Items:

• The Writing Committee met yesterday and approved additional writing courses - ASCRC concurs (list appended below). The Committee is concerned about implementing the new guidelines without a transition year. Majors may have catalog language that identifies courses to meet the upper-division writing requirement that are not approved under the new guidelines. Departments have not been informed of this issue in time to make corrections to the language. The upper-division writing requirement specified by the major is not listed separately under the general education section of the catalog. Some majors do not specify an upper-division requirement in the major but rather have language such as:

The Upper-division Writing Expectation must be met by successfully completing an upper-division writing course from the approved list in the Academic Policies and Procedures section of this catalog.

This is no longer accurate because of the guideline distinctions between writing courses and the upper-division writing requirement by the major.  However, there are still upper-division writing courses approved as writing courses.  This could be confusing for students.  Upper-division writing requirement courses are likely restricted to majors.  Therefore majors that do not specify courses will need to identify courses that are appropriate.

Writing courses approved after the deadline will be updated in the online catalog.  The catalog specifies that a course must be listed as approved in the Catalog and in the Class Schedule for the semester in which a student registers for it.  Students graduating under the prior General Education system should contact their advisor to ensure that a specific course meets those requirements.  The Writing Committee would like the Graduation Appeals Process clarified in terms of how issues related to the transition will be handled.

• The following symbolic systems exceptions were approved.

Resource Conservation	Math 241 or WBIO 240 or FOR 201 or SOC 202
Combined Math / Computer Science Major	Math 152 (Calculus I), or any course for which it is a prerequisite

• The revised proposal for a BS in Geography was reviewed by the Science and Social Science Subcommittees. The Science Subcommittee approved the proposal, but the Social Science Subcommittee had a split vote. The revised signature page has been signed by the new College of Arts and Sciences dean, but it has not yet been signed by the Library Dean or the Provost. The original signature page was. ASCRC needs to develop a policy that clarifies the procedures for appeals and when a new set of signatures is required. A new signature page is not automatically required if a department is responding to ASCRC recommendations to revise a proposal. Voting on the revision was postponed.
• Chair Weix distributed an excerpt from the September 2002 Faculty Senate minutes that documented a comment related to appeals:

Senator VonReichert made a comment about having departmental representation at subcommittee reviews.  This may help clarify intent and save time related to proposals not initially approved by ASCRC.  Ed Moore indicated faculty may request to address ASCRC to appeal a non-approval decision.

• Sharon O'Hare shared a draft of a general education brochure for advisors and faculty. It was discussed briefly.

Good and Welfare

• Chair Weix thanked committee members for attending the strategic planning town hall meeting on undergraduate education..

The meeting was adjourned at 3:25.

Writing Courses

Writing Studies

WTS 115

Technical Writing

Upper-Division Writing Requirement Courses

Curriculum & Instruction	C&I 318	Teaching Language Arts
English	ENLT 320	Shakespeare
English	ENLT 321	Studies in a Major Author
English	ENLT 323	Studies in Literary Forms
English	ENLT 327	Literature by US Writers of Color
English	ENLT 335	The American Novel
English	ENLT 336	American Women Writers
Environmental Studies	EVST 302	Introduction to Environmental Regulation
Geography	GEOG 335	Water Policy
Radio TV	RTV 360	Advanced Broadcast Reporting
Radio TV	RTV 361	Newscast Reporting and Producing
Radio TV	RTV 494	Senior Seminar
Social Work	SW 310	Social Welfare Policies and Services