Faculty Senate

ASCRC Minutes 9/16/08

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Members Present: J. Bergman, I. Crummy, J. Dempersmier, S. Gauthier, S. Lodmell, J. Luckowski, D. MacDonald, M. Nielsen, A. Thieme H. Thompson, E. Uchimoto, R. Vanita, G. Weix, K. Zoellner

Members Absent/Excused: K. Unger, D. Micus

Ex-Officio Present: M. Hoell, A. Walker-Andrews

Guest:  Associate Dean Tompkins

Chair Weix called the meeting to order at 2:13 p.m.

The minutes from 9/9/08 were amended and approved.

Communications:

• Student member Thieme was welcomed and members introduced themselves.
• Professor Bach is working part time with the Commissioner of Higher Education Office on transferability. She started the work in mid August. The 2007 Legislature appropriated $1.5 million to the Montana University System to "fix" the transferability problem.

A copy of the Board of Regents Policy 301.5.5 Equivalent Course Identification and Numbering was distributed.  The OCHE has promised the Governor that 22 disciplines will be completed by the end of the fiscal year.  Faculty Learning Outcome Committees are working to decide which courses are significantly similar and establish common learning outcomes statements. The committee was provided with a list of task completion targets. The Registrars from the various campuses are also meeting to discuss implementation issues.

It is yet to be determined how many digits the common course numbers will have or how the common numbers will be implemented.  Discussions will take place between the Registrar and the Provost.  It is not likely that ASCRC will be required to review forms to make the changes to the catalog.   Also pending are procedures for maintenance of the common course numbering system.  It is presumed that the Transfer Council will remain active.

At this point ASCRC is not required to take any action.  Members can contact Professor Bach with questions.   

• Members were provided with a spiral bound catalog for the upcoming curriculum review.

Business Items:

• The committee reviewed the changes made by the Writing Committee to Catalog Language and the Writing Guidelines document. New members had concerns about the documents and were encouraged to review the frequently asked questions. Document. Last year draft Writing Guidelines were sent to faculty for feedback. The Writing Committee made several changes to address the concerns and drafted Frequently Asked Questions. ASCRC reviewed and approved these items in April, at which time it suggested the committee draft catalog language. ASCRC reviewed the Catalog Language draft April 29^th. However, this language did not take into account the English Placement and English Composition Language that was approved in March based on the new Board of Regents policy 301.17 English Composition Placement. The Writing Committee then made a slight revision to the Writing Guidelines document to be consistent with catalog language.

ASCRC approved Catalog Language with the understanding that ECOS would address the AP score issue- ‘Students with AP scores of 3 or better on the English Language and Composition examination are exempted from this requirement'.
The Faculty Senate passed the following policy change in April last year.

Students may apply AP credits toward graduation in accordance with the following criteria:

1.      There is no limit to the number of credits that may apply. 2.      The default minimum score for AP Credit is 4.  Individual departments may set a different minimum score for courses in their areas. 3.      Individual departments determine whether individual AP courses are equivalent to specific courses in their curriculum. 4.      Credits toward general education requirements are based on course equivalencies. 5.      If an AP course does not have a specific equivalent, the applicability of that course toward general education is determined by ASCRC.

      ASCRC approved the Writing Guidelines with the following amendment:

Writing Requirements for Graduation

To fulfill the writing requirements at UM and to demonstrate writing proficiency, students should satisfy the following four requirements in order:

1.      Composition (ENEX 101, WTS 101D, ENEX 200, or equivalent), with a grade of C- or better

2.      One approved writing course (W), with a grade of C- or better

3.      The Upper-Division Writing Proficiency Assessment, with a score of 3 or better

4.       Departmental upper-division writing requirement consisting of one of the following options:

o   One upper-division writing course (numbered 300-400), with a grade of C- or better defined by the department and approved by the ASCRC Writing Committee, or

o   An upper-division writing expectation defined by the department and approved by the ASCRC Writing Committee

• Presentation dates were discussed for the upcoming curriculum review. Subcommittee members agreed to the following schedule:

October 7	Social Science
October 14	Education & Fine Arts
October 21	Science & Math
October 28	Humanities
November 18	Forestry & Health Sci

• After curriculum review is completed, a joint subcommittee will need to be formed with the General Education Committee to draft directions for students meeting old general education requirements under the new groups.
• Members should plan to have full two hour meetings during curriculum review.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:05 p.m.