Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee
Minutes from the January 25, 2006 Meeting
Present:
Nancy Campbell
Jeff Durgee
Mike Goldenberg
Prabhat Hajela
Amir Hirsa, chair
Sharon Kunkel
Julie Leusner
Lee Odell
John Schroeder
Dick Smith
David Spooner
Sam Wait
Ken Warriner
Mike Wozny
Guests:
Lt. Heckel, USNA ROTC
Len Kelly, Hartford School of Management and Technology
Diane Litynski, School of Management and Technology
1) The minutes from the meeting on December 7, 2005 were approved unanimously with the
following amendments:
a. Item 5 –“Hartford has experience with what L. Kelly calls ..”
b. Item 5- 4th bullet “will visit faculty in the region”
c. Item 5- 8th bullet “The courses are not exactly the same but the content resembles existing
courses”.
d. Item 5, # 2- “Details on what will happen..”
2) Lt. Heckel from the US Naval ROTC unit provided an overview on a proposed change to USNA
1010, Military and Its Place in Society. The department is proposing a change to the course title,
description and credit hours. This change will increase the credit hours for freshmen engineers to 20
credits for the first term. Lt. Heckel stressed that the content has changed very little. They want to
have the credit hours more accurately represent the work that is expected from the students. D.
Smith is worried about the impact the increase in credit hours will have on the freshmen. Lt. Heckel
will attend the next School of Engineering (SoE) curriculum committee meeting. No one objected to
the substance of the course but rather to the workload and related scheduling issues. No action was
taken.
3) School of Engineering- Dick Smith brought back a proposal for a new course, DSES 6900, Seminar
in DSES Research. The revised version addresses the issues raised by the Committee when it was
presented in the Fall. After a brief discussion, the course was approved unanimously.
a. BMED 2100 Biomaterials Science and Engineering- The course will be taught annually to
50-80 sophomores. In response to a question asked about the classroom, D. Smith indicated
that the enrollment would have to be adjusted since none of the studio classrooms can
accommodate 80 students. The course will not replace Materials Science I. After a brief
discussion, the course was approved unanimously.
b. Civil Engineering minor- The Committee unanimously approved a revised template for
the minor in Civil Engineering.
Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee
January 25, 2006
4) School of Humanities and Social Science- Lee Odell presented an overview of the packet of new
courses and course changes. Many of the new courses reflect changes in the field.
a. ARTS 2XXX- Fundamentals of Animation- The FSCC had a number of questions:
 Was it taught before?
 Is there an immediate request for additional resources? When and how soon will you
need a new faculty member? Lee indicated that all of the courses have been approved
through H&SS channels.
 Who buys the required software?
 Where is it taught? The VAST studio
b. ARTS 6XXX- Media Watch- This course is for the new PhD program in Electronic Arts. The
course description states the course is “open to graduate students, and juniors and seniors
with professor’s permission.” M. Wozny asked who the course is intended for. It sounds like
a good solid course for graduate students but it may be an issue if juniors and seniors are also
part of the targeted audience. The Committee spent some time discussing more appropriate
wording for the description that would target upper level undergraduates. M. Wozny
reiterated that his question was about the intended audience not the wordsmith issues. No
action was taken. The Committee will discuss at the February 22 meeting.
Two proposed course deletions, PSYC 4630 Aids Paradise Lost, and PSYC 2210 Intro to HCI are crosslisted with courses in other schools. L. Odell will check on these.
5) School of Management and Technology- L. Kelly distributed course descriptions for the new courses
to be offered as part of the MS in Management.
MGMT 7XXX- Leadership and Organizational Improvement
MGMT 7XXX- Strategic Analysis and Decision Making
MGMT 7XXX- Sustainable Business Development
MGMT 7XXX-Finance for Decision Analysis
MGMT 7XXX-Product Innovation
MGMT 7XXX-Investment and Risk Management
MGMT 7XXX-Global Enterprise Marketing
MGMT 7XXX-Corporate Technological Entrepreneurship
MGMT 7XXX-Technological Innovation
The program is set to begin in April. Some of the courses do not indicate pre-requisites but there are
requirements for the admission to the program. The Committee suggested making it clear in the catalog
that these courses are designed for ICE cohort students only. One of the required courses is already in
the catalog. Committee members thought that the issues raised (Singapore trip and activities during out
of class time periods) at the last meeting had been addressed and the motion to approve the courses
was approved unanimously. The FSCC reaffirmed the program as an opportunity to encourage the
collaboration between Troy and Hartford faculty.
A number of changes and new courses were distributed for the SoM&T Troy campus programs.
MGMT 7030 Strategy, Technology and Comp I (credit hour change)
MGMT 6030 Economics and Financial Analysis II (title change)
Course Deletions:
MGMT 6020 Economic and Financial Analysis I
MGMT 6350 International Business
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Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee
January 25, 2006
MGMT 6370 Derivative Markets
MGMT 7010 Decision Models
MGMT 7020 Global Business
MGMT 7090 Ethics
New courses:
MGMT 6XXX Economics
MGMT 6XXX Accounting
MGMT 6XXX Finance I
MGMT 77XX Global Business and Social Responsibility
MGMT 77XX Risk Management
The Committee approved the package in a vote of 9 in favor with 1 abstention subject to
submission of a revised course description for MGMT 7030.
6) Julia Leusner gave a brief update on the status of the discussion on mid-term assessment. The joint
committee has met but she has not met with the students since that meeting. A number of issues have
been discussed including:
a. Is it mandatory? The students would prefer a mandatory program.
b. The Grand Marshal suggested a pilot program with the faculty opting in and then an
evaluation of how well it worked.
c. Julia said students want to know what their grade is and the course average
d. A numerical accumulation of points compared to the class average would provide good
feedback but the students would also need to know how that number equates to a letter grade
e. The Provost could include a statement in “beginning of term memo” to explain and
encourage faculty to provide a mid term assessment
f. It’s been a good discussion thus far but no convergence yet
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