Graduate Curriculum Committee Course Proposal Form
for Courses Numbered 5000 and Higher
Note: Before completing this form, please carefully read the accompanying instructions.
Submission guidelines are posted to the GCC Web site: http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/gcc/index.cfm
1. Course prefix and number:
2. Date:
ENGL 6270
10/22/2013
3. Requested action:
X
New Course
Revision of Active Course
Revision & Unbanking of a Banked Course
Renumbering of an Existing Course from
from
to
#
Required
X
#
Elective
4. Method(s) of delivery (check all boxes that apply for both current/proposed and expected
future delivery methods within the next three years):
Current or
Proposed Delivery
Method(s):
X
On-campus (face to face)
Expected
Future Delivery
Method(s):
X
Distance Course (face to face off campus)
Online (delivery of 50% or more of the instruction is offered online)
5. Justification. Identify the committee or group (e.g., Graduate faculty of the Department of
English) that conducted the assessment of curriculum and student learning. Explain why the
unit wishes to offer or revise the course. Include specific results from the unit assessment that
led to the development or modification of the course. If applicable, cite any accrediting
agency/ies and reference the specific standard/s.
The faculty has determined that English needs a graduate-level course in Environmental
Literature. The course is an essential addition to our graduate concentrations in
Literature and in English Studies. “Literature and the Environment” is an
interdisciplinary subject, at the intersection of literary and cultural studies, the life
sciences, science studies, theory, and philosophy, and as such is a key addition to our
department’s diverse graduate level offerings. MA students in English need to be able to
understand and synthesize multiple critical and theoretical approaches to literary texts,
and this course is designed to help them to do so. This course also adds to the
University’s environmental initiatives and interest in the role of education/the academy in
sustainability. This course also responds to Harriot College of Arts and Sciences Strategic
Goal #1 (“Prepare students to succeed in an increasingly global and culturally diverse
society.”).
Approved by GCC April 2012; posted summer of 2012
This course proposal is part of a large-scale reorganization of our curriculum to reduce
the number of literature courses offered and make the curriculum more legible to students
and advisors and easier to manage administratively. The faculty has determined that this
revision will allow us to cover literary periods and genres regularly in our schedule while
also encouraging faculty to focus courses in innovative ways that engage students. the
Graduate Faculty approved this course on 12/2/2013.
6. Course description exactly as it should appear in the next catalog:
ENGL 6270 - Literature and the Environment
3
Literature in English examined in terms of the relationship between imagination, culture,
and nature.
7. If this is a course revision, briefly describe the requested change:
8. Course credit:
Lecture Hours
3
3
Weekly
OR
Per Term
Credit Hours
Lab
Weekly
OR
Per Term
Credit Hours
s.h.
Studio
Weekly
OR
Per Term
Credit Hours
s.h.
Practicum
Weekly
OR
Per Term
Credit Hours
s.h.
Internship
Weekly
OR
Per Term
Credit Hours
s.h.
Other (e.g., independent study) Please explain.
9. Anticipated annual student enrollment:
10. Changes in degree hours of your programs:
Degree(s)/Program(s)
Changes in Degree Hours
N/A
N/A
11. Affected degrees or academic programs, other than your programs:
Degree(s)/Program(s)
Changes in Degree Hours
N/A
N/A
12. Overlapping or duplication with affected units or programs:
X Not applicable
Approved by GCC April 2012; posted summer of 2012
s.h.
3
Total Credit Hours
s.h.
15
s.h.
Documentation of notification to the affected academic degree programs is
attached.
13. Council for Teacher Education (CTE) approval (for courses affecting teacher education):
X Not applicable
Applicable and CTE has given their approval.
14. University Service-Learning Committee (USLC) approval:
X Not applicable
Applicable and USLC has given their approval.
15. Statements of support:
a. Staff
X Current staff is adequate
Additional staff is needed (describe needs in the box below):
b. Facilities
X Current facilities are adequate
Additional facilities are needed (describe needs in the box below):
c. Library
X
Initial library resources are adequate
Initial resources are needed (in the box below, give a brief explanation and an
estimate for the cost of acquisition of required initial resources):
d. Unit computer resources
X
Unit computer resources are adequate
Additional unit computer resources are needed (in the box below, give a brief
explanation and an estimate for the cost of acquisition):
e. ITCS resources
X
ITCS resources are not needed
The following ITCS resources are needed (put a check beside each need):
Mainframe computer system
Statistical services
Network connections
Computer lab for students
Software
Approval from the Director of ITCS attached
16. Course information (see: Graduate Curriculum and Program Development Manual for
instructions):
a. Textbook(s) and/or readings: author(s), name, publication date, publisher, and
city/state/country. Include ISBN (when applicable).
Approved by GCC April 2012; posted summer of 2012
DeLillo, Don. White Noise: Text & Criticism. 9th ed. Ed. Mark Osteen. New York:
Penguin, 1998. ISBN 9780140274981.
Dick, Philip K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? New York: Del Rey, 1996.
ISBN 9780345404473.
Eagleton, Terry. Literary Theory. Minnesota, 1983. ISBN 0-8166-1241-2.
Eiseley, Loren. The Invisible Pyramid. Nebraska: Bison, 1998. ISBN 9780803267381.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. Tender is the Night. New York: Scribner, 1995. ISBN
9780684801544.
Garrard, Greg. Ecocriticism. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2011. ISBN 9780415667869.
James, Henry. The Turn of the Screw. 2nd ed. Eds. Deborah Esch & Jonathan Warren.
New York: Norton, 1999. ISBN 9780393959048.
Kincaid, Jamaica. Lucy. New York: FSG, 2002. ISBN 9780374527358.
Kincaid, Jamaica. A Small Place. New York: FSG, 2000. ISBN 9780374527075.
Sapolsky, Robert M. A Primate’s Memoir. New York: Scribner, 2002. ISBN
9780743202411.
Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. New York: Norton, 2002. ISBN 9780393977790.
Wharton, Edith. Ethan Frome. Ed. Kristin O. Lauer. New York: Norton, 1995. ISBN
9780393966350.
b. Course objectives for the course (student – centered, behavioral focus)
If this is a 5000-level course that is populated by undergraduate and graduate students,
there must be differentiation in the learning objectives expected.
Upon completion of this course, graduate students will be able to:



Demonstrate a knowledge of ecocritical analysis, and specific knowledge of
certain key primary texts in writing and discussion.
Read and interpret critical texts, on their own and with respect to the primary
material.
Produce an original, critical interpretation of one or more primary texts,
incorporating secondary (critical) material as appropriate.
c. Course topic outline
The list of topics should reflect the stated objectives.
Topic Outline
1. Literature, Theory, and Ecocriticism (Ethan Frome, The Jungle, Turn of the
Screw, Literary Theory, and “Ecocriticism”)
2. The Curious Question of Human Nature: Animal and “Machine”? (Tender
is the Night, Do Androids Dream …?, and “Cyborg Manifesto”)
3. Toxicity and/as the Contemporary Landscape (White Noise, A Primate’s
Memoir, and works by David Foster Wallace)
4. The Role of Science (Invisible Pyramid, and works by David Abram, Val
Plumwood, and Stacey Alaimo)
Approved by GCC April 2012; posted summer of 2012
5. Multiculturalism and Postcolonial Ecologies (A Small Place, Lucy, and
works by Rob Nixon, Susie O’Brien, Slavoj Zizek, and others)
d. List of course assignments, weighting of each assignment, and grading/evaluation system
for determining a grade
Assignments
Two Class Presentations
15% each
Course Paper (including abstract)
70%
Presentations will be five-minute article reviews, including a brief summary of main
points (roughly 250 to 300 words, one page) and an analysis (500 words, two pages).
Presentations must be photocopied for the entire class.
Course papers will be fifteen to twenty pages, and will present an original reading of
one or more works of twentieth-century American literature in the context of ecocritical
theory and practice OR a different critique of one of the primary works read for the
course (specific topics to be arranged individually in advance; 250 word abstract
required).
Grading Scale
90-100= A
80-89 = B
70-79 = C
69 or below = F
Approved by GCC April 2012; posted summer of 2012