Curriculum Committee
October 29, 2013
Members Present: Jane Church, Begoña Cirera-Perez, Mireille Giovanola, Mary Ines (SSCC), Lynn
Klein, Larry Leach, Wayne Pitcher, Patricia Wu
Ex-Officio: Edna Danaher, Kaaren Krueg
Guests:
1. none
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 2:07 by the chair, Wayne Pitcher.
2. Minutes of October 22, 2013
Mireille corrected her statement in 5.a. to read, “Mireille said that ECD proposals were submitted yesterday.”
MSC (Cirera-Perez/Giovanola) to approve the minutes of October 22, 2013, as corrected.
3.
4.
Consent Agenda
Electronic Systems Technology 61, Electronic Systems Project Management, 2 units, was sent back to the author for prerequisite skills generation.
Minor changes:
Athletics WS14, Women’s Intercollegiate Swimming & Diving, 3 units
Environmental Science 10, Humans and the Environment, 3 units
Mathematics 65W, Elementary Algebra Workshop, ¼ to ½ unit
Deactivate:
Electronic Systems Technology 53, Personal Computer Systems, 2 units
Electronic Systems Technology 59, Communication Network Systems, 2 units
MSC (Church/Giovanola) to approve the consent agenda with the exception of
ESYS 61.
Committee Procedures
In anticipation of guests at next week’s presentation, Wayne asked the committee’s help in establishing a set of procedures that ensure collegial discussion and remain fair to all parties. The following was developed.
1.
Proposal presentation
2.
Guests’ comments/questions
3.
Committee members’ comments/questions
Comments/Question Rules
1.
Time limit: 2 minutes per speaker
2.
No second opportunity to speak until everyone has had a chance to comment.
3.
Maintain a speaker list on the board
4.
A member of the committee can move to “move the agenda.” This would require a second and a vote.

Curriculum Committee
10/29/13, Page 2
5. Good of the Order
Jane has compiled the comments regarding next week’s presentation and will send them to committee members. Please read them before next week’s presentation/discussion.
Jane also suggested that we delay the vote until the following meeting. She commented that these are two separate proposals that should be voted on individually. The outcome does not have to be the same for both proposals.
In a discussion on this cycle’s confusion over deadlines, Wayne noted that CurricUNET seems to use “Launched” as the date the author put the course into the system at Level 2.
The division faculty can make comments while the course is in Level 2, but not after it moves to Level 3. Division reps should allow sufficient time at Level 2 to gather comments.
Larry asked how the committee determines whether a course is college-level or should be taught in Community Ed. Discussion followed, touching on such things as rigor and targeted students.
Jane went over what she knows about General Studies, which has recently been assigned to the Counseling division for administrative oversight. After a catalog search, Jane thinks that General Studies 20, The College Experience, was the first General Studies course. It was cross-listed with Psychology-Counseling 20, the thought being that the
GNST rubric would allow non-counselors to teach the course. The proposal was made by Carey Harbin, who mentored instructors from other disciplines, providing training and certificates before they were allowed to teach the course. Other courses have followed over the years.
The Counseling Division is proposing a definition of General Studies that they would like included in the catalog.
General Studies courses are designed to contribute to the capacity for students to succeed in college. Courses in orientation, leadership, personal dynamics, study skills and topics that contribute to the success of students in college.
8.
Mireille asked a question regarding minimum qualifications and whose responsibility it is to ensure that instructors are qualified to teach the courses to which they are assigned.
The ensuing discussion placed the responsibility on the Division Dean, with the possibility discipline faculty might act as a watch-dog type group. Checking the most recent version of the Minimum Qualifications Handbook revealed that the discipline in question does not have sub-categories dealing with theory vs. application type courses.
Wayne noted that the State does accept proposals for revisions to the list, and that
Mireille might want to look into making such a proposal.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 PM .
Next meeting: November 5, 2013, in Room 507.
Susan Sperling regarding American Cultures
Presentation: GNST 5/4905 kk 10/30/13 c:\documents\word\curric\2013-14\10-29-13.min.docx