ASCRC Annual Report 2014 -2015
Membership
Faculty Members
John DeBoer, Theatre & Dance (2015) - Chair
Nikolaus Vonessen, Math (2015)
Linda Eagleheart, MC-Applied Arts and Sciences (2016) - Fall
Linda Gillison, MCLL (2015)
Tully Thibeau, Linguistics (2015)
Tim Manuel, Accounting (2016) – Fall, Chair-Elect
Michelle Bowler, MC-Business Technology (2017)
William Hillman, MC- Industrial Technology (2017)
Ebo Uchimoto, Physics & Astronomy (2016)
Doug Coffin, Biomedical & Pharmaceutical Science (2017)
Andrea Lawrence, C & I (2017)
G.G. Weix, Anthropology (2015)
Student Members
Caleb Chestnut
Cody Miexner
Ex-Officio Members
Nathan Lindsay, Associate Provost
Joe Hickman, Interim Registrar
Bonnie Holzworth, Assistant Registrar
Matt Filer, Assistant to the Registrar
Beth Howard, Office of Student Success
Jasmine Zink, Academic Policy Manager (fall)
Garrett Bryan, Interim Academic Policy Manager (spring)
Annual Curriculum Review
ASCRC acted on 333 curriculum forms. Among the total were 56 new courses, 16 course
deletions, 63 program modifications, 17 level I proposals II. Of the 51 crosslisting requests, 32
were approved to be retained. Three new service learning designations were approved and 15
courses were renewed.
The Writing Committee reviewed existing writing courses in Professional Schools and Science
in accordance with the Writing Course Review Procedure (202.50.1), renewing approval for 3
intermediate (formerly approved) writing courses, 16 advanced (formerly upper-division) writing
courses, and three distributed models. Four new courses were approved for the intermediate
designation including two one-time-only experimental courses. Three new advanced writing
courses were approved.
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The General Education Committee reviewed 125 proposed courses for general education groups
including 4 one-time only experimental courses. This included follow-up course reviews for
Literary and Artistic Studies (10), Indigenous and Global (12), and American and European (4)
from last spring’s rolling review, as well as rolling review for language exemptions (51) and
symbolic systems courses (24). See chart below. In addition, 1 Mathematics, 6 Language
Courses, 3 Social and Behavioral Science, 3 Expressive Arts Courses, 4 Historical and Cultural
Studies, and 1 Ethics course were approved. The accelerated review schedule was to
accommodate the revised procedure for the language exemption. Twenty-three language courses
were also renewed in the spring.
Level I proposals:
African American Studies Certificate
Minor in Biochemistry
New Option in BA English – Literature and the Environment
Big Data Analytics Certificate
Remove options in Psychology
Retitle Women’s and Gender Studies to Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies Program
Retitle Women’s and Gender Studies Certificate to Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies
Certificate
Retitle HHP BA Community Health to Community Health and Prevention option
Certificate of Technical Skills - Electronics Helper
Certificate of Technical Skills – Energy Auditor / Commissioning Agent
Certificate of Technical Skills – Recycling Technology
Certificate of Technical Skills – Electronics Technology
Minor in Business Management
Distance Delivery Elementary Ed in Counselor Education
On line offering of existing Associate of Arts degree
New Certificate in Entrepreneurship
New Certificate in Hospitality
Level II proposals
BS in Neuroscience
Women’s and Gender Studies Degree
Early Childhood Minor in Counselor Education
Proposals that required considerable follow-up
Proposals were submitted as part of the SWAMMIE multi-campus state-wide workforce
development grant that involve online course sharing. For the most part the courses are taught at
the Flathead Community College, but students enroll through UM shadow courses. The Flathead
Instructors will apply for UM/Bitterroot College faculty associate status through the Provost’s
Office. Flathead Community College will receive the credit hours. ASCRC was uncertain how
to review the program comprised primarily of courses not in the UM catalog. Chair DeBoer met
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with the Provost regarding the issue and determined that these programs would not be reviewed
for inclusion in the UM Catalog but instead articulation agreements were established with the
offering campuses.
GPHY 313 & 324, field-work courses offered by Northwest Connections were recommended by
the Social and Behavioral Sciences subcommittee but not approved. Two members were in
favor, four against, and one abstained. ASCRC recommended the courses be offered under the
395 fieldwork number instead.
Crosslisting
Due to procedural uncertainty with respect to the review of crosslisting forms by the discipline
curriculum review subcommittees, a subcommittee consisting of Professors DeBoer, Thibeau,
and Weix reviewed the forms in January with Registrar Hickman; likewise approval of the
crosslisting courses on the November consent agenda was rescinded. The subcommittee found
that 32 courses met the procedural qualifications to retain their cross-listing status. Alternatives
were suggested to programs denied their cross-listing status. See Communication (appendix 3).
Two programs appealed the decision. African American Studies courses were allowed to retain
crosslistings.
Several follow-up and late curriculum items were approved in the spring including the following:
Campus- only GBLD rubric for the Global Leadership Initiative
Hospitality Management Certificate
Entrepreneurship Certificate
Online offering of the existing Associate of Arts degree
Procedure and Policy Review items
 Dual Credit Guidelines – several drafts were discussed by ASCRC starting on January
27th, 2015. Chair DeBoer met with ECOS on 3/3/15
 Revision to policy 203.10 AP / Senate approved 10/9/14
 Revision to policy 201.3.3 Editorial Catalog Changes 2/3/15 (as an alternative to crosslisting)

Request for exemption to policy 201.60
There are students that will have met the requirements of the big data certificate by the
end of spring semester, but according to the policy the certificate will not become
effective until the next fall’s catalog. The exemption was granted.



Revision to policy 201.60 Effective Date of Approved Curriculum Forms 3/17/15
Revision to policy 201.00 Curriculum Overview
Revision to policy 201.30 Criteria for Evaluating Curriculum Changes, 3/24/15
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
Input on MUS New Proposal Guidelines was provided to the Faculty Senate Chair.

Revision of Class Attendance / Absence policy 2/17/14
In addition to the attendance expectation described above, instructors may establish
absence policies to conform to the educational goals and requirements of their courses.
Such policies shall will ordinarily be set out in the course syllabus. Customarily, Course
syllabi shall describe the procedures for giving timely notice of absences, explain how
work missed because of an excused absence may be made up, and stipulate any penalty to
be assessed for absences.

The Graduation Appeals Committee will consider maintaining a precedent list of new
general education designations that are approved for courses already in the schedule.
Students wishing to appeal will still need to complete an appeal form, but not the
justification narrative. Chair DeBoer presented a year-end report from the Graduation
Appeals Committee (Appendix 4).

Incomplete grade policy was revised with the following language:
The instructor sets the conditions for the completion of the course work, and
communicates them to the departmental office. 3/3/15

ASCRC approved the following policy to address transfer issues from quarters to
semesters. 3/3/15
In order to determine if transfer course work satisfies General Education requirements,
the credits for each course are rounded. For example, if a student transfers in two Ncourses each worth 2.66 credits, each course counts as 3 N-credits towards the Group XI
requirement. On the other hand, an L-course worth 2.49 credits does not satisfy the
Group V requirement of 3 L-credits.

The following paragraph in the General Education for Transfer Students section of the
catalog will be removed because it is outdated.
Students governed by the 2006-2007 catalog or later catalogs must earn a traditional
letter grade of C- or better in courses used to satisfy General Education (except English
composition and the Mathematical Literacy course must be a C or better). Students
enrolled in a post-secondary institution prior to autumn 2006 may be eligible to choose an
earlier governing catalog. Refer to the Governing Catalog information in the previous
section. See index.

Writing Labeling Motion presented by Writing Committee Chair-elect 3/17/15 approved
by the Faculty Senate on April 9th

ASCRC discussed the issue with Undergraduate /Graduate codes showing on graduate
courses in the catalog / schedule. These are programing codes in Banner and are required
to allow undergraduates to register for graduate courses when professors sign an override.
Undergraduates may not receive graduate credit for these courses per Board of Regent
Policy. ASCRC decided to resolve this issue by including the level in the course
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description and hide the Banner codes. 3/24/15

General Education options for Transfer Students were reviewed. The catalog language
was revised to allow out-of state transfer students transferring with 20 credits or more of
equivalent general education courses to use the MUS core to fulfill general education.
The motion went to the Faculty Senate at the May meeting.

The curriculum forms not in e-curr were revised to be accessible.
Other Communication / Discussion Items

Credit for Prior Learning
Chair DeBoer, Associate Provost Lindsey, Beth Howard and others from Missoula
Campus attended the Prior Learning Assessment Summit in Helena. The Taskforce
worked on system guidelines that individual institutions can adapt and tailor to specific
needs. (10/7/14) Faculty Senate Chair Steve Lodmell met with ASCRC on 12/2/14 to
provide an update on the efforts of the Credit for Prior learning taskforce.

MOU between Missoula College and Psychology Department-Provides Missoula College
students with guidance to take courses to help them transition into the Psychology major.
The item was introduced by Professor Alison Pepper from Missoula College. 9/9/14

Loey Knapp- Director of Special Projects provided a Degree Builder demonstration on
9/9/14. She returned on 10/21/14 to demonstrate degree builder reports available in
Infogriz- Course Change Impact, how many times a course is listed, and types of degrees
offered by program. There was some discussion related to the lack of consistent
information in Degree Builder, specifically whether the upper-division writing course
counts toward the major. ASCRC drafted the Counting Degree Credit Guideline language
to help with this issue. See Appendix 3.

ASCRC discussed issues with dynamic catalog with Nick Shontz- Web Developer and
Strategist and John Thunstrom-Assistant Chief Information Officer, Enterprise
Information Systems from Information Technology. (9/9/14)

Follow-up discussion regarding departments listing courses they are authorized to teach.
Common Course numbering has created confusion now that rubrics are not specific to
departments.

A Taskforce identified items that needed to be fixed in the catalog. (10/7/14) See report.
Appendix 1
______________________________________________________________________________
Appendix 1
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ASCRC Catalog Workgroup Report
10/03/2014
The ASCRC Catalog Workgroup met on Tuesday, September 30, 2014. Participants:
Nikolaus Vonessen, ASCRC
Caleb Chestnut, ASUM
Matt Filer, Assistant to the Registrar
Brian French, Undergraduate Advising Center
Bonnie Holzworth, Associate Registrar
Sandi Nelson, SoBA Advising Coordinator
Nick Shontz, IT Web Developer & Strategist
The workgroup had been charged to discuss priorities and needs for the 2015-2016 Catalog
ahead of curriculum review and the spring editorial session.
1. Academic Information Section
The Workgroup identified the following tasks:
1. Break long chapters, especially “Policies and Procedures” and “General Education” into
sections, each appearing on its own page. This should make use of the navigation panel
on the left.
2. Ensure consistent and appropriate use of headings.
3. Anchors: Most, if not all headings should have an associated anchor, so that it is
possible to link to that heading (in particular from the index, see below).
What happens next: Bonnie Holzworth and Matt Filer will work on implementing these items,
and report to ASCRC as appropriate. This will already be done during the current semester,
since it only involves editorial changes.
Expected Completion: December 2014
2. A – Z Catalog Index
The current A-Z Catalog Index is cluttered with links to the many degrees, and needs many
additional entries which will have to be added manually (e.g., to Residency Requirements, Credit
Requirements, Credit Limitations,…). The workgroup decided to not list the degrees in the A-Z
Catalog Index, since a complete list of degrees can be found by clicking on “Colleges and
Schools”. (It might make sense to also have a link “Degree Index” which would link to the same
page as “Colleges and Schools”.)
What happens next: Bonnie Holzworth will work on this, with technical assistance by Nick
Shontz as needed. This will already be done during the current semester, since it only involves
editorial changes.
Expected Completion: December 2014
3. Course Listings under Departments (pulled from Banner)
1. FYI, already implemented by IT: The Catalog course listings under each department and
program now include for each course the number of credits and the level.
2. Long Course Titles: The course descriptions in Banner still do not use the full titles of
courses although that is feasible in Banner. Consequently, lists of course descriptions
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(obtained by CyberBear or on the Catalog pages of Departments and Programs) still
have to use the short, abbreviated title (e.g., “M 445 - Stat/Math/Comp Modeling”
instead of “M 445 - Statistical, Dynamical, and Computational Modeling”.) Fixing this is
seemingly relatively easy, but the necessary testing, which was supposed to take place
in Fall 2013 has seemingly not yet been completed.
What happens next: Bonnie Holzworth and Matt Filer will work on enabling long course
titles in Banner and CyberBear.
Expected Completion: December 2014.
Follow-up: Once this is done, ASCRC should request that IT also enable the long course
titles for the course listings in the Catalog.
3. G-only courses: We used to distinguish U, UG, and G-courses. Because of technical
reasons (involving hard-to-avoid idiosyncrasies of Banner), nearly all G-courses are listed
with “Level: Undergraduate, Graduate”. It seems that this should be changed to “Level:
Graduate”. It seems that implementing this would not be easy.
Follow-up: This should be brought to the attention of Graduate Council.
4. Listing all the courses taught by a given department: Because of technical reasons
(involving hard-to-avoid idiosyncrasies of Banner), each course can have in Banner only
one associated department. With the advent of common course numbering, there are
quite a few courses taught by more than one department (in many cases involving both
a department at Missoula College and a department on the Mountain Campus).
Currently, these courses are only listed in the Catalog under one of the departments
involved, giving the wrong impression that the other department is not offering this
course.
What happens next: ASCRC is discussing this issue.
4. Degree Descriptions (pulled from DegreeBuilder)
1. FYI: ASCRC is currently discussing detailed instructions for computing the “Degree
Specific Credits” that are listed for each degree. This will likely include also a listing of
how many of the Degree Specific Credits usually satisfy lower-division General Education
requirements. (This will likely be easy to implement.)
2. Including requirements by reference: This concerns bachelor degrees with options,
were the requirements for the option are in addition to the requirements for the nooption degree. In these cases, DegreeBuilder currently requires repetition of the nooption degree requirements under the requirements for the degree with option. This
duplication is difficult to maintain (when program changes occur), and will likely lead to
unintentional discrepancies in the future. I suggest permitting degree requirements by
reference instead of duplication. This is best explained by an example. (There is a similar
problem for Business degrees.)
Example: The requirements for a “B.A. in Mathematics” (no option) and the “B.A. in
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Mathematics with an option in Applied Mathematics” are identical, except for the very
last requirement in the Applied Math degree (called “Requirements for the Applied
Mathematics Option”). In DegreeBuilder, the entry for the Applied Math option should
not duplicate the requirements from the no-option degree, but instead include them by
reference. There seem to be two options how this can be done:
a. DegreeBuilder could, behind the scenes, include the various requirements for
the no-option degree in the Applied Math degree, so that the presentation of
the Applied Math degree looks exactly like it does in the current Catalog.
b. Or one could simply refer to the requirements of the no-option degree, maybe
with language along the lines: “To obtain a B.A. in Mathematics with an Option
in Applied Mathematics, students must satisfy all requirements for a B.A in
Mathematics in addition to the option requirements listed below.”
Note that this is currently already done for secondary education degrees (which
have links to the “Licensure Degree Requirements”, which are listed on a
separate page.
What happens next: ASCRC should discuss with Loey Knapp, Director of Special
Projects for IT, to what extent this is feasible.
3. Inclusion of 4 Year Degree Maps (“Suggested Course of Study”): The lack of these in
the current Catalog is a major issue for advising. IT is currently working on a plugin for
the Cascade CMS which departments and programs will be able to use to post
standardized degree maps on departmental websites. This tool will be available soon. It
is expected that degree descriptions and degree lists in the Catalog could be linked to
the degree maps on the departmental websites.
What happens next: ASCRC should reconsider inclusion of degree maps in the Catalog,
or discuss the possibility of linking from the Catalog to degree maps on departmental
websites. One issue with the latter is that degree maps depend on specific Catalog
years, and links from archived Catalogs could lead to incorrect (because updated)
degree maps.
5. The Catalog Homepage
There was a lengthy discussion about redesigning the Catalog home page
(http://www.umt.edu/catalog/default.php). One of the issues mentioned is that listing
departments by colleges and schools is not intuitive for students; better would be replacing the
link “Colleges and Schools” by a link “Departments and Programs”, which would link to a long
alphabetical list of departments and programs. Brian French provided quite a few additional
suggestions, which are appended at the end of the report.
What happens next: The Workgroup recommends that the Registrar’s Office convene a small
taskforce to look into redesigning the Catalog home page.
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6. Other
1. Removing unused attributes form the CyberBear Course Search: This is not quite a
Catalog issue. In the CyberBear Course Search (liked from http://cyberbear.umt.edu/),
there is a drop-down menu “Attribute Type”. This contains two old attributes that are
no longer used: “Writing Course-Lower-Division” and “Non-Western”. These unused
attributes should be deleted from the drop-down menu. There was the concern that
this might involve modifying Baseline Banner.
What happens next: Bonnie Holzworth will investigate this and report to ASCRC.
Additional Suggestions for the Catalog Homepage from the Office for Student
Success (Brian French is OSS representative)

Links to Academic and Registration Calendars

Clear delineations for academic departments and programs (I am not so sure students
know to look under Colleges and Schools, perhaps a renaming to Colleges, Schools, and
Programs might resolve that), Financial Aid (I am not sure students would know to look
under Expenses), Tuition and Fee tables/schedules, etc.

Combine areas of overlap into sections with linked subsections (see Utah State
University’s catalog http://catalog.usu.edu/index.php?catoid=8 – their layout mimics a
number that I’ve seen, grouping things in subset links, rather than huge walls of text)

I’m confused by the last sentence on the catalog overview – “The University enhances its
programs through continuous quality review University for improvement and remains
fully accountable to the citizenry through annual audits and performance
evaluations.” Shouldn’t “University for improvement” be removed for that to make
sense?

It’s important to remember that students comprise the primary audience of the catalog.
All content and navigation design should strive to make information easily accessible.

We recommend continuing student-based focus group discussions and incorporating
students’ feedback into future design considerations.
__________________________________________________________________
Appendix 2
Crosslisting Memo
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As you know Faculty Senate approved a new cross-listing procedure (201.45) in the Spring
of 2014 requiring that all programs apply to retain their cross-listed courses. After careful
review of the forms submitted this year, ASCRC has determined that requested crosslistings on the attached table did not qualify for one or more of the following reasons:




Current students are unfamiliar with the -CCN rubrics (for example MCLG vs. CLAS,
ENLT vs. LIT, or RSCN vs. NRSM). Students in interdisciplinary programs will be
more likely to find and register for required and elective interdisciplinary course
work through consultation with both their academic advisor and the catalog, rather
than rely on cross-listing those courses.
Unnecessary duplication of rubrics in the schedule might distract and ultimately
confuse a non-major attempting to find their desired elective (for example adding
HIST to the schedule for the purposes of cross-listing upper-division electives might
prevent a student from finding a lower-division general education course in HSTA
or HSTR).
Many applications referenced the number of required courses necessary to
complete a major as the rationale for cross-listing a course. However, few
applications cited external accreditation requirements or professional expectations
requiring that students must register under a particular rubric. There is no
University or OCHE policy that requires all coursework for a major be taken under a
specific rubric.
The courses were graduate-level and therefore not subject to procedure 201.45 or
Common Course Numbering.
That said, we understand that cross-listing was a powerful tool for interdisciplinary
collaboration. With this in mind, ASCRC has recommended that Faculty Senate revise
procedure 201.30.3 to include the following as an editorial catalog change:
“Revising the list of approved electives within major, minor, option, or certificate
requirements with the consent of the faculty and chairs/directors of affected
programs”
We believe this change will preserve the spirit of cross-listing while removing the
cumbersome semesterly Banner maintenance. Many Interdisciplinary programs on campus
already integrate rubrics from a vast array of subject areas and disciplines into their
curriculum (for example, Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Liberal Studies, and
Anthropology). It also gives programs greater control over their curriculum and will reduce
the need for complicated paperwork to add an approved elective.
Please inform the Registrar’s Office if you would like to add the requested courses to the list of
approved electives within a program in time for 2015-2016 catalog production.
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Appendix 3
DegreeBuilder: Computation of the Degree Specific Credits
DRAFT – 9/19/2014
To compute the Degree Specific Credits for a given degree (major, minor, certificate…), total the
credits for all courses required for the degree.
 This includes all required courses, regardless if they are offered by the department or
program granting the degree or by some other department or program, or if they satisfy
general education requirements or not.
 For degrees that are majors, this also includes hidden prerequisites: If a course is
required for a major, its prerequisite courses also count towards the Degree Specific
Credits, unless entering freshmen intending to pursue the major can be reasonably
expected to already have satisfied these prerequisites.
[The second item is adapted from our Majors Policy, Faculty Senate Procedure 203.70.]
A Suggestion:
For degrees that are majors, it might make sense to also list “Degree Specific Credits that count
towards lower-division General Education Requirements”. A degree description in the Catalog
might show something like this:
Degree Specific Credits: 67
Of these, usually 10 count towards lower-division General Education Requirements.
(67 and 10 are the numbers for a B.A. in Math.) (I chose the word “usually” because for some
majors, like math, students have choices; in this case, only 4 gen-ed credits are “guaranteed”, but
for most (if not all) students the correct number is 10. And here we would need a generic phrase
that works for all majors.)
I think that departments specifically requiring many gen-ed courses would like something like
this, because it would show that their major is easier to complete than the DSC total indicates. If
we want to introduce something like this, I suggest the following (unfortunately complicated)
instructions:
To compute the number of “Degree Specific Credits that count towards lower-division
General Education Requirements”:
a) For each of General Education Groups I.1, I.2, and II-XI, compute the credits satisfied
by courses specifically required for the major (up to the maximum for that group).
Here a single specifically required course can be counted towards only one of the
General Education Groups.
b) Add the credits from Part a) to arrive at the number of “Degree Specific Credits that
count towards lower-division General Education Requirements”.
c) Example: If a major requires PHSX 205N-208N (totaling 10 credits), only 6 credits
count since only 6 credits are needed to fulfill General Education Group XI (Natural
Sciences).
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d) Example: If a major requires a 3-credit HY-course, it counts towards the sum in Part
b) as 3 credits, not 6 credits (although that course fulfils two General Education
Groups).
Appendix 4
Graduation Appeals Annual Report, 2014-2015
The Graduation Appeals Committee considered 97 appeals of general university requirements
this academic year. Appeals were submitted by students from and endorsed by the advisors,
chairs and deans of the following Colleges/Departments:
College/School/Department
College of Business
Administration
School of Media Arts
English
College of Forestry and
Conservation
Psychology
History
Communication
Social Work
School of Art
Political Science
Sociology
Anthropology
BAS Information Tech
CSD
ENST
Geography
HHP
Liberal Studies
Mathematics
NAS
Pharmacy
Theatre
Biology
Appeals Major/Option/Tracks
14
10
9
7
7
6
4
4
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
Management, Accounting, MIS
Creative Writing, Pre-English
Resource Conservation, Parks and
Tourism Management, Wildlife
Biology
Pre-Com
12
Chemistry
Economics
Elementary Ed
General AA
Physics
Radio/TV
Spanish
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
Each appeal was reviewed individually to determine if it met the standard of exceptional,
compelling, necessary, and verifiable with the following results:
Wrong Committee
Required further verification
Denied
Accepted
3
8
8
78
Students requested appeals for a variety of reasons including:
Advising Error
Group III (Foreign Language/Symbolic Systems)
General Education Substitutions
Graduate under an Expired Catalog*
Approved Writing Substitution
Substitute transfer credit for a General Education
Requirement*
Retroactive General Education Credit for a recently
approved Designation*
Upper Division Writing Substitution
Math Substitution
Grade Change**
Round up transfer credits from 2.66 to fulfill Gen Ed
Substitute a Major Requirement***
Substitute Study Abroad Credit for General Education*
Common Course Numbering/Transferability Issue
23
23.7%
23
21
16
23.7%
21.6%
16.5%
12
12.4%
9
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
9.3%
3.1%
3.1%
2.1%
2.1%
2.1%
2.1%
2.1%
* Group IX: American and European Perspectives is the most commonly appealed general
education group due to a lack of representation in the schedule and a misunderstanding of it
amongst the student body and faculty advisors. Group X: Indigenous and Global Perspectives is
a close second. Students often request to substitute their study abroad experience for either of
these groups.
** The Graduation Appeals Committee does not entertain such requests.
*** The Graduation Appeals Committee only handles general university requirements. The
offering department approves the substitution of program requirements.
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