ASCRC Minutes 9/21/10
Members Present: M. Beebe-Frankenberger, B. Borrie, D. Dalenberg, L. Higgins, S.
Greymorning, C. Knight, M. Grimes, P. Muench, J. Staub L. Tangedahl, E. Uchimoto, A.
Williams, K. Zoellner
Members Absent/Excused: E. Johnson A. Walker-Andrews
Ex-Officio Present: B. Holzworth, S. O’Hare
Chair Knight called the meeting to order at 2:12 p.m.
The minutes from 9/14/10 were amended and approved.
Communications:

Student member and ASUM President, Ashleen Williams was wished a Happy
Birthday. New student member, Liz Higgins was welcomed to the committee.

Next week, the Director of the First-year Interest Group Program, Steve Edwards,
will join the committee to discuss how courses are proposed, structured, and managed
for the FIG program.
Business Items:

Consideration of the Residency Requirement language was postponed. ASUM is
researching the issue and will likely pass a resolution.

Chair Knight received comments regarding the procedures from two members.
Professor Tangedahl proposed a revised structure (pasted below). The General
Education’s General Requirements Policy is also being reviewed by the General
Education Committee. [This policy can be eliminated, as it is duplicated in the
General Education Framework]. It was suggested that the General Education
Framework be listed first under the General Education sequence, followed by the
Writing Course Guidelines, since writing is the first general education group. Chair
Knight will meet with Camie to finalize the structure / number scheme and report
back next week.

Discussion of MSU’s cross-listing solution was postponed.

The Psychology Department forwarded a concern regarding the College of
Technologies Experimental Course Offerings:
PSYX 291 sec 01C Sp Top: Adolescent Psychology
PSYX 291 sec 02C Sp Top: Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology
PSYX 291 sec 03C Sp Top: Biology of Behavior.
Adolescent Psychology (238) was reviewed and approved by ASCRC last year and
Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology (240) is a Common Course on the OCHE
matrix.
There is concern that there was not coordination with the Psychology Department in
developing these courses. It is unclear how these courses would transfer to the main
campus. Should courses be offered with an experimental number when they have
been identified as common courses?
(1) Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology is taught at UM as an upper-level course
(PSYX 340)
(2) The UM PSYX Department offers PSYX 250, Fundamentals of Biological
Psychology (which probably has similar content as PSYX 291 sec 03C)
Associate Walker-Andrews has asked the Psychology Chair and the College of
Technology Dean to meet to discuss coordination. The Committee will wait to hear
the outcome of this meeting to continue deliberation.
Good and Welfare

Chair Knight read an article in the Missoulian regarding the growth (263 students) of
the Bitterroot College Program, under the umbrella of the University of Montana. He
questioned the oversight of the courses and whether ASCRC should be involved. The
courses listed online seem to be equivalent to those offered at UM. Is there a
guarantee that the courses will transfer? According to Professor Staub Geosciences
Faculty were consulted and voted to offer GEO 101N & 102N. The department had
input regarding the selection of the faculty member and the text book.
The committee would like to be updated regarding the procedure that takes place in
order for a course to be offered at the Bitterroot College. It was not clear whether
these course offerings were coordinated through Continuing Education or whether the
Bitterroot Campus is considered equivalent to the College of Technology (a part of
UM) or one of the UM Campuses such as Western. Chair Knight will ask Associate
Provost Walker-Andrews to report next week.
Another related issue is whether the content of pre-requisites, taken at other
institutions, is equivalent to UM courses in terms of students’ preparedness for upperdivision courses. Director O’Hare suggests that there be a comparative study of
students’ performance in courses with prerequisites taken from other campuses.

Professor Tangedahl mentioned that the accreditation agency for the Department of
Management Information Systems recommends the creation of a senior level
assessment course. This will take five years to go into effect, given the current
practice of students using the catalog they started under for graduation requirements.
It was suggested that the program make it advantageous for the students to take the
course and advise them to do so.

Another issue of concern is the number of adjunct faculty at the College of
Technology. At one of the Presidential Candidate Open Forums, a COT adjunct
faculty member teaching 7 courses and still living below the poverty line questioned
whether there were any steps being taken to improve funding. She indicated that
90% of the courses in the Writing Studies program were taught by adjunct faculty.
This is an academic quality issue and therefore an issue that ASCRC may wish to
consider.
Academic Policy 101.2: Non-tenurable Academic Appointments requires the Provost
to present a report each year to the Faculty Senate. The policy states that all nontenurable instructional faculty appointees, when aggregated, shall not exceed 25
percent of total faculty FTE within a Department, School, or College. Last year the
percentage for the institution as a whole was 22.18%. Both the School of Law
(28.79%) and the College of Technology (52.34%) exceeded 25%.
It seems that the status and funding of the College of Technology is quite different
from Junior Colleges in other states. The inadequate funding is not good for the
faculty or the students.
Director O’Hare indicated that Admissions promotes the College of Technology in
terms of affordability and access. It is advertised as the place to get general education
requirements out of the way. College of Technology enrollment increased by 28%
this year. Some courses had to be canceled because qualified adjunct instructors
could not be found.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:05 PM.
Procedures Organization, Proposed by Professor Tangedahl
Curriculum review
Certificate Program Guidelines
Course Number Reuse
Criteria for Evaluating Curriculum Changes
Adding new courses
Curriculum Subcommittee Responsibilities
Editorial Catalog Changes
Requesting Reconsideration of a Rejected Curriculum
Proposal
Cross-Listing
Dormant Courses
Online Courses, Principal of Quality
Reserved Course Numbers
Special Topics courses
General Education
General Education Course Criteria and Learning Outcomes
General Education Framework
General Education, General Requirements (need revision or inclusion
elsewhere?)
General Education, Guidelines for review
One-time only General Education Courses
Writing Course Guidelines
Graduation requirements
AP/CLEP Credit
Credit Maximums: Study/Career Skills
Declaration of Major Policy
Drop Add Policy
Graduation Appeals Committee
Internships
Majors Policy
Minors Policy