ASCRC Minutes 4/15/08
Members Present: I. Crummy, J. Graham, E. Henderson, S. Lodmell, J. Luckowski, P.
Muench, S. Smillie L. Tangedahl, H. Thompson, G. Weix
Members Absent/Excused: J. Blunt, R. Bangadi, K. Nalty, M. Nielsen, P. Silverman,
Ex-Officio Present: M. Hoell, D. Micus, A. Walker-Andrews
Chair Thompson called the meeting to order at 2:15 p.m.
The minutes from 4/8/08 were amended and approved.
Communications:

Chair-elect Weix provided an update from the Faculty Senate meeting. The consent
agenda, service learning courses and NC grading items were approved. A senator
requested clarification that developmental courses did not count toward graduation.

Chair Thompson attended the American Association of Colleges and Universities
Workshop at the request of the Provost. It primarily focused on interdisciplinary
programs. UM should assure that any new interdisciplinary programs have
appropriate content.

Members were encouraged to attend the faculty governance meetings with the CAS
Dean candidates.

Members were reminded to attend the open forum on general education tomorrow.
Subcommittee members have been asked to attend to explain their reasoning.
Business Items:

Curriculum follow-up
The Science Subcommittee reviewed the Mountain Studies proposal and indicated
that it is an excellent proposal from the science perspective. The associated new
courses were not reviewed separately.
The Social Science Subcommittee also had a favorable review. However, the chair
was not in attendance to provide feedback from the subcommittee regarding proposed
new courses.
It was noted that the title of GEOG 338 differed from what was listed in the catalog.
Another question was why a graduate course was included in an undergraduate
minor. Chair Thompson will invite the requestor to next week’s meeting.

The deletion of the Central and Southwest Asian Option in Geography was approved
with one abstention.

BMED 195, Cancer Biology was approved for the science perspective. It was an
oversight that it did not get reviewed in the fall.

General Education
Modern and Classical Languages objects to the inclusion of American Sign Language
(ASL) in requirement III. Currently ASL fulfills the symbolic systems perspective.
The objections are based on the three issues: ASL is not a natural language, it does
not teach about a non-American culture, and the credits are not equivalent to first year
language courses. Professor Morrison is out of town until April 20th and could not
comment. She developed the following ASL learning goal at the request of Professor
Weix.:
o Converse in American Sign Language demonstrating both receptive (visual
comprehension) and expressive (manual production) proficiency.

The Mathematics Literacy Subcommittee recommended revisions to the language.
These were approved by ASCRC along with additional editorial corrections.

The following correction was also made to the second ethics criterion
(b) Individual Rights and Liberties (exemplified by Kantian ethical theory, or the
ethical theories behind the Bill of Rights of the United States and the United Nations
Charter on Universal Declaration of Human Rights; basic concepts include
"fundamental rights," "justice," and "liberty");
Professor Weix suggests that there be a moratorium on curriculum review to allow
ASCRC to review general education courses. However, according to the bylaws the
courses should be reviewed by the General Education Committee, preferably some of
the same members that served on the subcommittees that developed the criteria and
outcomes will be reviewing courses.


Consideration of increasing the upper-division credit requirement
Chair Thompson will draft a report for the committee to consider next week. There
will be resistance to any increase above three credits. Given that the campus will
need time to adjust to the general education changes and determine whether the
introductory and foundational language will significantly affect the availability of
upper-division general education courses, it might be better to delay any additional
changes to requirements.
Qualitative differences between course levels
Professor Weix met with Melanie Hoell to define the differences between the course
levels. However, they decided at this point it was best not to confuse the issue of
introductory and foundational.
Good and Welfare
None
The meeting was adjourned at 3:50 p.m.
Mathematical literacy implies an appreciation of the beauty of
mathematics, an ability to apply mathematical reasoning, and an
understanding of how mathematics and statistics are used in many arenas.
Individual courses may address the properties of numbers and matrices; an
exploration of how mathematics is applied outside the classroom; an
investigation of three dimensions; the notions of precision, tolerance, and
accuracy; how to use data analysis and probability; and, as an overarching
goal, mathematical reasoning and problem solving. Mathematical literacy
may be obtained through the study of topics such as the properties of
numbers, mathematical modeling, geometry, data analysis and probability,
with the overarching goal of learning mathematical reasoning and problem
solving
Mathematical literacy cannot be achieved in a single course. However, for
the purposes of general education, the mathematical literacy requirement
can be will be considered to have been met by any one of the following:
1) achieving a grade of C-or better in one of the following courses which
address different aspects of mathematical literacy: Math 107, 109, 111,
112, 117, 121, 130, or a mathematics course of 3 or more credits for which
one of these is a prerequisite.
2) achieving a score of 50 or better on the CLEP College Algebra Test, the
CLEP College Precalculus Test, or the CLEP College Mathematics Test.
3) passing the Mathematical Literacy Examination administered by the
Department of Mathematical Sciences. To qualify to take the Mathematical
Literacy Examination, a student must have achieved a score of 630 or
better on the SAT Math exam or a score of 28 or better on the ACT Math
exam. A student may only take the Mathematical Literacy Examination only
once. Further details are available from the Department of Mathematical
Sciences.
Students must complete the mathematical literacy requirement by the time
they have earned 30 credits; if not, they must register for a mathematical
sciences course every semester until they have completed the requirement.
Because many other courses at the university assume some mathematical
literacy, it is strongly recommended that all students complete their
mathematical literacy requirement as soon as possible.
Criteria
Any course which satisfies the
mathematical literacy requirement
must have as its primary goal to teach
the use of mathematical reasoning and
problem solving at a college level.
Department of Mathematical Sciences
approval is required.
Learning Goals:
Upon completion of the
mathematical literacy
requirement, a student will be
able to effectively apply
mathematical or statistical
reasoning to a variety of applied
or theoretical problems.