ASCRC Minutes 2/19/08
Members Present: J. Blunt, I. Crummy, J. Graham, S. Lodmell, P. Muench J.
Luckowski, M. Nielsen, L. Tangedahl, H. Thompson, G. Weix
Members Absent/Excused: E. Henderson, 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 2/5/08 and 2/12/08 were approved.
Communications:
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Faculty Senate Meeting Update
Chair Thompson provided an update from the Faculty Senate meeting. The
Curriculum Consent Agenda, Certificate Guidelines, Principles for Quality Online
Courses, and Service Learning Designation were approved with little discussion. It
was questioned whether the intent was to add a service learning requirement to
general education.
Repeat Fee Resolution
There was considerable discussion regarding the repeat resolution. It was finally
approved with the removal of the specifications (Use only the most recent grade of a
repeated course to calculate the cumulative GPA; and Show all grades on the
transcript). There was strong sentiment not to allow students to remove the first
grade from the GPA calculation – the transcript should be a record of performance
and the grades should be averaged. The Senate would like ASCRC to review the
issue. It is apparent that the President will not support the removal of the fee. Chair
Thompson asked the committee how it would like to proceed.
It was agreed that the committee should draft a report outlining the various aspects of
the issue. Some Universities do not provide state support for students to retake
courses. Data should be gathered from the other MUS campuses and UM’s peers.
The report should include an analysis of the impact on students from diverse
backgrounds. Financial Aid should be consulted as well. Melanie Hoell was
nominated to work on the report.
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New Course Policy Revision
Grad council "was opposed to the last sentence [Although course content....or grading
methods]." ASCRC discussion centered on the responsibility of ASCRC
subcommittees to evaluate texts/assignments/grading in course proposals, which is
more limited than grad council evaluation of the graduate component of UG courses.
Further discussion was postponed to get input from grad council.
Business Items:
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Service learning deadline memo
The committee reviewed, amended, and approved the service learning deadline
memo. It will be sent out to all faculty latter this week. Camie will contact members
of the Service Learning Advisory Board to see whether they will serve on the review
subcommittee.
Curriculum follow-up
Action on EVST 494 was postponed. Although the form was received it did not
include catalog language. Camie will follow-up with the department.
The cross-listing of ENLT 320 with ENFM 320 was approved with a slight
modification to the catalog language.
Increasing the repeatability for NAS 195 to 9 credits was approved. This adjustment
was made to accommodate students taking Blackfeet language classes at Blackfeet
Community College. An agreement was established in 2002 to allow the Beginning
Blackfeet language sequence to be accepted at UM to meet the general education
foreign language requirement. UM students are taking the sequence via a
telecommunication link to the Blackfeet Community College and receive credit for
NAS 195 special topics. It is anticipated that 15 students will complete the language
sequence this academic year and this change will prevent them from having to go
through the appeals process.
The request to extend NRG 295 for another year was approved.
Three-year review of new programs
ECOS suggests that new programs be reviewed after three-years and created an
outline for the review. Procedures will need to be added to clarify how programs are
identified for review and who would request the materials and complete the review.
Some new programs are just added to the schedule for departmental review every
seven years. So depending the time to review depends on when the department has
been scheduled.
Ideal attributes of the CAS Dean
Chair Thompson asked whether the committee would like to submit a statement to the
search committee. The attributes forwarded by the committee should be related to the
committees’ charge and facilitating an open trusting relationship. It was suggested
that the candidate should have experience with faculty evaluation, fiscal
accountability, and base decisions on data analysis. Chair Thompson will draft
something for the committee to consider next week.
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Policy revision was postponed.
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The Upper-division workgroup is looking into the ratio of upper-division and lowerdivision credits at other universities.
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There was discussion on the qualitative differences between upper and lowerdivision courses. Registrar Micus offered to survey the catalog to identify some of the
common descriptors. Lower division courses are introductory and descriptive. Upper
division courses involve analysis, synthesis and integration and have more
sophisticated expectations of students topics are more focused. Professor Nielsen is
currently preparing for an accreditation visit and is required to make a distinction
between the learning outcomes of the 100 and 200 level courses. She will share the
table with the committee.
Good and Welfare
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The General Education Committee is going to meet the first week in March to go
over the criteria drafts. Professor Weix reviewed fall general education course
enrollment with the committee. Enrollment varies widely from 1 to 464. She hopes
that courses can be reviewed for fall 2009 implementation. Professors teaching
Ethics courses will be meeting on Friday to discuss the implications of the revised
criteria and strategies to keep the breadth of offerings.
The committee will need to meet with chairs of the College of Arts and Sciences and
School of Fine Arts to encourage departments to collectively rethink general
education courses to be introductory and foundational and agree on course offerings.
Courses should be streamlined with more coordination, oversight and unit
responsibility for general education courses.
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Chair Thompson thanked the administration for sending out the Early Alert Flyer. It
was very helpful.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:45 p.m.