Curriculum Committee Minutes
February 22, 2000
Present: Breitenbach, Cannon, Cooper, Ives, Kontogeorgopoulos, Livingston, Mitani, NeffLippman, Neshyba (chair), Pasco-Pranger, Pinzino, Stevens, Sugimoto, Tomhave, Warning,
Washburn
Neshyba called the meeting to order at 4:04 p.m. The minutes for the meeting of February 1
were approved as posted.
Announcements
Warning announced that performance artist Guillermo Gomez-Peña will deliver a Chism lecture
on March 8. Neff-Lippman announced that Nancy Sommers, director of the Expository Writing
Program at Harvard, will give a lecture (February 25) and workshop (February 26) on evaluating
students’ writing. Kontogeorgopoulos urged Committee members to attend future workshops by
reference librarian Lori Ricigliano on detecting plagiarism. Washburn announced the arrival on
earth of Celeste Barry.
Report of Communication II Subcommittee
ACTION: Pinzino (subcommittee chair) M/S/P that the following courses be reapproved as
Core courses in Communication II, Track A:
CTA 101 (Presentational Communication)
CTA 104 (Freshman Seminar: The Argumentative Context of Social Policy and the
Supreme Court)
CTA 105 (Freshman Seminar: The Rhetoric of Dissent: From Abolition to Civil Rights and
Beyond)
CTA 202 (Group Decision-Making Process)
CTA 204 (Argumentation and Debate)
Pinzino stated that this list includes all courses currently in Track A of Communication II. The
subcommittee is still working on courses to be reapproved for Track B. In studying courses in
Track A, the subcommittee noticed that syllabi gave considerable attention to guidelines III. B, C,
and D, which Pinzino characterized as skills guidelines related to the delivery and evaluation of
oral presentations. There was less evidence in the syllabi, however, of attention to the theoretical
and cultural requirements (III. E, F, and G). Conversations with instructors led the subcommittee
to conclude that these theoretical and cultural requirements are covered, though not emphasized,
in the courses. Tomhave observed that we have a problem throughout the Core with guidelines
that are so specific as to be virtually unenforceable. Warning expressed his hope that the new
Core, if passed, will have minimalist guidelines.
Report of the Mathematical Reasoning Subcommittee
ACTION: Cooper (subcommittee chair) M/S/P that the following courses be reapproved as
Mathematical Reasoning Core courses:
CSci 161 (Introduction to Computer Science)
CSci 261 (Computer Science II)
Honors 213 (Mathematical Reasoning: Foundations of Geometry)
Math 103 (Introduction to Contemporary Mathematics)
Math 121 (Calculus and Analytic Geometry I)
Math 122 (Calculus and Analytic Geometry II)
Math 221 (Multivariate Calculus)
Math 232 (Linear Algebra)
Math 257 (Finite Mathematics)
Math 258 (Calculus for Business, Behavioral and Social Sciences)
Math 271 (The Elements of Applied Statistics)
Phil 108 (Freshman Seminar: Infinity and Paradox)
Phil 172 (Logic and Language)
Phil 273 (Formal Logic)
Cooper reported that the subcommittee had been concerned that some of the Mathematics
courses did not provide students with an explanation in the “first-day handouts” of the rationale for
a Core course in mathematical reasoning. Conversations between the subcommittee and
Mathematics instructors led to an agreement that instructors will provide such a rationale by
distributing a supplemental sheet to students.
Report of the Historical Perspective Subcommittee
ACTION: Cannon (subcommittee chair) M/S/P that the following courses be reapproved as
Historical Perspective Core courses:
Asia 144 (Asian Societies Past and Present)
Asia 150 (The Civilization of India)
Classics 211 (History of Ancient Greece)
Classics 212 (Roman History)
CSoc 215 (Race and Ethnic Relations)
CSoc 344 (Slavery and Freedom)
Hist 101 (Roots of the Western Experience)
Hist 102 (Western Civilization)
Hist 152 (Survey of United States History to 1877)
Hist 153 (The United States since 1877: A Perspective on American Concerns)
Hist 215 (Environmental History in Global Perspective)
Hist 230 (The Roots of English Society and Politics)
Hist 231 (Modern British Society and Politics)
Hist 245 (Chinese Civilization)
Hist 247 (The Forging of the Japanese Tradition)
Hist 280 (Colonial Latin America)
Hist 281 (Modern Latin America)
Honors 210 (The Classics: Historical Perspective)
Rel 200 (The History and Literature of Ancient Israel)
Rel 253 (Religion and Society in the Ancient Near East)
Cannon stated that the subcommittee is still evaluating several current Historical Perspective
Core courses and a few newly proposed ones. In response to questions, he noted that one of the
sticky issues was how to apply the guideline requiring that Historical Perspective courses be
“broad in scope.” Another topic of discussion within the subcommittee was the potentially
presentist implications of the guideline requiring courses to demonstrate explicitly that “events in
the past have a significant effect on the present and the future.” He also noted that the
subcommittee did not investigate what was meant by “research” in each of the courses.
Report of the Writing in the Major Subcommittee
Neshyba (subcommittee chair) reported that all majors except Mathematics/Computer Science
and the Physics B.A. degree program had provided satisfactory evidence that their students have
substantive writing experiences within the major, either through a single intensive course or
through an integrated pattern of writing spread over a series of courses. Chairs of the two noncompliant departments requested additional time to come into compliance. ACTION: Neshyba
M/S/P that Asian Studies, Art, Biology, Business and Public Administration, Chemistry,
Communication and Theatre Arts, Comparative Sociology, Economics, English, Exercise
Science, Foreign Languages and Literature, Geology, History, International Political
Economy, Music, Occupational Therapy, Philosophy, Politics and Government,
Psychology, and Religion be reapproved as meeting the Writing Requirement in the Major,
and that Mathematics/Computer Science and Physics B.A. be granted a conditional
reapproval until October 15, 2000.
Report of the BPA Subcommittee
Pasco-Pranger (subcommittee chair) reported that the subcommittee had studied BPA’s proposal
to revise its degree requirements by replacing three team-taught foundation courses (BPA 210
[International Business and Law], 211 [Management and Marketing], 212 [Financial Accounting
and Finance]) and one intermediate elective with four new courses (BPA 205 [Principles of
Financial and Managerial Accounting], 305 [Principles of Management], 310 [Principles of
Marketing], 315 [Principles of Finance]). BPA wishes to make these changes to its major for
pedagogical, structural, and staffing reasons. BPA intends to implement these changes in
academic year 2000-01. The proposed changes have been discussed with and endorsed by
other departments that would be affected by changes in the BPA curriculum. ACTION: PascoPranger M/S/P that this revision of the BPA degree requirements be authorized and that
the four new BPA courses be approved.
ACTION: Pasco-Pranger M/S/P that BPA 360 (Issues in the Legal Environment of
Business), BPA 416 (Financial Reporting for Private Sector Organizations), BPA 417
(Financial Reporting and Management Control for Government and Nonprofit
Organizations), and BPA 490 (Senior Integrative Seminar: Case Analysis and Research) be
approved as courses in the BPA curriculum. These courses had held temporary approval,
which was about to expire. By passing this motion, the Committee grants these courses the
same status as other courses in the BPA curriculum.
At 5:05 p.m. Stevens M/S/P to adjourn.
Respectfully submitted,
William Breitenbach
Secretary