Curriculum Committee Minutes
April 25, 2000
Present: Barry, Breitenbach, Cannon, Cooper, Ives, Kerrick, Kontogeorgopoulos, Livingston,
Neff-Lippman, Neshyba (chair), Pasco-Pranger, Pinzino, Stevens, Sugimoto, Tomhave, Warning,
Washburn
Neshyba called the meeting to order at 4:06 p.m. The minutes for the meeting of April 11(which
were misdated as April 12) were approved as posted.
Report of the Occupational Therapy Curriculum Review subcommittee
Kontogeorgopoulos (subcommittee chair) reported that the OT curriculum review was well
prepared, with a clear statement of learning objectives. As a result of changes nationally in OT
programs, the undergraduate major in OT will be phased out by Fall 2001. It will be replaced with
a masters degree program having two tracks: the MSOT will be a science track with a research
emphasis; the MOT will be a policy track. ACTION: Kontogeorgopoulos M/S/P to approve the
revised curriculum of the Occupational Therapy Program.
Report of the Comparative Values Core Review subcommittee
Barry reported that the subcommittee’s evaluation of five Comparative Values courses was not
yet complete. He proposed that they be carried over to the agenda for next year’s Curriculum
Committee. ACTION: Barry M/S/P to reaffirm PHIL 382 (Philosophy of Religion), PHIL 386
(Existentialism), PHIL 388 (Marxism), PHIL 390 (Feminism and Philosophy), and REL 301
(Consciousness and the Bourgeoisie) as Comparative Values Core courses for 2000-2001
only.
Report of the Humanistic Perspective Core Review subcommittee
Warning (subcommittee chair) reported that REL 207 (A Passion for Justice: Contemporary
Liberation Theologies and Ethics) is being dropped from the Humanistic Perspective Core at the
request of the department. The subcommittee recommended that five courses be reapproved as
Humanistic Perspective Core courses. ACTION: Warning M/S/P to reapprove ENG 230
(Literature of the Human Experience), ENG 235 (Literature by Women), PHIL 106
(Introduction to Philosophy), PHIL 215 (Ancient Philosophy), and REL 233 (Japanese
Religious Traditions) as Humanistic Perspective Core courses. Warning further reported
that the subcommittee’s evaluation of three Humanistic Perspective courses was not yet
complete, and hence they should be carried over to the agenda for next year’s Curriculum
Committee. ACTION: Warning M/S/P to reaffirm HUM 200 (The Individual in Classical and
Medieval Traditions), PHIL 252 (Philosophy in Literature), and REL 102 (Jesus and the
Jesus Tradition) as Humanistic Perspective Core courses for 2000-2001 only. Warning also
reported that a newly proposed course, REL 218 (Crime and Punishment), will need to be
evaluated by next year’s Curriculum Committee for inclusion in the Humanistic Perspective Core.
Report of the Natural World Core Review subcommittee
Kerrick (subcommittee chair) reported that the subcommittee had not met, but that he had
received a syllabus for CHEM 102 (Chemistry in the Community), which he judged to be in
compliance with the guidelines for Natural World Core courses. Breitenbach objected to the
process by which the Committee was granting one-year reapproval to the Comparative Values,
Humanistic Perspective, and Natural World Core courses that had not yet passed subcommittee
scrutiny. Contending that such a process rewarded those instructors who did not respond in a
timely manner to the Committee’s call for syllabi, Breitenbach urged the Committee to drop these
courses from the Core. In response, Livingston observed that the Committee had regularly
granted extensions for departments’ curriculum reviews; it would be inconsistent suddenly to take
a hard line on the Core courses. Pasco-Pranger noted that giving these courses just a one-year
reapproval distinguished them from other Core courses and gave the Committee some leverage
over the instructors.
ACTION: Kerrick M/S/P to reaffirm CHEM 102 (Chemistry in the Community) as a
Natural World Core course for 2000-2001 only. During the discussion of Kerrick’s motion,
Cannon offered a friendly amendment in the form of a resolution stating that the fallow-year
reapproval process for Core courses was not yet complete; that it would be completed by
December 2000; and that courses not reapproved by that time would be dropped from the Core.
The proposed friendly amendment was not accepted. Washburn noted that the Committee is in a
pickle because it needs to take some action on each course currently in the Core. Cannon
remarked that there is a constitutional uncertainty concerning the fallow-year review process:
nowhere does it state that Core courses disappear from the Core if they are not reapproved
during the fallow-year review.
Barry sought to bring matters to a conclusion by offering an omnibus motion granting oneyear approval to the remaining Core courses that had not made their way through the
subcommittee review process. He noted that in some instances, the instructor was not to blame
for the delay; rather, the subcommittee had simply run out of time. ACTION: Barry M/S/P to
reaffirm for 2000-2001 only the Core status of the following courses, for which
subcommittee reviews are not yet completed: PHYS 106 (Historical Development in the
Physical Sciences: Modern Physics) in the Natural World Core; P&G 341 (Modern Political
Theory) in the International Studies Core; and CTA 442 (Persuasion and Social Influence)
in the Society Core.
Report of the Science in Context Core Review subcommittee
ACTION: Ives (subcommittee chair) M/S/P to reapprove SCXT 325C (Science and Policy:
Natural Science and Economics of Earth Resources) as a Science in Context Core course.
Reports from Core Task Forces
Several Curriculum Committee members who had convened task forces reported briefly on the
status of the deliberations in their groups. Barry, who sits on all of the task forces, offered an
overview. He expressed his hopefulness about the progress toward a new Core. He noted that
disagreements seemed greatest in the “ways of knowing” task forces, especially the humanities
task force. He predicted that, because of the “ways of knowing” categories, the new Core would
have a stronger disciplinary and methodological emphasis than the current Core. He suggested
that the task force conveners meet as a group at the beginning of the fall semester in order to
give their respective Core guidelines some consistency of structure and style.
At 5:00 p.m. Stevens M/S/P to adjourn sine die.
Respectfully submitted,
William Breitenbach
Secretary