Curriculum Committee Minutes
March 27, 2001
Present: Barry, Beck, Breitenbach, Clark, Kirkpatrick, Kontogeorgopoulos, Lenderman, Mehlhaff,
Neff-Lippman, Pasco-Pranger, Pinzino, Sugimoto, Tomhave, Warning (chair), Washburn
Warning called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m.
Approval of Minutes
Minutes were approved for 2/27/01 and 3/13/01.
Comparative Values Subcommittee Report
ACTION: Sugimoto M/S/P the following courses for "fallow year" reapproval as
Comparative Values courses:
PHIL 382: Philosophy of Religion
PHIL 388: Marxism
PHIL 390: Feminism and Philosophy
REL 301: Consciousness and the Bourgeoisie
This action finishes the CV Subcommittee's work for the 1999-2000 fallow year curriculum review.
Occupational Therapy Program Subcommittee Report
Barry reported the OT Program's proposal for a new Master's of Science program designed to be
completed in 12 months by students holding a prior Bachelor's degree in OT, and moved that the
Committee recommend this program to the University for approval. The field of OT is moving
away from offering Bachelor's degrees and towards the Master's degree as the minimum
qualification for practicing as an occupational therapist. With this new program, the OT Program
hopes to increase its enrollments by drawing on a new pool of potential applicants who have
completed an undergraduate degree in OT and are perhaps practicing already, but will need a
Master's degree to respond to the changes in the field. The new program includes both topical
courses and a research component. Pasco-Pranger asked whether the pool of applicants
wouldn't soon dry up; Barry acknowledged that it would. Breitenbach asked why, given the shortterm nature of the demand for this program, OT has not chosen simply to restructure its present
MS curriculum to allow students with prior training to transfer in; Barry answered that the proposal
effectively does just that; Pasco-Pranger added that the new degree program might be more
administratively efficient than the evaluation of numerous transfer applications, and that it would
be easier to promote to this pool of potential applicants. Kontogeorgopoulos asked whether only
students with an undergraduate degree in OT could take advantage of this degree program; Barry
confirmed that this was the case. Beck inquired when this program would go into effect; Barry
answered that details like that would have to be worked out after the program received
administrative approval. Beck asked whether the program is necessarily full-time, observing that
practicing occupational therapists might be unable or unwilling to quit their jobs to return to
school; Barry explained that the proposal presently requires completion of the program within six
years, but that this detail would also need to be worked out with the administration; Beck
expressed concern that the curricular integrity of the program would suffer if students were
allowed to spread out their coursework over an excessively long period of time; Barry agreed and
said that he thinks the expectation is that students would finish within fifteen months; he also
explained that the program's courses are quite flexible in their sequence in order to accommodate
part-time students. ACTION: Barry M/S/P recommendation to the University of the new oneyear program leading to a Master's of Science in Occupational Therapy.
Engineering Subcommittee
Warning announced the assignment of Ken Clark as the new chair of this subcommittee.
Discussion of proposed new Curriculum Statement
Barry presented to the committee a revised version of the second paragraph of section I: General
Considerations in the proposed new Curriculum Statement. The Curriculum Statement was
presented to the faculty at the faculty meeting on 3/26 and was added to the motion for a new
Core Curriculum presently on the floor of the faculty. The faculty asked the Committee to revise
this paragraph by "shuffling" some of its elements to de-emphasize vocational training. The
revised version originally ran as follows:
An undergraduate liberal arts education should ground undergraduates well in a field of
specialization; develop their ability to write with clarity and power; deepen their
understanding of the structures and issues of the contemporary world; broaden their
perspective on enduring human concerns and cultural change; and provide the
foundation for continued learning and appreciation. Such an education should prepare a
person to pursue interests and ideas with confidence and independence, to cope with the
complexity of modern life, and to meet the demands of a vocation.
Barry explained the rationale for the "shuffling"; Neff-Lippmann vouched for the accuracy of
Barry's account of the faculty's will as expressed in the faculty meeting and the effectiveness of
his revision. Warning asked whether the semicolons in the revised version shouldn't be commas;
the Committee generally murmured assent. General discussion ensued of all manner of possible
re-shufflings. ACTION: Barry M/S/P (Mehlhaff abstained) changing the final sentence of the
revised version above to read: "Such an education should prepare a person to pursue
interests and ideas with confidence and independence, to meet the demands of a
vocation, and to cope with the complexity of modern life." Barry then suggested that the
committee might send two alternative revised versions of the paragraph to the faculty for
consideration. ACTION: Breitenbach M/S/P (Clark, Lendermann, Mehlhaff abstained) that
the Committee send to the faculty a second revised version reading:
An undergraduate liberal arts education should provide the foundation for
continued learning and appreciation by grounding undergraduates well in a field of
specialization, developing their ability to write with clarity and power, deepening
their understanding of the structures and issues of the contemporary world, and
broadening their perspective on enduring human concerns and cultural change;.
Such an education should prepare a person to pursue interests and ideas with
confidence and independence, to meet the demands of a vocation, and to cope
with the complexity of modern life.
At 9:44 Kontogeorgopoulos M/S/P adjournment.
Respectfully submitted,
Molly Pasco-Pranger