College of Arts and Sciences
College Advisory Committee: Science Subcommittee
Thursday, April 7, 2016, 3:30 PM
545 Science Complex
Present: Angell (BIO), Emal (CHEM), Ryker (GEOG/GEOL), Dumitrascu (MATH), Jacobs
(PHY & ASTR), McIntyre (PSY), Moore (COSC), Steve Pernecky (Dept. Head, CHEM)
Approval of minutes of February 18, 2016 meeting (GEO, CHEM) passes 5-0-1
I.
Old Business
• None
II. New Business
College of Arts and Sciences
• Professional Biochemistry Major (resubmission)
o Motion to approve (PHY, COSC) – passes 6-0-0
• CHEM 482: Archaeological Chemistry and CHEM 582: Archaeological Chemistry
o Motion to approve (COSC, PSY) – passes 6-0-0 as a package w/ CHEM 582
o Comment for CHEM 482: This will need a separate document to be approved as
a change in the major.
o Comment for CHEM 482: Should not check the box saying that graduates can
take this course because there’s the CHEM 582 graduate equivalent.
o Comment for CHEM 482: PHY 452 has not been taught in ~25 years, so should
be removed from the electives list.
o Comment for CHEM 482: PHY 450 has a hidden pre-req of PHY 350. PHY 350
is recommended as an appropriate course for students.
o Comment for CHEM 582: Concern about grading scale saying that anything
below a 73% is an F. Clarification was provided that graduate students cannot
receive D grades, so this is OK.
o Comment for CHEM 582: This is a graduate course with undergraduate prerequisites. Language should be added that students will have the right
background upon admission to the program, so adding that departmental
permission would be sufficient.
• Physics PHY Major
o Motion to approve with PHY Minor, Engineering ENGR, and Physics
Research PHYR Major (CHEM, MATH) – passes 6-0-0
o Comment: PHY 330 is now PHY 331.
• Secondary Ed Physics PHYT
o Motion to table (BIO, PSY) – passes 5-0-1
o Comment: Students who are certified for Secondary Ed. may teach middle
school, and therefore may end up teaching a seventh grade Life Science course.
The removal of the Biology requirement would mean that students would be even
less prepared than they would be currently with one course. Should consider
adding back either BIO 105 or 110 in consideration of students who may end up
teaching middle school science.
o Comment: Missing letter of support from Biology from the packet.
• PHY 222: Electricity and Light and PHY 224: Electricity and Light
o Motion to approve as a package (COSC, CHEM) – passes 6-0-0
Comment for PHY 222: Change in description is fine, though longer than
requirements so may need to be truncated for the catalog.
o Comment for PHY 222: Other outside programs (notably Biology and
Chemistry) use this course as well.
ASTR 320: Planetarium Science
o Motion to approve (COSC, GEO) – passes 6-0-0
o Comment: Will need to revise the astronomy minor to include this course.
o Comment: The field trip is highly recommended but not required.
PHY 541: Modern Optics
o Motion to approve (PSY, MATH) – passes 6-0-0
o Comment: Undergraduates will not be able to take this if it’s a 600-level course.
This was acknowledged as a non-issue.
PHY 662: Advanced Mechanics I
o Motion to approve (COSC, PHY) – passes 6-0-0
o Comment: This will need a new course number because the credit hours are
changing.
PHY 529: Topics in Computational and Advanced Physics I, PHY 530: Topics in
Computational and Advanced Physics II, and PHY 531: Topics in Computational and
Advanced Physics III
o Motion to approve as a package (GEO, PSY) – passes 6-0-0
o Comment: Acknowledge that there will be some course number changes as
credits change.
PHY 517: Experimental Projects in Physics and PHY 558: Advanced Experimental
Techniques in Physics
o Motion to approve as a package (COSC, MATH) – passes 6-0-0
PHY Program (M.S.) Revision
o Motion to approve (GEO, CHEM) – passes 6-0-0
Psychology Major
o Motion to approve (PHY, COSC) – passes 6-0-0
o Comment: Be sure that when the paperwork moves through that this
concentration is clearly an add-on rather than a requirement for all students.
PSY 302W: Intro Experimental Methodology: Behavioral Emphasis
o Motion to approve (GEO, CHEM) – passes 6-0-0
o Comment: Box should be checked to say that this course will be offered as a
general education course.
o Comment: If intended to be offered as a general education course, the proposal is
incomplete, and items 6 and 7 are not addressed in the syllabus, which are key
points for general education and writing intensive courses.
PSY 365: Behavior Modification
o Motion to approve (PHY, CHEM) – passes 6-0-0
PSY-NSCI 301: Intro to Neuroscience
o Motion to reject (PHY, CHEM) – passes 5-0-1
o Comment: This is a program rather than a course change, so should be submitted
as a program revision with letters of support from relevant programs.
o
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College of Business
• IS 652: Business Modeling and Visualization IS 653: Business Process Configuration in
ERP
o Motion to approve as a package (PSY, PHY) – passes 6-0-0
o Comment: Catalog descriptions are beyond the length limit.
Comment for IS 652: Syllabus should be more descriptive regarding the
assignments and their relative worth. There was confusion regarding the
phrasing: “Late assignments are equal to 0% of total grade.”
o Comment for IS 653: Suggest increasing the Bloom’s taxonomy level verbs for
learning objectives (i.e. go beyond “know”).
Information Systems Specializations, MA Business Administration
o Motion to approve (MATH, PSY) – passes 4-2-0
o Comment: Additional consideration should be given towards program
assessment. The goals, objectives and learning outcomes for the program should
be revisited to clarify their role for graduate level courses.
Business Analytics Specialization, MA Business Administration
o Motion to approve (CHEM, COSC) – passes 6-0-0
o
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College of Technology
• Information Technology Major – New Program
o Motion to reject the program (PHY, PSY) 6-0-0
o Comment: 72 credit hours with six credits of electives in one discipline is
inappropriate for a university degree. There are limited connections to any
programs or departments outside of their own.
o Comment: It is unclear from the proposal how the instructional needs will be met
for 14 new courses. This many additional courses will induce additional costs for
faculty lines, especially if ABET accreditation is achieved. If these courses could
be taught by an adjunct, that should be specified.
o Comment: Curriculum map was challenging to follow for someone outside of IT.
o Comment: It is not specified how this new program will meet university goals
and mission.
o
Motion made to approve the courses as a package (see below for list of
courses) (PHY, PSY) with comments below – passes 6-0-0
§ Comment on IT 219: Title should be changed. There is an identically
titled course offered from Computer Science. Recommendation was
made to at least include the words “Introduction to…”
§ Comment on IT 256: Title is far too broad and does not reflect content
covered in course. Recommended including the words “Managing” or
“Administering”.
§ Courses in this package:
• IT 104: Intro to Info Tech
• IT 145: Task Automation for IT Admin
• IT 219: Human-Computer Interaction
• IT 221: Web Server Admin and Dev
• IT 256: Virtualization and Cloud Computing
• IT 356: IT Service Management
• IT 367: Application Server Admin
• IT 374: Mobile Tech Support and Service
• IT 375: Wireless Networks Admin
• IT 441: DIY and IT Tech Transfer
• IT 446: IT Architecture and Governance
• IT 447: IT Management and Communication
• IT 473: Advanced IT Troubleshooting
• IT 495: Capstone
•
Master of Science in Polymeric Materials and Coatings
o Motion made to table as a package (program and courses) until the Polymer
and Coatings Technology program can talk with CHEM regarding potential
course overlap and PHY regarding individual course issues (see below for
list of courses tabled) (PHY, COSC) – passes 6-0-0
o Comment: The proposal states that chemistry is required, but that does not appear
to be the case. Chemistry courses have been removed from tracks, and then
several courses are being paired up with new courses being created, so that
courses become an either/or pair, which makes it look like students will no longer
be taking chemistry courses.
o Comment on PC 567: Contact was made with chemistry faculty who teaches
CHEM 665: Physical Chemistry of Polymers, who expressed concern about there
being too much overlap.
o Comment: Letter of support from Physics should come from department head
after going through instruction committee, rather than from Wade Shen.
o Comment: Concern was voiced about PC 567 including physics in the title. A
new course title should be discussed in consultation with physics faculty.
o Comment: Regarding the budget, the costs of the program are out of line with
tuition costs, which will put an additional cost requirement on the college and go
into debt quickly if external funding is not received. For example, GAs do not
appear to be fully funded after the first few years of the program.
o Courses in this package:
§ PC 506: Colloids and Interfaces
§ PC 567: Polymer Physics
§ PC 570: Characterization of Polymeric Materials
§ PC 588: Particle Synthesis
§ PC 596: Emerging Tech in Polymeric Materials and Coatings
Adjourned at 5:01 pm.
Minutes respectfully submitted,
Katherine Ryker, recording secretary