Eastern Michigan University
College of Arts and Sciences
College Advisory Committee – Science Subcommittee
Thursday February 21, 2013 at 3:30 PM
545 Science Complex
Present: Laporte (Dean’s Office), LoDuca (G&G), Dove (Psych), Angell (Bio), Wylo
(P&A), Rescorla (Math), Sambrook (DH), Johnson (Chem), Ikeji (COSC)
I.
Approval of Minutes from the January 24 and 31, 2013 meetings (Move to
approve: Loduca, Angell second 5-0-0; approved)
II.
Old Business
a. Minnie Bluhm from CHHS appeared to discuss our concerns regarding the
Public Health major (new program proposal that we tabled at the 01-24-13
meeting). Our specific concerns as listed in the minutes were
i. synergy or support from CAS science departments (namely,
Biology and Chemistry)
ii. synergy and support from other CHHS depts. (namely, CLS)
iii. potential for competitiveness of these students in the health care
field and as applicants to MPH programs
Several questions were asked of Minnie:
What would this degree lead to? What sorts of responsibilities and
decisions would someone in an entry-level position have coming out of
this program? Assistant or associate, entry-level positions. But, there are
few areas that are growing like this area. May work in government or research
positions (air quality, water quality, health care facilities, program evaluation,
managerial, administrative, county health departments, CDC, Michigan Dept
of Comm Health).
Acceptability or preparedness for going into a MS program? What makes
them competitive for the Masters level is great GRE scores, a broad based
education. There are no requirements for a science-based education.
Foundations in science? The development of this program IS concerned
with critical, analytical thinkers, but mechanism for going about it is a bit
different. Many public health majors at other good schools do not require
much natural science background. This is acquired in other ways (math,
philosophy, policy courses). This major reflects on national recommendations
for a curriculum for this type of program. But, there might be tracks within the
program that would reflect different foci (biology, history, chemistry). The
recommendation is to keep the program open to student selection. Our
proposed program is similar to the one at Hopkins and Rutgers. She wants to
be able to talk to us to help advise students who are more interested in
natural science interests to take more rigorous chemistry and/or biology
courses.
Would you recommend a minor? All types of minors could be
recommended. It depends upon the student’s interests.
Does this program undergo an accreditation? Not yet, currently only MS
programs in public health undergo that, but accreditation process is likely
coming soon. Once that happens, this program will be looking to be
accredited.
What would be a disadvantage of including bio and chem courses for
majors instead of the already proposed courses? She wants to think
about this. Can’t think of any off the top of her head.
Motion (Wylo, Rescorla second): Reject the proposal based upon our
interpretation of the “recommended critical components for an undergraduate
major in public health” document provided along with the comparison of the
curriculum from Rutgers and Johns Hopkins (upon which the proposed EMU
program was based), all of which suggest that majors level biology and
chemistry should be required. As such, we would like to suggest that BIO 110
and CHEM 121/122 be placed within this program in place of the currently
proposed courses in these disciplines (BIO 105 or CHEM 115). (5-0-0, motion
passed)
III.
New Business
College of Arts and Sciences
CHEM 558: Chemical Biology, new course proposal
Motion (Angell, LoDuca second) to approve: 5-0-0, motion passed
COSC 111a: Introduction to Programming Online Lab, new course proposal
COSC 211a: Programming Data Structures Online Lab, new course proposal
Comment: Course description for these two courses is the same. Is this
intentional?
Motion to approve as package with above comment (Angell, Rescorla
second) 5-0-0, motion passed
CSCA Applied Computer Science major, program revision
CSCC Computer Science Curriculum, program revision
CSC minor, program revision
Motion to approve above (3) programs as a package (Angell, LoDuca
second) 5-0-0, motion passed
CSCT Computer Science Education minor, program revision
Comment: This will increase the number of credits for graduation (beyond
124)
Motion to approve with above comment (LoDuca, Angell second) 5-0-0,
motion passed
IESS Sustainability minor, new program proposal
Note: PHIL 208 included in this proposal, but course proposal not sent
until Tuesday afternoon. This course proposal has the approval of all of
the Science departments and Arts committee will be reviewing it in their
meeting of 2/21/13. As such, science subcommittee will not review this
course proposal.
Motion to approve (Dove, LoDuca second) 3-0-2, motion passed
College of Health and Human Services
DTC 120: Transform-U, new course proposal
Motion to approve (Rescorla, Dove second) 5-0-0, motion passed
GERT Package [response required by 03-24]
Gerontology minor, program revision
Gerontology graduate certificate, program revision
Dementia graduate certificate, program revision
Motion to approve (Angell, LoDuca second) 5-0-0, motion passed
College of Technology [responses required by 04-11]
CET 215: Computer Hardware and Software, new course proposal
CET 273: Unmanned Vehicle Systems, new course proposal
CET 364: Computer Embedded Systems, new course proposal
CET 374: Sensors, Control and Data Acquisition, new course proposal
CET 375: Robotics Engineering, new course proposal
CET 384: Computer Interfacing Programming, new course proposal
CET 385: Data and Computer Communications, new course proposal
CET 435: VDHL & FPGA Design, new course proposal
CET 449: Cloud Computing, new course proposal
Motion to table pending response from COSC department and receipt of
related program paperwork (Dove, LoDuca second) 5-0-0, motion passed
Respectfully submitted,
Natalie Dove (CAC-S Secretary for 2012-2013)