College of Arts and Sciences
College Advisory Committee: Sciences Subcommittee
22 September 2011, 3:30 p.m.
Minutes
Present: Clark (G&G), Behringer (P&A), Edwards (Chem), Rescorla (Math), Jefferson
(Psych), Haynes (COSC), Angell (Bio), Nord (DH-Chem), Tornquist (Dean's Office).
I. Call to order by acting chair Christine Clark 3:35pm.
II. Officer Elections
Chair: Behringer is unanimously approved.
Vice Chair: Clark is unanimously approved.
Secretary: Haynes is unanimously approved.
III. Minutes of 6/9/2011
Motion (Behringer, Haynes) to approve passes (2 - 0 - 5: aye - nay - abstain) (NB the
chair voted because only two current members were present at June meeting).
IV. Business: Programs and Courses
College of Arts and Sciences
A. Department of Physics and Astronomy
1. Bachelor of Science in Secondary Integrated Science Comprehensive Group
Major - Secondary Teacher Certification: Program Revision
P&A representative states that the department is, at this time, choosing to withdraw the
proposal for more work.
No action taken.
2. Master of Arts in Teaching - Integrated Science Concentration: Program
Revision
Comment:
- Some students may not have an appropriate balance in their background, i.e., having a
good background in a particular area, but a very poor one in another. We recommend that
on admission and early advising, students should be informed as to their weaknesses and
options for remediation or for course selection.
Motion to approve (Haynes, Behringer) with comment passes (5 - 0 - 1).
B. Department of Biology
1. Master of Arts in Teaching - Biology Concentration: Program Revision
Comment:
- The proposed revision requires Physics 520 (Teaching of Physical Science). We
recommend including the recently approved Chemistry 520 (Advanced Methodology for
Secondary Chemistry Teachers) as an alternative to PHY 520 (i.e., CHEM 520 OR PHY
520).
Motion (Haynes, Behringer) to approve with comment passes unanimously.
2. Minor in Human Biology: Program Revision
Motion (Haynes, Edwards) to approve passes unanimously.
3. BIOT 503 Methods for Teaching Secondary Biology: New Course
Comments:
- Syllabus uses wrong number (592 rather than 503).
- Grading scale does not clarify that graduate students do not get D grade.
- If CHEM 520 were to be added as an alternative to PHY 520 to Master of Arts in
Teaching - Biology concentration (see above IV.B.1.), then Department of Biology
would need to change the prerequisite for this BIOT 503 to PHY 520 OR CHEM 520.
- Is the Rationale saying 15 hours total (ie. "or") or 15 + 15 hours ("and") in classes?
Concern: The Rationale specifies additional requirements for graduate students (15 hours
class observation in secondary classroom and design and completion of pre-assessment
survey) which are not mentioned in the syllabus. Syllabus should be made consistent with
Rationale.
Motion (Haynes, Behringer) approve with concern passes unanimously.
4. BIO 508 Historical Analysis of Biological Investigations New Course
Comments:
- Syllabus incorrectly states grade of C or better in BIO 403.
- 2nd bachelors students are not included in list of allowed programs.
- We recommend adding an explicit statement about including ethics to the content.
- The depth and rigor of the final student project is unclear. As a consequence, the
student work may be light for a graduate class. The requirement of producing a lesson
plan, for example, is incompletely specified: we don't know how much work is covered
or demanded. An example of the rubric or assessment would satisfy our concern.
Motion (Behringer, Edwards) to approve with comment passes unanimously.
C. Department of Geography and Geology
1. a. GEOG 376 Geographic Information Systems Analysis: Course Revision
Concerns:
- For a major revision such as this, we would expect to see a syllabus for the new course.
- How will the department handle problems of transition -- students in the middle of their
program, students doing repeats? A possibility would be to run a transitional special
topics course until students clear through the system. However, a change in course
number would be cleaner.
1. b. GEOG 476 Advanced Geographic Information Systems: Course Revision
Concern:
- There is no prerequisite change to GEOG 476. We suspect this was overlooked.
- The revised GEOG 476 is involved in the GEOG 376 transition problem. See IV.C.1.a.
The solution to the problem of transitioning students will need to address both GEOG
376 and GEOG 476.
Motion (Haynes, Behringer) to table GEOG 376 and GEOG 476 to give the department
opportunity to respond to our concerns passes unanimously.
2. GEOG 480 Geographic Information Systems Projects: Course Revision
Concerns:
- GEOG 480 is involved in the prerequisite problem mentioned above (IV.C.1. b).
- GEOG 480 was independent research project, but now is strongly prescribed project.
Given the nature of that change, we believe is a de facto new course proposal and not a
revision. We need a syllabus to evaluate the new course.
- Students may be interested in the original version of GEOG 480; we suggest a new
number may work better for the department.
Motion (Behringer, Haynes) to return to department for its response passes unanimously.
We believe this is actually a new course proposal, and a syllabus is required for our
proper evaluation.
3. GEOG 586 Geodatabases for Enterprise GIS: New Course
Comments:
- We remind the department to submit a program revision to include this new course.
- The syllabus allows for D grades; that is not EMU academic policy for graduate
courses.
Motion (Behringer, Haynes) to approve with comment passes unanimously.
4. GEOG 670 Spatial Analysis and Modeling: New Course
Comments:
- We remind the department to submit a program revision.
- The syllabus allows for D grades; that is not EMU academic policy for graduate
courses.
Motion (Behringer, Rescorla) to approve with comment passes unanimously.
5. GEOG 678 Advanced GIS Applications: Course Revision
Concern:
- COSC representative is concerned about the level of programming included in this
course. The representative requests the proposal be sent to the COSC department for its
review.
Motion (Haynes, Rescorla) to table for Computer Science review passes unanimously.
V. Meeting adjourns 4:59 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Susan Haynes, secretary