CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
For College Procedure
2.01.01.14: Committees
2015-2016 MINUTES
(Note: The chair must email the approved minutes to the IE Office for placement on the College web page.)
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Valle Verde Conference Room B240
MEMBERS PRESENT: Elizabeth Acosta, Pauline
Ballesteros, Alisson Bruce, Melinda Camarillo, Zaira
Crisafulli, Dr. Rebecca Escamilla, Dr. Jaime Farias, Nicholas
Fernandez, Rafaela Franco, Kerry Ann Gardner, Dr. Celina
Gomez, Claude Mathis, Margaret Nelson-Rodriguez, Rachel
Ortega, Patrick Pynes, Rick Webb, and Dr. Normina WolffPorras.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Isela Castañon-Williams (proxy for
Ms. Castanon-Williams was Melinda Camarillo) Ruben
Gallegos, Dr. Cassandra Lachica-Chavez, Debra Stadjuhar,
Dr. Katherine C. Kelley (Rachel Ortega is representing Dr.
Kelley) and Dr. Olga Valerio.
Call Meeting to Order: Melinda Camarillo called the meeting
to order at 3:20. She welcomed everyone and presented the
pre-approved minutes from August 21, 2015 as information
only.
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Motion to approve the minutes from August 21,
2015 was made via e-mail in August by Margaret
Nelson-Rodriguez.
Second via e mail in August by Pauline Ballesteros.
Minutes approved.
Informational Items: Melinda Camarillo skipped to Item V to
give a few minutes for the presenters for Item III and Item IV
to arrive. Rachel Ortega mentioned that Dr. Katherine C.
Kelley, Director of Curriculum and Instructional Development,
is out on medical leave, and that at this time is uncertain of
when she will return. Dr. Kelley is in rehabilitation.
Rachel passed out a packet as information only. It contained
the following:
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Archived Courses for Fall 2016 (45 courses)
New Courses for Fall 2016 (27 courses)
Revised Title (7courses)
Lecture or Lab (3 courses)
Revised Prerequisites (145 courses)
Revised Corequisites (23 courses)
Revised Course Descriptions (25 courses)
Courses Reinstated for Fall 2016 (1 course)
List of programs that should not be assigned to new
students starting Fall 2016
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(1 AAS and 3 CC)
List of programs with name changes/program
codes/level of award. (1 AAS and 3 CC)
List of new programs (1 CC)
Melinda Camarillo presented the results of the faculty votes
regarding the following:
Add COSC 1301 to the Social and Behavioral Sciences
Block
241
36
26
19
Yes
No
Abstentions
Did not vote
322 full time faculty voted
Delete MUSI 1307 and
Add MUSI 1308 and MUSI 1309 to the Language
Philosophy and Culture Block
254
22
32
14
Yes
No
Abstentions
Did not vote
322 full time faculty voted
Melinda mentioned that some disciplines did not vote and that
she had gotten some calls from faculty saying that they did not
really know what they were voting on. The committee talked
about it and made the following suggestions to improve the
process for next time:
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The person sending the e-mail asking for the vote
should give full details on what the faculty is voting
on.
An e-mail should also go out from the faculty that
made the presentation to the Curriculum Committee
explaining the proposal.
Form a taskforce to address issues and questions that
the faculty might have.
Highlight comments in the minutes
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Old Business: Zaira Crisafulli and Rebekah A. Bell have been
working on some theories to prove or provide evidence that an
on line chat room or a discussion board provides the same
benefits as oral face to face communication. They will present
their findings and ideas to Mr. Steven E. Smith and in February
18, 2016 they will present it to the committee.
Nicholas Fernandez shared that he came across Estrella
Mountain Community College’s Comprehensive Assessment
Tracking System. On their website they archive assessment
plans from each of the disciplines and comment on each other’s
to create best practices. This is the link that Mr. Fernandez
provided: http://cats.estrellamountain.edu/
New Business: Mr. Rick Webb, Dr. Jaime Farias and Mr.
Claude Mathis presented the following about Senate Bill 1189,
passed by the 84th Legislature.
rename the AA that is already in place. The committee
discussed both options and agreed on option one.
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Mr. Rick Webb read Option One:
I certify, as chair of the governing board of
College
Name,
that the board adopted CIP Code _______ and CIP
Code Title _______ __________________ as the
multidisciplinary studies associate degree program as
required by Senate Bill 1189, passed by the 84th Legislature,
Regular Session.
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Option One:
I certify, as chair of the governing board of
College
Name,
that the board adopted CIP Code _______ and CIP
Code Title _______ __________________ as the
multidisciplinary studies associate degree program as
required by Senate Bill 1189, passed by the 84th Legislature,
Regular Session.
Motion to accept option one and rename the
General Associate of Arts Degree to
Multidisciplinary Studies Associate Degree was
made by Patrick Pynes
Second by Elizabeth Acosta
Motion passed with one abstained.
Dr. Farias announced that his department is now located where
the Physical Plant used to be.
Ms. Camarillo thanked Mr. Webb for the refreshments and
announced the following meeting dates.
February 18, 2016
April 21, 2016
Option Two:
I certify, as chair of the governing board of
College
Name,
that the board voted to submit a new program
proposal for CIP Code _______ and CIP Code Title
_________________________ as the multidisciplinary studies
associate degree program as required by Senate Bill 1189,
passed by the 84th Legislature, Regular Session.
What this means is that if the college decides to go with option
one the change will be to rename the General Associate of Arts
Degree to Multidisciplinary Studies. If the college decides to
go with option two, a new degree called Multidisciplinary
Studies Associate Degree will have to be developed. Rachel
Ortega mentioned that when Mr. Duane Hiller from the
Coordinating Board was contacted regarding this issue, his
response was that EPCC was already ahead and can just
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Motion to adjourn was made by Nicholas Fernandez
Second by Zaira Crisafulli
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:10 p.m.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
For College Procedure
2.01.01.14: Committees
2014-2015 MINUTES
(Note: The chair must email the approved minutes to the IE Office for placement on the College web page.)
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Valle Verde Conference Room B240
MEMBERS PRESENT: Alisson Bruce, Melinda Camarillo,
Isela Castañon-Williams, Zaira Crisafulli, Dr. Rebecca
Escamilla, Dr. Jaime Farias, Nicholas Fernandez, Rafaela
Franco, Ruben Gallegos, Dr. Celina Gomez, Dr. Katherine C.
Kelley, Claude Mathis, Margaret Nelson-Rodriguez, Patrick
Pynes, Gale K. Sanchez, Debra Stadjuhar, and Normina WolffPorras.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Pauline Ballesteros, Daryle Hendry,
Dr. Hyung Park, Dr. Olga Valerio, Rick Webb (proxy for Rick
Webb was Claude Mathis).
GUESTS PRESENT: Rachel Ortega
Call Meeting to Order: Mr. Patrick Pynes called the meeting
to order at 3:15. He welcomed everyone and after everyone
had the opportunity to introduce themselves, he asked them to
look at the pre-approved minutes from the April 24, 2014
meeting. These minutes were for information only.
Having no old business to discuss, Mr. Pynes turned the
meeting over to Dr. Katherine C. Kelley who conducted new
business.
New Business-Election of Chair-elect: The chair-elect will
assist Mr. Patrick Pynes and Dr. Kelley in putting together the
agenda and will co-chair in Mr. Pynes’ absence. Dr. Kelley
asked for nominations.
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Motion to nominate Melinda Camarillo for Chairelect was made by Isela Castañon-Williams.
Second by Mr. Claude Mathis.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Ms. Melinda Camarillo was congratulated.
Zaira Crisafulli informed the committee of an email that had
been forwarded to her that included a message from Danita
McAnally. Her message states that it is not necessary to assess
oral, written, and visual communication in each course in the
core. Based on this information, since it is now in writing, Ms.
Crisafulli asked the committee to consider including an
amendment or addendum to the existing assessment plan.
Mr. Patrick Pynes read the following quote from Danita
McAnally’s e-mail:
Based on my experience as one of the authors of the Core
Curricula assessment, do not have to assess all 3 types of
communication (written, oral and mediated) in each
communication course. However, each college must be able to
prove assessment of the 3 types of communication based on at
least a representative sample of Communication Core
Courses.
It was suggested that before moving forward on including an
amendment or addendum to the existing core assessment plan,
to have Dr. Kelley get clarification in writing from the
Coordinating Board.
Dr. Kelley mentioned that she had sent a letter to Danita
McAnally in the morning asking her if Amarillo has a Core
Assessment Plan procedure in place and in the same letter she
asked Ms. McAnally to please clarify her statement. In
addition to sending a letter to Ms. McAnally, a letter was also
sent to Rebecca Leslie at the Coordinating Board asking for
clarification of the statement.
It was suggested tabling this matter until Ms. Leslie’s response
has been received
Mr. Patrick Pynes mentioned that the Curriculum Office will be
the depository for the Core Assessment Plan. The process is
that each discipline that completes their plan will forward it to
their appropriate designated dean. Once the dean reviews the
plan, it will be sent to the Curriculum Office via e-mail to be
stored in an organized manner so that when it is time to write
the report seven years from now, the information will be
available. Dr. Kelley mentioned that the Curriculum Office is
located at Valle Verde Campus, Room C204 and will welcome
anyone who would like to see what is being submitted by other
disciplines.
Mr. Claude Mathis asked if the committee was going to talk
about MUSI 1307.
Dr. Kelley explained that a petition from Mr. Armin Harrison
was sent via e-mail where it says that MUSI 1307 will not be
removed from the Core and will not add MUSI 1308 and MUSI
1309 at this time. Dr. Kelley gave the following information:
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It is allowed to visit and revisit and revise, add, delete courses
to the core on an annual basis and that is to be done by the 1st
of March every year to go into effect the following year. The
new core is only 9 weeks old, but if anyone wanted to add or
delete a course this would be the time to bring it forth. The
Music Department requested to remove MUSI 1307Introduction to the Music History and replace it with MUSI
1308 and MUSI 1309.
According to the Rubric that was established for putting
together the new core, it was said that courses had to have
certain criteria. They had to follow all the requirements from
the state, had to be in the current and previous catalog, had to
be transferable and had to be able to show an enrollment trend
of five years. MUSI 1308 and MUSI 1309 do not have this
history, so therefore 1308 and 1309 would not meet that one
requirement of an enrollment existence trend for five years.
While meeting with Mr. Armin Harrison, Dr. Kelley suggested
not removing MUSI 1307. If MUSI 1307 is removed from the
core, the Music Discipline will lose a component from the core.
Mr. Armin Harrison wants to keep MUSI 1307 in the core and
does not want to add 1308 and 1309 in the core until such time
they can satisfy the five year requirement.
Mr. Claude Mathis explained that MUSI 1308 and 1309 have
the same content as MUSI 1307 and that the only difference is
that it is split in two courses. He understands that 1308 and
1309 are new to the core and do not meet the five year trend,
but because MUSI 1307 is already in the core and meets the
criteria he was looking forward to bringing this question to the
committee to ask if this proposal can be considered since it is
the same course just split into two courses.
substantiate a change which would require a core resubmission
since the courses are the same.
Mr. Pynes and Dr. Kelley shared some information regarding
the 15th Annual Texas A&M Assessment Conference being
held February 22-24, 2015. Last year Mr. Steven E. Smith
funded five people to attend the conference. Dr. Kelley
recommended going to the appropriate dean to see if funds are
available.
It was suggested to continue working with the Core
Assessment Plan and use it and get some data before changing
it.
Dr. Kelley will forward Ms. Leslie’s response to the committee
as soon as she receives it.
Mr. Pynes thanked Dr. Kelley for the refreshments.
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Motion to adjourn was made by Debra Stadjuhar.
Second by Mr. Claude Mathis.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:25 p.m.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
One of the new members asked what the rationale was behind
the course existing for five years prior to being allowed in the
core. It was explained that a task force was put together to
develop the Rubric containing the criteria and the Rubric was
accepted by the committee. Dr. Kelley mentioned that by
following the criteria the core was reduced from 144 courses to
70 courses. The committee can decide if they want to make
exceptions and/or revisit the Rubric to accommodate similar
proposals. After further discussion it was decided that because
the coordinator was not present, the item would be placed on
the agenda for next month’s meeting and Mr. Armin Harrison,
Music Coordinator, will be invited.
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Motion to place the item for Music on the agenda
for next meeting was made by Isela CastañonWilliams.
Second by Melinda Camarillo.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Mr. Patrick Pynes informed the committee that the History
Discipline is changing the name of HIST 1301 from History of
the United States to 1865 to History of the United States to
1877, and HIST 1302 from History of the United States since
1865 to History of the United States since 1877. Both of these
courses are in the EPCC Core. According to the information
that Dr. Kelley got from Rebecca Leslie, this change does not
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Thursday, January 29, 2015
Valle Verde Conference Room B240
MEMBERS PRESENT: Pauline Ballesteros, Alisson Bruce,
Melinda Camarillo, Isela Castañon-Williams, Zaira Crisafulli,
Dr. Rebecca Escamilla, Dr. Jaime Farias, Rafaela Franco,
Ruben Gallegos, Dr. Celina Gomez, Dr. Katherine C. Kelley,
Claude Mathis, Margaret Nelson-Rodriguez, Patrick Pynes,
Gale K. Sanchez, Debra Stadjuhar, and Normina Wolff-Porras.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Nicholas Fernandez, Dr. Olga
Valerio, Rick Webb (proxy for Rick Webb was Claude
Mathis).
GUESTS PRESENT: Armin Harrison, from the Music
Discipline and Tawny Aguirre from the Economics Discipline.
Call Meeting to Order: Mr. Patrick Pynes called the meeting
to order at 3:19. He welcomed everyone and asked them to
look at the pre-approved minutes from the October 16, 2014
meeting. These minutes were for information only.
Old Business: Core Curriculum-how did we get here? Ms.
Isela Castañon-Williams gave a review on the steps taken by
the Curriculum Committee when implementing the new core
curriculum. It is very important that the new members have
some background information and be able to answer questions
from faculty, especially now that the assessment process is ongoing. Ms. Castañon provided copies of several sets of minutes
and went over the areas that pertained to the core curriculum.
The first time that the committee formerly addressed the issue
of the changes that needed to be made to the core curriculum
was at the meeting of Thursday, February 9, 2012. During that
time Ms. Joyce Ritchey was the Administrative Liaison and she
also served on the state committee that was making decisions
about how the core curriculum process would be set up and
what each block would be called. It also addressed the general
rules that the institutions would follow when putting together
the new core curriculum.
The October 4, 2012 and the follow up meeting on October 11,
2012 minutes states that Dr. Serrata and Mr. Smith
recommended that the curriculum committee come up with a
process. The committee decided that it was necessary to have a
rubric with a set of criteria that would be fair to everyone. The
following people volunteered to be on the task force: Melinda
Camarillo, Dr. Daniel Gutierrez, Claude Mathis, Dr. Nader
Rassaei and Joshua I. Villalobos. This is the task force that
developed the rubric that all the discipline used to justify
adding courses to the new core curriculum.
Something important that was recorded in the October 18, 2012
minutes was that from the very beginning of this process this
committee involved the faculty college wide and it was done by
offering a workshop that was held Wednesday, January 16,
2013 to let everyone know that changes were about to happen.
About 75 faculty members attended this workshop.
During the meeting of October 25, 2012 the rubric task force
came back to the committee and presented the rubric for
approval. The committee voted to accept the rubric as
presented.
After the disciplines had the opportunity (thru the process) to
submit the courses that they wanted to be placed in the
proposed core, the packet was put together. Dr. Kelley put the
packet together and submitted it to the Coordinating Board for
approval. It was then that the Coordinating Board mentioned
that there was a new feature and that was that the packet
needed to include an Assessment Plan as part of the packet. An
assessment plan was developed and we resubmitted the packet.
Patrick Pynes thanked Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams for all the
work that she did.
Zaira Crisafulli asked the following questions:
1.
Has an Assessment Officer been assigned?
No Assessment Officer has been assigned yet.
2.
Will the Curriculum Office provide guidance to faculty?
Ms. Castañon-Williams answered that the Deans are
responsible for receiving the assessment plans and then
forward them to the Curriculum Office where they will
be stored. The Curriculum Office is not responsible for
checking the assessment plans; it is only responsible for
storing them.
3.
Who is checking the assessment plans before sending
them to be stored?
The deans should be the ones checking them and giving
feedback to faculty.
Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Administrative Liaison, will pass on
to Mr. Smith the concern that faculty has about not having any
feedback from the Deans. Faculty has put a lot of work into the
assessment plans and would like to know whether the plans that
they submitted are correct or not.
MUSI 1307: Mr. Armin Harrison proposal is to drop MUSI
1307-Introduction to Music History from the current core
and add MUSI 1308-Music Literature Antiquity to Baroque
and MUSI 1309-Music Literature Classical to Modern under
the Language, Philosophy, & Culture Block. The justification
in the rubric reads:
MUSI 1308- Music Literature Antiquity to Baroque and MUSI
1309- Music Literature Classical to Modern are introductory
courses that serve to introduce the student to the historical
development of music from Antiquity to the Present Era in a
socio-cultural context, including the interaction of musical
genesis with the other arts. Students in any major will achieve
a greater understanding of music and culture as presented with
an historical perspective.
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The committee addressed some concerns and debated the issue.
One of the arguments against the proposal was the fact of
splitting the course content into two semesters when the student
can only receive Core Curriculum credit for one of the two
since the area of the core only allows three credit hours. The
claim was made that this should not be allowed because the
two courses had not been in the catalog for a minimum of 5
previous years, a requirement in the Rubric used to set up the
current set of Core Curriculum courses.
On the other side of this debate, it was noted that other courses
in the current core had two-semester versions: British
Literature I and II and World Literature I and II, so the Music
Literature I and II would similarly divide the content of this
introductory literature course chronologically. The Music
courses would be offered exclusively of each other in the Fall
and Spring Semesters, i.e., in the Fall, only MUSI 1308 would
be offered and MUSIC 1309 only in the Spring. The claim that
the courses had not been in the catalog for a minimum of 5
years, though technically true, was countered by the claim that
the content for both of these courses had been in the catalog all
along, first as separate courses and then more recently as one.
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Motion to recommend to drop MUSI 1307 from the
core and add MUSI 1308 and MUSI 1309 was made
by Isela Castañon-Williams.
Second by Allison Bruce.
More debating was addressed during discussion. The same
concerns were being addressed plus equivalency issues also
arose. Mr. Pynes requested that the committee vote on the
motion.
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competencies taught or reinforced in each of the component
areas. Your assessments should reflect that.
New Business: Dr. Kelley reminded the members that Mr.
Smith will pay for five people who are interested in attending
the 15th Annual Texas Assessment Conference being held on
February 21-24, 2015.
An update was given regarding an amendment to submit
changes for the core curriculum. There is no deadline for
submitting a request for change and each institution may
submit as many changes as they want, but only one time per
year. When Dr. Kelley takes the Music recommendation to
leadership, she will suggest to the Deans if they know of any
other disciplines that might want to make changes. She will
again mention this when it goes to district wide vote. The
effective date for these changes will be Fall 2016.
Mr. Pynes requested to place “changing the wording on the
Communication” as an item on the agenda for the next
meeting.
Mr. Pynes thanked Dr. Jaime Farias for the refreshments.
The next meeting will be March 19, 2015
Zaira mentioned that Nicholas Fernandez lost his baby boy and
asked everyone to keep his family in their prayers.
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Motion to adjourn was made by Gale K. Sanchez.
Second by Isela Castañon-Williams.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:56 p.m.
Motion passed with 9 YES and 6 NO.
This recommendation will now go to Leadership and after that
it will go to faculty vote and from there it will be submitted to
the Coordinating Board and if approved it will be implemented
Fall 2016.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
After examining the Rubric, there was one area that the
committee agreed should be amended. The column labeled
(Course appears in 2012-2013 catalog) should be changed to
(Course appears in most recent catalog prior to considering the
course to the core). This issue will be addressed at a later date.
Communication Skills: There is a question about how
Communication skills should be addressed as an assessment
component. A letter to Rebecca Lesley from Dr. Kelley was
presented addressing the question. Dr. Rex C. Peebles,
Assistant Commissioner responded to Dr. Kelley the following:
The Undergraduate Education Advisory Committee and the
Coordinating Board considered the Core Objective of
Communications to be so important that it be a part of the
curriculum of each of the Component Areas. (I assume that
when you say “Communication Skills” below you are referring
to the Core Objective.) As such, we expect to see those
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Thursday, March 19, 2015
Valle Verde Conference Room B240
MEMBERS PRESENT: Pauline Ballesteros, Alisson Bruce,
Melinda Camarillo, Isela Castañon-Williams, Zaira Crisafulli,
Dr. Rebecca Escamilla, Dr. Jaime Farias, Nicholas Fernandez,
Rafaela Franco, Dr. Celina Gomez, Dr. Katherine C. Kelley,
Claude Mathis, Patrick Pynes, Dr. Olga Valerio, and Normina
Wolff-Porras.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Margaret Nelson-Rodriguez (proxy
for Margaret Nelson-Rodriguez was Zaira Crisafulli), Gale K.
Sanchez (proxy for Gale K. Sanchez was Zaira Crisafulli), Dr.
Hyung Park (proxy for Dr. Hyung Park was Patrick Pynes),
Debra Stadjuhar, Rick Webb and Ruben Gallegos,
GUESTS PRESENT: Rachel Ortega
Call Meeting to Order: Mr. Patrick Pynes called the meeting
to order at 3:19. He welcomed everyone and asked them to
look at the minutes from January 29, 2015 meeting.
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
Motion to approve the minutes from January 29,
2015 as corrected was made by Claude Mathis.
Second by Melinda Camarillo.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Old Business: Dr. Rebecca Escamilla and Patrick Pynes
attended the Assessment Conference and shared their
experiences with the committee. Dr. Escamilla shared about
calibration. She said that it is an important component of the
core curriculum assessment process and that it is a training
process for the assessors of the common assignment. The
purpose is to train all individuals to evaluate these assignments
on the same scale. Meaning all individuals must agree what is a
2, 3, or 4 rating of the rubric. It prevents too much subjectivity
on the part of the individual assessors. For example, one
assessor may evaluate an assignment as a 2, but another
assessor may evaluate the same assignment as a 4. Calibration
ensures that both assessors evaluate the same assignment as a
3. She went on to say that the Biology discipline has not
included calibration in their assessment plan, mainly because
they did not know what it was.
One of the sessions that Mr. Pynes found interesting was about
critical thinking. He said that there are a lot of public
institutions that use headlines from newspapers, magazines and
television to get people involved in thinking critically. He
shared a headline that read “Want your Daughter to be a
Science Whiz? Enroll her in soccer” the whole study was to
show that physically active girls do better in science. The
reason is that by being involved in soccer, they are also
engaged in the community and they obviously have parents that
are involved in their lives. So it is not really just playing soccer
but everything else that goes with it.
Another thing that Mr. Pynes shared was that in the History
department are self-assessing and it should be a committee
within the department doing it. He mentioned that he already
talked to the History department and will implement this
change in the next cycle. Mr. Pynes had the opportunity to talk
to a lot of people from the Social Sciences, Government,
Economics, Anthropology areas and none of them assess the
oral part of communication. They do only the written part.
One last comment Mr. Pynes made was that in talking to most
of these people from the different institutions he found out that
they all have an office that it is in charge of assessment. In that
particular office they also do the SLO, core assessment,
program assessment, and QEP. He mentioned that EPCC
should have something similar so that there is an office where
everything is kept and have a contact person for everyone that
needs help and guidance.
Nicholas Fernandez mentioned that it would be great if the
disciplines could get together and share what each discipline is
doing regarding the assessment plan. In discussing this idea
further, the following motion was made.



Motion to recommend that the disciplines that have
courses in the core get together and share ideas on
what each one is doing with their assessment plan
was made by Nicholas Fernandez.
Second by Isela Castañon-Williams.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Dr. Kelley will follow up on this and will take the
recommendation to Mr. Steven E. Smith.
At the January 29, 2015 meeting, Dr. Kelley, Administrative
Liaison, was asked to pass on to Mr. Smith the concern about
faculty not having any feedback from the deans regarding the
assessment.
Mr. Smith’s response was that as of yet he has not spoken to
the deans, but that he will address the issue at the next
Leadership Meeting scheduled for April 15, 2015.
At the January 29, 2015 meeting it was mentioned that the
rubric should be amended and it was suggested to address this
issue at a later date. After discussing the issue further today, the
following motion was made.

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
Motion to remove column four in the rubric that
reads (Course appears in 2012-2013 catalog) was
made by Isela Castañon-Williams.
Second by Allison Bruce
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
It is very important to recognize that this rubric is a valuable
tool and serves as a process to evaluate courses. It will be used
as precedent for future years. This rubric should not be used
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just for the sake of discussion, but should be used as a tool to
evaluate courses that are added or deleted to the core. At the
time the rubric was developed, 74 courses were deleted from
the core.
Dr. Kelley referred to the Core Curriculum Learning Outcomes
under the Core Objective-Communications Skills that reads
Students will demonstrate effective written, oral, and visual
communication. Because this issue has been addressed on
several occasions, it is necessary to make a decision whether
this part should be revised. After discussing this further and
looking at different possibilities, it was decided that the best
thing to do at this time is to schedule the meeting suggested by
Nicholas Fernandez and to table this item until after the
meeting. The Speech people will be invited to share their
expertise with the other disciplines.
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Motion was made to table item IV-b until after the
meeting in which the disciplines will share their
assessment plans was made by Isela CastañonWilliams.
Second by Nicholas Fernandez
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Patrick Pynes thanked Claude Mathis for the refreshments.
The meeting regularly scheduled for April 16, in Room B240
was changed to April 23 in Room C428.
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Motion to adjourn was made by Nicholas
Fernandez.
Second by Melinda Camarillo.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Thursday, April 23, 2015
Valle Verde Conference Room C428
MEMBERS PRESENT: Pauline Ballesteros, Alisson Bruce,
Melinda Camarillo, Isela Castañon-Williams, Zaira Crisafulli,
Nicholas Fernandez, Rafaela Franco, Dr. Celina Gomez, Dr.
Katherine C. Kelley, Dr. Hyung Park, Patrick Pynes, Gale K.
Sanchez, Debra Stadjuhar, and Dr. Normina Wolff-Porras.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Dr. Jaime Farias (Proxy for Dr. Farias
was Isela Castañon-Williams) Margaret Nelson-Rodriguez
(proxy for Margaret Nelson-Rodriguez was Zaira Crisafulli),
Rick Webb (proxy for Mr. Webb was Patrick Pynes). Ruben
Gallegos, Claude Mathis, Dr. Rebecca Escamilla, and Dr. Olga
Valerio.
GUESTS PRESENT: Margaret Rodriguez
Call Meeting to Order: Mr. Patrick Pynes called the meeting
to order at 3:19. He welcomed everyone and asked them to
look at the minutes from the March 19, 2015 meeting.
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
Motion to approve the minutes from March 19,
2015 was made by Isela Castañon-Williams.
Second by Nicholoas Fernandez.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Old Business: Dr. Kelley reported that the Assessment
Summit was very successful. She thanked those that helped put
everything together in such a short time. A Tally sheet with the
results was presented as information. Dr. Kelley mentioned that
the comments made on the post-survey were very positive.
Predominantly the comment was that they wanted to see
something like this done possibly every Fall so that disciplines
have the opportunity to talk to one another about core
assessment. Other comments were that they wanted to see this
repeated again, they are glad this was done and that it was good
to have the opportunity to sit down with other disciplines. Dr.
Kelley mentioned that seating was pre-arranged in a manner
that the individuals who use the same core objectives were
seating with individuals from other disciplines that were using
the same item. The recommendations from the post-survey
have been passed on to Mr. Steven E. Smith and he is looking
into the possibility of this being an on-going fall Faculty
Development issue. Nicholas Fernandez thanked Dr. Kelley
and the Curriculum Office staff for the work done. He
mentioned that he liked the fact that everyone was pre-seated in
different groups because it helped to hear from other
disciplines and to see how some are just making it simple and
moving forward. Mr. Patrick Pynes mentioned that the
feedback that he has gotten back has been very positive.
selecting one or two courses might not work as well as those
that have fewer courses in the block. Dr. Kelley shared the
comments from the assessment summit with Mr. Smith, he then
went forth and shared them with Leadership. As a result they
have decided that this issue is very important and something
needs to be done with oral communication. Two faculty
members will be designated and be given release time to work
with all the other disciplines to determine how to handle oral
communication. Hopefully these two faculty members will be
appointed by the time of faculty development.
Mr. Patrick Pynes thanked Dr. Kelley, Ms. Castañon-Williams
and Rafaela for the support that was given to him in the year
that he served as Curriculum Committee Chair. Melinda
Camarillo will serve as Curriculum Committee Chair for 20152016.
Mr. Pynes thanked Gale K. Sanchez, Dr. Hyung Park and Zaira
Crisafulli who are rotating off the committee. They received a
certificate of appreciation for their service.
Dr. Kelley thanked Mr. Pynes for his service as Curriculum
Committee Chair and gave him a certificate of appreciation.
Patrick Pynes thanked Mr. Rick Webb for the refreshments.
Next meeting will be Fall 2015
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
Motion to adjourn was made by Isela CastañonWilliams.
Second by Nicholas Fernandez
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 3:45 p.m.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
One of the main issues discussed at the summit was oral
communication. The feedback on the post- survey was that
maybe it would be best to select one course within the block
and submit that course for oral communication. However it
was also mentioned that for the blocks that have many courses,
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CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
2013-2014 MINUTES
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Valle Verde Conference Room C428
MEMBERS PRESENT: Ray Casillas, Melinda Camarillo,
Isela Castañon-Williams, Zaira Crisafulli, Dr. Jaime Farias,
Rafaela Franco, Ruben Gallegos, Dr. Daniel Gutierrez, Glenda
Hill, Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Claude Mathis, Maureen
Murphy, Patrick Pynes, Dr. Nader Rassaei, Margaret NelsonRodriguez, Gale K. Sanchez, Dr. Olga Valerio, Joshua I.
Villalobos, and Rick Webb.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Carlos Armendariz, (Proxy for Mr.
Armendariz was Gale Sanchez) Dr. Hyung Park, (Proxy for
Dr. Park was Zaira Crisafulli) and Daryle Hendry.
Call Meeting to Order: Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams called
the meeting to order at 3:20. She welcomed everyone and
mentioned that this is an emergency meeting and that a regular
meeting will be held October 17. She welcomed Ms. Margaret
Nelson-Rodriguez and Dr. Olga Valerio as new members and
thanked Mr. Patrick Pynes for his re-appointment to the
committee.
Core Assessment Plan Issues: Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams
mentioned that the first part of the proposal which is the
description and the courses were accepted by the Coordinating
Board with no problem and it is being evaluated.
As for the second part which addresses the assessment of the
Core Curriculum, the Coordinating Board had some
recommendations. Dr. Kelley and Isela had a conversation
with Lucy Heston, of the Coordinating Board and the evaluator
of the Core, to find out what type of information needs to be
included in the assessment. Ms. Heston provided several web
addresses that Isela used as a tool to put together the EPCC
Proposed Core Curriculum Assessment. Once Isela completed
the proposed assessment, Dr. Kelley sent it to Ms. Heston via
e-mail and asked her to look at it and tell her if EPCC is on the
right track. After Dr. Kelley received an affirmative answer
from Ms. Heston, an emergency meeting was scheduled for
October 10, 2013 and the sole purpose of the meeting was to
discuss the EPCC Proposed Core Curriculum Assessment
drafted by Isela.
Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams made her presentation via
PowerPoint and with supportive handouts. At the start of her
presentation she stated that she put together the proposed
assessment in an effort to submit this part as quickly as
possible because it is an urgent matter. She wants everyone to
understand that she is not “railroading” anyone to accept what
she has put together and to feel free to change or modify what
she has written. The final product should be something that the
whole committee has worked on and agreed on.
Dr. Kelley mentioned that the date to identify assessment tools
is May 2014, but the core goes into effect the following
September. If this is fixed, the Coordinating Board will let
EPCC know by the end of October. The rest of the state will
not know until March 31.
The committee took time to look at the document and to ask
questions. Some corrections were recommended and made. It
was recommended to wait until the next meeting to make a
decision.
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Motion to take the information provided with the
corrections made and consider the voting option
until the next meeting was made by Dr. Jaime
Farias.
Second by Rick Webb.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Dr. Kelley will e-mail the committee the necessary documents
and the links needed for them to make an informative decision.
Mr. Mathis commended Isela and Dr. Kelley for all the work
done in putting together the proposed assessment.
The next meeting will be held October 17, 2013 at Valle Verde
in Room B-240 at 3:15.
Dr. Kelley was thanked for the refreshments.

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
Motion to adjourn was made by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Second by Patrick Pynes.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:25 p.m.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Thursday, October 17, 2013
Valle Verde Conference Room B240
MEMBERS PRESENT: Carlos Armendariz, Ray Casillas,
Melinda Camarillo, Isela Castañon-Williams, Zaira Crisafulli,
Dr. Jaime Farias, Rafaela Franco, Ruben Gallegos, Daryle
Hendry, Glenda Hill, Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Claude Mathis,
Maureen Murphy, Patrick Pynes, Dr. Nader Rassaei, Margaret
Nelson-Rodriguez, Gale K. Sanchez and Dr. Olga Valerio.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Dr. Daniel Gutierrez (proxy for Dr.
Gutierrez was Dr. Nader Rassaei), Joshua I. Villalobos, and
Rick Webb (proxy for Mr. Villalobos and Mr. Webb was
Claude Mathis) Dr. Hyung Park.
GUESTS PRESENT: Rachel Ortega and John Paul
Manriquez.
Call Meeting to Order: Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams called
the meeting to order at 3:15. She welcomed everyone to the
meeting. Minutes from two meetings were presented for
review and approval.

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
Motion to approve the minutes from August 29,
2013 and from October 10, 2013 as presented was
made by Gale K. Sanchez.
Second by Patrick Pynes.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Old Business: Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams finished some
pending business. The first clarification was that the Core
Curriculum Assessment proposal that she presented with her
name on it was written only by her and did not have help from
anyone. The second was that the Core Curriculum for the El
Paso Community College has been submitted. There are two
levels of review and it is now at the second and final level of
review. Some of the information that was provided at the last
meeting might have misled some people into thinking that there
was still time to make changes to the Core and to add courses
to the Core. Ms. Castañon-Williams stated that once the Core
is submitted and the approval process starts by the
Coordinating Board, nothing can be added or deleted.
Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams pointed to a highlighted area of a
handout where it reads:
One change per year per institution
 Schedule that suits the institution
 Request received before March 1 will be
approved for following Fall semester
According to the information provided the next time that the
Core Curriculum can be changed will be Spring 2015 with
implementation in Fall 2016.
The assessment that was submitted initially was not accepted
by the Coordinating Board. At this time the only piece that is
needed to have the Core Curriculum either approved or not
approved is the submission of the EPCC Proposed Core
Curriculum Assessment plan.
It was explained that what the Coordinating Board wants at this
point is to know what the institution is thinking of doing. The
faculty will have until May 2014 to choose an assessment tool
that best meets their need.
It was mentioned that once the Core Curriculum is approved
the next step will be for Dr. Kelley, the appropriate dean, and
all the coordinators for the disciplines under that dean, sit and
discuss how a degree plan will be revised. The idea is to have
everyone involved listen to the information at the same time
and the degree plan can be done and finished in one meeting.
The assessment proposal was discussed until the committee felt
comfortable to vote.
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Motion to send the Core Curriculum Assessment
Proposal as presented, minus the example for
English 1301, to the Coordinating Board was made
by Patrick Pynes.
Second by Ray Casillas.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Education 1300: Dr. Katherine C. Kelley informed the
committee that she received a call from the Coordinating Board
requesting a justification statement as to what fundamental
component areas EDUC1300 falls under. This request was
passed on to Dr. Jaime Farias who then discussed the issue with
Mr. Steven Smith and the discipline was also included. The
discipline addressed the issue with a justification statement that
EDUC1300 will be a Social and Behavioral Science. That is
the way it is addressed in the ACGM. It is cross listed as
Education Psychology. No decision has been made by the
Coordinating Board yet. This item was presented as
information only so that everyone knows what is happening to
EDUC1300.
At the meeting held August 29, 2013 the committee was
informed that Part III of the submission included Part I
syllabus, Part II syllabus plus proof that each discipline had a
line item showing from where faculty would get paid. These
three items were taken from different sources and compiled the
information to create one document. The document was
uploaded to the Curriculum home page and a link was created
so that the Coordinating Board had easy access to it.
In summarizing how Part III document was created, Dr. Kelley
said that there was no problem when getting Part II syllabi
because they all follow the same format. The budget was taken
from House Bill 2504 with no problem. The Part I syllabus
submitted was from a full time faculty member in the discipline
and this part was taken from House Bill 2504. To make this
process official the following motion was made.
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Motion to have Part I syllabi submitted as demonstration for
Proposed Core Curriculum are syllabi used by full time faculty
member in the discipline was made by Glenda Hill.
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Second by Zaira Crisafulli.
Motion passed with one abstention.

Motion to have the budget information submitted
for each discipline from House Bill 2504 was made
by Patrick Pynes.
Second by Carlos Armendariz.
Motion passed with one abstention.


By show of hands 9 people voted to elect a Chair and a Chair
Elect for the Curriculum Committee.
Daryle Hendry updated the committee on the new processes
underway pertaining to graduation. There is no longer any
need to apply for graduation, with the BANNER upgrades
students will be alerted when they are eligible for graduation.
Also the refined CAPPS process was discussed.
The next meeting will be held November 21, 2013 at Valle
Verde in Room B-240 at 3:15.
Mr. Claude Mathis was thanked for the refreshments.
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Motion to adjourn was made by Melinda Camarillo.
Second by Zaira Crisafulli.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:05 p.m.
Dr. Kelley entertained nominations for the Chair of the
committee.
Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams was nominated to serve as Chair.
Everyone was in agreement to have Ms. Castañon-Williams
serve as Chair for the year 2013-2014. She accepted the
nomination.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
Dr. Kelley entertained nominations for Chair Elect.
Mr. Patrick Pynes was nominated and elected as Chair Elect for
the year 2013-2014. He accepted the nomination.
It was suggested to invite people to the college to give training
regarding assessment or to have people from the committee
attend training somewhere else. Dr. Kelley mentioned that
there is a national conference on assessment in February 2014.
Ms. Castañon-Williams stated that if someone agrees to come
to EPCC, it will have to be very soon, because the faculty need
enough time to meet and make decisions. Dr. Kelley has some
ideas of who to invite and will work on this issue as soon as
possible.
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Thursday, November 21, 2013
Valle Verde Conference Room B240
MEMBERS PRESENT: Carlos Armendariz, Isela CastañonWilliams, Zaira Crisafulli, Dr. Jaime Farias, Rafaela Franco,
Dr. Daniel Gutierrez, Daryle Hendry, Glenda Hill, Dr.
Katherine C. Kelley, Claude Mathis, Maureen Murphy, Dr.
Hyung Park, Patrick Pynes, Dr. Nader Rassaei, Margaret
Nelson-Rodriguez, Gale K. Sanchez and Dr. Olga Valerio.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Melinda Camarillo, (proxy for
Melinda was Zaira Crisafulli) Ruben Gallegos, Ray Casillas,
Joshua I. Villalobos, and Rick Webb (proxy for Mr. Webb was
Claude Mathis).
explained that the motion on the floor needs to be voted on
before moving forward.

It was recommended to include engage and demonstrate.

GUESTS PRESENT: Rachel Ortega
Call Meeting to Order: Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams called
the meeting to order at 3:20. She welcomed everyone to the
meeting.

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
Motion to approve the minutes from October 17,
2013 as presented was made by Carlos Armendariz.
Second by Gale K. Sanchez.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams provided information on the 14th
Annual Texas A&M Assessment Conference being held
February 16-18, 2014. She encouraged attendance to the
conference.
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Motion to accept the proposed learning outcome for
Core Objective-Critical Thinking “Students will
engage in creative thinking, innovation, and
inquiry, evaluation and synthetics of
information” was made by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Second by Zaira Crisafulli.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote (14 yes)

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
Motion to keep the word engage unless the
consultant from the WebEx on Tuesday, November
26, recommends changing it to demonstrate was
made by Margaret Nelson-Rodriguez.
Second by Carlos Armendariz.
During the discussion it was recommended to include both the
word engage and demonstrate. Ms. Castañon-Williams
Motion to take Amarillo College learning outcome
for Communication Skills “Students will
demonstrate effective written, oral, and visual
communication” was made by Gale K. Sanchez.
Second by Dr. Daniel Gutierrez.
Motion passed with 12 yes and 2 abstentions.
Motion to accept the proposed learning outcome for
Empirical and Quantitative Skills “Students will
demonstrate the ability to formulate an inquiry
and then identify and follow an investigative
process using empirical and/or quantitative
reasoning to satisfy the inquiry” was made by
Glenda Hill.
Second by Dr. Jaime Farias.
Motion passed with 13 yes and 1 opposed.
After passing the vote the wording was questioned and a
different motion was made.

After motion had been accepted, it was recommended to
change the word engage to demonstrate. A short discussion
was held regarding this issue.

Motion to accept the proposed learning outcome for
Critical Thinking “Students will engage in
creative thinking, innovation, and inquiry, and
demonstrate analysis, evaluation and synthetics
of information” was made by Patrick Pynes.
Second by Dr. Olga Valerio.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote (14 yes)
The committee debated for a while on the Core ObjectiveEmpirical and Quantitative Skills.
Old Business: The committee will establish the EPCC Core
Curriculum Learning Outcomes by means of a vote. Amarillo
College Student Learning Outcomes will be used as an
example.

2 yes (supporting the motion) 12 no (against the
motion). Motion failed


Motion to take Amarillo College learning outcome
and just add word qualitative to it “Students will
demonstrate the ability to formulate an inquiry
that is scientific or mathematical in nature, and
then identify and follow an investigative process
using empirical and/or qualitative/quantitative
reasoning to satisfy the inquiry” was made Dr.
Daniel Gutierrez.
Second by Patrick Pynes.
Motion failed with 2 yes and 12 no.
The motion was amended to go back to the wording of the first
motion, with the word qualitative added.

Motion to accept the amended learning outcome for
Empirical and Quantitative Skills “Students will
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
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demonstrate the ability to formulate an inquiry
and then identify and follow an investigative
process using empirical and/or
qualitative/quantitative reasoning to satisfy the
inquiry” was made by Maureen Murphy.
Second by Olga Valerio.
Motion passed with 13 yes and 1 opposed.
Motion to accept the proposed learning outcome
from Amarillo College for Teamwork “Students
will demonstrate the ability to work effectively
with others to support a shared purpose or goal
and consider different points of view” was made
by Zaira Crisafulli.
Second by Dr. Hyung Park.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote (14 yes)
urgent matter, the committee is requesting that the answer be
given on or before December 12, 2013.



Motion to have an answer from the Vice President
on or before December 12, 2013 regarding the Core
Curriculum Learning Outcomes was made by Dr.
Nader Rassaei.
Second by Margaret Nelson-Rodriguez.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Mr. Claude Mathis was thanked for the refreshments.



Motion to adjourn was made by Patrick Pynes.
Second by Carlos Armendariz.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:05 p.m.
Motion to accept the proposed learning outcome for
Social Responsibility “Students will demonstrate
intercultural competence, knowledge of civic
responsibility, and the ability to engage
effectively in local, regional, national, and global
communities.” was made by Patrick Pynes.
Second by Zaira Crisafulli.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote (14 yes)
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
Motion to accept the proposed learning outcome
from Amarillo College for Personal Responsibility
“Students will demonstrate the ability to connect
choices, actions and consequences to ethical
decision-making.” was made by Margaret NelsonRodriguez.
Second by Maureen Murphy.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote (14 yes)
It was requested to revisit the Core Objectives-Teamwork.

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
Motion to revisit the Core Objectives -Teamwork
was made by Claude Mathis.
Second by Dr. Olga Valerio.
Motion passed with 3 opposed.
After discussing the proposed changes to the learning outcome
for Teamwork, the following motion was made.



Motion to accept the amended proposed learning
outcome for Teamwork “Students will
demonstrate the ability to consider different
points of view and to work effectively with others
to support a shared purpose or goal” was made
by Claude Mathis.
Second by Glenda Hill.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote (14 yes)
The next step is to ask to be placed on the agenda on Monday
with Leadership at 11:00 a.m. to present for recommendation.
The response and outcomes form states that the appropriate
Vice President has 30 days to respond, but because this is an
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Thursday, January 23, 2014
Valle Verde Conference Room B240
MEMBERS PRESENT: Carlos Armendariz, Melinda
Camarillo, Isela Castañon-Williams, Zaira Crisafulli, Rafaela
Franco, Ruben Gallegos, Dr. Daniel Gutierrez, Daryle Hendry,
Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Claude Mathis, Dr. Hyung Park,
Patrick Pynes, Dr. Nader Rassaei, Margaret Nelson-Rodriguez,
Gale K. Sanchez and Joshua I. Villalobos.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Dr. Jaime Farias (proxy for Dr. Farias
was Claude Mathis) Glenda Hill (proxy for Ms. Hill was Gale
Sanchez) Maureen Murphy (proxy for Ms. Murphy was Gale
Sanchez) Rick Webb (proxy for Mr. Webb was Claude Mathis)
Dr. Olga Valerio and Ray Casillas.
GUESTS PRESENT: Rachel Ortega
Call Meeting to Order: Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams called
the meeting to order at 3:20. She welcomed everyone to the
meeting.



Motion to approve the minutes from November 21,
2013 as presented was made by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Second by Patrick Pynes.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Old Business: Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams announced that
the Core Curriculum has been approved by the Coordinating
Board. The committee was given a copy of the 2014-2015
Core Curriculum to review. One thing that was emphasized
was that for MATH 2412 and MATH 2413, 1 credit hour will
be counted in the discipline degree requirements. Also in the
Life and Physical Sciences block one credit hour for each lab
will be counted in the discipline degree requirements for a total
of 2 credit hours. This means that the additional hours will be
counted as part of the 18 credit hours that a discipline can offer
in its major. As it is now most are at 18 or even more hours so
now disciplines will have to eliminate courses being offered to
make room for the additional credit hours. Dr. Kelley
mentioned that only the Science courses that appear in the core
will have to separate the lab from the lecture. Dr. Kelley
mentioned that for scheduling purposes the lab and the lecture
will be linked using the same CRN so there will not be an
opportunity for someone to take the theory and not take the lab.
One more thing mentioned was that there has been a discussion
as to what will happen if someone failed the lab or failed the
theory and this is being considered by the dean as to how to
accommodate that faculty if that should happen. Ms. Isela
Castañon-Williams added that by having the lab and the lecture
linked using the same CRN ensures that the faculty member
teaching the lecture is also teaching the lab. The new core will
be implemented Fall 2014.
Dr. Kelley mentioned that there was fall schedule build up but
it was contingent upon changes in the core. There have been
changes that have occurred in the ACGM with pre-requisites
and co-requisites that were not there before so accommodations
will have to be made also. Additional sections will have to be
offered of certain things to make sure that the students can
complete their pre-requisites to go into other courses. All of
the required changes to bring it into compliance with the
approval of the Core Curriculum will be made by the
coordinators and the appropriate deans as the Fall 2014
schedule is going to be revisited. Normally the schedule is not
revisited, but in this case there are considerable changes that
will have to be made. Mr. Claude Mathis will take this issue to
Leadership.
Mr. Mathis questioned why SPAN 2312-Intermediate
Spanish for Non-Native Speaker was not included in the
Core. A report will be given regarding this course at the next
meeting to answer this question.
Daryle Hendry gave a brief presentation about how
Curriculum, Advising, Program Planning (CAPP) works. He
will make a full presentation at the next meeting. The new core
applies to all incoming freshman starting Fall 2014 and anyone
who changes major.
Some of the courses were not approved by the Coordinating
Board and some concerns were addressed. Dr. Kelley
explained that there is no appeal process, but that in one year
EPCC can modify the core to be implemented for Fall 2015.
Learning Outcomes Update: Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams
referred to the EPCC Core Curriculum Assessment Plan. She
pointed to letter A that reads:
A.
December 2013-El Paso Community College
Curriculum Committee completes development
of learning outcomes that address each of the
six Core Objectives.
She mentioned that learning outcomes were developed and
completed. In order to continue with the rest of the assessment
plan a motion was made and voted at the November 21, 203
meeting to send the Core Curriculum Learning Outcomes for
recommendation to Mr. Steven E. Smith, Vice President of
Instruction. On the response and outcomes form submitted
on November 22, 2013, it requested to have an answer from the
Vice President of Instruction on or before December 12, 2013.
Because no response has been received as of today, January 23,
2014 the following motion was made.



Motion to ask Mr. Smith to expedite his decision on
the Core Curriculum Learning Outcomes by the
next Curriculum Committee meeting scheduled for
Thursday, February 20, 2014 was made by Carlos
Armendariz.
Second by Zaira Crisafulli.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
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Assessment Plan Implementation Update: The committee
needs to know if the assessment plan that was submitted to the
Coordinating Board is approved by the Vice President of
Instruction. A response is needed before moving forward with
the plan. Dr. Kelley will send Mr. Smith the response and
outcomes form with this request.



Motion to ask Mr. Smith to give a response by the
next Curriculum Committee meeting scheduled for
Thursday, February 20, 2014 on moving forward
with the assessment plan as submitted to the
Coordinating Board was made by Margaret NelsonRodriguez.
Second by Carlos Armendariz.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Dr. Kelley was thanked for the refreshments.



Motion to adjourn was made by Patrick Pynes.
Second by Melinda Camarillo.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:15 p.m.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams gave update on the arrangements
being made for the 14th Annual Assessment Conference.
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Thursday, February 20, 2014
Valle Verde Conference Room B240
MEMBERS PRESENT: Carlos Armendariz, Ray Casillas,
Melinda Camarillo, Isela Castañon-Williams, Zaira Crisafulli,
Dr. Jaime Farias, Rafaela Franco, Dr. Katherine C. Kelley,
Claude Mathis, Dr. Hyung Park, Patrick Pynes, Dr. Nader
Rassaei, Gale K. Sanchez, Dr. Olga Valerio, Joshua I.
Villalobos, and Rick Webb.



MEMBERS ABSENT: Dr. Daniel Gutierrez, (proxy for Dr.
Gutierrez was Dr. Nader Rassaei) Margaret Nelson-Rodriguez
(proxy for Mrs. Nelson-Rodriguez was Zaira Crisafulli), Ruben
Gallegos, Daryle Hendry, Glenda Hill and Maureen Murphy.

GUESTS PRESENT: Rachel Ortega

Call Meeting to Order: Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams called
the meeting to order at 3:30. She welcomed everyone to the
meeting.



Isela Castañon-Williams Chair
Patrick Pynes
Dr. Katherine C. Kelley
Melinda Camarillo
Dr. Hyung Park
Zaira Crisafulli
Russell Smith
Co-Chair
Administrative Liaison
Member
Member
Member
Non-member
The attendees agreed that the conference was very informative
and helpful. The following are some of the ideas shared by
people that attended:





Motion to approve the minutes from January 23,
2014 as presented was made by Patrick Pynes.
Second by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Old Business: Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams acknowledged
and thanked Mr. Steven E. Smith, Vice President of Instruction
for sponsoring five from the seven people that attended the 14th
Annual Texas A&M Assessment Conference held February 1618, 2014. The following people attended the conference:


The structure of assessing is very important. There has
to be someone in the department that it is willing to do
it and the idea is to choose someone that has been in
the department for several years with enough
experience.
The department has to meet and come up with a
mission statement.
Identify goals and develop a plan on how to collect the
data.
Summarize, analyze, interpret and share the data.
There has to be timely and frequent feedback from
faculty to the students.


The students that do really well on testing, will they
be able to carry that to application. That is something
that should be assessed.
Do informal ways of assessing.
One informal way to assess is towards the end of the
semester have students write a letter to the next class
and give ideas on what to do to be successful in the
class or what to watch out for.
Higher Education will become obsolete if the need is
not met.
Find ways to meet person to person with the students.
Have office hours that meet the students need.
Have a conversation as an institution about how
competitive the institution is regarding meeting the
need of the students that are now attending Higher
Education.
It might be a good idea to develop a rubric and then
the assessment, the assignment being used to measure
the outcome. Because it is done the other way around,
then the rubric might not be functional because it is
not measuring what was intended to measure (this
particular idea came from a group that were on their
second cycle of assessment).
Do the assessing in the same timeframe.
Come up with a Rubric that can be used as a discipline
and not have to develop a rubric for each individual
course.
Dr. Kelley expressed her appreciation to everyone who
attended the conference and encouraged them to discuss with
their faculty. She closed with something that was said in one of
the workshops. “You can assess at the course level but you
really need to look at how you are mapping your
curriculum fit into your degree.” So once you’ve done the
assessment and know where your course fits you may find that
you are offering a course that is really not benefiting the
students in the program. The CEO of the Lumina Foundation
stated not to use grades as a humiliation. The students will be
spending more time focusing on getting a higher grade then on
the relevance of the material.
Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams mentioned that in one of the
sessions that she attended it was said that the first step to
assessing is to find someone that is willing to take the lead and
the next step is to form a committee. Ms. Zaira Crisafulli from
the English discipline has taken the lead and a committee has
been formed. Ms. Danita McAnally did a Webinar in
November, 2013. She did training using a Power Point
Presentation. Ms. Crisafulli took Ms. McAnally’s Power Point
and modified it to fit the English area. Ms. Castañon-Williams
thought it would be a good idea for Ms. Crisafulli to present
what the English discipline has done. Ms. Crisafulli explained
that what she is presenting is not a final product, but will give
an idea of what can be done. Some recommendations were
made throughout the presentation. She was thanked for sharing
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the discipline’s ideas and was asked to e-mail the Power Point
to the committee.
SPAN 2312 Update was tabled for the March 20, 2014
meeting.
Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams and Dr. Kelley went to
Leadership Team to request approval from Mr. Steven E. Smith
to have Danita McAnally come to EPCC and do an assessment
training session.
Carlos Armendariz passed out a memo with the subject (16
weeks to 8 weeks conversion) and requested that this item be
placed on the agenda for the March 20, 2014 meeting.
The programs that will be submitted for approval on March 1st
were presented and approved.



Motion to submit the March 1st submission of
programs for 2014: Implementation September 1,
2014 was made by Nader Rassaei.
Second by Gale K. Sanchez.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Dr. Kelley announced the workshops being held on March 21,
2014 by (DeafTEC). These workshops are being hosted by the
Center for Students with Disabilities. DeafTEC serves as a
resource for high schools and community colleges that educate
deaf and hard-of-hearing students in STEM-related programs
and for employers hiring deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals.
It also establishes a model within targeted regions of the
country to create partnerships among high schools, community
colleges, and industry to improve access to technological
education and employment for deaf and hard-of-hearing
individuals.
Mr. Rick Webb was thanked for the refreshments.



Motion to adjourn was made by Carlos Armendariz.
Second by Melinda Camarillo.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:25 p.m.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Thursday, March 20, 2014
Valle Verde Conference Room B240
MEMBERS PRESENT: Carlos Armendariz, Ray Casillas,
Melinda Camarillo, Isela Castañon-Williams, Zaira Crisafulli,
Dr. Jaime Farias, Rafaela Franco, Ruben Gallegos, Dr. Daniel
Gutierrez, Claude Mathis, Maureen Murphy, Dr. Hyung Park,
Patrick Pynes, Dr. Nader Rassaei, Margaret Nelson-Rodriguez,
Gale K. Sanchez, and Rick Webb.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Daryle
Hendry, Dr. Olga Valerio, Glenda Hill, and Joshua I.
Villalobos.
Call Meeting to Order: Before the meeting started Ms. Isela
Castañon-Williams mentioned that the Tejano Tribune has
requested a picture of the Curriculum Committee to attach it to
the story about the new core that will be published in their next
issue. She introduced David T. Flores, Media Producer, who
works in the Curriculum Office. He will be the person taking
the picture for the Tejano Tribune. She mentioned that Dr.
Kelley is not feeling well and will not attend today’s meeting.
Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams called the meeting to order at
3:30. She welcomed everyone to the meeting.



Motion to approve the minutes from February 20,
2014 as corrected was made by Gale K. Sanchez.
Second by Maureen Murphy.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Old Business: A question has been raised about why SPAN
2312 was not included in the new core. The Curriculum Office
researched the history of this course in the core and found that
SPAN 2312 had not been previously in the core. When the core
was considered the instructions from the state were that only
courses already in existence in the core would be considered.
Next year the discipline can come forth and using the process
in place can propose to add SPAN 2312 to the core.
Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams updated the committee about Ms.
Danita McAnally coming to EPCC to do the workshop on
Assessment. She mentioned that she is available to come
Thursday, April 3, but Mr. Steven E. Smith is available on
April 11 and he would like to consider that date for her to
come. Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams’ concern is that by doing
the workshop on April 11th it would not give the disciplines
enough time before the end of the semester to work on
identifying the assessment tool and the rubric needed to comply
with the next step of the assessment plan. After several minutes
of discussion and looking at several options, the following
recommendation was made.

Motion to recommend that Dr. Katherine C. Kelley
as the Administrative Liaison contact Mr. Steven E.
Smith on behalf of the committee to leave April 3rd
as the day for Ms. Danita McAnally to come and


give the assessment workshop and have Mr. Smith
do his welcomed via video was made by Melinda
Camarillo.
Second by Margaret Nelson-Rodriguez.
Motion was passed with 11 Yes and 4 No.
A few of the members shared their ideas of what the disciplines
are already doing and gave very positive feedback and
recommended that each discipline should be getting together
regardless if Ms. McAnally gives the assessment workshop or
not. The following recommendation was made.



Motion to recommend that if Ms. Danita
McAnally’s Assessment Workshop is not presented
on April 3rd the other option is to have a district
wide meeting of all the disciplines that have courses
in the core and have Zaira Crisafulli share what the
English Discipline has completed was made by
Melinda Camarillo.
Second by Patrick Pynes.
Motion Accepted by unanimous vote.
Carlos Armendariz shared with the committee a memo that he
wrote to Dr. William Serrata on February 10, 2014. The memo
is attached to the minutes for information.
The next item is to bring the Official Course Syllabus
Procedure 6.04.02.10 in alignment with Part I and Part II
Syllabus. For example the 6 drop rule and the THECB
Learning Outcomes were added to the syllabus, but were not
added to the procedure. Another area that is causing confusion
and needs to be revised in Part II Syllabus is the header and
footer. Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams mentioned that in the Part
I the word Instructor should be changed to Faculty so it is
more in line with what it is actually occurring in the college. It
was noted that instead of saying Faculty in some areas it should
read Faculty Member. Ms. Margaret Nelson-Rodriguez offered
to do the grammatical corrections and present the final product
at the next meeting.
Dr. Jaime Farias provided the refreshments.



Motion to adjourn was made by Claude Mathis.
Second by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:50 p.m.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
Memo from Carlos Armendariz to Dr. Serrata follows:
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From: Armendariz, Carlos
Sent: Monday, February 10, 2014 12:15 PM
To: Serrata, William
Cc: Smith, Steven E.; Rodarte, Susana; Velasquez, Oscar R.
Subject: 16 weeks to 8 weeks conversion
I am writing this memo to propose changing the traditional way we structure the fall and spring semesters. Since the incipience of
the El Paso Community College and as long as I have been here (28 years), the fall and spring semesters have always been on a l6
week basis. For a number of reasons that I will list later, I am proposing that a number of courses in both the academic and
technical areas be converted into an 8 week mini-mester basis, however, I would leave the summer semester the way it is set up. I
understand that there may or will be many logistical issues related to this, but maybe a task force or committee made up of faculty,
counselors, administrators, and certain staff members (resource only) could investigate the merits of this conversion and make a
recommendation back to you for your decision.
The following are reasons for the proposed change:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
The main reason is to increase student enrollment. With increased competition from other colleges, universities, and
technical schools, it is time we look at new and innovative ways to attract students. Other colleges and schools announce
that a student can finish a course or courses in 7-8 weeks. Why can’t we?
Students may be able to finish sequence courses such as HIST 1301 in a mini-mester I and HIST 1302 in a mini-mester
II. Other examples would be ENGL 1301 and 1302 and GOVT 2305 and 2306 being offered in mini-mesters. This type
of scheduling is being done in the summer and I feel that students would appreciate completing required courses much
faster.
This type of scheduling will lead to accelerated and early graduations, retention, and course completion.
This type of scheduling would be more accommodating to working students, parents with school age children, border
commuters, late start students, students concurrently enrolled at another college/university, and returning students on
academic suspension.
Will assist military students or their dependents accumulate more credits given their time constraints. This type of
scheduling may even lead to graduation or near completion of a degree.
With more course offerings, this would assist counselors with students who are registering late who need or want a full
time schedule. We may be able to do away with the late start schedule. There are already a number of technical courses
scheduled in parts (i.e. HVAC and Culinary Arts courses).
Will reduce the request for over tallies or students trying to get into a closed course. Also, students may avoid add/drop
fees, any Financial Aid penalties, and petitions for refunds.
The proposed model would be applicable to day classes only. Most night courses are already taught once or twice a
week. A majority of day classes could be taught Mondays/ Wednesdays or Tuesdays/ Thursdays leaving Fridays open.
There may be a need to leave some courses on a semester long basis, but this would need to be a discipline decision.
As an academic counselor and instructor, I have witnessed a change in students over the years I have been working. One of the
changes is that students want or need to complete their education at a faster pace. As I mentioned, we may want to move from the
traditional 16 week model to eight week courses and market this as a way to increase student enrollment and more importantly,
graduate students.
Thank You for your consideration.
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Thursday, April 24, 2014
Valle Verde Conference Room B240
MEMBERS PRESENT: Carlos Armendariz, Ray Casillas,
Melinda Camarillo, Isela Castañon-Williams, Rafaela Franco,
Dr. Daniel Gutierrez, Daryle Hendry, Dr. Katherine C. Kelley,
Claude Mathis, Maureen Murphy, Dr. Hyung Park, Patrick
Pynes, Dr. Nader Rassaei, Margaret Nelson-Rodriguez, Gale K.
Sanchez and Joshua I. Villalobos.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Zaira Crisafulli (proxy for Ms.
Crisafulli was Melinda Camarillo), Rick Webb (proxy for Mr.
Webb was Claude Mathis), Ruben Gallegos, Dr. Olga Valerio,
Dr. Jaime Farias and Glenda Hill.
Call Meeting to Order: Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams called
the meeting to order at 3:20. She welcomed everyone to the
meeting.



Motion to approve the minutes from March 20,
2014 as corrected was made by Gale K. Sanchez.
Second by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Old Business: Course Syllabus Procedure 6.04.02.10 was
presented at the March 20, 2014 meeting for revision. Ms.
Margaret Nelson-Rodriguez offered to make the necessary
grammatical corrections and present it today. Ms. Isela
Castañon-Williams went over all the recommended updates
that had been presented at the last meeting.



Motion to accept the recommended changes to the
Course Syllabus Procedure 6.04.02.10 was made
by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Second by Patrick Pynes.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams did a presentation to Leadership
this morning on the Core Assessment Training that was
conducted by Ms. Danita McAnally on April 3, 2014. She
reported the following:




There are twenty-three disciplines with courses in the
core
The following twelve disciplines attended: English,
History, Philosophy, Arts, Communication,
Government, Economics, Education, Mathematics,
Astronomy, Biology and Physics.
The following eleven disciplines did not attend:
Music, Spanish, Dance, Drama, Anthropology,
Psychology, Sociology, Speech, Chemistry, Geology
and Architecture.
Five deans attended. The following three have courses
in the core: Mr. Claude Mathis, Dr. Julie Penley, Ms.
Janet Eveler. Dr. Olga Valerio and Ms. Paula
Meagher do not have courses in the core, but took the
time to attend the training.

Thirty-two faculty attended (4 coordinators, 8
curriculum committee members, 20 faculty from
various disciplines) most were adjunct faculty.
This morning Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams recommended to
Leadership to have a mandatory meeting in the fall during
faculty development for all those disciplines that are impacted
by courses in the Core Curriculum. She indicated that Math
and English completed their area by the time the training was
over. The rest of the disciplines need to move forward with
some specificity to ensure that they are going to complete the
task at hand and to be able to implement assessment in Spring
2015. The deans received from Ms. Castañon-Williams a
packet that includes the Assessment Plan, the Learning
Outcomes that were developed by the Curriculum Committee
and a hand out of a Critical Thinking VALUE Rubric. By
having this information at hand, the deans will move forward in
a more comprehensive manner when facilitating the meetings
for the faculty.
The Curriculum Office will be the office in charge of collecting
the data. Any results and documentation from each discipline
should be sent to the appropriate dean and the dean will then
forward it to the Curriculum Office.
Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams mentioned that Dr. Kelley has
graciously agreed to host a fabulous dinner because this is a
very unique committee and has worked so hard and many have
asked not to be rotated off until the Core Curriculum process
was complete. Dr. Kelley said that the celebration dinner will
be hosted by the Curriculum Office and it will be at
Cattleman’s Steakhouse on Wednesday, April 30, beginning at
6:00. She encouraged everyone to attend.
Dr. Jaime Farias was thanked for the refreshments.



Motion to adjourn was made by Carlos Armendariz.
Second by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:15 p.m.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
2012-2013 MINUTES
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Valle Verde Conference Room B240
MEMBERS PRESENT: Carlos Armendariz, Melinda
Camarillo, Isela Castañon-Williams, Dr. Jaime Farias, Rafaela
Franco, Dr. Daniel Gutierrez, Daryle Hendry, Glenda Hill, Dr.
Katherine C. Kelley, Claude Mathis, Maureen Murphy, Dr.
Hyung Park, Dr. Julie Penley, Patrick Pynes, Dr. Nader
Rassaei, Gale K. Sanchez, and Barbara Williams.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Yolanda Ahner, Ray Casillas, Zaira
Crisafulli (Proxy for Ms. Crisafulli was Melinda Camarillo)
Joshua I. Villalobos, and Ruben Gallegos.
Call Meeting to Order: Isela Castañon-Williams called the
meeting to order at 3:15.
The pre-approved April 19, 2012 Minutes were presented as
information only.
New Business: Ms. Castanon-Williams mentioned that Ms.
Ritchey has retired and that Dr. Julie Penley has been assigned
as the new Administrative Liaison. Isela gave the committee
some background information regarding the following three
items on the agenda:


Recommendation of Curriculum Administrator
Liaison Appointment
Recommendation to Add a Voting Math and Science
Dean
Discussion and Possible Action on Co-Chair/Chair
Elect Position
She informed the committee that Dr. Penley, Dr. Kelley and
herself had a meeting with Mr. Smith to discuss the fact that
since Dr. Kelley has direct contact with the Coordinating Board
and that if she remains as resource person; she will not be able
to share as much information as she would if she were the
Administrative Liaison.






GUEST PRESENT: Rachel Ortega.

Ms. Castanon-Williams added that at the same meeting it was
also discussed that there is a great need to have a voting dean
representing Math and Science. The committee was informed
that Mr. Steve Smith requested that the committee vote on
recommending the addition of a Voting Math and Science
Dean without specifying a name.
Motion to recommend Dr. Katherine C. Kelley
serve as the Curriculum Committee Administrative
Liaison was made by Patrick Pynes.
Second by Dr. Daniel Gutierrez.
Motion passed with one abstention.
Motion to recommend a Voting Math and Science
Dean to the Curriculum Committee was made by
Melinda Camarillo.
Second by Gale K. Sanchez .
Motion passed with one abstention.
However the committee felt strongly that it needed to
recommend Dr. Julie Penley.



Motion to recommend that Dr. Julie Penley be the
Voting Math and Science Dean was made by
Patrick Pynes.
Second by Carlos Armendariz.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
The possibility of voting for a Co-Chair/Chair Elect Position
was discussed. Carlos Armendariz proposed to postpone
voting until after the new Core Curriculum was implemented.
After some deliberation, Carlos Armendariz withdrew his
motion.
The committee decided to vote for a chair every year.



Motion to nominate Isela Castanon-Williams to
serve as Chair for 2012-2013 year was made by
Claude Mathis.
Second by Patrick Pynes.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
On February 9, 2012 the following On Line Course Drop
Procedure Posting was approved:
They may fax a request to withdraw from a course(s) by
printing their Name, EPCC ID #, and the course(s) Course
Name, Course Number, and Section Number, last date attended
(submitted work/accessed the course) and their signature to
915-831-2161.
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Or, they can send the same information using their EPCC
email account to Admissions@epcc.edu . Students are
responsible for protecting their login and password.
We will not accept email requests from other email services
such a Hotmail or Yahoo.
At that same meeting the following motion was made and
approved:

Motion to have the information that Daryle Hendry
has provided, on how an on line drop is to occur, be
placed on the Registrars website and that it also be
placed on the Distance Education website so that all
on line faculty members can either link to that or copy
and paste the link onto their home page to let students
know how to get this done. With the additional
statement that says “before you drop, stop, contact
your instructor and a counselor to discuss the
implications of dropping a course (Financial Aid,
Scholarships, 6 Drop rule)”
Multiple handouts were distributed and after Ms. CastanonWilliams and Dr. Kelley explained each one, the members
were asked to take them as homework and to be ready to
discuss the analysis at the September 20 meeting.
Last Spring Mr. Smith, in consultation with UTEP, decided
that, since both institutions would be revising their respective
Cores, it would be advisable that there be representation from
each institution’s committee, from the other institution. Dr.
Cheryl Tornsney will be attending the EPCC Curriculum
Committee meetings representing UTEP. Ms. CastanonWilliams and Dr. Kelley will attend UTEP Core Curriculum
meetings representing EPCC.
A question was addressed regarding who will make the
decision of what courses will go into the new Core Curriculum.
The answer was that the faculty from the disciplines affected
will have input, but that the final decision will be made by the
Curriculum Committee based on the criteria established by the
THECB. The process will be implemented at the September
20, 2012 meeting.
Today the On Line Course Drop Procedure was presented as
information only. Mr. Daryle Hendry will follow up and
complete this request.
Dr. Kelley was thanked for providing the refreshments. Mr.
Claude Mathis and Dr. Jaime Farias will provide refreshments
for the rest of the semester.
Core Curriculum Preliminary Selection Process: The
following timelines were presented:
The next meeting will be September 20, 2012 at Valle Verde in
Conference Room C428.
THECB CORE CURRICULUM STATE TIMELINES
November 2011-2013
October 1, 2013
November 30, 2013
February 1, 2014
Fall 2014
Faculty develop and select
courses
Proposed Discipline Core
curricula due to Curriculum
Office in addition to changes
in degree plans and syllabi
Institutional Core curricula
due to Coordinating Board
staff for review
THECB staff approvals should
be completed
Statewide implementation



Motion to adjourn was made by Carlos Armendariz.
Second by Barbara Williams.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.
EPCC CORE CURRICULUM CHANGE TIMELINES
Fall Faculty Development
2010
Spring Faculty Development
2011
Fall Faculty Development
2011
Spring (April 25) 2012
April 2013
Core Curriculum Workshop
Core Curriculum Workshop
Core Curriculum workshop
cancelled due to no new
information
District wide Coordinators
Core Curriculum Workshop
Final selection of courses
submitted to Curriculum
Committee
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Thursday, October 4, and continuation on Thursday, October 11, 2012
Valle Verde Conference Room B240
MEMBERS PRESENT: Carlos Armendariz, Melinda
Camarillo, Isela Castañon-Williams, Zaira Crisafulli, Dr.
Jaime Farias, Rafaela Franco, Dr. Daniel Gutierrez, Daryle
Hendry, Glenda Hill, Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Claude Mathis,
Maureen Murphy, Dr. Hyung Park, Patrick Pynes, Dr. Nader
Rassaei, Gale K. Sanchez, Joshua I. Villalobos, and Barbara
Williams
accepted. The counselors will have to be on track on the
changes being implemented to the core at all times so that they
can pass on to the students any new information and guide
them in the right direction to avoid substitutions to the core.
Dr. Serrata told Dr. Kelley and Ms. Castañon-Williams that he
supports heartedly in making sure that the knowledge base is
there for the counselors.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Yolanda Ahner, Ray Casillas, Ruben
Gallegos, Dr. Julie Penley (Proxy for Dr. Penley was Dr.
Farias).
A copy of the current UTEP Core and EPCC degree plans were
distributed as reference material.
GUEST PRESENT: Rachel Ortega.
Call Meeting to Order: Isela Castañon-Williams called the
meeting to order at 3:20.



Motion to accept the September 20, 2012 Minutes
as presented was made by Patrick Pynes.
Second by Zaira Crisafulli.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Old Business: Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams reported that Dr.
Kelley and she met with Mr. Steve Smith, Interim Vice
President of Instruction and with President Dr. William Serrata
to let them know what was being brought to the committee for
consideration. The first handout that was presented was
information that Dr. Serrata shared with Ms. Isela CastañonWilliams and Dr. Kelley regarding Current Legislative
Recommendations. Ms. Castañon-Williams read the
following from the handout “Develop and require a Student
Success course for all entering students eligible for state
funding”. This is a consideration that is being taken to the
Legislature for this coming session in January. She mentioned
that this impacts the work that was done at the last meeting
where the committee had thought about putting EDUC 1300 in
the Component Area Option (CAO) area along with several
other courses. She mentioned that maybe the committee should
rethink this because there is strong support to have this course
become state mandated.
Dr. Kelley shared that on Tuesday she attended the Texas
Association of Career and Technical Educators (T.A.C.T.E)
Conference in Austin and at that meeting it was said that they
are looking forward to placing a student success course in the
first semester of the technical certificate programs. At that
same meeting it was recommended to have a trim core. The
phrase is “for the core less is more.”
Ms. Castañon-Williams mentioned that San Jacinto College is
limiting their core to no more than four courses in each block.
It was mentioned that having less choices per block is good as
long as the core is enforced when it comes to substitutions. It
was made very clear that no substitutions to the core will be
The committee shared ideas as they analyzed each handout. A
question was addressed regarding who will make the final
decision on what courses stay in the core. Ms. CastañonWilliams said that Dr. Serrata and Mr. Smith recommended
that Curriculum committee should come up with a process. For
example should there be a cut off number for the courses to
stay in the core that would be a recommendation. Another
would be does the committee want to recommend for example
that the MATH and the Sciences have their Lecture and Lab
broken up so that there is a greater possibility that the core
moves forward. The committee would then forward the
recommendations to Leadership and they will look at it again,
but now it is going to be easier for them because the committee
has used objective criteria rather than subjective criteria. They
will look at it and Mr. Smith has indicated that he will be
communicating with the disciplines. At this point it will go to
a vote. The faculty will have a broad base vote, not the faculty
senate, not the curriculum committee, but rather all the faculty
voting like they did the last time that a major change was done
to the core, where voting boxes were placed in each library and
faculty went and showed their ID and voted. After the votes
were in they were tallied and those were the courses that were
in the core.
Ms. Castañon-Williams mentioned that the committee may
want to consider the following guidelines: (a) come up with a
cut off number of enrollment that determines that if a course is
above that number and it meets Coordinating Board criteria the
course will be in the core. There are courses in the current
core that have never had enrollment. (b) Should those courses
be considered for the new core or should a motion be made not
to consider those courses. These are only examples of
guidelines that the committee might want to use.


Motion to eliminate from consideration for the new
core all courses in the current core that have not had
enrollment in the last five years was made by Dr.
Jaime Farias.
Second by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
It was mentioned that COMM 2366 is not being considered in
this motion.

Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
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The committee discussed the possibility of using a base number
to look at each block. After a question and answer session, the
next motion was made.






Motion to have ENGL 1301 and ENGL 1302 in the
Communication Block and to have one of the
Speeches and EDUC 1300 in the Component Area
Option was made by Claude Mathis.
Second by Zaira Crisafulli.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Motion to remove SPCH 1318 from the EPCC Core
because it is not applicable to UTEP’s Core was
made by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Second by Carlos Armendariz.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
In discussing the Mathematics Block the following motion was
made.



Motion to remove MATH 1333 from the Core was
made by Joshua I. Villalobos.
Second by Patrick Pynes.
Motion passed with one opposed.
Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams scheduled a continuation to this
meeting for Thursday, October 11th to discuss the rest of the
blocks.



Motion to adjourn was made by Carlos Armendariz.
Second by Dr. Daniel Gutierrez.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Old Business: A copy of the On Line Course Drop Procedure
was given to the committee as information only. The procedure
is now on the EPCC Web page under Admissions/Registration
link.
Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams gave a brief summary of where
the committee left off last week.


During the discussion it was said that instead of a cut off
number the committee should look at the quality of the course
and the appropriateness of being in the block that it is in and
that the faculty should be given the opportunity to explain why
the course is in the core. Some concerns were addressed about
certain disciplines changing titles and course descriptions at
this time. Clarification will be given regarding this issue when
more specific information is available.
It was mentioned that maybe the committee should agree on a
template that includes several factors and not just vote on each
individual variable. The committee can have an understood
template of the different things to look at. The possibility of
having a Rubric and assigning a task force was discussed. Ms.
Isela Castañon-Williams asked for a vote to finalize the motion.

Motion failed.

Motion to establish a task force to develop a Rubric
to be used in the core selection process was made
by Joshua I. Villalobos.
Second by Carlos Armendariz.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Mr. Claude Mathis was thanked for providing the refreshments.


Meeting was adjourned at 5:10 p.m.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------Continuation October 11 , VV, Room B240
th
MEMBERS PRESENT on October 11th: Carlos
Armendariz, Ray Casillas, Melinda Camarillo, Isela CastañonWilliams, Dr. Jaime Farias, Rafaela Franco, Ruben Gallegos,
Dr. Daniel Gutierrez, Glenda Hill, Dr. Katherine C. Kelley,
Claude Mathis, Patrick Pynes, Dr. Nader Rassaei, Gale K.
Sanchez, Joshua I. Villalobos, and Barbara Williams
MEMBERS ABSENT on October 11 : Dr. Julie Penley,
Yolanda Ahner, Daryle Hendry, Maureen Murphy, Dr. Hyung
Park, Zaira Crisafulli (Proxy for Ms. Crisafulli was Melinda
Camarillo).
th
Motion to determine the cut off number to use as
criteria to eliminate courses from the core was made
by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Second by Gale K. Sanchez.
The following people were assigned by Ms. Isela CastañonWilliams to be in the task force:
Melinda Camarillo
Dr. Daniel Gutierrez
Claude Mathis
Dr. Nader Rassaei
Joshua I. Villalobos
The task force will present the Rubric to the committee on
Thursday, October 18, 2012 for a vote.
Mr. Claude Mathis requested to revisit the Communication
Block. After listening to the reason why he wanted to revisit,
the following motion was made.
GUEST PRESENT on October 11th: Rachel Ortega, and
Carlos Aguilar.

Call Meeting to Order: Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams called
the meeting to order at 3:20 and mentioned that no minutes
were presented at this meeting because it is a continuation of
last week’s meeting.

Motion to have ENGL1301 and the choice of the
two Speeches (SPCH 1315 or SPCH 1321) be the
Communication Block courses and the ENGL 1302
drop down to join the EDUC 1300 in the CAO
Component was made by Claude Mathis.
Second by Melinda Camarillo.
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
Motion passed with two opposed.

Motion to reconsider the removal of MATH 1333
from the core until the Rubric is in place was made
by Melinda Camarillo.
Second by Dr. Jaime Farias.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.





Motion to have the following blocks included in the
Rubric: Mathematics; Life and Physical Sciences;
Language; Philosophy, and Culture; Creative Arts;
Social and Behavioral Sciences was made by Gale
K. Sanchez.
Second by Patrick Pynes.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Dr. Kelley was thanked for providing the refreshments.
The next meeting will be held Thursday, October 18th at Valle
Verde in Conference Room C428.



Motion to adjourn was made by Carlos Armendariz.
Second by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Thursday, October 18, 2012
Valle Verde Conference Room C428
MEMBERS PRESENT: Carlos Armendariz, Ray Casillas,
Melinda Camarillo, Isela Castañon-Williams, Zaira Crisafulli,
Dr. Jaime Farias, Rafaela Franco, Dr. Daniel Gutierrez, Glenda
Hill, Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Patrick Pynes, Gale K. Sanchez,
Joshua I. Villalobos, and Barbara Williams
MEMBERS ABSENT: Dr. Julie Penley, Yolanda Ahner,
Ruben Gallegos, Dr. Hyung Park, Daryle Hendry, Claude
Mathis (Proxy for Mr. Mathis was Dr. Jaime Farias) Maureen
Murphy (Proxy for Ms. Murphy was Gale K. Sanchez), Dr.
Nader Rassaei (Proxy for Dr. Rassaei was Dr. Daniel
Gutierrez)
GUEST PRESENT: Rachel Ortega and Carlos Aguilar
Call Meeting to Order: Isela Castañon-Williams called the
meeting to order at 3:20.



Motion to accept the October 4 and 11, 2012
Minutes as presented was made by Carlos
Armendariz.
Second by Joshua I. Villalobos.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Old Business: Ms. Castanon-Williams presented a copy of a
written summary that she sent to Mr. Steve Smith to inform
him of what the committee has accomplished to date.
Dr. Kelley mentioned that she sent an e-mail to the SACS
Liaison, Saul Candelas, to find out if there was anything that
would prevent using information that was not publically
available when considering the Core. For instance, do the
courses that are being considered for the core need to be in the
current catalog? A clear answer would help the committee
decide if indeed the courses that different disciplines have tried
to rush in and change, could be considered for the Core. The
handout that was presented had actual notations that talk about
publishing, but most of the notations are up for interpretation.
In discussing this with Saul Candelas, it was mentioned that it
is a good idea to have it published for everyone to see,
particularly students. Dr. Kelley also shared that she and
Rachel Ortega had spoken with Lucy Heston at the
Coordinating Board, the person who is handling the core, and
asked that if a title of a course has been changed, in hopes that
it will then make it more eligible for the Core, could it be under
consideration. Her first question was “Is it in your current
catalog that way?” and she added that one needs to remember
that SACS overrules the Coordinating Board. The courses
need to be in the 2012-2013 Catalog and in the Spring 2012
issue of the ACGM to be considered for the Core. Dr. Kelley
went over the timelines and recommended that the committee
go over the handout that was handed out in the last meeting.
Ms. Castanon-Williams referred to the summary that she emailed to Mr. Smith under item number four where it says that
SPCH 1318, PHYS 1417, and ECON 1301 has been removed
from consideration for the new core because it does not transfer
to UTEP. She made the correction for ECON 1301 because
this course does transfer and it is in UTEP’s Core, so it will not
be removed. It does, however, have very low enrollment.
Carlos Aguilar, District Wide Coordinator for Economics, who
was attending as a guest, mentioned that the discipline does not
oppose the removal of ECON 1301 from the Core, but as he
understands it, it is part of the basic Texas Core. He also stated
that enrollment has declined due to other colleges placing more
emphasis on ECON 2301 Macroeconomics and 2302
Microeconomics as viable transfer courses for a variety of
programs. In addition, many dual credit students are taking
ECON 2301, Macroeconomics, because that is part of their
high school curriculum, consequently drawing less attention to
the ECON 1301.
Ms. Castanon-Williams mentioned that Dr. Kelley and she had
a conversation with Mr. Smith about the Core and asked if he
had gotten the e-mail with the summary regarding what the
committee has done. Mr. Smith was very pleased that the
committee has given him data-driven and vote-related
recommendations. She talked about the overall concept of the
process because there have been some questions as to whether
the committee is recommending or is making the final decision.
It is important to recognize that the committee is developing
the process, piece by piece, to begin to see what needed to be
done rather than defining a process that was not going to fit
with what the committee needed to do. The last piece that was
added to the process was developing the Rubric. However, that
is not where this is going to end. The committee will still have
to address what happens after the Rubric is applied to the Core.
Also, the institution needs to comply with the Coordinating
Board deadlines. The following questions were addressed from
Dr. Kelley and Ms. Castanon-Williams to Mr. Smith:






What happens after the committee votes on the
Rubric and applies the Rubric?
Where does this process go?
Where does this recommended core go?
Who looks at it next?
If disciplines do not agree, who do they appeal to,
who hears them?
By what deadline do they have to have all of this
done in order for the committee to make the
institutional deadlines to the Coordinating Board and
the Catalog?
Mr. Steve Smith is going to training in Austin on November
5th. The Curriculum Committee meets November 15th.
Therefore, it was decided to hold off on what the final piece
will be until Mr. Smith returns from the training. The
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committee will vote at the November meeting and decide on
what will be the final process. At that point, the committee will
have to make the final decision, finish applying the Rubric, and
have a defined recommended core.
Ms. Castanon-Williams informed the committee that Dr.
Kelley submitted a Faculty Development Workshop Proposal
for Spring 2013. The workshop will be to present a complete
and defined process. The workshop is scheduled for
Wednesday, January 16, 2013 at 10:00 a.m.
The courses that will be considered for the Core need to be
published in the 2012-2013Catalog to comply with SACS and
in the Spring 2012 issue of the ACGM. It was recommended
that a motion be made to this fact.



Motion that all courses must appear in the 20122013 Catalog and in the Spring 2012 issue of the
ACGM to be considered for the core was made by
Gale K. Sanchez.
Second by Patrick Pynes.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Dr. Kelley mentioned that last year the Coordinating Board
listed six disciplines they felt needed to change their course
descriptions and objectives. Those disciplines were: English,
Math, History, Government, Engineering and Economics. This
year, eleven more disciplines are listed, specifically sixteen
courses that needed to be addressed by the change of course
descriptions and objectives. Out of the sixteen courses being
reviewed, thirteen of those courses are currently in the Core.
Those revisions will go into effect in Fall 2013. All the
disciplines impacted have been notified (Philosophy,
Psychology, Sociology, Spanish, Speech, Biology, Chemistry
and Physics). Those District Wide Coordinators are currently
working on the syllabi to have those in place by
implementation date Fall 2013. Two courses (PSYC 2302Industrial Organizational and SPAN 2323-Introduction to Latin
American Literature) will be deleted from the ACGM.
Summer 2014 will be the last semester that these two courses
can be taught at EPCC.



Motion to delete any course from the core if it is
deleted from the ACGM was made by Patrick
Pynes.
Second by Zaira Crisafulli.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Joshua I. Villalobos mentioned that the function of the rubric is
going to be simply to just help the committee make a decision
in terms of the suggestions. The rubric will be used as a tool to
take any courses out of the core. Mr. Villalobos reported that
the taskforce has met and has worked on the Rubric but does
not have a finalized product yet. The taskforce will be ready to
present a finalized Rubric on October 25. A comment was
made regarding the quote “for the new core less is more” but it
would really help as far as developing the Rubric to understand
the logic behind why less is more.
Ms. Castanon-Williams gave her opinion on the subject. She
started by saying that Dr. Kelley had attended a meeting with
Dr. Paredes, Commissioner of Higher Education Board, while
he was here in El Paso. He said that in this next legislative
session the funding for colleges may change. Right now, the
funding is based on the census day report. The census day
report is generated ten days into the semester. Everybody that
is in the course on the tenth day of the semester is reported to
the State, and the State sends funding for each and every one of
those students. Dr. Paredes said that there is a bill that will be
voted on that states that colleges should not get funding from
the State based on who is sitting in a class on the tenth day.
Colleges should be funded based on the last report, which is at
the end of the semester. Ms. Castanon-Williams mentioned
that if funding is affected in this manner, then it is time to start
looking at completion rate. If this bill passes, the
implementation date could be by Fall 2013. Disciplines should
start having discussions on how to build a solid Core based on
some numbers, some data and good completion rates.
Dr. Kelley made an observation using Mr. Aguilar’s course
(ECON 1301). Looking at the handout, 87 students were
sitting in the class on the first day and on the last day there
were 61. The institution got money for 26 students that were
there on the tenth day but who were not sitting there on the last
day. This is why the legislature is trying to made changes.
Funding has been based on the CBM001 report, which is the
tenth day report. There is a CBM006 report on the last day. As
Dr. Paredes said, “I am going to give you very erroneous
Math>, This is the one occasion where one should be equal to
six.” What he meant is that the numbers in the CBM001 report
and the CBM006 report should be the same. Further comments
were made from the committee.
Dr. Jaime Farias was thanked for the refreshments.
The next meeting will be October 25, 2012 at Valle Verde in
Conference Room B240. Mr. Steve Smith will attend.



Motion to adjourn was made by Joshua I. Villalobos.
Second by Carlos Armendariz.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:35 p.m.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Thursday, October 25, 2012
Valle Verde Conference Room B240
MEMBERS PRESENT: Carlos Armendariz, Melinda
Camarillo, Isela Castañon-Williams, Zaira Crisafulli, Dr.
Jaime Farias, Rafaela Franco, Dr. Daniel Gutierrez, Glenda
Hill, Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Claude Mathis, Maureen
Murphy, Dr. Hyung Park, Patrick Pynes, Dr. Nader Rassaei,
Gale K. Sanchez and Joshua I. Villalobos.
*all recommendations from the DWC will be reviewed by the
Curriculum Committee

MEMBERS ABSENT: Dr. Julie Penley, Yolanda Ahner, Ray
Casillas, Ruben Gallegos, Daryle Hendry and Barbara
Williams.
GUEST PRESENT: Rachel Ortega and Margaret Nelson
Rodriguez.
Nov. 8th - Curriculum Committee meet to vote on
final core classes
Nov. 15th - New core is proposed to Leadership
Committee
Jan. 16th - 10:00 a.m. Faculty Development
workshop presenting the proposed core and next step
for new core.


An appeal process will be implemented by November 15, 2012.

Call Meeting to Order: Isela Castañon-Williams called the
meeting to order at 3:30. In reviewing the minutes for approval
it was noted that Dr. Julie Penley is listed as being absent from
several meetings and the concern is that Math and Science is
not being represented. Dr. Kelley mentioned that on most of
the dates that the Curriculum Committee has met, Dr. Penley
has been out-of-town on college business. Dr. Kelley and Ms.
Castanon-Williams will follow up on this issue with Mr. Steve
Smith.



Motion to accept the October 18, 2012 Minutes as
corrected was made by Patrick Pynes.
Second by Joshua I. Villalobos.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Old Business: Mr. Joshua I. Villalobos thanked the rubric task
force (Melinda Camarillo, Dr. Daniel Gutierrez, Claude
Mathis, Dr. Nader Rassaei) in addition he thanked Zaira
Crisafulli and Carlos Armendariz for their help in developing
the rubric. Mr. Villalobos presented the rubric and asked for
feedback from the committee. The committee analyzed each
column and after making some suggestions the rubric was
finalized.
Isela Castañon-Williams mentioned that the process has to be
finalized by November 15th which is the last meeting of the
semester. By that time, Mr. Smith will have come back from
the training that he is going to and based on the information
that he receives at the training the Curriculum Committee will
use the information to finalize the process. At the January 16th
workshop the information will be disseminated to the faculty so
that everyone will be ready to vote district wide by April 1,
2013 and be able to meet the April 15th deadline. The
following time line was included in the rubric.







Motion to accept the rubric was made by, Zaira
Crisafulli.
Second by Patrick Pynes.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Motion to send out the rubric to the appropriate
District Wide Coordinator along with the supporting
documents recommended by the committee was
made by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Second by Carlos Armendariz.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
The rubric will be sent out on Monday, October 29 and it will
be sent out from the Dr. Kelley on behalf of the Curriculum
Committee.
Dr. Kelley was thanked for the refreshments.
The next meeting will be November 8, 2012. Room to be
announced.



Motion to adjourn was made by Melinda Camarillo.
Second by Maureen Murphy.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
Nov. 5th - Rubrics and selected courses due to
Curriculum Office
Nov. 6th - Discipline rubrics not received will be
determined by Curriculum Committee
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Thursday, November 8, 2012
Valle Verde Conference Room B240
MEMBERS PRESENT: Yolanda Ahner, Carlos
Armendariz, Ray Casillas, Melinda Camarillo, Isela CastañonWilliams, Zaira Crisafulli, Dr. Jaime Farias, Rafaela Franco,
Glenda Hill, Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Claude Mathis, Dr.
Hyung Park, Patrick Pynes, Dr. Nader Rassaei, Gale K.
Sanchez and Joshua I. Villalobos, Barbara Williams and Rick
Webb.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Dr. Daniel Gutierrez, Ruben
Gallegos, Daryle Hendry and Maureen Murphy (proxy for Ms.
Murphy was Gale K Sanchez).
GUEST PRESENT: Rachel Ortega, Margaret Nelson
Rodriguez, Mauricio Rodriguez and Carlos Aguilar.
Timeline
Institutions must adhere to the following timeline for
submission of the 2014 Core Curriculum:
1.
August 1 – October 31, 2013: Early submission period
for institutions to submit 2014 Core Curriculum to
Coordinating Board for review.
November 30, 2013: Deadline for institutions to submit
their proposed 2014 Core Curriculum to Coordinating
Board for review.
September 2013 – February 2014: Coordinating Board
staff conduct review of institutions’ 2014 Core
Curriculum.
March 1, 2014: Institutions’ approved 2014 Core
Curriculum posted and available on the Coordinating
Board’s new webpage, Texas Core Curriculum
Webcenter.
2.
3.
4.
Call Meeting to Order: Isela Castañon-Williams called the
meeting to order at 3:30.
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Motion to accept the October 25, 2012 Minutes as
presented was made by Patrick Pynes.
Second by Gale K. Sanchez.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Old Business: Isela Castañon-Williams announced that Mr.
Rick Webb has been officially assigned as the Math and
Science Dean to the committee. Everyone introduced
themselves including the guests.
Dr. Kelley informed the committee that a recent meeting was
held at the Coordinating Board Monday and Tuesday to
introduce Liaisons from each community college to the Core
Assessment Process. Mr. Steve Smith has been appointed as
the El Paso Community College Liaison to the Coordinating
Board. He attended the conference and e-mailed handouts as
they were being given to him. The following was read from
the Quick Reference Guide:

One change per year per institution
o Schedule that suits the institution
o Request received before March 1 will be
approved for following Fall semester
Dr. Kelley called the Coordinating Board to get clarification of
what this meant. It means that whatever the institution wants to
change it should be done all at once on March 1. Dr. Kelley
added that if EPCC wants to change the core after it has been
approved in 2014 it can be done as long as it is done by March
1.
Dr. Kelley pointed out the following timelines listed in the
email handout.
The number of institutions that may submit their
documentation early is limited and requests to participate will
be on a first-come basis. The committee agreed to apply for
early submission.
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Motion to apply for early submission was made by
Dr. Jaime Farias.
Second by Melinda Camarillo.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Dr. Kelley, Curriculum Committee Liaison, will take the
recommendation forward to Leadership.
Isela Castañon-Williams announced that there will be a Math
and Science Summit on Monday, November 19, 2012 at the
ASC, Boardroom from 3:00-5:00. The summit will be hosted
by Mr. Steve Smith. The Math and the Science full time
Faculty have been invited to discuss the 4 hour courses in those
particular blocks. The current Math Block allows 3-4 and in
the proposed it allows 3. The current Natural Science Block
allows 8 and in the proposed it allows 6. The committee will
not discuss the Math and Science blocks until after the
November 19 Summit.
Determination of Recommended Core Curriculum
Courses: The first block the committee analyzed was the
Language, Philosophy, and Culture Block. Courses in this
category focus on how ideas, values, beliefs, and other aspects
of culture express and affect human experience. Courses
involve the exploration of ideas that foster aesthetic and
intellectual creation in order to understand the human
condition across cultures.
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Motion to recommend
SPAN 2311-Intermediate Spanish I for NonNative Speakers,
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SPAN 2313-Intermediate Spanish I for Spanish
Speakers and
SPAN 2315-Intermediate Spanish II for Spanish
Speakers be included in the new core was made by
Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Second by Zaira Crisafulli.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Motion to recommend
HIST 2321-World History to 1500 and
HIST 2322-World History 1500 to Present be
included in the new core was made by Patrick
Pynes.
Second by Joshua I. Villalobos.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Motion to recommend
PHIL 1301-Introduction to Philosophy and
PHIL 2306-Ethics be included in the new core
was made by Carlos Armendariz.
Second by Melinda Camarillo.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Motion to recommend that
ARCH 1301-Architectural History I be included
in the new core was made by Gale K. Sanchez.
Second by Barbara Williams.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Representing the English discipline were Margaret Nelson
Rodriguez and Mauricio Rodriguez. The comments in the
rubric were read by them to the committee.
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Motion to recommend that
ENGL 2322-british Literature I
ENGL 2323-British English II
ENGL 2332-World Literature I
ENGL 2333-World Literature II
ENGL 2342-Introduction to the Novel and Short
Story
ENGL 2343-Introduction to Drama
ENGL 2351-Chicana/o Literature
be included in the new core was made by Patrick
Pynes.
Second by Zaira Crisafulli.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
The next block analyzed was the Creative Arts Block. Courses
in this category focus on the appreciation and analysis of
creative artifacts and works of the human imagination.
Courses involve the synthesis and interpretation of artistic
expression and enable critical, creative, and innovative
communication about works of art.
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Motion to recommend that
ARCH 1311-Introduction to Architecture be
included in the new core was made by Barbara
Williams.
Second by Patrick Pynes.
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Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
The Art discipline is proposing to move ARTS1303-PreRenaissance Art History and ARTS1304- Renaissance and
Modern Art History to the Language, Philosophy and Culture
Block of the new core.
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Motion to recommend that
ARTS1303-Pre-Renaissance Art History and
ARTS1304- Renaissance and Modern Art
History be moved to the Language, Philosophy and
Culture Block of the new core was made by Dr.
Nader Rassaei.
Second by Gale K. Sanchez.
Based on the discussion, it was agreed to amend the
motion to honor the discipline request to have
ARTS1303 and ARTS1304 be moved to the
Language, Philosophy and Culture Block of the new
core with the understanding that they will provide
the rubric for the block that the courses are being
moved to.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
The Art Discipline is requesting to remove ARTS2326Sculpture I from the core because a prerequisite will be added
to the course.
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Motion to recommend that
ARTS2326-Sculpture I be removed from the core
was made by Yolanda Ahner.
Second by Patrick Pynes.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Motion to recommend that
ARTS 1301-Art Appreciation
ARTS 1311-Design I
ARTS 1316-Basic Drawing I
ARTS 2316-Painting I
ARTS 2346-Ceramics I
ARTS 2356-Photopraphy in the Art Studio I
be included in the new core was made by Barbara
Williams.
Second by Zaira Crisafulli.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Motion to recommend that
COMM 2366-Introduction to Film
be included in the new core was made by Zaira
Crisafulli.
Second by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
The committee acknowledges that the Mass Communication
Discipline would like add COMM 1307-Mass Media and
Society, as a Humanities option (Language, Philosophy and
Culture option) in the new core. The discipline will be asked to
come before the committee in January or February 2013 to
justify their request.
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Motion to recommend that
DANC 1341-Ballet I
DANC 1345-Modern Dance I
be included in the new core was made by Carlos
Armendariz.
Second by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Because DANC1347-Jazz I and DANC1349-Ballet
Folklorico I do not transfer to UTEP and based on the criteria
those two courses do not meet the requirements. The
committee will not consider those two courses for inclusion to
the new core. If the Discipline feels that those two courses
should be included in the new core, the District Wide
Coordinator and the Dean will have the opportunity to justify it
before the committee in January or February 2013.
The committee acknowledges that the Dance Discipline would
like to add DANC2303-Dance Appreciation to the new core.
The District Wide Coordinator and the Dean will be asked to
come before the committee in January or February 2013 to
make a presentation.
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Motion to recommend that
DRAM 1310-Introduction to Theater
be included in the new core was made by Zaira
Crisafulli.
Second by Gale K. Sanchez.
Motion passes with one abstention.
Motion to recommend that
MUSI 1306-Music Appreciation
MUSI 1310-Jazz to Rock
be included in the new core was made by Carlos
Armendariz.
Second by Patrick Pynes.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
The committee acknowledges that the Music Discipline is
proposing to add MUSI 1307-Introduction to Music History
to the new core. The District Wide Coordinator and the Dean
will be asked to come before the committee in January or
February 2013 to make a presentation.
The last block analyzed was Social and Behavioral Sciences.
Courses in this category focus on the application of empirical
and scientific methods that contribute to the understanding of
what makes us human. Courses involve the exploration of
behavior and interactions among individuals, groups,
institutions, and events, examining their impact on the
individual, society, and culture.
Mr. Carlos Aguilar, District Wide Coordinator for Economics
is asking that ECON 1301-Basic Economics Issues, ECON
2301-Principles of Macroeconomics and ECON 2302Principles of Microeconomics be included in the new core. He
mentioned that if needed ECON 1301 may be removed from
the core.
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Motion to recommend that
ECON 1301-Basic Economics Issues
ECON 2301-Principles of Macroeconomics
ECON 2302-Principles of Microeconomics
be included in the new core was made by Joshua I.
Villalobos.
Second by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Motion to recommend that
ENGR 2372-Economy for Engineers and
Scientists
be included in the new core was made by Gale K.
Sanchez.
Second by Barbara Williams.
For clarification purpose during the discussion it was
mentioned that in the ACGM ENGR 2372 has already been
assigned a new number.
 Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
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Motion to recommend that
PSYC 2301-Introduction to Psychology
PSYC 2306-Human Sexuality
PSYC 2314-Human Growth and Development
be included in the new core was made by Dr. Jaime
Farias.
Second by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Motion passed with one opposed.
Motion to recommend that
SOCI 1301-Introductory Sociology
SOCI 2301-Sociology of Marriage and Family
be included in the new core was made by Zaira
Crisafulli.
Second by Barbara Williams.
Motion passed with one opposed.
The issue was brought up regarding ENGR 2372 being in
existence for two years, but in those two years there has been
no enrollment. The committee agreed to go back an undo the
previous motion.
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Motion to recommend that
ENGR 2372-Economy for Engineers and
Scientists
be removed from the new core for lack of
enrollment
was made by Joshua I. Villalobos.
Second by Barbara Williams.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
The District Wide Coordinator and the Dean will have the
opportunity to justify adding it to the new core in January or
February 2013.
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Motion to recommend that
ANTH 2346- Introduction to Physical
Anthropology and Archaeology be included in the
new core was made by Patrick Pynes.
Second by Dr. Jaime Farias.
Motion accepted by Unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:30 p.m.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
Dr. Jaime Farias was thanked for the refreshments.
The next meeting will be Thursday, November 29, 2012 Room
to be announced.
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Motion to adjourn was made by Patrick Pynes
Second by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
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Thursday, November 29, 2012
Valle Verde Conference Room B240
MEMBERS PRESENT: Carlos Armendariz, Melinda
Camarillo, Isela Castañon-Williams, Zaira Crisafulli, Rafaela
Franco, Dr. Daniel Gutierrez, Glenda Hill, Dr. Katherine C.
Kelley, Claude Mathis, Maureen Murphy, Dr. Hyung Park,
Patrick Pynes, Dr. Nader Rassaei, Gale K. Sanchez and
Barbara Williams and Rick Webb.
It was clarified that after the meeting with Dr. Arteaga an email will be sent from Dr. Kelley to the committee informing
them of the discipline’s decision. The committee will respect
whatever the Chemistry discipline decides to do and it will not
be necessary to have a meeting regarding this issue.

MEMBERS ABSENT: Dr. Jaime Farias, Yolanda Ahner,
Ray Casillas (proxy for Mr. Casillas was Isela CastañonWilliams), Ruben Gallegos, Daryle Hendry and Joshua I.
Villalobos (proxy for Mr. Villalobos was Dr. Daniel Gutierrez).
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GUEST PRESENT: Rachel Ortega and Margaret Nelson
Rodriguez.
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Call Meeting to Order: Isela Castañon-Williams called the
meeting to order at 3:20.
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Motion to accept the November 8, 2012 Minutes as
presented was made by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Second by Barbara Williams.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Old Business: Dr. Kelley thanked the committee for attending
the Math and Science Summit held on Monday, November 19.
Dr. Kelley read the responses from Mathematics, Biology,
Chemistry, Geology and Physics. After a question and answer
session the committee made the following recommendations.
The decision from the committee will then go forward to
Leadership. They will look at it and then the Deans will meet
with their faculty and decisions will be made. The committee
voted on the Math and Science blocks.
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Motion to recommend that MATH 2412 and
MATH 2413 remain in the new core as is and the
extra hour will then be moved over to be part of the
18 hours for the discipline.
was made by Melinda Camarillo.
Second by Glenda Hill.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Motion to recommend that Biology leave the lecture
portion (3hours) as part of the new core and put the
lab (1hour) in the discipline degree area (18 hours).
was made by Glenda Hill.
Second by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Motion to recommend tabling Chemistry until such
time that Dr. Kelley and Mr. Rick Webb meet with
Dr. Socorro Arteaga was made by Rick Webb.
Second by Zaira Crisafulli.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Motion to recommend that both Geology pairs
1401/1402 and 1403/1404 go to 3 lecture and 1 lab
was made by Dr. Daniel Gutierrez.
Second by Glenda Hill.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Motion to recommend that Physics go from 8 credit
hours to 6 credit hours by separating the lab from
the lecture was made by Glenda Hill
Second by Barbara Williams.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
The recommended core has been finalized (pending the
decision from the Chemistry Discipline) and will now go to
Leadership for the final review.
Isela Castañon-Williams mentioned that the next step is to
establish a process:



To accommodate the disciplines that want to add courses
to the core or request courses to be moved within the core
with appropriate justification.
To accommodate the disciplines that want to appeal any of
the committee’s recommendations
To conduct the faculty’s vote
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Motion to recommend that the disciplines that want
to add courses or request that a course/courses be
moved will submit a rubric that will be prepared by
the Curriculum Committee
was made by Melinda Camarillo
Second by Patrick Pynes.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Motion to recommend that if the request submitted
to the committee via rubric is denied then the
District Wide Coordinator accompanied by his/her
Dean will come before the committee and present
an appeal
was made by Claude Mathis.
Second by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Motion to recommend that in March 2013 the
disciplines have a meeting to vote on the proposed
core and the results be e-mailed to Dr. Kelley’s
office by April 3, 2013 was made by Patrick Pynes
Second by Glenda Hill.
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Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
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Motion to recommend using the same rubric that
was created by the taskforce and that the disciplines
submit a rubric for addition of a course/courses or
moving a course/courses to a different section. The
completed rubric then be e-mailed to the
Curriculum Office between January 21 and
February 8 was made by Claude Mathis.
Second by Gale K. Sanchez.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
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Dr. Farias was thanked for the refreshments
Motion to adjourn was made by Maureen Murphy.
Second by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:45 p.m.
Announcements


On January 14th Mr. Smith will encourage faculty to
attend the Core Curriculum Workshop that has been
scheduled for Wednesday, January 16, 2013 at 10:00 a.m.
The next meeting will be February 14, 2013 and Mr.
Mathis will have chocolates and roses for the members.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Thursday, February 14, 2013
Valle Verde Conference Room B240
MEMBERS PRESENT: Yolanda Ahner, Ray Casillas,
Melinda Camarillo, Isela Castañon-Williams, Zaira Crisafulli,
Dr. Jaime Farias, Rafaela Franco, Dr. Daniel Gutierrez, Glenda
Hill, Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Claude Mathis, Maureen
Murphy, Dr. Hyung Park, Patrick Pynes, Dr. Nader Rassaei,
Gale K. Sanchez, Joshua I. Villalobos, Barbara Williams and
Rick Webb.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Carlos Armendariz, Ruben Gallegos
and Daryle Hendry.
those courses and the committee voted, but did not vote on the
13XX courses (MATH 1314, MATH 1324, MATH 1333 and
MATH 1342) in the Mathematics Block.
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Motion to recommend that the four MATH 13XX
courses be included in the new proposed core
curriculum in the Mathematics Block was made by
Dr. Jaime Farias.
Second by Patrick Pynes.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
GUEST PRESENT: Rachel Ortega and Dr. Douglas J. Carr.
New Business: Rubrics for MUSI, COMM, ARTS, DANC,
ENGR and PHIL
Call Meeting to Order: Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams called
the meeting to order at 3:15. She thanked Mr. Mathis for the
chocolate roses and refreshments. She also thanked Dr. Kelley
for the special gift she gave each member. The November 29,
2012 minutes were presented as information only.
The Music Discipline submitted two rubrics. One is to add
MUSI 1307-Introduction to Music History in the Language,
Philosophy, & Culture Block and the other is to add MUSI
1301-Music Fundamentals in the Creative Arts Block.
Old Business: Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams thanked the
committee for their attendance at the January 16, 2012
Curriculum Workshop sponsored by the Curriculum
Committee. She thanked Dr. Kelley for putting together the
Power Point Presentation and thanked her for a job well done
as the presenter of the workshop. She mentioned that 11
Curriculum Committee members plus about 55 people were in
attendance. Three disciplines took the Power Point Presentation
to share with their disciplines.
Chemistry: Dr. Kelley reported that the Chemistry Discipline
had originally asked if they could remain at four hours of full
credit not splitting theory and lab essentially because they did
not contemplate how it would be handled. After a discussion
with the Chemistry District Wide Coordinator and her
discussion with other science coordinators, she agreed that
Chemistry should follow the precedent as the other sciences,
therefore splitting and making Chemistry a three credit hour
course with the additional hour going into the 18 hour
discipline area.
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Motion to accept the Chemistry Discipline’s
decision to leave the lecture portion (3hours) as part
of the new core and put the lab (1hour) in the
discipline degree area (18 hours) was made by Dr.
Nader Rassaei.
Second by Yolanda Ahner.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Math Block: Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams mentioned that at
the time that the committee were looking at the different blocks
and voting on the blocks it was decided to postpone voting on
the Math Block because the Math Discipline had to make some
decisions regarding MATH 2412-Precalculus II and MATH
2413-Calculus I. The Math Discipline made a decision on
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Motion to recommend that MUSI 1307 be added to
the Language, Philosophy, & Culture Block in the
new proposed core was made by Patrick Pynes.
Second by Joshua I. Villalobos.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Motion to recommend that MUSI 1301be added to
the Creative Arts Block in the new proposed core
was made by Gale K. Sanchez.
Second by Yolanda Ahner.
Motion passed with one abstention.
Dr. Kelley commended the Communications District Wide
Coordinator, Lisa Elliot, for the amount of work that she put
into putting together the rubric for COMM 1307-Mass Media
and Society. Dr. Douglas Carr representing the District Wide
Coordinator shared with the committee information about the
course and why the discipline would like for COMM 1307 to
be included in the new proposed core.
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Motion to recommend that COMM 1307 be added
to the Language, Philosophy, & Culture Block in
the new proposed core was made by Zaira
Crisafulli.
Second by Maureen Murphy.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
The Arts Discipline submitted a rubric for ARTS 1303-PreRenaissance Art History and ARTS 1304-Renaissance and
Modern Art History. Dr. Kelley mentioned that these two
courses currently exist in the core in Creative Arts but in reality
do not meet the requirements of Creative Arts. These courses
are Art History courses. The Art Discipline is asking to move
1303 and 1304 from Creative Arts to Language, Philosophy, &
Culture where they truly fit. After a question and answer, the
committee made the following recommendations.
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Motion to recommend that ARTS 1303 be moved
from the Creative Arts Block to the Language,
Philosophy, & Culture Block in the new proposed
core was made by Patrick Pynes.
Second by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Motion to recommend that ARTS 1304 be moved
from the Creative Arts Block to the Language,
Philosophy, & Culture Block in the new proposed
core was made by Claude Mathis.
Second by Patrick Pynes.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
The Dance Discipline submitted a Rubric for DANC 2303Dance Appreciation, DANC 1347-Jazz I and a special note
within the rubric for DANC 1349-Ballet Folklorico I. Dr.
Kelley mentioned that DANC 2303 truly fits the Coordinating
Board’s definition of what should be in Creative Arts because it
is non-performance fine arts.
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Motion to recommend that DANC 2303 be added to
the Creative Arts Block in the new proposed core
was made by Yolanda Ahner.
Second by Rick Webb.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Dr. Kelley mentioned that originally the Dance Discipline
submitted a recommendation to consider placing DANC 1347
and DANC 1349 into the core. By the deadline date of
February 8, the discipline decided to remove their request for
DANC 1349. They are asking to add DANC 1347 and not
DANC 1349. These two courses were previously voted out
from the core because they did not meet the criteria of
transferring to UTEP. They do transfer to NMSU and across
the state. The Dance Discipline is asking for an exemption.
The committee discussed the issue for several minutes and
decided to accept their request.



Motion to recommend that DANC 1347 remain in
the Creative Arts Block in the new proposed core
was made by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Second by Rick Webb.
Motion passed with two opposed.


Second by Rick Webb.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Dr. Kelley mentioned that PHIL 2303 is not currently in the
core, but that it does meet the criteria as stated in the rubric
submitted by the District Wide Coordinator for Philosophy.
After a short discussion, it was agreed to recommend the
addition of PHIL 2303 to the core.



Motion to recommend that PHIL 2303 be added to
the Language, Philosophy, and Culture Block in the
new proposed core was made by Melinda
Camarillo.
Second by Joshua I. Villalobos.
Motion passed with one abstention.
The next meeting will be held Thursday, February 21, 2013.
Dr. Kelley mentioned that the decisions that are made on
February 21 will be submitted to the coordinators and they will
hold a meeting during the month of March to cast a vote. The
vote will be returned to the Curriculum Committee and that
will end the process. Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams added that
once this is done, the committee will focus on issues that have
been left pending.



Motion to adjourn was made by Maureen Murphy.
Second by Melinda Camarillo.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:40 p.m.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
ENGR 2308 was previously voted out from the core because
the data presented at the previous meeting showed zero
enrollment. New data has been requested and the new data
reflects that ENGR 2308 meets the criteria of having enough
enrollment. In further discussing the course, the committee felt
that more information was needed before making a decision. It
was agreed that the District Wide Coordinator and the
appropriate Dean will be invited to the next meeting and give
them the opportunity to address the committee.

Motion to invite the District Wide Coordinator for
Engineering and the Dean to provide more
information about the course was made by Dr.
Jaime Farias.
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Thursday, March 7, 2013
Valle Verde Conference Room B240
MEMBERS PRESENT: Carlos Armendariz, Ray Casillas,
Melinda Camarillo, Isela Castañon-Williams, Dr. Jaime Farias,
Rafaela Franco, Dr. Daniel Gutierrez, Glenda Hill, Dr.
Katherine C. Kelley, Claude Mathis, Patrick Pynes, Dr. Nader
Rassaei, Gale K. Sanchez and Barbara Williams.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Zaira Crisafulli, (proxy for Ms.
Crisafulli was Melinda Camarillo), Rick Webb, (proxy for Mr.
Webb was Claude Mathis) Yolanda Ahner, Joshua I.
Villalobos, Maureen Murphy, Dr. Hyung Park, Ruben Gallegos
and Daryle Hendry.
Call Meeting to Order: Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams called
the meeting to order at 3:15.



Motion to accept the February 21, 2013 Minutes as
presented was made by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Second by Carlos Armendariz.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Core Curriculum Report to Dr. Serrata: Ms. Isela
Castañon-Williams reported that Dr. Kelley and she met with
Dr. Serrata to update him on the Proposed Core Curriculum.
Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams mentioned that some of the
courses in the core are a concern and for that reason, Dr.
Serrata recommended that as soon as the portal is open which
will be August 31, 2013 to submit the core. By submitting
early EPCC will get an answer with enough time to resubmit if
necessary. Dr. Kelley assured the committee that the packet
that will be submitted to the Coordinating Board will include
all the necessary paperwork. She mentioned the following will
be included: the new core, every syllabus for every course,
every degree where the course appears, all the minutes, all the
rubrics and any other additional documentation that will
support the approval of the new Proposed Core Curriculum.
Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams thanked Dr. Kelley for talking to
Dr. Serrata about the amount of work that the committee has
done in completing the core four months in advance. Dr. Kelley
also talked to Dr. Serrata about how so many of the members in
the committee are tenure track and how it is so important to
receive some sort of recognition. Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams
mentioned that on April 17th at 4:45 in the Board Room during
the Board of Trustees meeting, the members will be recognized
by Dr. Serrata. She mentioned that it is very important to be
present to receive such recognition. If this date changes, the
committee will be notified.
6 Drop Rule: Dr. Kelley mentioned that in the 2012-2013
Catalog the 6 Drop Rule is mentioned, but is lacking
information. In the 2013-2014 Catalog, a list of the exceptions
have been added. She mentioned that this semester alone there
were over 400 exceptions to the 6 Drop Rule. In talking with
Dr. Goeman at the Coordinating Board he said that in his
professional opinion it is “very risky” not to use some sort of
documentation. Dr. Kelley shared the page from the 20132014 Catalog with Dr. Goeman and he agrees that by listing
the exceptions the institution is covered in case of an audit.
Dr. Kelley mentioned that while meeting with the lead
counselors about the policy of no more late registration starting
Summer 2013 the thought came about that maybe it would be a
good idea to use the same list of exceptions as the 6 Drop Rule
for those students that register late. This was just an idea, but it
led to notice that the 2012-2013 Catalog lacked information
and decided that in the 2013-2014 Catalog the list of
exceptions would be added and published.
It was mentioned that the counselors are already asking the
students for documentation. It was also mentioned that it is
very important that the students know that dropping a class has
an impact on their financial aid status. The students need to
know that counseling services will not be able to tell them how
much they owe if they drop a class. After a short discussion it
was agreed that more information was needed regarding
Financial Aid. Dr. Kelley will look into the Financial Aid side
and report back to the committee.
THECB Learning Outcomes Addition to Syllabus Part II:
Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams mentioned that the learning
outcomes do not apply to all disciplines; it applies to the
disciplines that have been worked on by the state. Dr. Kelley
started by saying that 17 disciplines in the academic area have
been identified to change their course description and learning
outcomes and it impacted 80 courses at EPCC. The learning
outcomes have to appear somewhere in the syllabus Part II.
Dr. Kelley had a discussion with the Faculty Senate trying to
get their feel on this issue. The 17 disciplines are going to have
to find a way to insert these outcomes and decide where to
include them in the syllabus. Dr. Kelley read and e-mail from
Dr. Carina Ramirez that said to proceed to include the state
outcomes as and additional section Roman numeral III. After
considering different options and taking into consideration the
e-mail from the Dr. Ramirez, the committee made a
recommendation.




Motion to recommend to insert the Coordinating
Board Learning Outcomes into the Part II Syllabus
as Roman Numeral III and to have Curriculum
Office update those Learning Outcomes as part of
the updating to the Part II Syllabus every academic
year was made by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Second by Gale K. Sanchez.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Motion to amend the previous motion to include the
review and make appropriate changes to the EPCC
Procedure 6.04.02.10 Official Course Syllabus
was made by Dr. Jaime Farias.
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


Second by Ray Casillas.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Thursday, April 4, B240
Thursday, April 18, B240
Announcements:







The next meetings will be:
Dr. Kelley sent out an e-mail to ALL District Wide
Coordinators asking them to vote on the proposed core and
respond to her with the results by April 1, 2013.
The vote may be done in any manner that the discipline
decides.
Faculty will vote on the entire core.
Only full time Instructional Faculty votes will be counted.
It is very important for every discipline to vote because the
information will be submitted to the Coordinating Board as
part of the documentation.
Dr. Kelley, Dr. Conklin and Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams
are scheduled to meet with Dr. Serrata per his request to
share the results on the vote on April 3, 2013.
Dr. Jaime Farias was thanked for providing the
refreshments.



Motion to adjourn was made by Rick Webb (proxy
Claude Mathis).
Second by Zaira Crisafulli (proxy Melinda Camarillo).
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:40 p.m.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Thursday, April 4, 2013
Valle Verde Conference Room B240
MEMBERS PRESENT: Yolanda Ahner, Carlos Armendariz,
Ray Casillas, Melinda Camarillo, Isela Castañon-Williams, Dr.
Jaime Farias, Rafaela Franco, Ruben Gallegos, Dr. Daniel
Gutierrez, Glenda Hill, Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Claude
Mathis, Maureen Murphy, Dr. Hyung Park, Patrick Pynes, Dr.
Nader Rassaei, Gale K. Sanchez, Barbara Williams and Rick
Webb.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Zaira Crisafulli, (proxy for Ms.
Crisafulli was Melinda Camarillo), Joshua I. Villalobos, (proxy
for Mr. Villalobos was Carlos Armendariz), and Daryle
Hendry.
Call Meeting to Order: Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams called
the meeting to order at 3:15.



Motion to accept the March 7, 2013 Minutes as
presented was made by Patrick Pynes.
Second by Carlos Armendariz.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Report of Faculty Vote on Core Curriculum: Ms. Isela
Castañon-Williams and Dr. Kelley presented the results of the
faculty vote. Dr. Kelley mentioned that two disciplines did not
respond by the deadline. One of the two submitted their vote
via phone call just before the meeting. The committee agreed to
count the other discipline as an abstention. It was agreed to
place a disclaimer on the document explaining that the total
votes are from Instructional full-time Faculty only and does not
include Librarians and Counselors. The disclaimer will also
mention the total of faculty that did not vote. Dr. Kelley will
find out a date for early submission to the Coordinating Board.
Mr. Smith signed the Response and Outcome form and added a
comment that read “Please develop proposed revision to the
procedure. Vice President will take it to Cabinet when ready.”
Dr. Kelley will forward Mr. Smith the revised procedure.
New Business: Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams announced that
there will be a Core Revision Webinar Training on May 1,
2013 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. CT (12:00-1:00 MT). It is
recommended that the Curriculum Committee get together for
this training. Dr. Kelley will ask if the Webinar will be
available via recording for later use to accommodate the people
that teach a class during that time. The committee will meet
from 11:30-1:30 on May 1, in Ms. Ahner’s Conference Room
B445 at the ASC. Lunch will be hosted by Mr. Rick Webb.
Announcements:








May 1, Core Revision Webinar Training.
Luncheon sponsored by Dr. Serrata and Mr. Smith on May
2, at 12:00, room TBA.
Committee’s recognition on May 16 at 4:30 ASC Board
Room
Last meeting Thursday, April 18, B240 (will meet only if
necessary)
Mr. Claude Mathis was thanked for providing the
refreshments.
Motion to adjourn was made by Yolanda Ahner.
Second by Carlos Armendariz.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 3:50 p.m.
The following motion and amendment from the March 7, 2013
meeting was submitted to Mr. Smith on the Response and
Outcome form on March 7, 2013.






Motion to recommend to insert the Coordinating
Board Learning Outcomes into the Part II Syllabus
as Roman Numeral III and to have Curriculum
Office update those Learning Outcomes as part of
the updating to the Part II Syllabus every academic
year was made by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Second by Gale K. Sanchez.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
Motion to amend the previous motion to include the
review and make appropriate changes to the EPCC
Procedure 6.04.02.10 Official Course Syllabus was
made by Dr. Jaime Farias.
Second by Ray Casillas.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
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Thursday, August 29, 2013
Valle Verde Conference Room B240
MEMBERS PRESENT: Carlos Armendariz, Ray Casillas,
Isela Castañon-Williams, Zaira Crisafulli, Rafaela Franco,
Ruben Gallegos, Dr. Daniel Gutierrez, Glenda Hill, Dr.
Katherine C. Kelley, Dr. Hyung Park, Patrick Pynes, Dr. Nader
Rassaei, Gale K. Sanchez, Barbara Williams and Rick Webb.
the course falls there is a line item for faculty salary. Dr.
Kelley explained that Part I Syllabus, Part II Syllabus and
the Budget line item were compiled from different sources
into one document by Rafaela Franco therefore creating
one document that was then uploaded to the Curriculum
home page. Once all the documents were uploaded,
Rachel Ortega created links to each one and that is how the
Coordinating Board will access Part III.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Yolanda Ahner, Melinda Camarillo,
Dr. Jaime Farias, Claude Mathis, Joshua I. Villalobos, Maureen
Murphy, and Daryle Hendry.
Call Meeting to Order: Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams called
the meeting to order at 3:15. She stated that this is not the first
meeting of the year; this meeting is considered part of 20122013. Today’s meeting is to read what is being submitted to the
Coordinating Board for the Core Curriculum. This is not an
opportunity to add or delete, it is only to check for grammatical
errors and for the committee to see what is being submitted.
Review of final submission to the Core Curriculum: Dr.
Kelley explained that this submission is not done in the hard
copy format that is being presented for review. The
information is the same, but it is done electronically in a portal
that will be open. Rachel Ortega will input the electronic
version and Dr. Kelley will submit. The submission is divided
into three parts and the first two parts will be reviewed on hard
copy. The committee had 10 minutes to review each part.



Part I explains the process that the committee and the
institution implemented and followed to select the courses
that are now in the core. At the end of the 10 minutes, the
papers that had comments were collected. Ms. Isela
Castañon-Williams reviewed the comments and then gave
the papers to Dr. Kelley. The ones without comments
were also collected.
Part II is to address how assessment will be performed.
This predominately takes addresses SLOs because they are
asking that what is the institution’s plan to make sure that
there is an appropriate level of attainment for each one of
the core objectives. Dr. Kelley mentioned that Maria T.
Gomez prepared all of the information in Part II. At the
end of the 10 minutes the same process was taken as with
Part I.
Part III was very difficult to ascertain what the
Coordinating Board was asking the institution to do. Dr.
Kelley shared that about two weeks ago she and Rachel
called Rebecca Lesley at the Coordinating Board with two
questions. Because September 1st falls on a Sunday and
September 2nd is a holiday the question was if it was okay
to submit on September 3rd. The answer was yes. The
second was how did the Coordinating Board want this part
answered. Ms. Lesley essentially said that it was up to the
institution’s interpretation how to answer this part. Part III
should include: Part I syllabus, Part II syllabus plus proof
from the institutions budget that in the discipline in which
Finally Dr. Kelley shared how the submission will be reviewed.
Ms. Lesley said that the Coordinating Board has appointed
experts in every block. These are faculty members from across
the state, predominately university professors who will only be
reviewing that block. For example there will be an individual
who will only be looking at Communication so he is an expert
in English and Speech. He will be reviewing only that specific
block and then send it forward to the next block until the whole
Core is reviewed by experts in each area. Meanwhile Part I,
Part II and Part III will also looked at by different experts and
then everything is put together and sent to Ms. Lesley for
recommendation.
Originally the Core would either be approved or disapproved.
Now it has been changed to be approved, approved with
recommendation or disapproved. The approved with
recommendation will be if they see any courses in the core that
they feel that need to be revised, or deleted. The institution is
given the option to do that and resubmit, but the core would be
approved and EPCC could move forward while doing the
revising and adjusting.
The final copy that will be submitted will be placed on the web
for everybody that wants to access and read.
Two additional recommendations were mentioned for Part I
Submission:

To explain further how the Rubric was developed and to
name the members on the Taskforce.

Explain how Part I Syllabus was selected.
Ms. Isela Castañon-Williams thanked the committee for all the
work done throughout the year. She also thanked the
Curriculum Office staff for their work.
Dr. Kelley was thanked for the refreshments.



Motion to adjourn was made by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Second by Carlos Armendariz.
Motion accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:35 p.m.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
2011-2012 MINUTES
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Transmountain Conference Room 1005
MEMBERS PRESENT: Carlos Armendariz, Ray Casillas,
Melinda Camarillo, Kimberley Golucke, Laura Jimenez, Dr.
Katherine C. Kelley, Jessica Klein, Barbara Williams, Patrick
Pynes, Dr. Nader Rassaei, Joyce Ritchey, Gale K. Sanchez,
Steve Smith, Isela Castanon-Williams, and Barbara Williams.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Yolanda Ahner, Ruben Gallegos,
Glenda Hill, (Proxy for Dr. Daniel Gutierrez, was Dr. Nader
Rassaei) and Joshua I. Villalobos,
GUEST PRESENT: David T. Flores
Call Meeting to Order: Isela Castaňon-Williams called the
meeting to order at 3:15 and after introductions, the April 21,
2011 minutes were approved.



Motion to approve the April 21, 2011 Minutes as
presented was made by Patrick Pynes.
Second by Kimberley Golucke.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Special Presentation: Dr. Kelley introduced David T. Flores
and informed the committee that Mr. Flores is the person
working with the disciplines to create the videos for the
catalog. The two videos presented were Music from the
Academic side and Radiologic Technology from the Technical
side.
After the videos, Dr. Kelley shared with the committee that the
counselors have identified some of the programs that have low
enrollment and that those particular programs will be
videotaped as soon as possible. By having a video in the
catalog those programs will be spotlighted and the goal is that
by watching the videos people will want to enroll in those
programs.
One of the members asked Mr. Flores how long it takes him to
produce a video and the answer was three weeks working at 19
hours per week. Mr. Flores was thanked for his work and the
presentation.
Old Business-Core Curriculum Update: Joyce Ritchey
informed that there are a few different things in the core and
one of them is that there is no Institutional Designated Option
Category; it is being called Component Option which means
that whatever is chosen for that area will have to be from one
of the other component areas meeting the criteria. One other
thing that is different is that the total credit hours will not have
a range it will only be 42 and everything else must be within a
degree plan.
The Coordinating Board is taking the proposal to their board
for approval on October 27, 2011 and the decision will be final
on that day. Ms. Ritchey offered to do a presentation next
month and provide more information. She also informed that
the implementation date is Fall 2014 and she recommended
that in the meantime the committee decide on a procedure on
how the new core will be developed and also set timelines.
Dr. Kelley added that if the implementation date is for Fall
2014 then all the changes will have to be submitted for catalog
by October 1, 2013.
The committee discussed in depth the issue and talked about
several ways in which to approach this project. Isela requested
that the next two items be placed on the agenda for next month:


Ms. Ritchey will give a presentation to update the
committee about the decision taken on the October 27
meeting.
Dr. Kelley will present the process that was used
previously to identify the core.
After listening to both presentations the committee will decide
how to proceed.
Core Assessment Committee: Dr. Kelley reported that the
report that was submitted April 1, 2011 was accepted extremely
well by Coordinating Board and she added that the previous
report was also given exemplary status. Because one of the
charges of the Curriculum Committee is to assess the core, Dr.
Kelley recommended putting together a task force or a subcommittee that will start the process of reviewing the core
curriculum. The people that wrote the report have some
recommendations as to how it should be handled in the future
and the stages that need to be followed and what it should be
done. The document can be passed on to the sub-committee to
use as a guide. Dr. Kelley suggested that the sub-committee
work throughout the year and that at the first meeting in the fall
that the sub-committee will give a report on what has transpired
for the previous year on the core assessment. During that same
meeting it will be decided who will serve in the sub-committee
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the following year, and then every year this report will be the
first item of business in the fall.
Isela asked for a motion to establish the core curriculum
assessment sub-committee and to have that sub-committee give
a report at the first meeting of the year regarding the progress.



Motion to establish the core curriculum assessment
sub-committee that will report at the first meeting of
the year regarding the progress on the core
curriculum assessment was made by Carlos
Armendariz
Second by Gale K. Sanchez.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
The following people volunteered to serve in sub-committee:





Carlos Armendariz
Patrick Pynes
Kimberley Golucke
Barbara Williams
Gale K. Sanchez
SCANS: Dr. Kelley referred to the following motion taken at
the April 21, 2011 meeting where it states that the Curriculum
Office will develop the procedure.



Motion to have the Curriculum Committee endorse
the recommendation made by the Curriculum
SCANS Task Force to use the number five Matrix
Model presented for use by the CTE programs and
to have the Curriculum Office develop the
procedure was made by Gale K. Sanchez.
Second by Kimberley Golucke.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Dr. Kelley explained that a procedure has not been developed
because Mr. David Wilson, who was in charge on doing this,
became ill in April and in September he passed away. Dr.
Kelley asked the Curriculum SCANS Task Force for their help
in developing the procedure. Steve Smith, Kimberley Golucke,
Dr. Nader Rassaei agreed to work on the procedure and present
it at the next meeting.
New Business-Catalog Listing: Dr. Kelley informed the
committee that it was brought to her attention that the manner
in which faculty and administrators are being listed in the
catalog is not sufficient. She read to the committee the
following from the Texas Administrative Code.
The institution shall provide students, prospective students
prior to enrollment, and other interested person with a printed
or electronically published catalog. Institutions relying on
electronic catalogs must ensure the availability of archived
editions in order to serve the needs of alumni and retuning
students. The catalog must contain, at minimum, the following
information
(IX) a complete listing of each regularly employed faculty
member showing name, area of assignment, rank, and each
earned degree held, including degree level, degree designation,
and institution that awarded the degree;
(X) a complete listing of each administrator showing name,
title, area of assignment, and each earned degree held,
including degree level, degree designation, and institution that
awarded the degree;
Dr. Kelley informed the committee that she went to leadership
with her proposal on how this would be handled. She referred
to the Full Time Faculty list and read the disclaimer on top of
the page that reads:
NOTE: Should you wish additional faculty information click
on the faculty member’s name and it will take you to the link
for HB2504 (Course and Faculty Information) on our website.
The list that Dr. Kelley referred to has the name, the rank and
the discipline only. Each faculty name will be linked to
HB2504 and if a person wants to know the degree(s) that a
particular faculty holds and where they got the degrees they
will just have to click on the name and the link will go to
HB2504 where the faculty themselves insert that information.
A member made a comment regarding the fact that librarians
and counselors are not listed in the HB2504. Dr. Kelley
informed them that she would be meeting with Mr. Raymundo
Vilca on other issues, but will ask him if it is possible for
counselors and librarians to have a separate site.
Substitutions/Petitions and Associate of Arts Degree: Dr.
Kelley referred to the Associate of Arts degree-70101 and
explained that this particular degree is for those students that do
not declare a major or that do not follow a degree exactly, but
can still graduate. One of the things that is very important is
that each one of the programs that has a degree plan can count
those graduates in their degree plan and therefore get the
appropriate funding that will be designated in that particular
program. The number of graduates is very important to the
Coordinating Board and the only way to guarantee an accurate
count of graduates is to make sure that the students follow the
degree plan. Some of the changes in Financial Aid do impact
the programs.
The other degree plan used as an example was the Associate of
Arts in Business and Accounting-61701. Dr. Kelley referred to
this particular degree and stated that this degree plan is very
definite and has very specific course that need to be followed.
When a student follows the degree plan as stated the student
can be called a completer and can be counted as that program’s
graduate.
Dr. Kelley referred to the Business and Accounting degree to
the Fall Semester at the choice for MATH 1324-Introductory
Mathematics for Business and Social Science or Higher
Mathematics Core Course. If the student does not take 1324
or one of the higher math courses, then the student has violated
the degree plan. For example a student who takes MATH 1314
is successful, but has difficulty with MATH 1324. If a student
is trying to get a degree in Business and Accounting and take
1314 he/she cannot be counted as a Business and Accounting
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major therefore he/she will have to get the plain degree. The
student will have a degree but the Business and Accounting
people cannot count them. It is very important to develop
degrees plans that are very clear and specific. It will depend a
lot on the phraseology used in the degree plan for Financial Aid
to cover the cost or not. Only courses in a degree will be
covered by Financial Aid. Workshops will be scheduled in the
future to talk about on how to develop a good degree plan.
The Coordinating Board now has something called low
performance category that could mean that the program does
not have 25 graduates in 5 years. It sounds easy to have 25
graduates in 5 years, but the Coordinating Board at the end of
the 3rd year looks to see if the program will make it or not. Dr.
Kelley gave the example of how Fire Technology, a very
successful program, was categorized by the Coordinating
Board as a low performance program. What happened was that
petitions and substitutions were being made to the degree plan
and therefore at the Coordinating Board the people were not
being counted as Fire Technology graduates. Even though the
students were graduating with the Fire Technology degree, they
were not being counted as graduates from the program they
were only being counted as EPCC graduates. Dr. Kelley
emphasized the importance of having well planned degrees.
have additional learning outcomes as long as they enhanced
and did not detract from the delivery of the minimum
requirements. They agreed with Mr. Mathis that such was the
case. He also requested that the pre-requisite for sophomore
literature courses be listed as Freshman Composition I or II to
replace the original proposal which listed composition II only
as the pre-requisite. The revision was accepted. This will
leave the door open for EPCC to continue with its present prerequisite of ENGL1301, making these excellent literature
courses more accessible to a greater number of students.



Motion to adjourn was made by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Second by Laura Jimenez.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:10 p.m.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
Mr. Daryle Hendry added a few more comments emphasizing
and supporting what Dr. Kelley said about Substitutions and
Petitions. During this time of discussion, some of the
committee members made a comment that even though the AA
degree 70101 should not be first choice for the students, it
should be always available for those students that do not have
another choice. At the end most agreed that not all students
have the same needs and EPCC should be flexible enough to
meet their need. The students should always look at the
institution to where they are transferring to.
Item V-c (On line Drop Procedure) was tabled for the next
meeting because of lack of time.



Motion to table the item On Line Drop Procedure
was made by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Second by Carlos Armendariz.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Announcements: Mr. Claude Mathis gave a brief report of the
meeting held by the Advisory Committee to the Lower
Division Academic Course Guide Manual. The meeting was
held on October 5, 2011. It considered various topics; among
them was the outcome of working groups composed of selected
faculty members from various 2 and 4-year institutions that had
been charged with revising the course descriptions and adding
learning outcomes to selected core curriculum courses, English,
Government, Economics, Mathematics, and History. Of
particular concern to both the English and the Government
disciplines at EPCC was the omission of specific learning
objectives that have been part and parcel of the delivery of
certain courses. During that meeting Mr. Mathis asked the staff
members present to clarify for him if the new course
description and the listed learning outcomes were a minimum
requirement for state funding and if a local discipline could
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Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Transmountain Conference Room 1005
MEMBERS PRESENT: Carlos Armendariz, Ray Casillas,
Melinda Camarillo, Daryle Hendry, Glenda Hill, Kimberley
Golucke, Laura Jimenez, Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Jessica
Klein, Claude Mathis, Patrick Pynes, Dr. Nader Rassaei, Joyce
Ritchey, Gale K. Sanchez, Steve Smith, Isela CastanonWilliams, and Barbara Williams.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Yolanda Ahner, Ruben Gallegos, and
Joshua I. Villalobos,
GUEST PRESENT: Blayne Primozich
Call Meeting to Order: Isela Castaňon-Williams called the
meeting to order at 3:15. It was noted that item V-c (On line
Drop Procedure) was tabled again until the next meeting.



wording that will go on the evaluation sheet. Once the senate
has the written recommendation ready, it will be send out via email to the Curriculum Committee for a vote. Mr. Primozich
was thanked for coming to the committee with this concern.
Old Business-SCANS: Representing the Curriculum SCANS
Task Force Steve Smith proposed the following:
The Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills
(SCANS) task force is recommending that the following
processes be followed to ensure EPCC is in compliance with
the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB)
requirements regarding the SCANS.
1.
Initial Completion: At the start of the spring 2012
semester, the attached SCANS Matrix should be sent to
the District-wide coordinator for each CTE program.
Working collaboratively with their discipline faculty, the
matrix should be completed and returned
(electronically) to the Curriculum office by February
10th. A separate matrix must be completed for each
certificate or degree award for each discipline. The
Curriculum Office will be the official EPCC repository
for the SCANS matrices.
2.
Subsequent Maintenance: Each fall semester,
concurrent with the updating of syllabi, the Discipline
Coordinator is responsible for updating each SCANS
matrix in their program. Additionally, any curriculum
changes should be accompanied by a revised SCANS
matrix as appropriate.
3.
New Programs: A competed SCANS matrix must be
provided as part of the new program proposal to the
Curriculum Office.
Motion to approve the October 13, 2011 Minutes as
presented was made by Nader Rassaei.
Second by Patrick Pynes.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
New Business: Dr. Kelley shared with the committee that she
attended a senate meeting on Monday, November 14, where
she presented the procedure that is now being followed for
listing of faculty. It was originally proposed to place a link to
HB2504, but the senate suggested that it would be best if each
faculty member send the information directly to Dr. Kelley.
The list is being updated with the information that is being
received on a daily basis. At the same meeting the next item on
the agenda was the Instructor’s Course Requirements Syllabus
(Part I) format and after listening to their concern Dr. Kelley
invited Blayne Primozich to address the Curriculum
Committee.
Blayne Primozich explained that the format that now exists is a
good one, but that some clarification needs to be made because
by looking at the procedure 6.04.02.10 Official Course
Syllabus first page I-E reads (the instructor will follow the
established official course syllabus format). Mr. Primozich
explained that this is where disagreement of interpretation
occurs. He mentioned that in the last two years the impression
that has been given to coordinators and many of the deans is
that the template that exists in the copy of the procedure is
essentially a standardized document and what faculty should
only insert the information in the appropriate places and not
deviate from it. After some deliberation and to avoid further
disagreement of interpretation, the committee mentioned that
maybe the word formats should be deleted from the
OBJECTIVE and also to Delete I-E from the procedure.
It was decided that Mr. Primozich will take the committee’s
discussion points back to the senate. The senate will then write
a recommendation that will include the revision of the
procedure 6.04.02.10 Official Course Syllabus and also the



Motion to approve the recommendation presented
by the Curriculum SCANS Task Force on the
SCANS Matrix model and procedure was made by
Patrick Pynes
Second by Ray Casillas.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Steve Smith will take the recommendation to leadership.
Isela thanked Ms. Ritchey for the hospitality and the
refreshments that she always provides.
The committee will meet as follows in Spring 2012:
January 26, 2012
February 9, 2012
March 8, 2012
April 12, 2012
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The January, February, and March meeting will be at
Transmountain and the April 12 meeting will be at Valle
Verde. Mr. Claude Mathis will provide refreshments and
Barbara Williams will reserve a room.



Motion to adjourn was made by Kimberley
Golucke.
Second by Laura Jimenez.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Thursday, February 9, 2012
Transmountain Conference Room 1005
MEMBERS PRESENT: Yolanda Ahner, Carlos Armendariz,
Ray Casillas, Melinda Camarillo, Kimberley Golucke, Dr.
Daniel Gutierrez, Glenda Hill, Laura Jimenez, Dr. Katherine
C. Kelley, Claude Mathis, Joyce Ritchey, Gale K. Sanchez,
Isela Castañon-Williams, and Barbara Williams.
outcomes reflect the objectives that are being proposed. It is
important to understand that the Component Area Option
(formerly the Institutional Designated Option) in the Core must
come from one of the other foundational components in the
Core.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Dr. Nader Rassaei (proxy for Dr.
Rassaei was Dr. Daniel Gutierrez), Daryle Hendry, Ruben
Gallegos, Jessica Klein, Patrick Pynes, Steve Smith, and Joshua
I. Villalobos,
The new core requirements will be effective for all incoming
students at all institutions beginning in fall 2014. The current
core curriculum will remain in effect until that time. For more
information go to www.thecb.state.tx.us and search –UEAC.
GUEST PRESENT: Rachel Ortega
Ms. Ritchey mentioned that not all recommendations given by
the Undergraduate Education Advisory Committee (UEAC),
were approved as proposed. One example is that the
committee recommended letting the institution decide what
was best for the institution regarding the Component Area
Option, but the Coordinating Board decided that it must come
from one of the other foundational components in the Core
Curriculum. The course (EDUC 1300) is the current
Institutionally Designated Option, but because it is not
currently in any of the foundational components it does not
meet the criteria to remain as the Institutionally Designated
Option unless Faculty decide, if they so choose, on how they
are going to fit this course into one of those foundational
component areas. It was mentioned that any course that is not
in the core can be put into any other degree plan. Ms. Ritchey
mentioned that it would be great if an expert can come and give
a workshop on what makes a good degree and on this note she
mentioned that Dr. Kelley has more information regarding this
issue. Ms. Ritchey was thanked for her presentation.
Call Meeting to Order: Isela Castañon-Williams called the
meeting to order at 3:15.



Motion to approve the November 16, 2012 Minutes
as corrected was made by Kimberley Golucke.
Second by Glenda Hill.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Isela announced that Patrick Pynes has been in the hospital. He
is expected to be out of the hospital Friday, February 10th.
Core Curriculum Update: Ms. Joyce Ritchey started her
presentation by saying that the curriculum committee should
become very familiar with the new rules and the changes that
are being made to the Core Curriculum to be able to pass on the
information to the rest of the faculty in the College. She
distributed a packet that contains very helpful information and
urged the members to read all of it.
The main reason the Core Curriculum is being changed is
because after more than 10 years the Coordinating Board has
responses from employees across the state that indicates that
graduates do not have the skills necessary to be successful in
the workplace and it does not mean just the intellectual skills
but also the people skills.
The purpose is that students will gain a foundation of
knowledge of human cultures and the physical and natural
world; Develop principles of personal and social responsibility
for living in a diverse world; and advance intellectual and
practical skills that are essential for all learning.
The New Core has 9 foundational component areas and 6
objectives. Ms. Ritchey referred to a copy of the present Core
Curriculum and went through what is now being proposed.
She emphasized that the new Core Curriculum is restricted to
42 hours. She also mentioned that the Government and History
courses are mandated and will remain in the core, but they
cannot remain the way they currently are. Government and
History will have to make some dramatic changes to their
syllabus and their courses to be sure that the student learning
Dr. Kelley mentioned that she is negotiating with two
individuals who have actually written books on how to develop
a curriculum. She would like to have both men come, but she
is still negotiating on the actual date. It will probably be
sometime in late March early April. At that particular time a
District Wide Coordinators meeting will be scheduled. The
meeting will be mandated for all District Wide Coordinators
and open to everyone else who would like to attend. Dr. Kelley
started out with six people who had been recommended to her
from across the nation and has narrowed it down to the two
gentlemen with whom the date negotiation is being made. She
will inform the committee on the date, place and time at the
March 8, meeting.
Dr. Kelley emphasized that even though the new core
requirements will be effective Fall 2014, the Coordinating
Board will want to know the institution’s decision regarding
the core by November 1, 2013. Please note that even though
the Coordinating Board’s deadline is November 1, 2013, the
EPCC date will be October 1, 2013.
Dr. Kelley emphasized the importance for everyone to read and
understand the packet of information that Ms. Ritchey just
distributed. This same packet will be attached to the minutes
and distributed District wide. The committee will come to an
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agreement as to the process to be used in the decision making
of what will be in the core at the March 8, meeting.
Syllabus: Isela gave an update on the status of the 6.04.02.10
Official Course Syllabus college procedure. She brought
attention to the e-mail that shows that the committee voted to
accept the changes that Mr. Primozich requested. Ms. Ritchey
mentioned that the procedure was presented to the Leadership
Team. Ms. Ahner mentioned that the procedure will be
presented at the Cabinet Meeting and that if the revisions are
minor, it might not even have to go out for review. She will let
Isela know what the decision is at Cabinet. Dr. Kelley brought
the attention to III d of the procedure where it does need
clarification of who is responsible to upload each part. Ms.
Ritchey mentioned that at the time that the procedure was
presented to Leadership, she added a statement to clarify that
the Curriculum Office will only upload Part II: Official
Course Description to the web and that Part I: Instructor’s
Course Requirements will be the responsibility of each
individual faculty member. Hearing no further discussion,
Isela announced that the committee’s work is done regarding
this item and it is now closed.
SCANS: Dr. Kelley mentioned that there has been some
confusion regarding the information that should be listed on the
SCANS document. She mentioned that faculty should only
include the courses that are in their program. The Heating and
Ventilation SCANS was presented as a sample. In this
particular SCANS, only the HVAC courses were listed, any
additional courses in the program (ENGL, MATH, etc. etc.)
were excluded. The due date to submit the SCANS to the
Curriculum Office is February 23, 2012.
Online Drop Procedure: This item has been tabled for two
meetings because Mr. Hendry has been unable to attend the
meetings. Because Mr. Hendry is out-of-town, an e-mail from
him will serve as his presentation thru Dr. Kelley. The e-mail
reads:
Dr. Kelley,
This is how students may drop distance education courses in
lieu of in-person drops on campus after the web registration
period has closed.
They may fax a request to withdraw from a course(s) by
printing their Name, EPCC ID #, and the course(s) Course
Name, Course Number, and Section Number, last date attended
(submitted work/accessed the course) and their signature to
915-831-2161.
Or, they can send the same information using their EPCC
email account to Admissions@epcc.edu . Students are
responsible for protecting their login and password.
We will not accept email requests from other email services
such a hotmail or yahoo.
Isela asked that a motion be made so that the students will have
access to this information.

Motion to have the information that Daryle Hendry
has provided, on how an on line drop is to incurred,
be placed on the Registrars website and that it also
be placed on the Distance Education website so that
all on line faculty members can either link to that or
do a copy and paste of the link onto their home page
to let students know how to get this done. With the
additional statement that says “before you drop,
stop, contact your instructor and a counselor to
discuss the implications of dropping a course
(Financial Aid, Scholarships, 6 Drop rule)” was
made by Kimberley Golucke.

Second by Yolanda Ahner.
One of the members said that why not make this on line drop a
standard way of dropping a course (on line or regular). The
answer was that only Registrars can make a decision and it will
be taken to Mr. Hendry for further action. In the meantime, it
will not be included in this motion.

Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Dr. Kelley also clarified some confusion about the 25%
residency requirement for graduation. It means that 25% of the
courses toward a degree must be completed at EPCC. It does
not mean that 25% of the courses have to be taken face-to-face
which would not allow degrees to be taken totally on line.
Announcements: Isela mentioned that Steve Smith has been
promoted to Interim Vice President of Instruction and because
of his additional responsibilities; he feels that at this point it is
best to rotate off and another Dean be appointed. The
recommendation is moving forward to assign Dr. Jaime Farias
as the Dean that will replace Mr. Smith. Dr. Stroud will process
the recommendation and hopefully Dr. Farias will be present at
the March 8, meeting.
Isela has invited Mr. Smith to be present to the beginning of the
March meeting to thank him for his years of service to the
Curriculum Committee.
Isela made a special announcement regarding the April 12
meeting. It will be at VV, B240, BBQ hosted by Mr. Claude
Mathis.
Dr. Kelley mentioned that she has been hearing from people
that SACS will be making a preliminary visit to EPCC in
March. She went to Saul Candelas and asked him to put
together something so that people will know when things are
happening in reference to SACS. The following shows time
lines.
Daryle
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Time Line for Reaffirmation
Reaffirmation Year 2013

Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:50 p.m.
Track A: Time line for institutions offering only
undergraduate programs
EPCC
Orientation of
Leadership Teams
January 31
2011
Compliance
Certification Due
March 15
2012
Off-Site Peer Review
Conducted
May 8-11
Quality Enhancement
Plan Due
(and optional
Focused Report)
4-6 weeks in
advance of
On-site
Review
On-Site Peer Review
Conducted
Review by the
Commission on
Colleges
Oct. 30 –
Oct. 31
June 18-20
(tentative
dates)
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
2012
2013
Dr. Kelley reviewed the chart with the committee.

January 31, has already happened.

March 15, 2012 falls during Spring Break so
everything will be submitted on March 9, 2012.
SACS will be able to go into the EPCC website and
verify all the documentation.

May 8-11, the committee that has been assigned to
EPCC will meet in Atlanta Georgia and they will talk
about what they have discovered in this length of time
between March and May by looking at all the
documentation, they will then issue a letter with either
that the institution is doing great or a letter saying that
the institution has discrepancies. EPCC will have
from June to October 31 to address any discrepancies,
if any were addressed.

On site visit will probably be October 31.
Dr. Kelley said that part of what people from SACS will be
doing while visiting is that they will probably walk thru
different campuses and randomly ask questions from people.
Dr. Kelley announced that four programs will be presented as
informational only in the March 8 meeting.


Motion to adjourn was made by Yolanda Ahner.
Second by Carlos Armendariz.
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Thursday, March 8, 2012
Transmountain Conference Room 1005
MEMBERS PRESENT: Yolanda Ahner, Carlos Armendariz,
Melinda Camarillo, Dr. Jaime Farias, Kimberley Golucke, Dr.
Daniel Gutierrez, Daryle Hendry, Glenda Hill, Laura Jimenez,
Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Jessica Klein, Claude Mathis, Patrick
Pynes, Dr. Nader Rassaei, Joyce Ritchey, Gale K. Sanchez,
Joshua I. Villalobos, Barbara Williams, and Isela CastañonWilliams.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Ray Casillas and Ruben Gallegos
GUEST PRESENT: Debra Farrelly, Dr. Olga Valerio, Raul
Serna and Tony Vargas.
Call Meeting to Order: Isela Castañon-Williams called the
meeting to order at 3:15 and introduced Dr. Jaime Farias
replacing Steve Smith.



Motion to approve the February 9, 2012 Minutes
was made by Yolanda Ahner.
Second by Carlos Armendariz.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Programs: The Insurance Option AAS degree is a new option
under Business Management and also the Insurance Certificate
of Completion. Dr. Jaime Farias mentioned that the program
has been submitted to the Coordinating Board for approval. He
mentioned that about four years ago this was brought up to him
from the Texas Department of Insurance. He went to a meeting
in Dallas where the CEOs of the major corporations and
Insurance companies from the country met. It was at that
meeting that an emergent need of qualified Insurance
individuals was identified. After that he met with the Regional
Insurance businesses. About five meetings were conducted
throughout the region. At the meetings the different companies
said that they do want to hire people with some collegiate
background and this is the main reason that the Insurance
Option degree is being proposed.
Dr. Kelley added that on Monday a DACUM was conducted
for Insurance and even though the usual process is to first
submit the program for approval from the Coordinating Board,
an exception was made. The word DACUM stands for
Developing a Curriculum and back in 1976 the program was
not submitted to the Coordinating Board for approval until it
was decided that the courses were the right ones and that they
were in the right places.
Dr. Kelley said that it was decided that the Insurance DACUM
needed to be conducted at this time so it was held on Monday
and eleven community insurance participants were present. At
the end of the DACUM they stated that if the people who are
now working in their office knew 30% of what EPCC is
teaching, they would be very successful.
The new Business Management-Office Administration
Option was presented by Debra Farrelly. She explained that
the first year will be Business courses and that it is in the
second year where changes have been made for it to be the
Office Administration Option. She went through the degree
identifying the courses that were deleted and the ones have
been added. She explained that the course with the title
Computer Fundamentals is listed twice, but the one credit
hour course is the Microsoft Outlook class and the two credit
hour course is the Microsoft PowerPoint class.
She also talked about the Office Assistant Certificate of
Completion that a student can earn after taking the appropriate
courses. The discipline is in the research process of putting
together a few additional certificates of completion for students
to give them some additional options.
Dr. Kelley read the following notation.
NOTE: STUDENTS SHOULD SUBMIT GRADUATION
APPLICATION TO RECEIVE THE CERTIFICATION
OF COMPLETION IN OFFICE ASSISTANT WHICH IS
THE SUMMER SESSION AND FIRST SEMESTER.
She emphasized where it says SHOULD submit. She said that
anywhere that the statement applies, the students now no longer
have to physically go down to the Registrar’s Office and do
this. It is now in BANNER and as soon as the student has
completed that last class and that grade is awarded,
automatically BANNER prints a certificate for the student.
When the student goes to apply for graduation they might have
three or four certificates, those will be handed to him/her at the
time he/she applies for graduation or they can have all of them
handed to them with their diploma when they walk across the
stage. The Curriculum office has taken on this responsibility
because having those certificates count is part of the
momentum points and it is one way to get federal funding
back. Most students do not know that they can go and apply
for a certificate in the middle of something, but they can and
then those numbers will start counting towards the institution.
BANNER will start doing this starting Fall 2012. Isela thanked
Dr. Kelley and Debra Farrelly for the information.
The Electrical Technology Certificate was presented by Dr.
Olga Valerio and Mr. Serna, District Wide Coordinator. The
proposal is to change the name from Electrical
Journeyman/Facility Maintenance Certificate to Electrical
Technology Certificate. The courses and syllabi will remain
the same. The main reason is to avoid confusion for the
students and for the workforce because it used to be that when
a student left this program they would be able to test for their
Journeyman License and that is no longer the case. The State
of Texas took over the licensing for all the electricians and now
the requirement is four years on the job training before being
able to take the exam. Ms. Ahner mentioned that the students
that take this program do get some on the job training. Mr.
Serna gave the example of students working on emergency
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lighting on building one at the ATC. Mr. Serna and Dr.
Valerio were thanked for their presentation.
The Health Information Networking Certificate was
presented by Tony Vargas. The hospitals, doctors and anyone
who is working in the medical fields, now have to have the
information on line, digitized and secure. This certificate
includes some security classes and basic PC courses which
gives the students the basic knowledge. The capstone course is
ITSC 2380-Cooperative Education-Computer and Information
Sciences, General I. Mr. Vargas was thanked for his
presentation.
Core Review: As mentioned in the previous meeting changes
are being made to the Core Curriculum and a process needs to
be set by this committee by April. Dr. Kelley informed the
committee that she had talked to Dr. Lemoine and Ms. Heston
from the Coordinating Board regarding some questions that she
had. A copy of the e-mail that shows her questions being
answered by Dr. Lemoine, Dr. Parsoneault and Ms. Heston was
distributed. Dr. Kelley went over some of the questions and
answers and then she recommended that each member take this
as homework to read thru the five questions and read their
answers.
Dr. Kelley referred them to the following two questions that are
included in the handout titled FAQ for Faculty and
Administration in Preparing their New Core Curriculum.
9.
How will labs (science, math, language, etc.) fit into
the core?

Institutions have two options for including lab
SCH for specific courses:
o Required labs for all students (Institution
requires all students to take labs, regardless
of major)
 Separate 1 SCH labs
 Include the lab requirements in the
Component Area Option and align
with the appropriate component
area , e.g. CHEM 1305 in Life &
Physical Sciences (030) and CHEM
1105 in CAO (090)
 Combined lecture/lab (4 SCH)
 Reduce CAO requirement by
corresponding SCH, e.g.
Mathematics (020) require 4 SCH +
Life & Physical Sciences require 8
SCH for all students. The CAO (090)
would then be reduced to 3 SCH for
all students.
o Degree requirements for certain majors
(Degree requires more than the outlined
SCH for a component area)
 Labs can be an option from the CAO,
and/or
 Labs can be considered part of the
degree requirement and not the
core.
 NOTE: If the course is
combined lecture/lab, the
institution must show that the
additional SCH will not raise
the minimum SCH of the
degree.
11.
What is Creative Arts and does it include music,
theatre, art and dance?



The re-designation of the Foundational
Component Area reflects the intent of the
Undergraduate Education Advisory Committee
that courses in this area should focus on
appreciation and analysis to enable critical,
creative, and innovative communication about
works of art in any discipline within the arts,
rather than performance.
The term "Creative Arts" refers to all the
disciplines of art and architecture, music, film,
performance studies, theater, and dance.
The description of the Foundational Component
Area clearly allows for courses from these
disciplines, such as Music Appreciation, Art
Appreciation, History of Theater, History of
Dance, etc. Courses from other disciplines, like
Film Studies, Performance Studies, History of
Architecture, etc. will also be considered.
Additional information was given to the committee from Dr.
Kelley with the recommendation to read and study everything
very carefully.
Isela and Dr. Kelley mentioned that the most important thing at
this point is to inform all the disciplines that have a course or
courses in the core. After discussing several possibilities, it
was decided to have a general meeting on Wednesday, April 25
from 3:00-5:00 at the Transmountain Forum.



Motion to have a general meeting for all full time
faculty specially District wide coordinators from the
disciplines that have course or courses in the core.
Curriculum Committee members are also required
to attend. This motion was made by Patrick Pynes.
Second by Jessica Klein.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
The above information will be taken to leadership.
It was recommended that each discipline that has a course or
courses in the core schedule a 3 hour meeting within their own
areas at their convenience, but to do it after the April 25.
Announcements
a.
On April 3, 2012 from 1:00-3:00 Mountain Time a
Starlink by THECB will present a Core Webinar. You
need to create your own user name and password by
going to www.starlinktraining.org.
b.
On April 11, 2012 from 10:00-12:00 Mountain Time the
Starlink Core Webinar THECB will be presented again,
but this time there will be an opportunity to ask
questions via e-mail. You need to create your own user
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name and password by going to
www.starlinktraining.org.
c.
Curriculum Committee will meet on April 12 at Valle
Verde and on April 19 at Transmountain.



Motion to adjourn was made by Jessica Klein.
Second by Gale K. Sanchez.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:05 p.m.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Thursday, April 12, 2012
Transmountain Conference Room 1005
MEMBERS PRESENT: Melinda Camarillo, Ray Casillas,
Isela Castañon-Williams, Dr. Jaime Farias, Kimberley
Golucke, Dr. Daniel Gutierrez, Daryle Hendry, Glenda Hill,
Laura Jimenez, Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Jessica Klein, Claude
Mathis, Patrick Pynes, Joyce Ritchey, Gale K. Sanchez,
Joshua I. Villalobos, and Barbara Williams.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Yolanda Ahner, Carlos Armendariz,
Dr. Nader Rassaei and Ruben Gallegos.
GUEST PRESENT: Myshie Pagel, Ivette Chuca, Rachel
Ortega and Steve Smith.
in a degree plan and in catalog before it can be developed. Ms.
Chuca mentioned that this course would serve STEM Majors
and she provided a list of degree plans that the course could be
in, but none of the degrees listed were from EPCC. It was
suggested that Ms. Chuca do more research before this
development can move forward. Ms. Chuca said that she will
visit the Curriculum Office for their help and guidance. Dr.
Kelley recommended that she attend the April 25 DWC
General meeting and to invite some of the Math faculty to
attend also.

Call Meeting to Order: Isela Castañon-Williams called the
meeting to order at 3:15.



Motion to approve the March 8, 2012 Minutes as
corrected was made by Kimberley Golucke.
Second by Barbara Williams.
Motion passed by unanimous vote.
EXECUTIVE SESSION at this time
ESOL Presentation: Ms. Pagel informed the committee that
the ESOL program has been reduced from 72 credit hours to 36
credit hours by Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
(THECB). The students are allowed 36 hours, but the
institution will only receive reimbursement for 27 hours. The
following questions were asked:



Who will pay for the 9 hours that the College is not
getting reimburse for?
Will the students pay for this?
Or will the College pay?
No one has to pay anything extra because the institution only
reports the 27 hours that the state reimburses EPCC. EPCC’s
budge will reflect the reduction in income from the THECB for
the 9 hours not reimbursed.
The two advanced courses that meet TSI are ESOL 0340Reading and ESOL 0341-Writing. ESOL students that take
and pass these courses will demonstrate that they are college
ready.
EXECUTIVE SESSION at this time
MATH 2442: Ms. Chuca mentioned that Dr. Nancy C.
Marcus from UTEP reminded Dr. Brown, via e-mail, about his
promise to develop a course that would be equivalent to
UTEP’s STAT 2480. After listening to what Ms. Chuca had to
say, the committee analyzed the situation and asked several
questions. One of the concerns is the fact that this course is not
in any degree plan. It is a SACS requirement that a course be


Motion to recommend that Ivette visit with the
affected disciplines to see how they are impacted by
this course and to also visit with UTEP before
moving forward with the development was made by
Jessica Klein.
Second by Laura Jimenez.
Motion passed by unanimous vote.
Old Business: Dr. Kelley spoke about the Starlink Webinar
and passed out a print out of the two Webinar PowerPoint
presentations. She recommended that each member read and
study them. She mentioned that they will probably be
approached by faculty with questions about the Core.
Dr. Kelley would like for the Curriculum Committee members
to wear a name tag at the District Wide Coordinators (DWC)
General Meeting on April 25. She passed out a sample of the
name tag and she asked for suggestions on how the name tag
should look like and what it should read. The Curriculum
Office will provide the name tags and will try to have them
ready by the next Curriculum Committee meeting on April 19.
Announcements
a.
Curriculum Committee meeting April 19 at
Transmountain Room 1005
b.
General DWC meeting April 25 Transmountain Forum
3:00-5:00. Dr. Kelley added that this meeting is the
beginning of many meetings. She emphasized that the
final decision is District wide faculty.
Mr. Steve Smith was recognized for his 7 years of service as a
member of the Curriculum Committee and was presented with
a plaque by Isela Castanon-Williams and Dr. Katherine C.
Kelley on behalf of the committee. He thanked everyone and
mentioned that he enjoyed being on this committee. He also
said that he knows that there will be a lot of work in the months
to come, but that he is confident that the job will get done and
will be done well.
Mr. Mathis was thanked for the delicious BBQ dinner.
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


Motion to adjourn was made by Kimberley
Golucke.
Second by Laura Jimenez.
Motion passed by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:07 p.m.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Thursday, April 19, 2012
Transmountain Conference Room 1005
MEMBERS PRESENT: Carlos Armendariz, Melinda
Camarillo, Ray Casillas, Isela Castañon-Williams, Dr. Jaime
Farias, Kimberley Golucke, Dr. Daniel Gutierrez, Glenda Hill,
Laura Jimenez, Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Jessica Klein, Patrick
Pynes, Dr. Nader Rassaei , Joyce Ritchey, Gale K. Sanchez,
Joshua I. Villalobos, and Barbara Williams


MEMBERS ABSENT: Yolanda Ahner, Daryle Hendry,
Claude Mathis, and Ruben Gallegos.
GUEST PRESENT: Rachel Ortega.
Call Meeting to Order: Isela Castañon-Williams called the
meeting to order at 3:15.



Motion to approve the April 12, 2012 Minutes was
made by Jessica Klein
Second by Barbara Williams.
Motion passed by unanimous vote.
Old Business: Dr. Kelley mentioned that the District Wide
Coordinators who have been invited to attend the April 25th
meeting are from the 26 disciplines that have courses in the
Core. The following is what will take place:





The first thing will be an introductory speech given by
Mr. Steve Smith via video.
The Speech will be followed by three PowerPoint
Presentations that have come out from the THECB.
The presentations have been rearranged and made
them less legalistic, real person friendly and easier to
understand.
The Power Point Presentations will be narrated by Dr.
Kelley.
An information packet will be distributed to each
person attending the meeting.
“Do I have to throw my course out of the Core”? The
answer is NO, but the courses in the core have to be
looked at very carefully to make sure that they address
the appropriate component areas.
“Who is going to decide”? The answer is that it is a
faculty discipline decision. The process for the
decision is something the Curriculum Committee
could come up with in conjunction with leadership
and Mr. Smith.
One thing that Dr. Kelley emphasized was that as faculty
makes the decision, on which courses to put in the Core, to be
very careful and to think if the choices given to the students are
the best for them to be successful.
Ms. Ritchey mentioned that at the Articulation Meeting the
UTEP group proposed that a representative from UTEP be in
attendance at the EPCC’s Curriculum Committee meetings and
that a representative from EPCC’s Curriculum Committee be in
attendance at the Core Curriculum meetings at UTEP because
they would like to keep the Core very similar so that there will
not be any issues in the future Core. It was mentioned that
Steve Smith, Interim Vice President of Instruction,
recommended that the Curriculum Committee Chair and the
Liaison be the ones in attendance at the UTEP’s meetings.
This item will be placed on the agenda for the next meeting,
but in the meantime it was decided to invite Dr. Dorothy Ward
to the April 25th meeting.
A name tag was given to each member and Dr. Kelley
recommended that the name tag be worn not only at the April
25 meeting, but to wear it to any other meetings that they might
go to so that people know who the Curriculum Committee
members are and know who to ask about the proposed changes
to the Core.
Ms. Ritchey was thanked for the refreshments.
The same packet that will be distributed at the meeting on April
25 was given to each member and Dr. Kelley explained each
handout. She went through the current Core Curriculum and
compared it to the proposed Core Curriculum. She mentioned
that one thing being proposed is that the core should have
introduction courses only. Dr. Kelley mentioned that faculty
will probably come to the Curriculum Committee members and
address questions regarding the proposed Core Curriculum and
this is one of the reasons this information is being distributed to
them prior to the April 25 meeting. The members and Dr.
Kelley had a question and answer session to prepare for the
meeting.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:50 p.m.
Dr. Kelley mentioned that the things that she has been
frequently asked are the following:
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee



Motion to adjourn was made by Kimberley
Golucke.
Second by Melinda Camarillo.
Motion passed by unanimous vote.
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CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
2010-2011 MINUTES
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Transmountain Conference Room 1005
MEMBERS PRESENT: Miguel Aguilar, Ruben Gallegos,
Kimberley Golucke, Daryle Hendry, Laura Jimenez, David B.
Henry, Jackie Mitchell, David Moody, Patrick Pynes, Dr.
Nader Rassaei, Joyce Ritchey, Gale K. Sanchez, Steve Smith,
Joshua I. Villalobos, Barbara Williams, and Isela CastanonWilliams.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Dr. Daniel Gutierrez (proxy for Dr.
Gutierrez was Dr. Nader Rassaei), Hilario H. Hernandez,
Patricia Islas, Claude Mathis.
GUESTS PRESENT: Lolo Mercado, Maria T. Gomez,
Rachel Ortega and David Wilson.
Call Meeting to Order: Isela Castaňon-Williams called the
meeting to order at 3:15. The April 29, 2010 minutes were
approved via e-mail.



Motion to approve the April 29, 2010 Minutes as
corrected via e-mail was made by Dr. Nader
Rassaei.
Second by David Moody.
Motion was accepted by 13 members that responded
via e-mail.
Degree Plans: Lolo Mercado presented a resolution that
counselors would be permitted to serve in an advisory capacity
to assist in reviewing curriculum changes. They want to work
along with discipline coordinator to







Promote and publicize degree plans
Identify relationships between academic and voc/tech
courses and transferability options
Provide career guidance
Advise on curriculum issues
Clarify Pre-req/Co-req requirements
Improve public relations/recruitment
Identify transfer options
As in Advisory Committee Guidelines for Career and
Technical Educational programs, counselors often serve as
liaison or ex-officio (non-voting) members of the committees
to assist and provide input to disciplines and discipline
coordinators when developing curriculum degree plans. This
resolution is requesting similar input from counselors on degree
planning for transferable programs. And in doing so,
disciplines will
 Increase graduation rates of students in their
discipline-related degree plans
 Reduce difficulties in transferring
 Stop students from leaving without graduating
 Increase completers
It is very common to graduate up to 800 students with an AA
degree in EPCC’s generic degree plan. Mr. Mercado would
like to see the same number of graduates graduate but in a
specific degree plans related to their majors. For this to
happen, some flexibility in the degree plans is needed.
Isela mentioned that there was a committee that was already
working on correcting some of the issues mentioned. Rachel
Ortega mentioned that the committee did some work during the
Spring. For example, on the AAT degree, the core was left
open which gave the students the flexibility to choose what
they wanted to take and what they wanted to transfer. Another
example of what the committee did was to give the students the
option of taking “MATH 1314 or higher” in those degree plans
that required this math course. Thus, students who tested at a
higher level on the Math AccuPlacer instrument would not be
penalized for skipping Math 1314.
In addressing the issue of the counselors being present in an
advisory capacity, Rachel said that it would be wonderful if all
the disciplines would do what Dr. Mitchell does. Dr. Mitchell,
the Academic Assistant/Academic Office Assistant, the
Program Coordinator, Curriculum Office personnel and the
Counselor for that particular program meet and work together
to adjust any element within the Program’s curriculum that is
needed. The meeting lasts from thirty minutes to an hour and
all changes are worked out and agreed upon. The Curriculum
Office then makes the changes in the catalog and syllabi and
sends those revised documents back to the dean and
coordinators for final approval.
Mr. Henry proposed that a similar mechanism be put in place in
the Technical and Academic programs and that it should start
in Spring 2011 in order to have the changes ready by the next
catalog year.
It was mentioned that maybe this is not the best time to start a
process because a lot of changes are expected to happen to the
core curriculum.
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Mr. Mercado said he understands the situation and understands
that this plan is for the future. In the meantime the counselors
will continue to work in the same manner that they have been
doing. The first step would be to make a list of counselors and
which programs they have been assigned to.
It was mentioned that at the time the AA and AS degrees were
put together faculty were uneducated about degree plans. They
needed some tutoring on what is needed for an effective degree
plan, one that has the best chance of transferring students to
other universities seamlessly. With this new plan, Degree
Plans can be revised with the help and expertise from the
counselors. After discussing the importance of having the
counselors involved when making changes to degrees, it was
proposed to have counselors assigned to every discipline.

Motion to request that a counselor be assigned to
every discipline was made by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
At this point discussion involved knowing where this request
will go to in order to be implemented. A flow chart is being
worked on which will direct the motions through the right
channels. The motion was amended.



Motion to request that a counselor be assigned to
every discipline and that the curriculum committee
liaison take the recommendation forward to Dr.
Dennis Brown and the Leadership Team was made
by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Second by Gale K. Sanchez.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Lolo Mercado was thanked for bringing this important issue to
the committee. Mr. Mercado thanked the committee for their
attention.
Core Curriculum Assessment: David Henry gave a brief
history of the Core Curriculum Assessment that was done
during the time he was Curriculum Office Coordinator back in
2000 to 2003. Mr. Henry mentioned that at that time the
Coordinating Board mandated that the College assess the Core
Curriculum on an on-going basis. During that time the
following was done:






It was presented to the Curriculum Committee
Sub-committees were put in place
A cycle was set up so that an on-going assessment
would happen
The first assessment was a very large skills
assessment, with a number of questionnaires given to
faculty and students in core curriculum courses.
These were compiled by the Office of Institutional
Research.
When Mr. Russell Smith was Curriculum Office
Coordinator in 2004, he wrote a report and sent it to
the Coordinating Board. The report was highly
regarded in Austin.
Nothing else was done after that.
At this point EPCC is due to go through another mandatory
core curriculum assessment. Dr. Brown has assigned Maria T.
Gomez and Myshie M. Pagel to write the report that is due
Spring 2011, in conjunction with the SACS report on “General
Education.”
Maria T. Gomez stated that sometime during the last academic
year Dr. Brown did inform team members working on
accreditation requirements that there would be a core
curriculum report due to the Coordinating Board and that it
would be due at the same time as the SACS report, in the Fall
of 2012. Later Dr. Brown learned that the report was due in the
Spring of 2011.
The main concern addressed by the committee was the fact that
there will be a tremendous amount of work that will have to be
done by Spring 2011 if the Core Assessment is done as it was
in the past. The committee discussed the issue and came to the
agreement that what is needed at this point is direction from Dr.
Brown on what to do and who is going to get involved to be
able to accomplish this task by the due date.



Motion to request that the Core Curriculum
Assessment be placed on the Leadership Agenda for
the purpose of determining direction of what needs
to be done was made by Kimberley Golucke.
Second by Jackie Mitchell.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Ms. Gomez gave information on some activities that are in
place for the next accreditation cycle which includes a
Compliance Report. Her main focus was that the goal of the
General Education Outcomes Assessment Task Force is to
identify a General Education Student Learning Outcomes
assessment plan; it is not the Task Force’s goal to make
recommendations on the Core Curriculum. She wanted the
Curriculum Committee to know that there is no competition
between each group. SACS Principles of Accreditation
requires the assessment of the General Education Program.
General Education has various names at different institutions of
higher education. Other terms for General Education include
General Studies, Liberal Arts and Core Curriculum. For SACS
Accreditation purposes, EPCC’s General Education Program is
the Core Curriculum. THECB also requires a report on the
assessment of the Core Curriculum. The Curriculum
Committee is involved with THECB’s requirement.
Charge of the Committee: The Curriculum Committee
approved a revised “charge” several years ago. However, the
web page for the Curriculum Committee still uses the previous
charge. The revised charge was never brought forth to the
Leadership team and then given to Dr. Stroud to put on the web
page. Mr. Henry presented the revised and approved charge:
To review and advise on credit and non-credit
curriculum issues -- such as program curriculum
revision and additions of new programs and new
courses -- and the content and assessment of the Core
Curriculum.
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

Motion to request that Joyce Ritchey take the
revised Curriculum Committee Charge to Dr.
Brown and the Leadership Team so that it can be
forwarded to Dr. Stroud for posting on the website
was made by Miguel Aguilar.
Second by Joshua I. Villalobos.
A question was brought up at this point regarding the extent
that the Curriculum Committee has on decision-making
regarding the issues that are brought to the committee. Some
suggestions were given and different examples were discussed.
It was mentioned that many of the changes in courses, the Core
Curriculum, and Programs are mandated by the state and that
the Curriculum Committee has no power to either approve or
disapprove these. Many other issues that have been brought to
the committee in the past have been issues that could have been
resolved by the Curriculum Office without having to go
through the committee.
Once Dr. Kelley comes back, the Curriculum Office will look
at the issue and decide what needs to be taken to the
Curriculum Committee and identify the issues that can be
resolved at the Curriculum Office, and based on that
information the committee will revisit the issue.

Ritchey’s report, is it a favorable time to reopen the core at this
point?”
Ms. Ritchey mentioned that she thinks the state might be telling
us what will be in the Core Curriculum, not everybody making
up their own. Based on this information from Ms. Ritchey, it
was decided to wait until she reports back after her meeting.



Motion to adjourn was made by Gale K. Sanchez.
Second by Laura Jimenez.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
Motion passed with one abstention.
SCANS: Mr. Henry informed the committee that during his
time in the Curriculum Office it was believed that the
Coordinating Board required SCANS done for every course in
the Technical and Vocational programs. After a site visit
around the year 2002-2003 the Coordinating Board informed
EPCC that SCANS were no longer a requirement. Recently it
was found out that each “program” is required to have a
SCANS chart. The Program Coordinators no longer were
concerned with SCANS after the 02-03 visit, but it was never
dropped in the GIPWE; it was always there, but as a program
requirement not as a course-by-course requirement. Mr. Henry
asked the committee to make a motion that SCANS be adopted
by each program that comes under GIPWE. Isela added that if
a motion is made it will be a recommendation that this be taken
forward for consideration. It was recommended that more
information be provided before taking action on this item.



Motion to take a look at the wording in the GIPWE,
concerning the SCANS, before any action is taken
was made by Steve Smith.
Second by Joshua I. Villalobos.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Core Curriculum Opening Update: Isela thanked Ms.
Ritchey for the presentation that she gave on August 17, 2010
during Faculty Development. She also thanked the members
who attended the presentation. Ms. Ritchey informed the
committee that not much progress has been made since then but
that she will know more next week when she will attend the
next meeting. Mr. Henry informed the committee that four
courses have been brought from the disciplines for addition to
core. The question from Mr. Henry was: “Based on Ms.
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Thursday, October 21, 2010
Transmountain Conference Room 1005
MEMBERS PRESENT: Miguel Aguilar, Yolanda Ahner,
Kimberley Golucke, Dr. Daniel Gutierrez , David B. Henry,
Hilario H. Hernandez, Laura Jimenez, Dr. Katherine C.
Kelley, Claude Mathis, Jackie Mitchell, David Moody, Patrick
Pynes, Dr. Nader Rassaei, Joyce Ritchey, Steve Smith, Joshua
I. Villalobos, Barbara Williams, and Isela Castanon-Williams.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Ruben Gallegos, Daryle Hendry,
Patricia Islas, Gale K. Sanchez (proxy for Ms. Sanchez was
Kimberley J. Golucke).


Institutional Researcher -- serves as data and research
liaison to Carnegie Foundation
College Representative -- facilitates articulation,
implementation, and scheduling of course
The Coordinating Board will give Texas a new course number
for this (1hr+2hr = 3hr) Statway course. The same description
will be offered in all Texas colleges.
Ms. Aguirre mentioned that the Statway team includes:
GUESTS PRESENT: David Wilson and Edith Aguirre.


Call Meeting to Order: Isela Castaňon-Williams called the
meeting to order at 3:15. Ms. Castaňon-Williams welcomed
Yolanda Ahner and introduced her as a new member to the
committee. Ms. Ahner is representing Continuing Education
and Workforce Development, including the credit programs at
the Advanced Technology Center.
Team Members:



Motion to approve the September 16, 2010 Minutes
was made by Patrick Pynes.
Second by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Statway: Edith Aguirre, team member on the Math Statway
committee, explained that Statway is a National Collaboratory,
including the following components:



Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of
Teaching
Dana Center (UT Austin)
19 Community Colleges (CA, CT, FL, TX, WA).
This collaboration has the following goals:



Create pathways to and through college mathematics
by developing a Statistics course with DE Math
content support, to be completed in two semesters.
Serve as a model for other pathways
Gain meaningful quantitative reasoning and critical
thinking skills
Historical Reasons:


Less than 30% of students who enter DE math
complete it
Students of all ages learn more successfully in the
context of rich environments.
EPCC Plan of Action:





Dr. Lydia Tena, College Representative
Lucy Michal, IR and Faculty Facilitator
Edith Aguirre -- Mission Del Paso
Ivette Chuca -- Valle Verde
Frank Servin -- ECHS, MdP
Alfredo Rodriguez -- Transmountain
Dr. Kelley mentioned that a meeting had been held with the
Testing Office, the Curriculum Office, Faculty Divisions and
the District Wide Coordinator for math. The Cut Scores have
been set. One other thing that Dr. Kelley mentioned was that
she recommended that the deadline of October 1 be changed to
November 1. The reason is to have time to identify four or five
programs that the Statway course will best serve.
A meeting will be held next week with Claude Mathis, Dr.
Paula Mitchell, Dr. Lydia Tena, Lucy Michal, Daryle Hendry
and Dr. Kelley to identify the best programs to pilot in Fall
2011. The degree plans might have to be adjusted to be able to
put the Statway course in them. Dr. Kelley closed by saying
that the November 1 deadline might have to be pushed even
further.
It was mentioned that a lot more students will graduate because
of the Statway course. The counselors will be informed by
means of a meeting so that they will be able to identify the
students who are most appropriate for taking the Statway
course.
Ms. Aguirre was complemented for her presentation, and Isela
thanked her for presenting to the committee.
Core Curriculum Update: Ms. Ritchey mentioned that
nothing much has changed from the last time she updated the
committee. She will be attending one more meeting this
semester in December and she is hoping that at that meeting
she will be able to get new information. Isela will schedule a
workshop during Faculty Development week to keep
everybody updated.
R&D Team -- teaches, analyzes and synthesizes
lessons using lesson protocol
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Placement Exam: Dr. Kelley talked about an issue regarding
how some students are confused by the wording in some course
descriptions that read “READ 0309 or by placement exam.”
The students do not know what placement exam it is referring
to. At EPCC, “placement exam” usually means by Accuplacer,
but that is not always the case. Other placement exams include
discipline designed exams. Dr. Kelley wrote a statement and
proposed that it be placed in the catalog. After making a few
modifications to the original statement the statement being
recommended reads:
Placement tests are designed to assist
institutions in placing students into
appropriate courses. The following tests
are considered in placing students into
appropriate courses: ACCUPLACER,
ASSET, COMPASS, THEA, ACT, SAT,
PLAN, PSAT and TAKS. Contact the
testing center for information.
It was mentioned that all of the tests being mentioned will be
replaced in two years by THEA. There will be only one test
statewide and probably only one set of cut scores statewide.
Next year there will be pilots for this new test. The universities
and colleges will be under one test again, statewide.



Motion to recommend that this definition be placed
in the catalog with the icon of a hand after each
course that tells that there is a placement test was
made by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Second by David Moody.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
through the right channels from start to finish and identifying
how curriculum decisions are finalized and which parties need
to be notified along the way. She went through the charge with
the committee, and after everyone examined the chart and held
a short discussion, some recommendations were made. Ms.
Ritchey will update the chart and present the finalized version
in the next meeting.
Dr. Kelley mentioned that as of October 1, 2010, the
Curriculum Office will be responsible for BANNER input.
Dr. Kelley mentioned that one of the projects that David Henry
will be completing for the remainder of the semester is to meet
with the counselors at every campus and identify courses in
which transfer problems exist. Once the list is compiled, it will
be presented to the UTEP articulation committee. Mr. Henry
will also be seeking feedback on problems with degree plans,
the College catalog, and other areas dealt with by the
counselors. His third concern is to get feedback on Lolo
Mercado’s recommendation that counselors be assigned to each
discipline to advise the disciplines on degree revisions, based
on problems with transfer and with “completers” of the degree
requirements.
SCANS will be presented in the next meeting.



Motion to adjourn was made by Jackie Mitchell.
Second by Dr. Daniel Gutierrez.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.
Dr. Kelley explained that we have been teaching GEOL 1301
and GEOL 1302 with a Lecture/Lab of 2:2 when the ACGM
allows 1301 and 1302 as lecture only, so we have been out of
compliance. We are therefore changing to GEOL 1401 and
GEOL 1402, which have lecture and lab. This change will put
us into compliance with CB requirements.
Also, because the Coordinating Board reversed the sequence of
our Astronomy courses (PHYS 1303/1103 and PHYS
1304.1104), Banner was unable to recognize which students
were taking which courses. The easiest way to resolve the
issue was to change the rubric and the name of the course to
ASTR1303/1103 and ASTR 1304/1104. The courses will be
identified by the course title with no mention of the courses
being “parts I & II.” Banner can now read these rubrics, and
transfer with UTEP should be successful with these changes.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
Charge of the Committee: David Henry pointed out that the
Official Curriculum Committee Charge had been proposed and
voted on about three years ago, but it was not until recently that
it was placed on the web. He reported that the new charge is
now on the web.
Recommendation Process: Ms. Ritchey reported that because
of some communication glitches, Dr. Brown had put together a
task force to work on a Communication Flow Chart. The
purpose of the chart is to assure that the communication flows
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Thursday, November 18, 2010
Transmountain Conference Room 1005
MEMBERS PRESENT: Miguel Aguilar, Yolanda Ahner,
Kimberley Golucke, Dr. Daniel Gutierrez , Patricia Islas, Laura
Jimenez, Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Claude Mathis, David
Moody, Patrick Pynes, Dr. Nader Rassaei, Joyce Ritchey, Gale
K. Sanchez , Steve Smith, Joshua I. Villalobos, Barbara
Williams, and Isela Castanon-Williams.
MEMBERS ABSENT: David B. Henry, Hilario H.
Hernandez (proxy for Mr. Hernandez was Kimberley J.
Golucke), Ruben Gallegos, Daryle Hendry, Jackie Mitchell
(proxy for Ms. Mitchell was Dr. Daniel Gutierrez).
Valerio and following her recommendations it was brought
down from Associate of Applied Science to a Certificate of
Completion.
There was a concern that MCHN 1438, DFTG 2432 and DFTG
2402 are courses that are already in a degree and that the
courses are already being taught at the Advanced Technology
Center.

GUESTS PRESENT: David Wilson, Juan Luna, Linda
Cropper, Richard Bahena and Leticia Flores.

Call Meeting to Order: Isela Castaňon-Williams called the
meeting to order at 3:15. Ms. Castaňon-Williams started the
meeting by giving the information for the workshop scheduled
for January. The workshop will be held Tuesday, January 11,
2011 and it will be held in Room A1510 at Valle Verde from
3:30-5:00. The purpose of the workshop is to give faculty an
update from the state thru Joyce Ritchey on the proposed
changes to the Core Curriculum. Dr. Kelley will send out an
announcement from the Curriculum Office as a reminder that
this workshop is taking place.
One more thing mentioned by Dr. Kelley was that because the
Curriculum Committee is partly responsible for doing
evaluation and assessment of the Core Curriculum, an
assessment will be conducted by means of a questionnaire.
Those students who will be graduating in December will be
surveyed during graduation rehearsal. The other group that
will be assessed will be seniors who have already applied for
graduation in January 2011. With the results of these two
groups, a report will be put together and submit to the state in
April 2011.



Motion to approve the October 21, 2010 Minutes as
corrected was made by Yolanda Ahner.
Second by Steve Smith.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Drafting and Design Technology: This program was
presented as information only. Juan Luna, District Wide
Coordinator for the program shared with the committee that the
Drafting and Design Technology now includes the following:



AAS in Architecture Drafting
AAS in Civil Engineering Technician
CC in Machine Drafting
He gave some background information on why the changes
were made. He also mentioned that the Machine Drafting
Certificate was originally an AAS, but after meeting with Dr.
Motion to have Mr. Luna meet with Dr. Valerio and
review any potential conflict with MCHN 1438,
DFTG 2432 and DFTG 2402 and come back and
make a joint report at the next meeting was made by
Yolanda Ahner.
Second by Patricia Islas.
During the discussion it was mentioned that it is unclear why
this would even be a concern since the objectives are mandated
by WECM and that there is no conflict if a course is duplicated.
It was mentioned that Mr. Luna’s original plan was an AAS
degree at 63 credit hours, but after a discussion and to
accommodate the ATC it was brought down to 53 credit hours
thus making it a Certificate of Completion.

Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Hospitality Operations: This program was presented as
information only. Linda Cropper, Program Coordinator gave
background information and explained that the industry has
shown a need for this program to be brought back. She
mentioned that in the future there is a possibility that a hotel be
built adjunct to the new campus at the Fort Bliss area. Ms.
Cropper was thanked for coming to the committee with the
information on the Hospitality Operations Associate of Applied
Science Degree and the Hospitality Operations, Front Desk
Operations Certificate of Completion.
Fire Technology: This program was presented as information
only. Richard Bahena, District Wide Coordinator, presented
two new certificates.


Fire Inspector Certificate of Completion
Fire Officer Certificate of Completion
The Fire Inspector certificate will prepare students who want to
step into the fire service in a non-uniform position. These will
open doors to the veterans who want to come back into
operation. The nature of the Fire Officer Certificate is to
include the officer development courses. The two courses
included are FIRT 1342-Fire Officer I and FIRT 1343-Fire
Officer II.
It was suggested that now this certificate will be in place it
would be a good idea to visit actively with the training
academy and make certain that there is no duplication of
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training and that there really is a career path for the people
already in the service or the ones that will be going into that
service. Mr. Bahena was thanked for his presentation.
Allied Community Health Services (ACHS): This program
was presented as information only. Leticia Flores, Program
Coordinator started by saying that the program name changed
from Community Health Worker to Allied Community Health
Services. She mentioned that the program has evolved and
there are more and more students and that it was because of this
evolution that the program was restructured. The program will
open doors in careers such as community nursing, health
education and promotion, epidemiology, social work, health
advocacy, or other public health fields. This program does
transfer to UTEP and is working to articulate with the high
schools. Job opportunities in Texas as a whole are very high.
Dr. Kelley added that the Curriculum Office Video Producer,
featured Community Health Worker as one of the new videos
that will appear in the new catalog and one of her comments
was the enthusiasm that the students show when they go out to
do individual home surveys. The students said that they do not
intend to stop with just the certificate because they have found
the program so rewarding that they want to go into Social
Work, Nursing or any of the other public health fields.
Dr. Kelley also mentioned that one of the features in the new
videos is that at the end of each presentation the video producer
adds statistics such the job opportunities in Texas in El Paso
and Nationally. By adding this information at the end of each
video the students actually know what the job opportunities are
in each program.
Drama: This program was presented as information only.
Lisa McNiel, Program Coordinator was unable to attend the
meeting and she asked Dr. Kelley to represent her in presenting
the information on her behalf. The Drama Discipline is
suffering from low enrollment trends and is currently under
scrutiny by the Program Review Committee. To address this
issue, several strategies have been implemented. First, the
Associate of Arts in Drama degree has been revised and it is
now called Associate of Arts in Theater so that it better aligns
with the degree plans at other colleges and universities.
Second, as part of this revision, negotiation is being done to
have 2 +2 articulation agreements with four year institutions so
that the students may easily transfer their credits and continue
their academic careers as juniors at such institutions. Third,
some updating is being done to the curriculum content and
descriptions for certain courses such as Introduction to Theater,
so that the courses better align with those offered at four year
institutions. Finally, recruiting programs are being
implemented to target area high schools and scout for talent at
events such as the U.I.L. One Act Play Contests.
The four year institutions that were investigated as potential
transfer opportunities for EPCC students use the term, Theater
rather than Drama. For example:
-New Mexico State
-Texas Tech
Department of Theater Arts
Department of Theater and Dance
-UT Austin
Department of Theater and Dance
-UTEP
-Columbia University
in NYC
Department of Film, Theater and
Dance
Theater Arts Division
Degrees in and Departments of Theater rather than Drama
prevail. Theater is also a more inclusive term that emphasizes
all aspects of this discipline including Technical Theater and
Stage Management, not just drama which implies an acting
focus. The revised degree plan will help students achieve
expertise not only in performance, but in technical theater, and
stage management as well. In fact to fill Mr. Hector Serrano’s
position, a nationwide search for a candidate who can serve as
a Technical Director and teach the Stage Craft and Design
classes is being instituted. (Mr. Serrano plans to retire at the
end of the spring semester.)
Mr. Mathis added that he is very excited about the revised
degree plan and mentioned that Ms. McNiel has done a lot of
good work. Dr. Kelley closed by saying that Ms. McNiel is
looking at a lot of the courses at UTEP that maybe they are
offering at the Junior level that they might be able to bring
down to a Sophomore level and change them from a Junior
level course to a Sophomore level course.
Biology: This proposal requires a vote. Ms. Glenda Hill,
District Wide Coordinator for the program was not present at
this time.



Motion to table the Biology program until the next
meeting was made by Steve Smith
Second by Yolanda Ahner.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Geology: Joshua I. Villalobos, District Wide Coordinator,
gave a brief summary of the information that was already
given at the last meeting about GEOL 1301 and GEOL 1302
being taught with a Lecture/Lab of 2:2 when the ACGM allows
1301 and 1302 as lecture only, putting the program out of
compliance. Therefore the discipline agreed to change the
courses to GEOL 1401 and GEOL 1402, which have lecture
and lab. The transition to a 1400 level for the intro geology
courses allows labs to be taught and will keep the courses in
state compliance for contact hours.



Motion to remove GEOL 1301 and GEOL 1302
from the Core Curriculum and replace them with
GEOL 1401 and GEOL 1402 was made by, Joshua
I. Villalobos
Second by a member
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
The following meeting dates were scheduled:


January 20, 2011
February 17, 2011
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Dr. Kelley asked for volunteers to form a task force to meet
and draft some questions to survey the graduating seniors. The
students who will be graduating in December will be surveyed
during graduation rehearsal. The same questions will be used
for the May 20011 graduates. The people in the task force are:






Dr. Katherine C. Kelley
Isela Castanon-Williams
Patrick Pynes
Gale K. Sanchez
Barbara Williams
Dr. Nader Rassaei
SCANS will be presented at the next meeting. Also at the next
meeting the charge of the committee will be discussed briefly.
At the February meeting a final decision will be made
regarding the areas of responsibility that the committee has.



Motion to adjourn was made by Yolanda Ahner.
Second by Dr. Daniel Gutierrez.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:40 p.m.
The task force will meet on Monday, November 22, 2010 at
1:00 at Dr. Kelley’s office (Valle Verde Room C-204).
Recommendation Process: Ms. Ritchey presented the
finalized Communication Flow Chart to the committee.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Thursday, March 24, 2011
Transmountain Conference Room 1005
MEMBERS PRESENT: Miguel Aguilar, Yolanda Ahner,
Kimberley Golucke, Dr. Daniel Gutierrez, Daryle Hendry,
Hilario H. Hernandez , Laura Jimenez, Dr. Katherine C.
Kelley, Claude Mathis, Jackie Mitchell, Patrick Pynes, Dr.
Nader Rassaei, Joyce Ritchey, Gale K. Sanchez, Steve Smith,
Joshua I. Villalobos, Barbara Williams, and Isela CastanonWilliams.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Ruben Gallegos, Patricia Islas, and
David Moody.
GUESTS PRESENT: Maria T. Gomez, Rachel Ortega and
David Wilson.
Call Meeting to Order: Isela Castaňon-Williams called the
meeting to order at 3:15. The November 18, 2010 minutes
were approved via e-mail.



Motion to approve the November 18, 2010 Minutes
via e-mail was made by Gale K Sanchez.
Second by Barbara Williams.
Motion was passed with 12 votes via e-mail.
Core Curriculum Assessment Report: Maria T. Gomez
presented an update of the Core Curriculum Assessment
Report. Ms. Gomez explained to the committee the format
followed to complete the report and stated that the submission
date would be April 1, 2011.
With the help of the Curriculum Office a link will be created to
access the appropriate syllabi.
Based on the findings of the review of the Assessment of the
Core Curriculum and also based on the revisions, it is best that
before the Core Curriculum disciplines revisit the objectives to
wait until all the information comes forward and know what
needs to be done, rather than have to do it now and have
another set of directions later.
Maria made emphasis on the course objectives for GOVT 2305
and GOVT 2306. She brought everyone’s attention to the fact
that most of the objectives begin with the words “Express
verbally or in writing.” The Core Curriculum skills are:
listening, speaking, reading, writing and critical thinking.
Maria mentioned that it helps when an objective expresses a
particular skill.
Dr. Katherine Kelley mentioned that one of the reasons that it
is so important that this committee be informed on the status of
the report is because one of the major charges of the
Curriculum Committee is to maintain and review the courses
that are in the Core. Dr. Kelley also mentioned that a group of
members from the Curriculum Committee and the General
Education Taskforce were joined together to work with District
Wide Coordinators in compiling the report. Joyce Richey,
Maria T. Gomez, Myshie Pagel and Dr. Kelley prepared the
narrative. The names of each of these task forces will be
printed in the report.
Dr. Kelley informed the committee that the two people that
have worked very hard in compiling the information are Maria
T. Gomez and Myshie M. Pagel. She also mentioned that
Rachel Ortega has been a tremendous help with information
and in formatting this report. Once the report is finalized it will
be the Curriculum Committee’s responsibility to review and
assess the report on a yearly basis.
Maria Gomez remembered the very first time that she
presented to the committee on September 16, 2010. She
mentioned that at that time she had no clue on how the report
would turn out and how it would get done by April 1, 2011.
Isela shared that that when she heard Maria say that there was
nothing done to the report she knew that the Curriculum
Committee had to step up to the plate and help. She thanked
everyone in the Curriculum Office and the Task Forces
involved. The people involved in the different Task Forces
were:














Edith Aguirre
Ivette Chuca
Kimberley Golucke
Maria T. Gomez
Patricia Islas
Antonio Juarez
Dr. Carol Kay
Dr. Katherine C. Kelley
Lisa McNeil
Patrick Pynes
Myshie M. Pagel
Joyce Ritchey
Carmen Thompson
Joshua Villalobos
Catalog Changes: Rachel Ortega presented two handouts that
listed all the changes to programs and to course descriptions.
Momentum Points: Joyce Ritchey presented information on
Momentum Points. Community and technical colleges are
funded on enrollment at the beginning of each semesterspecifically, the number of students who are in the classroom
on the 12th class day (the census date). This methodology only
is used as incentive for additional recruitment and enrollmenti.e. getting more students in the door.
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is
recommending a new model for funding community and
technical colleges that would align state resources with better
student outcomes that will drive the future Texas economy.
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The Momentum Funding Model proposes to allocate 10 percent
of base funding for community and technical colleges on
student progress and achievement of specific metrics, which
includes the following:
SCANS: The following motion was made at the September
16, 2010 meeting.

The weights assigned for each milestone are:





2 points-student is college ready in Math and English
(1 point for each)
2 points-student successfully completes first year
college-level Math and English course (1 point for
each)
1 point-student completes 15 semester credit hours
1 point-student completes 30 semester credit hours
2 points-student transfers to a university; receives a
certificate or associate’s degree (one point for each)


Mr. Wilson brought the information requested. The following
is taken from the GIPWE chapter 5
It is not necessary to submit this information, but
the College must document that the appropriate
level of academic and workplace skills would be
achieved upon completion of the described
curriculum (See examples of SCANS Matrix
Model and Program Competency Profile at the
end of Chapter Three.)
Students enrolled in dual credit courses will be counted in the
milestone points.
Each of these metrics are directly aligned with the core mission
of community and technical colleges in Texas and encourage
institutions to help all students, particularly at risk students,
progress toward their educational goals. The remaining portion
of the base funding (90 percent) would continue to be allocated
based on enrollment. The THECB is recommending that this
proposal be implemented in the second year of the next
biennium (FY2013) in order to give institutions sufficient time
to understand the model.
Dr. Kelley mentioned that many of the AAS do have
certificates and many of the students do not apply for a
certificate. It may be that they do not know that these
certificates exist or may not be aware that he/she has to apply
for them. The Curriculum Office is placing a statement to
encourage the student to apply for a certificate in the catalog.
The statement is being placed at the end of each certificate or if
the certificate is embedded, it is placed at the exit point of that
particular degree. This statement will be in the future catalog
and counseling degree plans.
Daryle Hendry from Registrars mentioned that in the future
when a student applies for graduation and if the degree has an
embedded certificate, the student will be awarded the
certificate at the time of graduation even if the student has not
applied for the certificate. The committee held a discussion
and brainstormed on strategies on how to earn momentum
points and to find ways to inform everyone of this new change.
Motion to take a look at the wording in the GIPWE,
concerning the SCANS, before any action is taken
was made by Steve Smith.
Second by Joshua I. Villalobos.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
The committee discussed the issue further and because not
everyone remembered the same thing, it was recommended to
form a task force to look into this matter.



Motion to form a task force to explore the SCANS
forms and then bring back any findings to the
Curriculum Committee for further recommendation
was made by Steve Smith.
Second by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
People in the Task Force are: Steve Smith, Kimberley
Golucke, Dr. Nader Rassaei, and David Wilson
The next Curriculum Committee meeting will be held April 21,
2011.



Motion to adjourn was made by Kimberley
Golucke.
Second by Claude Mathis.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:50 p.m.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
2009-2010 MINUTES
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Transmountain Conference Room 1005
MEMBERS PRESENT: Miguel Aguilar, Carlos Armendariz,
Kimberley Golucke, Dr. Daniel Gutierrez, Patricia Islas, Dr.
Katherine C. Kelley, Claude Mathis, Jackie Mitchell, Joyce
Ritchey, Steve Smith, Joshua I. Villalobos, Isela CastanonWilliams, and Richard Yaňez..
MEMBERS ABSENT: Ruben Gallegos, Hilario H.
Hernandez, Aimee Harris-Johnson, (proxy for Ms. HarrisJohnson was Dr. Gutierrez) David Moody, Daniel M.
Nanguang, Dr. Nader Rassaei, (proxy for Dr. Rassaei was Dr.
Gutierrez)
GUEST PRESENT: Dale Hougham.
Opening Remarks: Isela Castaňon-Williams brought the
meeting to order at 3:15. She thanked Joyce Ritchey for the
refreshments.



Motion to approve the August 17, 2009 Minutes as
presented was made by Steve Smith.
Second by Miguel Aguilar.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Preview New Catalog: Dr. Kelley gave a brief presentation
on how the future catalog will look and what it will do when it
goes on line in January 2010. She mentioned that Dr. Rhodes
and Dr. Brown approved to have the catalog and the credit
schedules on line. Summer 2010 schedule will be the last
printed schedule. The Continuing Education schedule serves a
different population, and for that reason it will continue to be
printed as usual. Zmags is the name of the company that will
provide the server and the training for this project to be a
reality. Zmags is located in Denmark and it serves 2,000
customers in 35 different countries.
Dr. Kelley shared with the committee that she had this same
vision four years ago, but at that time the cost was $210,000 for
the catalog to go on line. Now it will only cost $3,500 to have
the catalog plus the schedule on line. The catalog will be
unveiled during Faculty Development at the General Session.
The Curriculum Committee was invited to attend the District
Wide Coordinator’s meeting where Dr. Kelley will make a
bigger presentation of the on-line Catalog. The meeting will be
held on September 28, at the ASC in the Auditorium from
3:00-5:00.
Mr. Dale Hougham mentioned that because the schedule is
printed several months in advanced the information is outdated
by the time the students register. By having the schedule on
line the information will always be updated. The students will
get the most current courses at all times.
Carlos Armendariz asked if there will be some type of booklet
printed for the counselors to distribute to all the new students.
It was mentioned that Dr. Dennis Brown had already approved
the printing of a booklet with the appropriate information. Dr.
Kelley said that it would be like a view book where it will have
the necessary information for the new students.
A concern was brought up regarding the fact that there is a
procedure where it says that all new students will receive a
catalog. If the catalog is strictly on-line, the College will not be
fulfilling this promise. Dr. Kelley informed the committee that
instead of a hard copy catalog the student will get a small size
flash drive with the catalog already saved in it. Instead of a
hard copy, all the new students will receive a catalog in a small
removable drive. If there are changes to the catalog the
students will be referred to the web. Dr. Brown has talked
about the possibility of changing the procedure in the future.
Proposal for Declaring Majors in Banner: Dr. Kelley
explained that one of the charges of the Curriculum Committee
was to oversee degree plans. The Curriculum office is asking
assistance in assuring that when degree plans are submitted to
the Registrar’s office to be placed on Banner that the degree
plans are adhered to rigidly. Students sometimes do not see a
counselor and so therefore Banner needs to be able to alert the
student that courses are being taken out of the degree plan.
This committee is recommending that a letter be sent to the
Director of Admissions at the Registrar’s office requesting that
the Banner System be implemented in a way that the student
will only be allowed to take the courses that are in their majors.
This is being requested because of the high number of students
that are on out-of-town and taking courses on-line and are
unable to sit down with a counselor. Another reason is because
some students do not follow counseling recommendations.
After talking more about this issue the recommendation was
revised and agreed to have Joyce Ritchey as the committee
liaison take this concern to Leadership. It was also requested
that a report be brought back to the committee at a later
meeting.
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


Motion to have Joyce Ritchey take this concern to
Leadership and bring back a report from Leadership
was made by Joshua I. Villalobos.
Second by Dr. Daniel Gutierrez.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Motion to adjourn at 4:30.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Thursday, October 15, 2009
Transmountain Conference Room 1005
MEMBERS PRESENT: Miguel Aguilar, Carlos Armendariz,
Kimberley Golucke, Dr. Daniel Gutierrez, Patricia Islas, Dr.
Katherine C. Kelley, Claude Mathis, David Moody, Dr. Nader
Rassaei, Joyce Ritchey, Gale K. Sanchez, and Isela CastanonWilliams.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Ruben Gallegos, Hilario H.
Hernandez, Aimee Harris-Johnson, (proxy for Ms. HarrisJohnson was Dr. Gutierrez) Jackie Mitchell, Daniel M.
Nanguang, Joshua I. Villalobos, Richard Yanez, and Steve
Smith, (proxy for Steve Smith was Mr. Moody).
GUESTS PRESENT: Rachel Ortega, David Wilson, Bobby
Ortega, Allison Bruce, Mariano Olmos, Dr. Albert Burnham,
Dr. Eileen Conklin, Mark Norbeck and Manfred Silva.
Opening Remarks: Isela Castaňon-Williams brought the
meeting to order at 3:15. She thanked Joyce Ritchey for the
refreshments. Ms. Castaňon-Williams introduced Gale K.
Sanchez, as the new member of the committee and asked that
each member introduce themselves to Ms. Sanchez.



Motion to approve the September 17, 2009 Minutes
as presented was made by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Second by David Moody.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Engineering: Mr. Mariano Olmos and Mr. Bobby Ortega
informed the committee that the following five Associate of
Science degrees were created from the Field of Study in
Engineering.





Associate of Science in Mechanical Engineering
Associate of Science in Materials Engineering
Associate of Science in Industrial Engineering
Associate of Science in Electrical Engineering
Associate of Science in Civil Engineering
As clarification Dr. Kelley explained to the committee that
Engineering has always been classified as a Field of Study in
the State of Texas and so that essentially says that the student
completes as much of the core as possible before moving on to
an institute of higher learning. By creating five Associate of
Science degrees and going with the proposal of removing
Engineering from a Field of Study the students are better
served.
Mr. Olmos’ proposal is to have ENGR 2372-Economy for
Engineers and Scientists, be added to the Core Curriculum in
the Social and Behavioral Science Block. The following
justification was presented in support to his proposal:
We are requesting the approval of a unique needs course
ENGR 2372- Economy for Engineers and Scientists. This
course is required in the Associate of Science in Mechanical
Engineering, Material Engineering, Industrial Engineering,
Electrical Engineering, and Civil Engineering degree plans
in the development of a 2 + 2 Baccalaureate articulated
program outline with the University of Texas of El Paso
(UTEP). This course is a core course at the University of
Texas of El Paso (UTEP) and it is desirable to make it a
core course at El Paso Community College. Both
institutions will benefit for this course approval.
All the disciplines impacted in the Social and Behavioral
Science Block were notified and invited to the meeting. The
four disciplines (ANTH, ECON, PSYC, and SOCI) responded
via e-mail in support of adding ENGR 2372 to the core. The
Economics discipline offered to help Mr. Olmos with any of
the Economics theory if needed.
Government and History were not notified because GOVT and
HIST courses must be taken so those two disciplines are not
impacted if ENGR 2372 is added to the core.



Motion to recommend the addition of ENGR 2372
to the Core Curriculum was made by Dr. Nader
Rassaei.
Second by Carlos Armendariz.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Dr. Kelley will draft a letter on behalf of the committee stating
the recommendation to add ENGR 2372 to the Core
Curriculum. The letter will be sent to Dr. Dennis Brown. He
will then forward the recommendation and a letter from him to
the Coordinating Board for approval.
Physics: Ms. Castaňon-Williams introduced Allison Bruce
from the Physics Discipline as the next guest. She mentioned
that the information being shared by Ms. Bruce is for
information only and requires no vote.
Allison started by saying that sometime back UTEP made the
decision to change their Modern Physics course from a Junior
level to a Sophomore level and this opened a huge opportunity
for the Physics department. PHYS 2370-Modern Physics is
required by all the following majors:




Engineering
Physics
Chemistry
Computer Science
There is a large student population taking this course. The
Physics Discipline created a syllabus for PHYS 2370-Modern
Physics that matches with UTEP. The other course that was
added to the degree is PHYS 2270-Thermal and Fluid
Physics. This course is designed for Physics majors only.
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Dr. Kelley mentioned that by UTEP lowering these courses
from an upper division to a lower division made it possible to
create a true Associate of Science in Physics degree. She said
that UTEP has shown a true partnership with EPCC. It will
take about a year before the final proposal is finalized because
it will still have to go thru five different committees, but
meanwhile a temporary letter of transferability has been issued
and it will be attached and sent to the Coordinating Board. Ms.
Bruce and Mr. Ortega were congratulated for the new
Associate of Science in Physics Degree.
History: Dr. Albert Burnham is requesting that: HIST 1301,
1302, 2321, and 2322 have the phrase (can be taken
concurrently) deleted and leave READ 0309 as the
prerequisite. Dr. Burnham is proposing this change because he
feels that the students should be able to read well before taking
any of the above mentioned History courses. Dr. Eileen
Conklin, Mark Norbeck and Manfred Silva were present and
made some comments in support of this change.
The Government discipline requested this same change two
years ago in hope of raising the pass rate. Dr. Gutierrez was
asked if he has seen a positive change after the phrase was
taken out from the GOVT courses. He mentioned that he
teaches at the Norwest Campus and that in that campus he has
not seen a positive change.
Mr. Mathis mentioned that another option to consider is the
Learning Communities program. Good feedback was given
regarding taking the Leaning Communities route.


Motion to recommend deleting the phrase (can be
taken concurrently) and leave READ 0309 as the
prerequisite to HIST 1301, 1302, 2321, and 2322
was made by Miguel Aguilar.
Second by Kimberley Golucke.
The committee feels that because there are many other factors
why the students might be having trouble passing, it was
recommended that a study be made of the overall percentage of
students who were successful in Government before the phrase
was taken out and after. One reason given to support the study
was that the passing rate in Government is quite low even with
the phrase taken out and leaving READ 0309 as the
prerequisite.

Motion was passed with two abstentions.

It is recommend by the committee that the College
conduct a study of the fact that READ 0309 as a
prerequisite has had on the pass rate of the
Government courses and once History implements
the same requirement that they be included in the
study after their first year. Motion was made by
Kimberley Golucke.
Second by David Moody.

During the discussion it was agreed to add to the motion that
the institution provide the data and that Mr. Claude Mathis and
Joyce Ritchey will create the official request.
 Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Old Business: Joyce Ritchey reported that Isela and Dr.
Kelley were at one of the Leadership Team meeting where
Daryle Hendry was present. It gave them the opportunity to
ask Mr. Hendry if it is possible that Banner be linked to the
student’s major so that when a student registers for classes the
student only registers for courses that are in their particular
degree plan. Mr. Hendry indicated that it is possible.
Dr. Kelley explained that when the catalog and schedules go
on-line the student will be able to run the cursor over a
particular course in his/her degree plan and it will link him/her
to the schedule and it will show exactly when the class is being
offered. This will help the student plan almost a year in
advance. This will become effective Fall 2010.
New Business: Rachel Ortega, Curriculum Monitoring
Specialist, presented the following information by means of a
handout:



New Courses
Revisions
Expired Courses
(40)
(144)
(55)
Rachel explained that the first list shows all the new courses
coming from the state to be implemented Fall 2010. The
Unique Needs courses that are waiting approval from the state
have not been included in this list. The second list shows all
the courses that had revisions on prerequisites, course titles and
course numbers.
Dr. Kelley referred to the list of expired courses and explained
that some of the courses on the list were expired by the
Coordinating Board, but many were expired because they do
not fit into any degree plan.
Dr. Kelley comment on the article that was printed in the
Tejano Tribune regarding the headline “The Printed Catalog is
a Thing of the Past.” The first catalog was printed in 1971 and
the last is the 2008-2010. Dr. Kelley said that the journalism
students did a wonderful job in doing a very quick survey on
some students just out on the hallway and also interviewed her.
As stated in the articles a high percentage of students are in
favor of an on-line catalog.
Two meetings are necessary in the Month of November. The
committee will meet on November 12, 2009 and on November
19, 2009.



Motion to adjourn was made by Carlos Armendariz.
Second by Claudia Islas.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Thursday, November 12, 2009
Transmountain Conference Room 1005
MEMBERS PRESENT: Miguel Aguilar, Carlos Armendariz,
Ruben Gallegos, Hilario H. Hernandez, Patricia Islas, Laura
Jimenez, Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Claude Mathis, Jackie
Mitchell, David Moody, Dr. Nader Rassaei, Joyce Ritchey,
Gale K. Sanchez, and Isela Castanon-Williams.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Kimberley Golucke, Dr. Daniel
Gutierrez, (proxy for Dr. Gutierrez was Dr. Rassaei) Aimee
Harris-Johnson, Joshua I. Villalobos, Richard Yanez, and Steve
Smith.
GUESTS PRESENT: Rachel Ortega, David Wilson, Lolo
Mercado, Dr. Jaime Farias, Lee Cannell and Hector Serrano.
Opening Remarks: Isela Castaňon-Williams brought the
meeting to order at 3:30. She thanked Joyce Ritchey for the
refreshments. Ms. Castaňon-Williams introduced Laura
Jimenez who will represent Nursing as the new member of the
committee and asked that each member introduce themselves to
Ms. Jimenez.



Motion to approve the September 17, 2009 Minutes
as presented was made by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Second by David Moody.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
READ 0309: Lolo Mercado addressed the committee with a
concern regarding the phrase (can be taken concurrently) that
was deleted from HIST 1301, 1302, 2321 and 2322. Mr.
Mercado mentioned that by deleting the phrase the students
will have fewer options because they will have to first pass
READ 0309 instead of taking it at the same time as taking
History or Government. The committee assured him that they
also have some concerns and that is the reason why it was
recommended that the College conduct a study of the impact
that READ 0309 as a prerequisite has had on the pass rate of
the Government courses and once History implements the same
requirement that they be included in the study after their first
year. Dr. Kelley mentioned that only Government and History
are impacted and that there are120 courses in the core that the
students can choose from.
Probation and Parole ESC: Michelle Watkins and Dr. Jaime
Farias informed the committee on the proposed Certificate of
Enhancement Field of Study in Criminal Justice with
Community Corrections Emphasis. The EPCC’s Criminal
Justice Advisory Committee identified a need to create a
Certificate of Enhancement in Probation and Parole. The
purpose of the Probation and Parole Enhanced Certificate is to
provide students with training in non-institutional corrections
that is more in-depth than is usually obtained in either an
Associate Degree in Criminal Justice or Baccalaureate Degree
in Criminal Justice. This certificate is intended for those
individuals presently working in the probation and parole fields
to receive training specific to their careers.
The thought behind the degree according to the Advisory
Committee was that law enforcement and correctional agencies
have their own local “academies”, but that no such thing exists
for probation and parole offices. The Certificate of
Enhancement will provide probation and parole employees
these skills, making EPCC the local “academy” for the field.
This item is information only and requires no vote from the
committee.
Business and Accounting AA: Lee Cannell and Dr. Jaime
Farias gave a summary of the impact it had when UTEP
reduced the business programs down to 120 hours. The course
that was the equivalent of the BCIS 1305 in the Business Field
of Study was eliminated. This caused great concern for the
EPCC Business and Accounting faculty. Initially EPCC was
unwilling to drop that course and thus an AA in Bus/Acct was
unlikely. Through the year other changes were occurring. It
became apparent that a problem existed with non-completers
for the Field of Study potentially because of the UTEP change.
This made the Bus/Acct discipline more willing to drop BCIS
1305. In addition it became apparent that the BMGT 1329
course not being in the field of study was negatively affecting
its enrollment. There was no transfer problem with UTEP but
even some of EPCC counselors were hesitant to recommend
the course due to this issue. It became apparent that using a
MOU as support of a unique needs course designation of the
stat course would benefit the discipline. With that motivation it
was agreed on by the discipline to approve the suggested AA in
Business and Accounting. The MOU was signed fall 2009 by
both EPCC and UTEP. The discipline will have the AA and
will continue to offer the Field of Study. This item is
information only and requires no vote from the committee.
Drama: Representing this proposal is Hector Serrano and
Claude Mathis. Mr. Serrano explained that it is the discipline’s
decision to drop DRAM 2366-Introduction to Film from the
core. He said UTEP’s film department is no longer under
Theater and EPCC has done the same. Mr. Mathis gave some
background information on why COMM 2366-Introduction
to Film and DRAM were co-listed three years ago. He
explained that by DRAM and COMM being co-listed has
created confusion, the enrollment has been split and it has been
very hard to manage. He supports the proposal to drop DRAM
from the core. Mr. Serrano closed by saying that he teaches
his students that theater is a live performance arts and movies
can never replace it. He added that one can certainly watch the
art in a movie, but it can never take the place of a live theatrical
performance.


Motion to recommend to drop DRAM 2366 from
the core was made by Gale K. Sanchez.
Second by Claudia Islas.
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
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
Motion passed with one abstention.
The committee will meet on November 19, 2009 at
Transmountain in Room 1005.



Motion to adjourn was made by Claude Mathis.
Second by Miguel Aguilar.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:45 p.m.
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Thursday, November 19, 2009
Transmountain Conference Room 1005
MEMBERS PRESENT: Miguel Aguilar, Kimberley
Golucke, Dr. Daniel Gutierrez, Hilario H. Hernandez, Laura
Jimenez, Aimee Harris-Johnson, Dr. Katherine C. Kelley,
Jackie Mitchell, David Moody, Dr. Nader Rassaei, Joyce
Ritchey, Gale K. Sanchez, Steve Smith, Joshua I. Villalobos,
Isela Castanon-Williams, and Richard Yanez.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Carlos Armendariz, Ruben Gallegos,
Patricia Islas, (proxy for Ms. Islas was David Moody) and
Claude Mathis, (proxy for Mr. Mathis was Steve Smith).
GUESTS PRESENT: Rachel Ortega, David Wilson, Jason
Moses, Ken Gorski, Dr. Olga Valerio, Rick Webb and Linda
Cropper.
Opening Remarks: Isela Castaňon-Williams brought the
meeting to order at 3:30. She thanked Mr. Claude Mathis for
the refreshments and thanked Joyce Ritchey for Dr. Kelley’s
birthday cake. Isela and everyone in the room wished Dr.
Kelley a Happy Birthday.



Motion to approve the November 12, 2009 Minutes
as corrected was made by David Moody.
Second by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Motion passed with one abstention.
Psychology: Mr. Jason Moses, District Wide Coordinator for
Psychology, stated that last year the Coordinating Board
deleted PSYC 2303-Human Relations in the Workplace
from the ACGM inventory. PSYC 2303 is in the Core
Curriculum and it is also a required course in 16 degree plans.
The Psychology discipline agreed that PSYC 2302Industrial/Organizational is equivalent to PSYC 2303.
However being equivalent that does not place PSYC2302
automatically in the CORE and it does require a vote from the
committee.



Motion to recommend placing PSYC 2302 in the
Core was made by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Second by Aimee Harris-Johnson.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Architecture: Mr. Ken Gorski, District Wide Coordinator for
Architecture is proposing to remove ARCH 1305Architectural Aesthetics from the Core. Mr. Gorski explained
that ARCH 1305 will not appear in the 2010-2011 Catalog.



Motion to recommend that ARCH 1305 be removed
from the Core was made by Gale K. Sanchez.
Second by Hilario H. Hernandez.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Diesel Mechanic Certificate: Dr. Olga Valerio, Director of
the Advanced Technology Center, gave information regarding
the new Diesel Mechanic Certificate. The ATC Diesel
Mechanics program is modeled after the National Automotive
Technician Education Foundation (NATEF) standards for
Medium/Heavy Duty Truck Technicians. Dr. Valerio
mentioned that if a student starts with concurrent course and
later decided to transfer into the credit side, it can be done with
no problem. This item did not require a vote from the
committee it was for information only.
A member questioned the fact on this proposal not requiring a
vote. It was explained that this program does not fall under
Instruction. It is housed at the Advanced Technology Center
and it falls under Yolanda Ahner and not under Dr. Dennis
Brown. The committee discussed further on this issue and
because of SACS requirements the committee found it
necessary to take this concern to Leadership. Joyce Ritchey,
Liaison of the committee, will ask for this item to be put on the
agenda at the next Leadership Team meeting. The main point
will be clarification on what is the committee’s responsibility
on programs that are under a different Vice President.
Culinary Arts and Related Sciences: Rick Webb and Linda
Cropper were present to share with the committee the changes
that are happening to the program. One major change is that
the program will now be called School of Hospitality and
Travel Services Culinary Arts and Related Sciences. Mr.
Webb informed the committee that the facility will open for
public service on the third week of February 2010. Ms.
Cropper shared that what the state is now trying to do is put
programs into clusters. One of the clusters is Hospitality and
that includes Travel and Tourism, Culinary Arts, Hotel
Operations and also Recreations Industry. This was a perfect
opportunity for EPCC to be one of the first colleges to do what
the state is doing. Mr. Webb mentioned that the equipment that
the students will be using is state of the art equipment. He gave
an example of one oven in that kitchen being able to speak 186
languages and that it is connected to the Internet and has many
other great features. It was noted that Mr. Webb and Ms.
Cropper have done a lot of work on the degree plans. A
comment was made that by looking at the degree plans any
student that finished this program not only will they be able to
cook well, but will read, write, compute, and be social. Rick
and Linda were thanked for the information and were
congratulated on their work. This item did not require a vote
from the committee it was for information only.
Old Business: Dr. Kelley passed around the November 19,
2009 edition of the Tejano Tribune and guided them to page
four where a wonderful article has been written about the
catalog going on line. It talks about the promo videos that Jake
Rollow, Photo Journalist, put together in the seven weeks that
he worked at the Curriculum Office. Dr. Kelley mentioned that
Dr. Richard Rhodes’ wish was that the videos were student
driven and so they were. Only two faculty members were
included in the five first videos. The two faculty members
were Joshua I. Villalobos from Geology and Gabriel Camacho
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from Philosophy and the rest of them were students. Some
students from the Communication Discipline did voice over
and others from the Drama Discipline did some acting. In
closing Dr. Kelley mentioned that the videos will be shown
during Faculty Development in January and that she is very
happy to report that everything is going as planned.
New Business: Dr. Kelley explained that our chairman, Isela
Castañon-Williams attended a conference in Arlington and met
a TEA representative, Dr. Ortiz who will be coming to UTEP
to discuss a grant. We are trying to make arrangements for her
to come and discuss the changes in the TEKS that will impact
incoming students to Community Colleges with the Committee.



Motion to adjourn was made by David Moody.
Second by Jackie Mitchell.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:40 p.m.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Thursday, February 25, 2010
Transmountain Conference Room 1005
MEMBERS PRESENT: Miguel Aguilar, Carlos Armendariz,
Ruben Gallegos, Kimberley Golucke, Dr. Daniel Gutierrez,
Laura Jimenez, Aimee Harris-Johnson, Dr. Katherine C.
Kelley, Claude Mathis, David Moody, Dr. Nader Rassaei, Gale
K. Sanchez, Joshua I. Villalobos, Isela Castanon-Williams.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Patricia Islas, (proxy for Ms. Islas
was Carlos Armendariz), Jackie Mitchell (proxy for Ms.
Mitchell was Claude Mathis), Steve Smith, (proxy for Mr.
Smith was Claude Mathis), Hilario H. Hernandez, Joyce
Ritchey, and Richard Yanez.
GUESTS PRESENT: Rachel Ortega, David Wilson, Joyce
Cordell, Jim Heiney Andrew Lawrence, Lolo Mercado, Dionne
Adams, Robert Weatherly, and Dr. Gail Meagher.

Will the proposed EPCC campus be located inside the
base and if someone attending college there will have
to go thru the gate? Mr. Weatherly explained that the
campus will be inside the base, but not inside a fence.
Everyone attending that campus will have no problem
going in and out.

How can EPCC prepare for these soldiers in terms of
course formatting or any other need? The answer is
flexibility. Soldiers have a great need for flexible
course hours. Mr. Weatherly recommended that
EPCC have as many on-line classes as possible and to
have night and weekend classes.

Has any studies been made in regards on how the
addition of a new campus will affect the population on
another campus? Because of the location of the
campus it does not really compete with any other
campus. This particular campus will serve mainly the
soldiers and their families and any new students
coming to El Paso.

Is there any indication on what part of town the
soldiers will choose to live and if they will be long
term residents? Mr. Weatherly said that most of these
soldiers will probably be here for three to four years
and that the part of town which they will choose will
depend on affordability. They will look for affordable
housing.
Call Meeting to Order: Isela Castaňon-Williams brought the
meeting to order at 3:15.



Motion to approve the November 19, 2009 Minutes
as presented was made by Dr. Daniel Gutierrez.
Second by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Fort Bliss Office of Transformation: Dr. Kelley introduced
Mr. Robert Weatherly from Fort. Bliss office of
Transformation. Mr. Weatherly started his presentation
thanking EPCC for everything that it is being does to help the
soldiers that are pursuing a degree. His presentation included
general information showing the trend of growth from 2005 to
the present time. He showed on a map the area where the new
EPCC campus will be and shared information regarding the
expected growth in El Paso and the numbers of soldiers coming
back to Fort Bliss. He mentioned that by 2012 about 34,000
are expected to come back. The important thing to remember
is that by the end of next calendar year everyone will be home
no one will be away except for about 500 to 600 soldiers. This
is very significant because for the first time all the soldiers will
be at the Fort. Mr. Weatherly very briefly mentioned that the
new Beaumont Army Medical Center will be built around the
same area as the new EPCC campus, but that it will not be
completed until 2016. The main focus of the presentation was
to bring insight of the expected growth and to be thinking of
ways to accommodate the amount of soldiers that will be
coming back to El Paso. Some of the questions asked were the
following:
After several more minutes of question and answers, Mr.
Weatherly was thanked for his presentation.
No meeting was scheduled for March.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:20.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Thursday, April 29, 2010
Valle Verde Conference Room B240
MEMBERS PRESENT: Miguel Aguilar, Carlos Armendariz,
Ruben Gallegos, Kimberley Golucke, Dr. Daniel Gutierrez,
Hilario H. Hernandez, Patricia Islas, Laura Jimenez, Aimee
Harris-Johnson, Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, David Moody, Dr.
Nader Rassaei, Joyce Ritchey, Gale K. Sanchez, Joshua I.
Villalobos, and Isela Castanon-Williams.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Claude Mathis, Jackie Mitchell
(proxy for Ms. Mitchell was Dr. Gutierrez), Steve Smith, and
Richard Yanez.
GUESTS PRESENT: Rachel Ortega and David Wilson.
Call Meeting to Order: Isela Castaňon-Williams brought the
meeting to order at 3:20.



Motion to approve the February 25, 2010 Minutes
as presented was made by Gale K. Sanchez.
Second by Carlos Armendariz.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Catalog Changes for 2010-2011: Rachel Ortega, Curriculum
Monitoring Specialist presented to the committee a list of the
changes for the 2010-2011 Catalog as information only.
Clarification was made that in the 2008-2010 Catalog the
Chicana/o Studies AA Field of Study was published as being
an AA with the title Chicana/o Mexican American Studies.
The discipline has requested that it should be a Field of Study
with the title Chicana/o Studies. The correction has been made
and the correct degree will be published in the 2010-2011
Catalog.
Coordinating Board Proposed Changes Core Curriculum:
Joyce Ritchey, member of the Undergraduate Education
Advisory Committee, presented preliminary information
regarding the proposed changes to the Core Curriculum. The
main focus is to have a core that it is the same across the state.
The core that is now in place has many choices and by doing
so, it becomes confusing to students, according to the
commissioner for THECB.
UEAC core curriculum revision recommendations are not
official until approved by the Coordinating Board. Current core
curriculum standards apply.
Ms. Ritchey urged everyone to visit the Coordinating Board
web site at http://www.thecb.state.tx.us for more information
regarding this future change. Isela thanked Ms. Ritchey for her
presentation.
A member suggested that a workshop be given so that everyone
in the College is informed of the upcoming changes. Ms.
Castanon-Williams announced that she had talked to Keri Moe,
Faculty Development Coordinator, and was able to schedule a
workshop for Tuesday, August 17, 2010 from 2:00-3:30 at
Valle Verde in Room A1510.
Dr. Kelley mentioned that the Core Curriculum is a major
component to the committee’s charge. Ms Castanon-Williams
again mentioned that this issue is of great importance and urged
the committee members to pass on the information to their
disciplines. She gave emphasis to the meeting in August and
mentioned that every discipline should be represented at that
meeting.
Isela thanked Mr. Mathis for the refreshments and wished
everyone a good summer.



Motion to adjourn was made by Carlos Armendariz.
Second by Patricia Islas.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:40 p.m.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
A handout with the title “DRAFT-Proposed Core Objectives,
UEAC 4.16.10” was given to the members as information only.
It listed the following objectives:






Critical Thinking Skills
Communication Skills
Empirical and Quantitative Skills
Teamwork
Social Responsibility
Personal Responsibility
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CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
2008-2009 MINUTES
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Valle Verde Conference Room B240
MEMBERS PRESENT: Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Isela
Castanon-Williams, Carlos Armendariz, Daniel M. Nanguang,
Claude Mathis, Steve Smith, Lesley Pullen, Joyce Ritchey,
Miguel Aguilar, Ruben Gallegos, Kimberley Golucke, Daniel
Gutierrez, Hilario H. Hernandez, Patricia Islas, Aimee HarrisJohnson, Jackie Mitchell, Dr. Nader Rassaei, and Richard
Yaňez.
MEMBERS ABSENT: David Moody and Joshua I.
Villalobos.
GUESTS PRESENT: Rachel Ortega, David Wilson.
Opening Remarks: Isela Castanon-Williams brought the
meeting to order at 3:15 and asked the members to introduce
themselves. She welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Biology 2401 and 2402: Dr. Katherine Kelley gave a brief
summary of the proposal presented at the April 29, 2008
meeting. The proposal was to include BIOL 2401 and 2402
into the Core. Because some questions were left unanswered, it
was voted to table the item until further time and until the
Biology discipline was able to attend the meeting to answer any
questions. The other remaining disciplines that are in the same
block will be invited. Dr. Kelley contacted Dr. Maria Alvarez,
District Wide Coordinator for Biology. Dr. Alvarez will be
ready to make the presentation at either the February or March
2009 meeting.
Dr. Kelley explained to the new members that the Core
Curriculum opens for additions and deletions in 2010. However
at any time should the Curriculum Committee or any faculty
member feel that something should be added or deleted from
the Core, the Curriculum Committee can be approached and a
recommendation will be taken to Dr. Dennis Brown, Vice
President of Instruction. A letter will be sent to the
Coordinating Board asking for addition/deletion of a particular
course.
Proxy Letter: Last year it was decided by the committee that
if a member has to be absent, but wants his/her vote to be
counted, he/she will have to submit a proxy letter. As
information to the new members, Isela Castanon-Williams
went over the steps for a proxy vote.

Notify the Curriculum Office of your absence and
request a proxy form.



The Curriculum Office will e-mail him/her a proxy
form.
The person that will be absent will need to fill out the
proxy form, sign it, and give it to the person that will
be casting the vote.
The person acting as proxy will give the signed form
to the chairperson as proof that he/she is permitted to
vote.
In order to conduct business a Quorum is necessary and this is
the reason the use of a proxy form was recommended.
Submitting a proxy form does not excuse an absence.
New Business: Carlos Armendariz brought a concern to the
committee regarding the decision made about transferability of
courses. His concern was focused on the process that was taken
to reach the decision. He feels that before a decision is made
by the administration, the Curriculum Committee should be
informed and involved in the process.
Two flow charts (in draft form) were presented to the
committee: (a) Faculty Guidance for Transfer Credit Decision
and (b) Challenge of Transfer Credit Evaluations. Dr. Kelley
explained each chart and she also mentioned that the
Curriculum Office will be the liaison between the Registrars’
Office and the Faculty. The Curriculum Office has access to
the Syllabi, the catalog and the course descriptions. The
process will be:







The Curriculum Office will contact the sending
institution and ask them for their syllabi and their
course descriptions.
Once the Curriculum Office has gathered all the
necessary information it will be sent to the District
wide coordinator, notifying the dean.
The District wide coordinator can decide to do the
comparison himself/herself or can ask another faculty
member to do it.
The person assigned will look at the course
descriptions of the sending institution and decide
whether EPCC has an equivalent course or does not
have an equivalent course.
With a YES or a NO, the person doing the comparison
returns it to the Curriculum Office
If there is an equivalent course an EPCC rubric will be
given.
If there is no equivalency, no further action is taken
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 The Curriculum Office then sends it to Registrars.
It was recommended to ask Dr. Brown that a task force be put
together to update the College procedure to address how
transfer of credit is handled. It was proposed that until such
time as the procedure is updated by the taskforce, that the draft
flow charts presented, be utilized until the final product is
ready.


Motion to ask that Dr. Dennis Brown create a task
force to update the existing procedure concerning
awarding a transfer credit from another institution
and that until the procedure is updated that the
existing draft (flow charts) be used to award credit
was made by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Second by Claude Mathis.
During discussion it was proposed that the task force be chaired
by a member from the Curriculum Committee. After a short
discussion, it was decided that when Dr. Brown puts together
the task force one of the deans that serves in the Curriculum
Committee will recommend to Dr. Brown to include a faculty
member from the Curriculum Committee to be part of the task
force.




Motion to meet at Transmountain in Conference
Room 1005 for the 2008-2009 year was made by
Carlos Armendariz
Second by Patricia Islas.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
The following are the four meetings approved:
October 16, 2008
November 20, 2008
February 19, 2009
April 16, 2009
All meetings start at 3:15



Motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Carlos
Armendariz.
Second by Claude Mathis.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:00
Original motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Degree Plans: The new Associate of Arts and Associate of
Science degrees were presented as information by Dr. Kelley.
She gave a brief orientation of how the degree plan was put
together, how it works and she compared the old and the new
format.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Thursday, November 20, 2008
Transmountain Conference Room 1005
MEMBERS PRESENT: Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Isela
Castanon-Williams, Carlos Armendariz, Daniel M. Nanguang,
Steve Smith, Lesley Pullen, Joyce Ritchey, Miguel Aguilar,
Kimberley Golucke, Daniel Gutierrez, Hilario H. Hernandez,
Patricia Islas, Aimee Harris-Johnson, Jackie Mitchell, David
Moody, and Joshua I. Villalobos.
GUESTS PRESENT: Rachel Ortega, David Wilson, Lee
Cannell, Debbie Luna, and Barry Sample.
The goal is to develop BMGT 1329 to its absolute capacity and
make sure that it is so technologically proficient that it will
serve the need of the EPCC students and that it will serve as a
foundation for a new academic course to be in compliance with
the Field of Study. The way to do this is by applying for a
Unique Need course on the academic side. The students at
EPCC do have a unique need because they do not have another
course to take if they are going to go to UTEP. When applying
for a Unique Need two institutions must agree to accept that
particular course. UTEP and UT San Antonio are willing to
accept the course. It will take time, but in the meantime
BMGT 1329 will serve the need.
Opening Remarks: Dr. Katherine Kelley brought the
meeting to order at 3:15. At 3:16 Isela Castanon-Williams
arrived and continued with the meeting, she asked for a motion
to approve the minutes
The vision is that once the Unique Need is in place, it will
replace BMGT 1329 and it will become an academic course
(BUSI 1379). This will fulfill the academic need and a WECM
course will no longer be in the Field of Study.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Claude Mathis, Ruben Gallegos,
Richard Yaňez, and Dr. Nader Rassaei.



Motion to approve the September 18, 2008 minutes
was made by Claude Mathis (by Proxy Steve
Smith).
Second by Steve Smith.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
At this time everyone was asked to join in to sing happy
birthday to Dr. Katherine Kelley. Joyce Ritchey invited
everyone to have some cake and ice cream to celebrate.
Isela welcomed Joshua Villalobos, a new member, to the
Curriculum Committee.
Field of Study in Business: Dr. Kelley informed the
committee that BCIS 1305 an introductory computer course is
not being accepted by UTEP. The reason for this is that UTEP
feels that BCIS 1305 and the components of that course, are
being taught to the high school students and the students should
be entering EPCC with those skills. UTEP does not have a
place for the BCIS 1305 in their business department and they
have no equivalent course. Therefore UTEP does not see a
need to accept BCIS 1305. Because of this situation, 2,500
EPCC students do not have a completed Field of Study to pass
on to UTEP. Dr. Kelley did say that even if it were only one or
two students having this problem, it would be just as important.
Dr. Kelley talked about BMGT 1329-Quantitative Analysis for
Organizations. The way this course is now it is not adequately
and technologically preparing the students. Lee Cannell and
Debra Luna have been selected with the approval of their dean
to revamp the BMGT 1329 course. They will be redoing the
face to face course and they will be developing the on line
BMGT 1329. By doing this, the course will serve the academic
side in the Field of Study and it will also serve the Technical
side in the Real Estate and Small Business degrees.



Motion to support the development of the BMGT
1329 and the support of the application for a Unique
Need course that will ultimately replace BMGT
1329 was made by Aimee Harris-Johnson
Second by Carlos Armendariz.
Motion was passed with one nay.
Carlos Armendariz requested an update on how the transfer
credit from another institution was being handled. He was
referred to the September 18, 2008 minutes where it describes
the process.
Dr. Kelley mentioned that Part II of the Syllabus has to be
revised every three years. It is very difficult to keep track of
when the District Wide Coordinator revises the syllabus
because there is no date that identifies the update. Dr. Kelley
suggested that a revision date be put at the lower left hand
corner of the Syllabus Part II (Official Course Description)
identifying when the District Wide Coordinator does the
revision. It was also suggested that during Faculty
Development week (Spring 2009) when the disciplines meet
that this information be disseminated to the faculty and to let
them know that the Curriculum Office will be contacting the
District Wide Coordinators regarding this issue.



Motion to support that a revision date be put at the
lower left hand corner of the Part II Syllabus and to
be implemented in Spring 2009 was made by
Aimee Harris-Johnson
Second by Kimberley Golucke.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
It was suggested to invite Dr. Ted Johnston, Articulation
Committee Chair, to the next meeting to give an update on the
articulation between EPCC and UTEP and New Mexico State.
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Dr. Kelley and Ms. Castanon-Williams thanked the committee
for all their hard work and wished everybody a wonderful
Winter break.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
The next meeting will be February 19, 2009 at Transmountain
Conference Room 1005 and it will start at 3:15.



Motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Miguel
Aguilar.
Second by Patricia Islas.
Meeting was adjourned at 4.45
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Thursday, February 19, 2009
Transmountain Conference Room 1005
MEMBERS PRESENT: Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Isela
Castanon-Williams, Carlos Armendariz, Daniel M. Nanguang,
Lesley Pullen, Joyce Ritchey, Miguel Aguilar, Kimberley
Golucke, Daniel Gutierrez, Hilario H. Hernandez, Claude
Mathis, Aimee Harris-Johnson, Richard Yaňez, Dr. Nader
Rassaei, Jackie Mitchell, and David Moody.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Steve Smith, Patricia Islas, Joshua I.
Villalobos and Ruben Gallegos.
GUESTS PRESENT: Rachel Ortega, David Wilson, Jose
Baltazar and Dr. Ted Johnston.
Opening Remarks: Isela Castanon-Williams brought the
meeting to order at 3:15 and informed the committee that the
November 20, 2008 minutes were previously approved viaemail.
Overview of UTEP/EPCC Articulation: Isela welcomed Dr.
Ted Johnston, Co-chair for the Articulation Committee
between EPCC and UTEP. He has served as Co-chair since
2001 and he spoke very highly of the committee. He
mentioned that he has seen a lot of progress being made during
the years he has served. He also mentioned that he will be
leaving his position as Co-chair at the end of this year and that
Mr. Claude Mathis will be taking his place.
Dr. Johnston informed the committee that he will be attending
an administrative retreat on February 26, 2009. At the retreat
he will present the Articulation Agreement between EPCC and
UTEP and get the document signed by Dr. Richard M. Rhodes,
President of El Paso Community College and Dr. Diana S.
Natalicio, President of The University of Texas at El Paso. Dr.
Johnston distributed a copy of the agreement to the members
for their information.
Dr. Johnston referred to page one and read the following from
the Articulation Agreement.
plans vary according to degree plan or major and guarantee
students the particular course and program arrangements
agreed upon in the specific plan. Ideally, the goal of such plans
is for students to successfully complete their initial 60 (or
more) credit hours at EPCC and, upon admission to UTEP, to
utilize all the coursework completed in the most efficient way
possible so that they may proceed directly into the major and
support courses required for the baccalaureate degree.
Dr. Johnston mentioned that he is the only faculty member in
this committee and after he leaves at the end of this year, there
will be none. One clarification was made and that was that
there are counselors and they are considered non-teaching
faculty.
Dr. Johnston mentioned that in the past an agreement had been
signed, and because administrators had changed and were no
longer the signees, the agreements were not being honored,
therefore, necessitating the addition of the following statement:

Dr. Kelley thanked Dr. Johnston and said that the case in point
had been after 2 years of work and then it was not being
honored.
The last page and item that Dr. Johnston referred to was the
following:
E. New Collaborative Projects
EPCC and UTEP will continue to explore new
collaborative projects that seek to improve the success of
transfer students, including but not limited to the
following:
1.
Development of new baccalaureate degree-completion
programs for students with associate’s degrees in
career and technical areas.
2.
Sharing of ideas and coordinating efforts wherever
possible for the development and assessment of
learning outcomes related to similar program areas
and the Core Curriculum in particular.
Purpose of the Agreement
This agreement establishes the expectations for mutual
cooperation and the types of articulation activities to occur
between UTEP and EPCC. Agreement to this partnership is a
commitment to facilitate the transfer of degree-seeking students
between both institutions, to support the missions of both.
However, a change in program administrators should
not result in a failure to honor any of the agreed upon
items in the most current signed plan.
It was suggested to add to the purpose of the agreement the
importance of student retention and the increase of graduation
rates. This suggestion will be considered.
Provisions
Articulation Transfer Plans
This general agreement authorizes the formalization of
activities necessary to create transfer plans that will maximize
the transfer of credits and progression toward degree
completion as students move between institutions. Transfer
It was also suggested to add permanent representation from the
Nursing area. The suggestion will be carried forward to Dr.
Lydia Tena.
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Isela thanked Dr. Johnston for his valuable information and
thanked him for his service to the Articulation Committee. Mr.
Mathis also thanked him for his service. Dr. Kelley added that
he does a wonderful job as Co-chair and at the same time he
takes wonderful minutes.
Summary of UTEP/EPCC Counselors: Jose Baltazar
mentioned that the counselors are working very closely with
Dr. Kelley and UTEP and it is working very well. He gave a
little bit of background information and he said that even
though the Curriculum Office, the Curriculum Committee and
the Counseling Department all work for the students it seems
that each department has developed their own network of
communication and have their own contacts and because of this
the information does not always flow to all levels.
The advising area at UTEP is one of the main sources of
information that the counselors at EPCC have. Sometimes the
information being passed on to the counselors is different than
what it has been passed on to the Curriculum Committee or to
the Curriculum Office. The students are the ones that are
affected by the lack of communication. Mr. Baltazar
mentioned that he is very happy to see this line of
communication opening more and more. He also mentioned
that a meeting was held last week with the College of Health at
UTEP, the Curriculum Office and the Counseling Department.
It worked beautifully because now the three different
components were working together and getting the same
information from the same source. This same information will
be brought to the Curriculum Committee later.
Dr. Kelley added that with the 34 new degree plans that are
now in effect it is very important that the faculty at UTEP and
the faculty EPCC be involved in conversations about these
degrees. The Curriculum Office is going thru every single one
of the 34 degrees and the faculty at UTEP is being contacted
together with the faculty at EPCC and a meeting is being put
together. At that meeting UTEP is bringing the advisors or
counselors that are expert in that particular area. EPCC is
taking the lead counselor and some extra counselors to where
that particular District wide coordinator is housed. Every one
sits at a round table with the degree plan and every one works
together. At a recent meeting Kinesiology was discussed and
the outcome was that in addition to the two degrees that the
program already has, two more degrees were developed. It was
from the input of the counselors from EPCC and the input from
the counselors from UTEP and the interaction with students
that it so beneficial that made this possible. At the end when
everything is put together a Memo of Understanding will be
signed by the department and it will say what was decided and
will also say what courses do transfer. The final degree will
show at the bottom the following:

EPCC discipline approved and the date and it will
also say UTEP discipline approved and the date.
When a student pulls it out from the web he/she will know that
UTEP and EPCC know about it and are in agreement. Dr.
Kelley closed by saying that all of this is happening and is
working wonderfully because groups are talking to each other
and not over each other.
Old Business: Carlos Armendariz brought a concern to the
committee regarding the decision made about transferability of
courses. The very first time that he brought this concern was at
the September 18, 2008 meeting. At that meeting he
distributed a copy of an e-mail that was addressed to Dr.
Dennis Brown and was dated June 30, 2008. A copy of the
above mentioned e-mail was distributed to each member and
each was asked to take a few minutes to read.
Isela mentioned that a process is already in place and added
that it is working okay. She went thru the steps:








The Curriculum Office will contact the sending
institution and ask them for their syllabi and their
course descriptions.
Once the Curriculum Office has gathered all the
necessary information it will be sent to the District
wide coordinator, notifying the dean.
The District wide coordinator can decide to do the
comparison himself/herself or can ask another faculty
member to do it.
The person assigned will look at the course
descriptions of the sending institution and decide
whether EPCC has an equivalent course or does not
have an equivalent course.
With a YES or a NO, the person doing the comparison
returns it to the Curriculum Office
If there is an equivalent course an EPCC rubric will be
given.
If there is no equivalency, no further action is taken
The Curriculum Office then sends it to Registrars.
It was mentioned that at the September 18 meeting a
recommendation was made that Dr. Brown would be asked to
put together a task force and work to update the College
procedure to address how transfer of credit is handled.
A discussion was held regarding this issue and the outcome
was to invite Mr. Daryle Hendry to the next Curriculum
Committee meeting and to have him bring the guidelines
regarding this issue.



Motion to invite Mr. Daryle Hendry to the next
Curriculum Committee meeting and have him
present the documentation that necessitated the
current evaluation process was made by Dr. Nader
Rassaei
Second by David Moody.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
New Business: David Moody presented a concern that was
brought to him by several faculty members. He mentioned that
for example the English discipline has tried very hard to keep
the syllabi to a two page document, but when the 6 Drop Rule
was added it went from a two page to a three page. The only
information on the third page is the 6 Drop Rule. He continued
with the following question: Is it absolutely necessary that the
Disability Statement and the 6 Drop Rule statements be in the
Part II syllabi even though it already appears in the schedule
and in the catalog?
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Dr. Kelley answered by saying that the Disability Statement is
formalized by the American Disability Act and it must be
published in the catalog, in the schedule, in the syllabi and on
the web. Therefore it does need to remain. The 6 Drop Rule is
mandated thru the Coordinating Board and it also should
appear in the catalog, in the schedule, in the syllabi and on the
web and it also needs to remain.
At this point Mr. Moody addressed the fact that ESL, Dual
Credit, Developmental, and Early College High School classes
are exempt from the 6 Drop Rule. He would like to see a
recommendation from the committee to have the 6 Drop Rule
statement deleted from Part II Syllabi of the areas listed above.
After a short discussion, it was recommended to delete the 6
Drop Rule from the ESL and from the Developmental syllabi.
The 6 Drop Rule will remain in the Early College High School
and in the Dual Credit syllabi.



Motion to delete the 6 Drop Rule statement from the
ESL and from the Developmental Part II syllabi was
made by Claude Mathis.
Second by David Moody.
Motion passed with one abstention and one nay.
David requested that documentation be provided where it
shows that the 6 Drop Rule statement has to be included in the
syllabi. Dr. Kelley will provide the documentation.
Because the two statements have to remain in the Part II
syllabi, the concern on saving paper was addressed. Dr.
Kelley presented the committee a printed syllabus from the
English department. She brought the attention to the third page
of the syllabus. The only thing on the third page of this
particular syllabus is the 6 Drop Rule statement. Dr. Kelley
presented the committee the same syllabus and asked them to
note that by changing the font from 11 to 10 this same syllabus
was now a two page document. The committee examined both
documents and compared legibility. To save paper and money,
everyone agreed that it was a good idea to change all the syllabi
to a 10 font. Rafaela Franco from the Curriculum Office will
do this work during the summer and will have the web updated
and ready for Fall 2009.



Motion to change all the Part II syllabi to a 10 font
was made by David Moody.
Second by Miguel Aguilar.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
ACGM: Mr. Claude Mathis gave some background
information about the Academic Course Guide Manual and the
ACGM Advisory Committee. He started by saying that the
ACGM is a course catalog for all the two year colleges in the
state. Anything that is taught in a two year college has to come
out of the list of courses that are in the ACGM.
The ACGM Advisory Committee meets two times a year one
meeting in the Spring and another in the Fall and occasionally
there is a third meeting. The committee is in charge of getting
recommendations for any additions, deletions and changes to
the ACGM. The committee reviews the list as it stands to see
that they are relevant improving the students in our state for
transfer. Transfer is the bottom line for the committee and for
the catalog because that is the academic world. So the courses
that are listed in the ACGM should transfer to a four year
degree plan. The committee sets task forces to review the
ACGM and Mr. Mathis was appointed to lead the Task Force
for the revision of Music. As the Task Force went through the
Music area some courses were identified as being redundant
and some courses were not needed. The courses that were
identified as not needed were because most colleges were not
using such courses because those particular courses do not
transfer into a four year degree plan. Those particular courses
were recommended for deletion.
Previous to Fall 2007 a Task Force was put together to look at
the Psychology area in the ACGM. In the Fall meeting of 2007
several Psychology courses were recommended for deletion.
The two courses that pertain to EPCC are PSYC 2303 and
PSYC 2312. When recommending courses for deletion the
Task Force does not look at the need of a specific college, the
decision is made based on state wide transferability to a four
year degree. Mr. Mathis explained that even though many
programs were affected at EPCC by the deletion of PSYC 2303
and 2312 statewide those two courses do not transfer to a four
degree program and that is why the Task Force recommended
to delete them from the ACGM.
Mr. Mathis explained that a mistake had been made in the
ACGM regarding the deletion date for the courses mentioned
above. The date given was Fall 2009, but in reality the deletion
date is for Fall 2010. He explained that a year is always given
for the disciplines to make plans and to make decisions.
Dr. Kelley brought the attention to an e-mail from Keith
Pannell where he states that the Psychology discipline has
decided not to delete PSYC 2303 and PSYC 2312 at this time.
In addition Mr. Pannell mentioned that the discipline would
like to be able to send Claudia Cochran to the Coordinating
Board’s meeting on March 6th, to address the board and in
essence “appeal” their decision on 2303 and perhaps 2312.
Mr. Mathis offered to talk to the discipline and explain to them
that the decision has been made and by someone going to the
March meeting will not change the Coordinating Board’s
decision in any way. He again mentioned that the Task Force
was very careful on making the recommendation and their
decision was based on transferability and it had nothing to do
with how many sections are offered or if the class makes or
does not make. He is recommending that the discipline does
not send any one to the March meeting. Dr. Kelley
recommended that the discipline send a proposal in writing so
that they can be heard. Mr. Mathis agreed with Dr. Kelley.
Isela thanked everyone for attending the meeting.
The next meeting will be held March 26, 2009. The room and
campus will be announced later.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:25.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Thursday, March 26, 2009
Valle Verde Conference Room C428
MEMBERS PRESENT: Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Isela
Castanon-Williams, Carlos Armendariz, Daniel M. Nanguang,
Steve Smith, Lesley Pullen, Joyce Ritchey, Miguel Aguilar,
Daniel Gutierrez, Hilario H. Hernandez, Aimee HarrisJohnson, David Moody, Claude Mathis, Ruben Gallegos,
Richard Yaňez, Dr. Nader Rassaei and Joshua I. Villalobos.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Kimberley Golucke, Patricia Islas and
Jackie Mitchell.
GUESTS PRESENT: Rachel Ortega, David Wilson, Susana
Rodarte, Dr. Julie Penley, Keith Pannell, Daryle Hendry and
Rene Chavez.
Opening Remarks: Isela Castaňon-Williams brought the
meeting to order at 3:17. She welcomed all the guests to the
meeting and thanked Claude Mathis for the refreshments.

Motion to approve the February 19, 2009 Minutes
was made by Daniel M. Nanguang.
 Second by Richard Yaňez.
 Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Evaluation of Transfer Credit: Mr. Daryle Hendry asked the
committee if there was a particular issue that he needed to
address regarding transfer credit. Carlos Armendariz
mentioned that the counselors have been working under the
impression that when a student transfers and EPCC does not
have an equivalent course the student does not get credit, not
even as an elective credit. The main concern is that for a year
now the counselors have been following the above mentioned
practice, but nothing in writing has been provided to them to
support such a practice.
Mr. Hendry started by saying that the Coordinating Board
guidelines certain rules apply and basically it states that core
courses and field of study courses cannot be substituted for
graduation. It has been a past practice at EPCC that when a
student comes from another institution with a course that is not
equivalent to an EPCC course where the student has been
awarded elective credit and then upon graduation the College
has taken those non- equivalent courses and substituted them
for core courses or field study courses in order to graduate the
student. The student is given an official transcript and a
diploma that says that he/she has been awarded a degree and
then on the state report it is reported that the student has
graduated. This practice is incorrect because according to the
state guidelines no course substitutions are allowed in the core
or in the field of study.
Mr. Hendry referred to the College procedure 7.01.01.18
Evaluation of Transfer Credit. The procedure was last
updated September 1, 1995. Under the SACS guidelines at that
time there were a certain criteria that institutions were
supposed to follow. Basically what it said was that in order to
award credit to someone the course had to be a course currently
being taught at the institution. Since then SACS has come out
with a position statement dated June 2003 Transfer of academic
credit is a public policy issue for several reasons: (1) and
increase in student mobility, (2) the proliferation of distance
learning programs and common acceptance of their legitimacy,
(3) the economics of expending public money twice for the
same course, and (4) consumer protection from expending
private money twice for the same course. It goes on to say that
it is up to the institution to determine their own transfer
practices but consideration should be taken not to impose
artificial impediments or numerous requirements on the
transfer process. Transfer now is looked at in terms of level,
content, quality, compatibility and degree program relevant and
in doing so, it gives more flexibility and the institution does not
necessarily have to teach the exact course or have an equivalent
course to accept a course as transfer credit. Basically what the
faculty discipline has to do is determine if the course that is
coming from the other institution is relevant to the degree plan
being offered at EPCC. Another thing that has to be
determined by the faculty discipline is setting a limit of how
much transfer credit will be accepted. Some degree plans have
more elective credit available then others.
In the current College procedure it does not mention anything
about accepting elective credit for non equivalent courses.
Such practice was implemented at EPCC when graduation rate
was low. Classes were being accepted from other schools and
an elective credit was given for courses that were not being
taught. Those same courses were then being substituted for
other courses that were required in the degree plan so that the
student would graduate.
Last semester Dr. Dennis Brown agreed to implement a task
force to review the current procedure. Mr. Hendry mentioned
that Joyce Ritchey will be the chair and that he will serve as
resource person. He mentioned that his recommendation will
be to write into the procedure a process using the new SACS
position statement of how the non equivalent courses or
courses not taught at EPCC are being addressed so that they
come in as valid elective course that can be used in the degree
plan. One thing to keep in mind is that those electives cannot
be substituted in the core or in a field of study, but it can be
used in the elective area of the degree plan.
Dr. Katherine Kelley added to this that one other thing to keep
in mind is that some disciplines have chosen to be very specific
as to what their electives will be. She also mentioned that for a
long time having the 70101 has made it so open in what
electives to select, but now with the 34 new degree plans the
electives have become very specific. It is almost as if there
were no electives. The disciplines need to be contacted by the
task force and need to have input on what the statement will
say.
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Mr. Rene Chavez agreed that the degree plans are becoming
more and more focused. Mr. Chavez said that a drawback to
this is that when the degree plans become more focused with
electives being dictated the student does not have enough
flexibility if he/she wants to change majors. It is a fact that the
students changes major four or five times.
Susana Rodarte addressed a question regarding MATH 1314,
in the AA in Psychology. The question is that if a student has
already taken a higher level course, should the student be
forced to take MATH 1314 in order to get the credit or should
the student be allowed to substitute the course and get credit for
the higher level course that he/she has already taken? Mr.
Hendry said that it is the dean’s decision, but that there are
three parts to the decision. The Dean will have to either (a)
graduate the student (b) deny graduation and (c) find a way to
fix the problem for the future. In this case place a higher level
course as an elective. Dr. Kelley said that the faculty has
already requested this change to be made and when approved
instead of saying MATH 1314 it will say MATH 1314 or
higher. Dr. Kelley mentioned that two months ago she came to
the committee with a request from Dr. Brown that the
discipline can request higher advanced level courses need to be
placed in the core. Mr. Hendry said that the intention of the
Associate degrees is not to give the impression to the students
that they are going to get the degree and that they will be able
to go and get a good job. The intent is to facilitate transition
from EPCC to UTEP. It will not work if the student plans to
go to any other university.
Rene Chavez asked Mr. Hendry if it would be possible to post
developmental courses on the College transcript. Mr. Hendry
said that the counselors already have access to the transcripts
that Registrars receives and that no developmental, remedial or
non-transferable credit will be posted on the College transcript.
Rene’s question brought Mr. Hendry to another issue. He told
the committee that at the present time if a student registers to
audit a class it is recorded on the student’s transcript with an
AU. He said that this misleads any employer that sees that
transcript. A student that audits a class does not have to attend
class, does not turn in work and does not have to do any of the
exams. The student is not awarded credit. After some
discussion a motion was made.



Motion to recommend to not transcript a class that
has been audited on the student’s official transcript
and remove from the 2008-2010 catalog the
sentence on page 49 that says that it will be
transcript, and also delete from any other relevant
documents was made by Claude Mathis.
Second by David Moody.
Motion was passed with two nays and one
abstention.
Dr. Ron Stroud will be contacted regarding the removal of the
sentence in any other relevant document.
Psychology: Dr. Kelley gave a summary of why Mr. Pannell,
Dr. Julie Penley, and Susana Rodarte were present at the
meeting. She referred back to the February 19, 2009 meeting
where the committee talked about the Texas Coordinating
Board decision to delete eight Psychology courses from the
inventory, of those eight, two impacted EPCC. PSYC 2303 is
in the core and the discipline since last month has decided to
keep the course for another year. The Coordinating Board has
given a deadline until fall 2010.
Mr. Pannell started his presentation by saying that PSYC 2303
is the course being deleted from the inventory and that the
discipline’s decision is to rename the course and re-number the
course. According to the ACGM there is a course PSYC 2302Applied Psychology. The discipline has been using that same
course number for Applied Psychology Abnormal. What the
discipline would like to do is transfer the number and the title
and to have a Unique Need course. The change will be:



Course being deleted is PSYC 2303-Human Relations in
the workplace
Proposal is to rename and re-number to PSYC 2302Applied Psychology: Industrial Organizational
And the PSYC 2302 that the discipline already has with
the title Applied Psychology: Abnormal will be kept as a
Unique Need with the number 2370.



Motion to Accept the re-numbering and title change
to PSYC 2303 and to create a Unique Need course
PSYC 2370 was made by Claude Mathis
Second by Nader Rassaei.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Isela talked about the importance to add to the core more
advanced level courses. The committee needs to have
submissions to add advanced level courses before the deadline
which is October 1, 2009. Isela is encouraging faculty to work
with the Curriculum Office regarding this issue before leaving
in May 2009.



Motion was made by Joshua I. Villalobos to
recommend that Dr. Kelley Identify the disciplines
that need to be contacted and then send the
information to Dr. Dennis Brown. He will send out
a letter to the each of the disciplines identified with
the appropriate information
Second by Daniel M. Nanguang.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
The next meeting will be April 16, 2009 at Transmountain
Conference Room 1005 and the meeting will start at 3:15.



Motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Daniel
M. Nanguang.
Second by Lesley Pullen.
Meeting was adjourned at 4.55
Isela thanked Mr. Hendry for his presentation.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Thursday, April 16, 2009
Transmountain Conference Room 1005
MEMBERS PRESENT: Miguel Aguilar, Carlos Armendariz,
Ruben Gallegos, Kimberley Golucke, Dr. Daniel Gutierrez,
Patricia Islas, Aimee Harris-Johnson, Dr. Katherine C. Kelley,
Jackie Mitchell, David Moody, Daniel M. Nanguang, Lesley
Pullen, Joyce Ritchey, Steve Smith, Joshua I. Villalobos, and
Isela Castanon-Williams.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Hilario H. Hernandez, Claude Mathis,
(proxy for Mr. Mathis was Steve Smith), Dr. Nader Rassaei
(proxy for Dr. Rassaei was Dr. Daniel Gutierrez) and Richard
Yaňez (proxy for Mr. Yaňez was Carlos Armendariz).
GUESTS PRESENT: Rachel Ortega, David Wilson, Kenneth
Gorski, Bobby Ortega, Ivette Chuca, Dr. Fidel de Leon and
Jesus de Leon.
Opening Remarks: Isela Castaňon-Williams brought the
meeting to order at 3:20. She thanked Joyce Ritchey for the
refreshments.



Motion to approve the March 26, 2009 Minutes as
corrected was made by David Moody .
Second by Aimee Harris-Johnson.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Architecture: Dr. Kelley gave some preliminary background
information about the Architecture proposal. She started by
saying that the relationship between EPCC and Texas Tech is
very unique and there is an articulation agreement with Texas
Tech. Prior to signing this articulation agreement in 2006 any
student who wished to receive a degree in Architecture had to
travel to Texas Tech and because most students in El Paso did
not want to leave home they gave up hope and just did not go
to Texas Tech.
EPCC worked very hard to accommodate these students and
was able to do so in 2006. In Spring 2009 the first group of
students will be graduating without having to leave El Paso. It
allowed them to stay here and continue on with the third and
fourth year in Architecture without having to travel to
Lubbock. In 2011 the hope is that it will progress on to a
Masters in Architecture.
Needs Request–Backup handout. The handout listed the course
description (ARCH 1472-Archtechtural Design Studio I)
coming from the different Universities. The universities listed
were: Texas Tech University, Texas A& M, UT Arlington, and
UT San Antonio. This Unique Need came about after a
meeting that he and Bobby Ortega had with the Dean of the
College of Architecture at Texas Tech University, and the
Acting Director for The College of Architecture at El Paso as
well as other individual at the provost office at Texas Tech.
Dr. Kelley said that one of the things that make this particular
case easier is that whenever a coordinator places a request to
put together a packet for a Unique Need it requires that two
universities agree to write letters of transferability acceptance.
For example, a Unique Need is being created and it is going to
UTEP then UTEP will write a letter and another university will
have to be found that will accept the course. The example
given above is the usual procedure, but the other option to get a
Unique Need course placed into the inventory would be if one
has an Articulation Agreement. EPCC does have an
Articulation Agreement with Texas Tech so this fulfills the
requirement.
The above information has been presented for information only
and does not require a vote.
Core: Mr. Gorski is proposing to move ARCH 1301 from
section 6-Visual and Performing Arts to section 5Humanities in the Core Curriculum. This is to generate
graduates and to minimize the number of credits that the
student will have to take.
The following is taken from the Texas Coordinating Board as
to what is a Humanities course. It is the Humanities
Description

Humanities application of language skills includes
a study of literature in the original language,
and/or the cultural studies related to a modern or
classical language.
The following was presented by Mr. Gorski and it is taken from
a page of the Texas Tech University catalog to support the
fulfillment to the Humanities core requirement. Mr. Gorski
feels that ARCH 1301 fits the Humanities description.
The degree that has been put together is very unique and it has
many hours. One course that Texas Tech will not accept is
EDUC 1300 as part of the core. In order to have EPCC
students graduate with an Associate of Arts EDUC 1300 has to
be accepted by Texas Tech. They have been very
accommodating in accepting more hours than most four year
institutions accept from a community college. Isela welcomed
Mr. Kenneth Gorski and Bobby Ortega.
Survey of the development of world architecture from the
ancient era to the advent of enlightenment in Europe.
Fulfills multicultural requirement.
Mr. Gorski repeated most of the information that Dr. Kelley
had already introduced. Mr. Gorski referred to the Unique
Isela turned to the committee and said that if the vote is to
support the recommendation of the discipline it makes it easier

2311. [ARCH 1301] History of World Architecture
c. 3000 BC to c 1600 AD (3:3:0).
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for the discipline to generate graduates. It is very important to
generate graduates for the program to remain alive. A
completion rate needs to be shown, not just students taking
courses. Isela asked for a motion to discuss the proposal.

Motion to recommend to move ARCH 1301 from
Visual and Performing Arts Block to the
Humanities Block was made by Daniel M.
Nanguang

Second by Aimee Harris-Johnson.
During the discussion Mr. Ortega informed the committee that
the Architecture is already at 72 credit hours and if ARCH
1301 is not moved to the Humanities area for a student to
graduate he/she will have to take 75 credit hours. Most
students are not willing to take so many credits to graduate and
this practice hurts the program. Another very important thing is
that this change will accommodate EPCC Architectural
students in being able to complete the Humanities block of the
Core because this same course is in the Humanities block of the
Texas Tech Core. This change will be effective Fall 2010.

Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
The next proposal was presented by Ivette Chuca and Mr.
Steve Smith was there to support the proposal. The
mathematics discipline would like to request that MATH 1350
be added to the core. The following reasons support the
request:






Students seeking an Associate of Arts in Teaching
Degree currently take MATH 1324 which is in the
core. Students take MATH 1324 because it is in the
core and it is a prerequisite for MATH 1350.
The mathematics department has lowered the
prerequisite for MATH 1350 to MATH 0305 therefore
students will no longer need to take MATH 1324.
Students seeking EC-6 need 9 credit hours therefore, it
is requested that MATH 1350 be include into the core
to help students complete their 9 hours without having
to take MATH 1324.
Students would then take MATH 1350, MATH 1351,
and MATH 1342 (New Stat Course) to complete their
9 hours in Mathematics. Motion to discuss was made.
Motion to recommend that MATH 1350 be added to
the core was made by Steve Smith.
Second by Miguel Aguilar.
After a few minutes of discussion, motion was passed.

Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Dr. Kelly asked Ruben to explain how a petition affects the
count of graduates at the state level. Ruben mentioned that at
this particular point it is just for any degrees that involves the
core. The process is to assign a bogus program number that
will serve as a flag tool to identify such degrees. When
generating the 009 state report the degrees that have been
flagged with the bogus number will be deleted and that student
will not be counted at the state level.
Dr. Kelley gave a real example regarding how petitions affect a
program. If you were to ask how many graduates does the
Associate of Arts in Teaching have? The response would be
69, but when you go to look at the state report it is Zero. Every
single one of the 69 was because of a petition and they were
not counted at the state level. Isela shared with the committee
her experience of learning the importance to avoid signing
petitions. She explained that the graduating students are
legitimate and their diploma is real, it is the program itself that
suffers in such a manner that it will not remain alive.
To avoid this problem advanced level courses need to be added
to the core. At the last meeting Dr. Kelley had been asked to
write a letter to Dr. Brown to make sure that advanced level
courses got put into the core. A list of advanced level courses
were looked at and the prerequisites of such courses are
unbelievable except for SPAN 2315.
Dr. Fidel de Leon and Jesus de Leon were present to request
that SPAN 2315- Intermediate Spanish II for Spanish
Speakers be added to the core. Joyce Ritchey was there to
support the proposal. Dr. Fidel de Leon explained that Heritage
speakers usually place into SPAN 2315 but because this
particular course is not in the core, the students come and
request to substitute SPAN 2315 with SPAN 2313. If such
practice is permitted the student will get the credit, but because
they know the material they are ahead of the class and
sometimes they become bored with the course. It is also a
disadvantage to the students that do need to take SPAN 2313
because they feel intimidated by the advanced group. This
problem will be solved if SPAN 2315 is placed in the core. A
motion to discuss the proposal was made.


Motion to recommend the addition of SPAN 2315
to the core was made by David Moody
Second by Carlos Armendariz
After a few minutes of discussion, motion was passed.

Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Both MATH 1350 and SPAN 2315 will be asked to be
retroactive to Fall 2008.
Dr. Kelley explained that the three recommendations accepted
today will go to Dr. Brown who will then write a letter to the
Coordinating Board. It is the Coordinating Board’s decision to
accept the recommendations or not.
Old Business: Carlos Armendariz brought the concern
regarding the evaluation of non equivalent courses. This issue
has been brought to the committee three times already. A
discussion was held and several ideas were given to resolve this
issue.


Motion to request that Dr. Dennis Brown meet with
the lead counselors and counselors to resolve the
issue of evaluation of non equivalent courses was
made by David Moody
Second by Patricia Islas.
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David Moody withdrew the motion
A May meeting will be scheduled if needed.
After discussion the motion was withdrawn because the
majority of the members agreed that this issue should be
resolved in a different manner. It was recommended that
Ruben Gallegos take this concern to Daryle Hendry and to take
the suggestion from the committee for Mr. Hendry to have a
training session with the counselors. It was also suggested that
Carlos Armendariz talk to Jose Baltazar about the possibility of
placing this item on the agenda for the next counselors
meeting.
For information Dr. Kelley reminded the committee that the
purpose of a proxy is to have a quorum, but the member will
still be counted absent. One of the members asked that it be
reflected in the minutes when a member is absent and he/she
has requested a proxy. It will be done as requested.



Motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Miguel
Aguilar.
Second by Jackie Mitchell.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:05
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Friday, June 12, 2009
Transmountain Conference Room 1005
MEMBERS PRESENT: Miguel Aguilar, Ruben Gallegos,
Kimberley Golucke, Dr. Daniel Gutierrez, Hilario H.
Hernandez, Aimee Harris-Johnson, Dr. Katherine C. Kelley,
David Moody, Lesley Pullen, Dr. Nader Rassaei, Joyce
Ritchey, and Isela Castanon-Williams.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Carlos Armendariz, Richard Yaňez,
Patricia Islas, Jackie Mitchell, Daniel M. Nanguang, Claude
Mathis, (proxy for Mr. Mathis was Joyce Ritchey), Steve
Smith, (Proxy for Mr. Smith was David Moody) Joshua I.
Villalobos, (Proxy for Mr. Villalobos was Lesley Pullen).
GUESTS PRESENT: Rachel Ortega, David Wilson, and
Ivette Chuca.
Opening Remarks: Isela Castaňon-Williams brought the
meeting to order at 2:05. She thanked Joyce Ritchey for the
refreshments.



Motion to approve the April 16, 2009 Minutes as
corrected was made by Kimberley Golucke .
Second by Lesley Pullen.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Core: Before Ms. Chuca made her presentation, Dr. Kelley
read the following from the April 16, 2009 minutes regarding
the recommendation to add MATH 1350 to the core.




Students seeking an Associate of Arts in Teaching
Degree currently take MATH 1324 which is in the
core. Students take MATH 1324 because it is in the
core and it is a prerequisite for MATH 1350.
The mathematics department has lowered the
prerequisite for MATH 1350 to MATH 0305 therefore
students will no longer need to take MATH 1324.
Students seeking EC-6 need 9 credit hours therefore, it
is requested that MATH 1350 be included into the
core to help students complete their 9 hours without
having to take MATH 1324.
Students would then take MATH 1350, MATH 1351,
and MATH 1342 (New Stat Course) to complete their
9 hours in Mathematics.
At the April 16 meeting the committee recommended that
MATH 1350 be added to the core. Dr. Brown then sent the
request to the Coordinating Board, and EPCC got a response
immediately from the Coordinating Board that MATH 1350
cannot be added to the core because it is in the Associate of
Arts degree it could not be added to the core.
Ivette Chuca started her presentation by thanking the
committee for taking the time to hear her request. Because
MATH 1350 was not approved and the students do need to
have the 9 hours, a course is still needed to complete those
hours she is requesting on behalf of the Mathematics
department that MATH 1342-Fundamentals of Statistics be
added to the core. It was mentioned that MATH 1342 can be
used by Business majors, and by the AA students in the
Associate of Science. After further discussion the committee
decided that because this course is not in any program and is
only serving the AAT program, it should not be added to the
core. It was mentioned that the AAT is one of the largest
programs in the District and even though this course does not
serve the general population it does serve a large group. It was
mentioned that if this course is not added to the core the AAT
will really suffer and the AAT students will be non-completers.
Ruben Gallegos made a clarification and said that this does not
mean that the students graduating from EPCC are noncompleters. The students will complete the degree and will be
completers even if this course is not in the core. It was also
mentioned that MOU that is getting to be signed it says that
they will accept 1342 it does not say that it has to be in the
core.


Motion to recommend that MATH 1342 be added to
the core was made by Miguel Aguilar.
Second by Aimee Harris-Johnson.
The committee debated for several minutes and some members
were in favor of putting MATH 1342 and some were against.

Motion failed with 4 yes, 7 no and 1 abstention.
Ms. Chuca was informed by Isela that the committee voted
against putting MATH 1342 in the EPCC Core because UTEP
has not made a finite commitment to having the course
equivalent (STAT 1380) added to their CORE.
Ms. Ritchey suggested that when UTEP puts STAT 1380 in
their core, the Curriculum Committee should revisit this item
and consider placing MATH 1342 into the EPCC Core. Dr.
Kelley will take this information to Dr. Dennis Brown. Isela
thanked Ms. Chuca for her presentation.
Dr. Kelley gave a report and as information only passed around
a letter from the Coordinating Board that shows the approval of
moving ARCH 1301 from Visual and Performing Arts Block to
the Humanities Block and the addition of SPAN 2315 being
retroactive to Fall 2008. She wants the committee to see that
the Coordinating Board does respond in a very timely manner.
Isela and Dr. Kelley thanked the committee for the work that
they do and wished them a nice Summer.



Motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Dr.
Nader Rassaei.
Second by David Moody.
Meeting was adjourned at 3:00
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Monday August 17, 2009
ASC Conference Room B445
MEMBERS PRESENT: Miguel Aguilar, Carlos Armendariz,
Ruben Gallegos, Kimberley Golucke, Dr. Daniel Gutierrez,
Patricia Islas, Aimee Harris-Johnson, Dr. Katherine C. Kelley,
Claude Mathis, Jackie Mitchell, David Moody, Daniel M.
Nanguang, Lesley Pullen, Dr. Nader Rassaei, Joyce Ritchey,
Steve Smith, and Isela Castanon-Williams.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Hilario H. Hernandez, Richard
Yaňez, Joshua I. Villalobos.
GUESTS PRESENT: Dr. Dennis Brown, Dr. Jaime Farias,
Roberto Ortega, Ivette Chuca, Rachel Ortega, and David
Wilson.
Opening Remarks: Isela Castaňon-Williams brought the
meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. She introduced the guests present
and thanked everyone for their attendance to this special
meeting.



Mr. Roberto Ortega thanked the committee for taking the time
to listen to this important issue. He introduced Ivette Chuca,
District Wide Coordinator for the Mathematics department.
When asked if MATH 1314 will remain as the prerequisite for
MATH 1342, she responded that the Mathematics Discipline
had voted to have MATH 0305 or by placement exam as the
prerequisite. That change will be made as part of the
recommendation to add MATH 1342 to the Core.
At this time Isela Castanon-Williams, chair of the committee
requested a motion.

Dr. Kelley encouraged that other disciplines look at their
degrees and consider to change their math choice to 1342, but
to please do it before the deadline of October 1, 2009. A
concern was brought up on how soon this change will take
effect. Dr. Kelley assured the committee that as soon as the
approval comes thru, it will be an immediate update on the
WEB. After discussing it further, the committee came to a
consensus.

Motion to approve the June 12, 2009 Minutes was
made by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Second by Daniel M. Nanguang.
Motion was passed with one abstention.
Dr. Dennis Brown thanked the committee and the Curriculum
Office staff for all the work that they do throughout the year.
Dr. Brown started by saying that this meeting has been called
because the information that the committee heard back in June
regarding the addition of math 1342 to the Core Curriculum did
not give the full picture and some questions were left
unanswered. He feels that after listening to the whole story the
committee will see that this is for the best interest of the
students. The students will complete their Associate of Arts in
Teaching degree at EPCC and then transfer to UTEP. Dr.
Brown mentioned that it is very important to resolve the
MATH 1342 issue before signing the agreement with UTEP.

Dr. Jaime Farias made a brief presentation to support the
recommendation. It was mentioned that the certification has
now been extended by two grades to include 5th and 6th . The
state certification exam has also been altered and it will require
more math and science to meet the needs of those additional
programs and that is where the need for this course came about.
Placing MATH 1342 in the core means that the students in the
program will be able to take the math course that they really
need.
Motion to recommend that MATH 1342 be added to
the core was made by Steve Smith.
Second by Aimee Harris-Johnson.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Dr. Kelley and Isela informed the committee that it will be
necessary to meet in September because several issues have to
be discussed. To name a couple, one would be the 2 + 2
degrees and another would be how UTEP accepts EDUC 1300.



Motion to meet on Thursday, September 17, 2009
was made by Claude Mathis.
Second by Dr. Nader Rassaei.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
The committee will meet at Transmountain on Thursday,
September 17, 2009 at 3:15.
Isela reminded everyone to talk about the student learning
outcomes during Faculty Development Week.
Dr. Brown mentioned that this is EPCC’s 5th year of reaccreditation and this is the year that a five year report needs to
be submitted by September 8, 2009. Last year the Student
Learning Outcomes were drafted. Dr. Brown gave very
positive comments regarding the work being done. He asked
that this item be on everyone’s agenda at the discipline
meetings. He ended by thanking everyone for their work.



Motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Jackie
Mitchell.
Second by Carlos Armendariz.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:00
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
2007-2008 MINUTES
Friday, September 21, 2007
ASC Auditorium A300
MEMBERS PRESENT: Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Isela
Castanon-Williams, Steve Smith, Tracy Von Maluski, Claude
Mathis, Veronica Dominguez, Huili Wang, David Moody,
Daniel M. Nanguang, Barbara J. Yancy-Tooks, Dr. Gene A.
Muller, Lee Cannell, and Richard Yanez.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Dr. Kathleen Devaney, Joyce
Ritchey, Maria Guerrero, Dr. Irene Dunn, Lesley Pullen, and
Ruben Gallegos. NOTE: Mr. Gallegos will not be counted
absent. He will attend meetings only when needed.
GUEST PRESENT: Dr. Jaime Farias, Yolanda Ahner, Marta
de la Fuente, and Tammy Taggart.
Opening Remarks: Ms. Castanon-Williams, chairperson,
welcomed everyone to the meeting. After thanking everyone
for attending the meeting, she asked for a motion to approve
the minutes.
Motion to approve the April 19, 2007 Minutes was made
by Lee Cannell.
Second by David Moody.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Election of the New Chair: Ms. Williams turned over the
meeting to Mr. Claude Mathis, Curriculum Committee Liaison,
to conduct the selection of the new chair for the committee.
Mr. Mathis asked for nominations. Veronica Dominguez
nominated Isela Castanon-Williams. No additional nominations
were made.



Motion to re-elect Isela Castanon-Williams as the
Chairperson for the Curriculum Committee was
made by Veronica Dominguez.
Second by Lee Cannell.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Ms. Williams welcomed the new members and asked everyone
to introduce themselves.
Program Revisions: Dr. Katherine C. Kelley started by
stating that three programs with major revisions were being
presented. She mentioned that it is the charge of the
Curriculum Committee to oversee any major program revision.
Dr. Kelley added that the committee does not vote, the
committee only makes recommendations to Dr. Dennis Brown
to accept the revisions as presented by the coordinator. The
coordinators presenting were asked to limit their presentation to
10 minutes (the power point presentation will be attached to the
minutes and distributed District wide).
The first program presented was the Associate of Arts in
Teaching, presented by Isela Castanon-Williams. Isela stated
that the Teacher Preparation program was requesting two major
changes in the 2008-10 Catalog. The first change has to do
with the AAT 8-12 degree. Since the State has mandated that
high school teachers receive their degrees in the content area
they plan to teach, the School of Education at UTEP no longer
handles this degree plan. Students seeking to teach in high
school need to follow the AA degree plan. The second change
has to do with the addition of an AA in Education that will
serve the needs of students who are unable to participate in the
UTEP School of Education internship program. Therefore
these students must seek Alternative Certification.
Fashion Technology program was presented by Steve Smith.
He represented Trish Winstead, who was out-of-town and
could not attend the meeting. The proposal is to add two new
courses to the Fashion Technology Design Option and to the
Industrial Patternmaking Certificate. The courses being added
are FSHD 2344-Fashion Collection Production and FSHD
2371-Apparel Product Development.
In order to keep the Design Option within the allowed credit
range, a change is necessary in the First Year, Second
Semester. Because the entire first year is a CORE, this deletion
will affect all three degree plans: Design, Merchandising, and
Illustration. The deletion is PHIL 1301 or PHIL 2306 as an
elective option.
The Industrial Patternmaking Certificate of Completion
increases from 27 total credits to 33.
Massage Therapy was presented by Marta de la Fuente. Ms.
de la Fuente gave examples of the importance of this program.
Currently there is only one massage therapy program approved
in the State, which is 450 miles from El Paso. She mentioned
that the new massage suite is being constructed at the
Administrative Service Center. The suite will contain
classrooms, clinical practice space, hydrotherapy area, faculty
offices, conference room, and laundry facilities. New
equipment will be purchased to supplement the currently used
equipment in the massage classes. A full-time faculty member
has been hired to teach and coordinate the program under the
supervision of the Director of Continuing Education for Health.
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Four adjunct faculty from the industry have been identified and
credentialed to teach in the program. As of September 1, 2007
individuals interested in becoming massage therapists must
complete 500 hours of an approved program.
Dr. Kelley mentioned that the reason a non credit program has
come before the committee is because the charge of the
committee is to oversee, both, credit and non credit programs.
Isela thanked the presenters and guests for their attendance.
The members voted on the programs as presented.









Motion to recommend approval of the Associate of
Arts in Teaching changes as presented was made by
Steve Smith.
Second by Dr. Gene A. Muller.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.


comma, and change the statement to read complete
any two of the following. Was made by Dr. Gene A.
Muller.
Second by David Moody.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
A discussion was held regarding the possibility of rotating the
meeting between Transmountain, Rio Grande, and Valle Verde.
Dr. Kelley explained that the Board Room and the Conference
Room B240 were reserved already for the entire year. Most of
the members understood and agreed to continue with the
arrangements already in place.



Motion to adjourn the meeting was made by
Veronica Dominguez.
Second by David Moody.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:10
Motion to recommend approval of the Fashion
Technology changes as presented was made by Dr.
Gene A. Muller.
Second by Daniel M. Nanguang.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Motion to recommend approval of the Massage
Therapy changes as presented was made by Barbara
J. Yancy-Tooks.
Second by Lee Cannell.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
New Business: Dr. Katherine Kelley referred to a copy of the
Core Curriculum as it appears in the catalog. She began by
stating that as discussed by this committee on numerous
occasions, the Core Curriculum will not be open for Revision
until 2010, however, recommendations can be made. The
process is to make any recommendations to Dr. Dennis Brown
and he will petition the Coordinating Board for such changes.
The Curriculum Office has been made aware of some of the
changes that are happening in some of the programs and in
other four year institutions, including UTEP. The Natural
Sciences component in the Core needs to be addressed. The
Natural Sciences currently says complete one of the following
pairs. This therefore necessitates that a student take two
Biology, two Chemistry, two Geology, two Physics and so
forth. Architecture is one of the programs that has come to the
Curriculum Office and asked if this can be changed because
they would like to offer one course in Geology and one course
in Physics. The Nursing program is another program that
would like to see the AND removed. Many other areas will
benefit with this change. The recommendation is to ask Dr.
Dennis Brown to write a letter to the Coordinating Board and
to ask that the Core be modified by deleting the AND between
the Natural Science Courses and replacing it with a comma and
changing the statement to read complete any two of the
following.

Motion to recommend that Dr. Brown send a letter
to the Coordinating Board and to ask that the Core
Curriculum be modified to delete the AND between
the Natural Science Courses, replace it with a
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Thursday October 4, 2007
Valle Verde, Conference Room B240
MEMBERS PRESENT: Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Isela
Castanon-Williams, Tracy Von Maluski, Claude Mathis, Dr.
Kathleen Devaney, Joyce Ritchey, Maria Guerrero, Dr. Irene
Dunn, Lesley Pullen, Veronica Dominguez, Huili Wang, David
Moody, Daniel M. Nanguang, Barbara J. Yancy-Tooks,
Dr. Gene A. Muller and Lee Cannell.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Steve Smith, Richard Yanez, and
Ruben Gallegos. NOTE: Mr. Gallegos will not be counted
absent. He will attend meetings only when needed.
GUESTS PRESENT: Del Najera, Russell Myers, Lucretia
Thomas, Charles Williams, Arturo Acosta and Steve Kahoe.
Opening Remarks: Ms. Castanon-Williams, chairperson,
called the meeting to order at 3:15. She went to the first order
of business, the approval of the minutes.



Motion to approve the September 21, 2007 Minutes.
Second by David Moody.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
With the permission of the committee the order of the agenda
was changed and went to New Business, Item III, to
accommodate guests present.
New Business: Russell Myers and Del Najera gave a brief
description of the change being proposed. The degree plan
originally called Microcomputers in Business will now be
called Information Technology in Business. By making this
change the terminology will better align with the University of
Phoenix and will also reflect better the terminology used in our
industry.
Dr. Kelley mentioned that the University of Phoenix will be
opening their campus in March to be located on Montwood and
Loop 375. She also mentioned that a meeting has been set up
for November 1, 2007 with representatives from the University
of Phoenix to talk about articulation in Business Management,
Information Technology, Education and Criminal Justice.



Motion to recommend approval of
Microcomputers in Business degree change the
name to Information Technology in Business was
made by Dr. Gene Muller.
Second by David Moody
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Program Revisions: The Criminal Justice program was
presented by Mr. Charles Williams. He explained that the
Corrections Option will be deactivated to avoid confusion
associated in choosing between the Corrections Option and the
Law Enforcement Option. The other change was to change the
title from Law Enforcement Option to Criminal Justice
Option and to bring down the total credit hours from 71 to 65-
66. After a question and answers session, the program was
recommended for approval.



Motion to recommend approval of the Criminal
Justice program as presented was made by Dr. Gene
Muller.
Second by Lee Cannell.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Dr. Kelley informed Mr. Williams that the next step will be to
go forward with the recommendation of approval to leadership
and Dr. Dennis Brown.
Lucretia Thomas presented the Court Reporting program. She
explained that the Court Reporting program has a very high
percentage of 3 Peat Courses. The proposal is to increase the
Lab Hours from 1568 to 1664. Increasing the lab hours will
help students overcome speed plateaus. It will also help the
instructor evaluate students’ weaknesses. Ms. Thomas
mentioned that this change will also help students to pass the
course and not have to drop it. She mentioned the 6 course
drop rule is affecting the students. The other change is to add
CRTR 2243-Simulated Courtroom Proceedings. This
course will emphasize writing multiple-voice testimony. By
adding this course the Credit Hours will increase from 70 to 72.
It was also mentioned that there is a high demand of Court
Reporters in the workforce. The committee was asked to vote.



Motion to recommend approval of the Court
Reporting program as presented was made by Dr.
Kathleen Devaney.
Second by Veronica Dominguez.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Steve Kahoe presented the Social Work program. Mr. Arturo
Acosta was also present representing the program. The
proposed changes are:



To DEACTIVATE the Specialty Options (Youth
Services Option and the Gerontology Option).
The Drug/Alcohol Abuse Counseling Option will now
be Social Work AAS and the total credit hours will
decrease from 71 to 62.
Drug/Alcohol Abuse Counseling Certificate of
Completion will be added to the program
After a question and answer session, the program was
recommended for approval.



Motion to recommend approval of the Social Work
program as presented was made by Lee Cannell.
Second by Joyce Ritchey.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
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Dr. Kelley explained that the reason that the presenters are
being asked to make their presentations in Power Point is
because as the minutes are distributed District-wide the
Power Point Presentations will be attached. She added that
sometimes when the minutes are read it is hard to
understand what the presenter is changing in the program,
but with the Power Point Presentation attached, there
should be no questions why the discipline has come to the
committee for recommendation.
New Business (continued): Mr. Mathis suggested that the
curriculum committee explore the rationale and benefits of
having an Associate of Arts in Science Degree and also to look
into how many community colleges require/recommend
students declare a major upon initial acceptance into the
College. Dr. Kelley noted that several disciplines have come to
the Curriculum Office with that concern and wanting to know
why there is no major in History, in English, etc, etc.





Motion to recommend that The Curriculum
Committee explore the rationale of having only an
Associate of Arts Degree and looking into the
possibility and the benefits of having an Associate
of Arts Degrees in specific majors. Motion was
made by Tracy Von Maluski
Second by Joyce Ritchey.
Discussion
Motion amended to include that the students should
declare a major to assist them in transferability.
Amendment was made by Tracy Von Maluski
Second by Joyce Ritchey.
Original Motion and with amendment was accepted
by unanimous vote.
A sub-committee was formed to explore the rationale of having
only an Associate of Arts and to look into the possibility and
the benefits of having an Associate of Arts Degree in specific
majors. Veronica Dominguez, Chairperson, David Moody and
Maria Guerrero will form the committee. Dr. Kelley will
provide information and assistance. The sub-committee will
report back with the findings on November 15.
Lee Cannell addressed a concern regarding the 3 Peat Rule, the
6 Course Drop Rule and the $40.00 per credit hour cost. She
requested that it be reflected in the minutes that there is
committee concern because there is not a widespread
understanding of what the implementation of the state wide
decision and how it will affect enrollment, students and
everything else involved.



Motion to address the committee’s concern of the 3
Peat Rule, the 6 Course Drop Rule and the $40.00
per credit hour cost was made by Lee Cannell.
Second by Daniel M. Nanguang.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
It was decided to invite Daryle Hendry to the next meeting
(October 18) to talk more about this issue.



Motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Dr.
Kathleen Devaney.
Second by Lee Cannell.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:50
Next Curriculum Committee meeting will be held on October
18, 2007, Valle Verde, Room B240 at 3:15.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Thursday October 18, 2007
Valle Verde, Conference Room B240
MEMBERS PRESENT: Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Isela
Castanon-Williams, Tracy Von Maluski, Dr. Kathleen
Devaney, Maria Guerrero, Dr. Irene Dunn, Lesley Pullen,
Veronica Dominguez, Huili Wang, David Moody, Richard
Yanez, Daniel M. Nanguang, Ruben Gallegos, Steve Smith,
Barbara J. Yancy-Tooks, Dr. Gene A. Muller, and Lee Cannell.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Claude Mathis and Joyce Ritchey.
GUESTS PRESENT: Rachel Ortega, Albert Mijares, Dr.
Douglas J. Carr.
Opening Remarks: Ms. Castanon-Williams, chairperson,
called the meeting to order at 3:15. She went to the first order
of business, the approval of the minutes.



Motion to approve the October 4, 2007 Minutes was
made by Dr. Gene Muller.
Second by Maria Guerrero.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
6 Course Drop Rule: Mr. Daryle Hendry started by
commenting on how the article in the Tejano Tribune regarding
the 6 Course Drop Rule was professionally written. He
continued his presentation by saying that the new law became
effective for the Fall Semester 2007 and it only pertains to first
time students in Texas public education. The students who
have already attended are grandfathered and are not affected by
this law. Dual Credit and Early College High School also are
not impacted by this law until they graduate from high school.
What the law says is that the students are restricted to 6 free
drops thru their whole academic career from freshman year
through their Bachelor’s degree. There are certain drops that
are exceptions from the rule. If the student has to drop because
of military service, personal illness, illness or death of a family
member, employment, or other reasons that are approved by
the institution. The other drop that does not count against the 6
drop is a complete withdrawal. What this means is that if a
student is taking 4 classes and for some reason has to drop all 4
courses, these 4 drops do not count toward his/her 6 drop. Mr.
Hendry said that the institution has to come up with a way to
track and report all of the exceptions. A new drop and add
form is being created and as soon as these forms are ready the
old forms will be discontinued. He closed by saying that the
people that passed the law did so to encourage the student to
think ahead, take the classes that they want and that they need,
stay in them, complete them and graduate on time.
Dr. Kelley mentioned that there were two reasons why Mr.
Hendry was invited to the meeting. First one was to inform the
committee what the law is. The second reason was to tell the
committee how the students are being informed. Mr. Hendry
said that the process has already begun and that the law says
that the institution has to inform the students. A postcard has
been sent to all the affected students telling them that the law is
in effect starting Fall 2007. He added that EPCC is not
counting any drops against that 6 drop limit and will not until
the last day of drop for the semester. He gave several reasons
why the count will not start until the last day to drop. Other
ways of distributing information regarding this rule is by
placing an announcement on the EPCC Web Page, by the
information in the Tejano Tribune, students affected have been
notified via-email and also Dr. Dennis Brown will have an
announcement prepared so that all faculty will announce it in
the classroom. Mr. Hendry closed by saying that the
Registrar’s Office will no longer drop students who did not
attend on or prior to census date. It is the students
responsibility that if they are not going to attend to drop
themselves because that decision now impacts the 6 drop limit.
Also, it is the instructor’s responsibility if they choose to do so
to drop the student not for not attending by census date, but to
drop a student for not being in course pursuit. If a faculty
drops a student a Faculty Initiator Drop Form will be filled and
this particular drop will be counted towards the limit.
A question was addressed to Mr. Hendry by Tracy Von
Maluski regarding “not covering a student’s repeat of an F
during the same academic year”. Mr. Hendry recommended
inviting Linda Hensgen-Gonzalez, Director of Financial Aid to
the next Curriculum Committee meeting because this is a
Financial Aid issue. Ms. Castanon-Williams thanked Mr.
Hendry for the information provided.
Implication of Legislation on Syllabi: Dr. Katherine Kelley
addressed the fact that it might be a good idea to draft a
uniform statement and insert it in part II of the syllabus. The
committee showed support to having Dr. Dennis Brown draft a
uniform statement addressing the 6 drop rule and insert it in
Part II of the syllabus. Dr. Kelley mentioned that it will be the
responsibility of the Curriculum Office to update the syllabi on
the WEB.



Motion to have a uniform statement addressing the
6 drop rule in Part II of the Syllabus was made by
Veronica Dominguez.
Second by David Moody
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Program Revisions: Business Management was presented by
Lee Cannell. Proposed changes were based on changes in
student demand, offerings competing with themselves,
feedback from DACUM and recommendations from Advisory
Committee. The table below compares the changes.
Current Business Degrees
Offered
Business Management
AAS
Business Management
International Trade Option
Proposed Business
Programs
Business Management
AAS-Small
Business Option has
30 transfer courses
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Current Business Degrees
Offered
AAS
Business Management CC
Business Management and
Technology CC
Business Management and
Technology CC
Business Management
International Trade CC
Business Management Real
Estate CC
Total Inventory of
courses -35
Proposed Business
Programs

New Business: Dr. Kelley informed the committee that the
recommendation made by the committee to remove the AND in
the Natural Sciences block was not favored by the disciplines
affected. Dr. Kelley mentioned that Dr. Brown always wants
to hear from disciplines affected before making any decision.
In this case Biology, Physics and Geology expressed their
concerns. After discussing the issue in depth, it was
recommended that Dr. Dennis Brown write a letter to the
Coordinating Board and ask for clarification on interpretation
of the AND in the Natural Sciences block. It was also
recommended to suspend the previous recommendation to
remove the AND from the Natural Sciences block until an
answer is received from the Coordinating Board.
Business Management
AASReal Estate Option
with 30 transfer
courses
Business Management
CC-Small Business
Business Management
CC-Real Estate
Total inventory of
courses- 17

Lee Cannell explained and justified the above changes.



Motion to recommend approval of the Business
Management program as presented was made by
Dr. Gene Muller.
Second by Richard Yanez.
Motion passed with one abstention.
Al Mijares presented the Media Production program. Mr.
Mijares mentioned that last Spring he met with some people
from NMSU to see how to add transferability to the Media
Production program. Presently this program is training people
to go into the job area because as far as local transferability
there is none. Based on the information that he got from his
research and the input that he got from the Advisory
Committee the Media Production went into a complete
makeover. He went through the degree plan explaining the
changes and also informing the committee that the Media
Production will now be called Digital Video Production. He
ended by saying that the students graduating from this program
are people that work behind the scenes at TV stations not in
front of the camera.



Motion to recommend approval of the Media
Production (Digital Video Production) program as
presented was made by Veronica Dominguez.
Second by Maria Guerrero.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Dr. Douglas Carr presented the Communication program. The
proposed change to the Communication program is to add
COMM 2304-Introduction to Cinematic Production to the
Radio and Television Broadcasting/Broadcast Journalism Field
of Study. This is to further credit transfer relationship with
both NMSU and UTEP. A high degree of interest is
anticipated from those students who wish to complete their
degree work at a film school.


Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Motion to recommend approval of the
Communication program as presented was made by
Lee Cannell.
Second by Huili Wang.


Motion to recommend that Dr. Dennis Brown send
a letter to the Coordinating Board and ask for
clarification on the AND in the Natural Sciences
block was made by Steve Smith.
Second by Daniel M. Nanguang.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
An amendment was made by Tracy Von Maluski to have Dr.
Brown call or include in the letter to get clarification on any
pairing of courses in the Core.
Motion amended to include that Dr. Brown either call or
add to the letter being sent to get clarification on any
pairing of courses in the Core. Amendment was accepted
by Steve Smith and Daniel M. Nanguang. Motion was
accepted by unanimous vote.



Motion to suspend the previous recommendation
made from the Curriculum Committee to remove
the AND from the Natural Sciences block until Dr.
Brown receives and answer of clarification from the
Coordinating Board was made by Dr. Kathleen
Devaney.
Second by Tracy Von Maluski.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
It was decided to invite Linda Hensgen-Gonzalez, Director of
Financial Aid, to the November 15 meeting to talk about the
“not covering a student’s repeat of an F during same academic
year” issue.



Motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Lee
Cannell.
Second by Dr. Irene Dunn.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:15
Next Curriculum Committee meeting will be held on
November 15, 2007, Valle Verde, Room B240 at 3:15.
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Thursday November 15, 2007
Valle Verde, Conference Room B240
MEMBERS PRESENT: Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Isela
Castanon-Williams, Tracy Von Maluski, Dr. Kathleen
Devaney, Carlos Armendariz, Dr. Irene Dunn, Veronica
Dominguez, Richard Yanez, Daniel M. Nanguang, Ruben
Gallegos, Claude Mathis, Joyce Ritchey Steve Smith, Barbara
J. Yancy-Tooks, Dr. Gene A. Muller, and Lee Cannell.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Lesley Pullen, Huili Wang, and David
Moody.
GUESTS PRESENT: Rachel Ortega, Richard Bahena, Dr.
Jaime Farias, Debra Tomacelli-Brock and Charles Fitzgerald.
Opening Remarks: Ms. Castanon-Williams, chairperson,
called the meeting to order at 3:15. She welcomed Carlos
Armendariz who is replacing Maria Guerrero. The approval of
the minutes was next.



Motion to approve the October 18, 2007 Minutes as
corrected was made by Dr. Gene Muller.
Second by Veronica Dominguez.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Linda Hensgen-Gonzalez was present to address the
concern/question regarding Financial Aid not covering if a
student gets an F and wants to repeat the course. Linda started
by saying that the Federal Government requires that every
institution comes up with their own criteria for determining
what satisfactory academic progress is. Linda explained that at
this point Financial Aid is only looking if the student is
meeting the two thirds and has a 2.0 or better. She gave the
example that if a student takes 12 hours in the Fall and gets an
F in one class, the student will only receive credit for 9 hours.
The student needs to be careful and not drop any courses in the
Spring because he/she is already at the two thirds from the Fall.
The student getting an F is not an issue for Financial Aid
purposes. The average is done at the end of every academic
year in August and at that time Financial Aid looks at how
many courses the student was enrolled in and what percentage
was completed. Isela thanked Linda for attending the meeting
and for the information provided.
Program Revisions: Mr. Richard Bahena presented the
proposed changes for the Fire Technology program. One of the
proposed changes is to decrease the total credit hours and make
the Basic Firefighter Option at 63 credit hours and the Fire
Science Option at 68 credit hours. This is being done to
encourage students to stay in the program. The other change is
to separate the Fire Science Administration and the Basic
Firefighter and actually look at three areas which are: Fire
Management Option, Basic Firefighter Option and the Fire
Science Option. After a question/answer session the program
was recommended for approval as presented.



Motion to recommend approval of the Fire
Technology Program as presented was made by
Joyce Ritchey.
Second by Lee Cannell.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Music Program: Mr. Claude Mathis introduced the program
and then turned it over to Armin Harrison who explained that
the main purpose for the changes to the program is to make a
better transition to a senior institution and to also adhere more
closely to what it is in the ACGM. The Current Field of Study
consists of 27 credit hours and is being increased to 35 credit
hours. The other changes are to Delete MUSI 1308 and
MUSI 1309 using MUSI 1307 as a replacement course.
Additions to the program are MUSR 1011, MUSR 1012,
MUSR 2011, and MUSR 2012 Music Student Recital I-IV.
These courses provide the student with a weekly performance
opportunity before an audience of peers, as well as exposure to
diverse repertoire performed by other students. After some
discussion regarding the MUSR courses, the committee voted
to recommend the proposed changes with one condition.






Motion to recommend approval to the Music Field
of Study as presented with the condition that Mr.
Claude Mathis get clarification from the
Coordinating Board regarding the state allowing
such courses to be implemented as 0 credit was
made by Lee Cannell.
Second by Dr. Irene Dunn.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Motion to recommend that Dr. Dennis Brown send
a letter to the Coordinating Board requesting the
change in the wording where this portion of the core
will read to take any MUEN trio was made by
Carlos Armendariz. The Curriculum Office will put
together the wording that is most appropriate to
satisfy the request
Second by Lee Cannell.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Physical Therapist Assistant program was presented by
Debra Tomecelli-Brock. She mentioned that the changes made
to the program are governed by the accreditation agency
(Commission on the Accreditation of Physical Therapy
Education). The degree plan will be reduced to 5 semesters
and because the degree plan is now at 5 semesters, it was
decided to reduce the number of courses that the student has to
take, giving them more lab time. The other changes are the
addition of a Medical Terminology course, the reduction in
clinical contact hours per Advisory Committee, the resequencing of general education and technical courses, the
increase in credit hours in a Functional Anatomy course and the
shift in the distribution of lecture and lab hours in PTHA 1325-
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Communication in Health Care. Ms. Tomacelli-Brock
elaborated on each proposed change. After a question and
answer session, the committee voted to recommend approval of
the proposed changes.



Motion to recommend approval of the Physical
Therapist Assistant program as presented was made
by Dr. Gene Muller.
Second by Steve Smith.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Veronica Dominguez brought information regarding exploring
the rationale of having only an Associate of Arts and to look
into the possibility and the benefits of having an Associate of
Arts Degree in specific majors. She presented the information
on a chart that indicated the degrees offered at different
community colleges. It can be seen on the chart that with a
couple of exceptions, EPCC is offering the same types of
degrees as other community colleges around Texas.
Information from the Coordinating Board was also presented
about the structure and types of degrees that may be offered in
community colleges. There are limitations in what can be done
with the curriculum and the degrees, and it seems that the fields
of study are the only way to get creative with the degrees (other
colleges are also offering them). Thus, the probability of
EPCC offering associate degrees in different disciplines
(biology, chemistry, English, etc) is very remote.
As to whether students are required to declare a major upon
admission to the College, the answer is yes if the student is
receiving any type of financial aid (grants, loans, VA,
scholarships, etc). EPCC has 85 to 90% of its student
population receiving financial aid. If the student is not
receiving financial aid, it is only recommended or preferred
that a major be declared (and there is no penalty if it is not).
Isela thanked the sub-committee (Veronica Dominguez, David
Moody and Maria Guerrero) for their work.
memo that she has sent to them to inform all faculty. She
mentioned that the process is to agree or disagree with the
statement for the skills that the student should have when they
come to Higher Education. EPCC will submit a very good
sample of a syllabus for certain courses and Ms. Ritchey has
contacted the District Wide Coordinators in the areas of
English, History Government, Biology, Mathematics and
Psychology to get those syllabi. Some people out of the
University of Oregon are doing a discriminant analysis study
on all the objectives from all the syllabi in the State for these
particular courses and comparing those to the standards that
have been developed to see if there are any discrepancies and
what the differences are. She closed by saying that she
encourages all faculty to review those standards and to
comment on them.
Dr. Katherine Kelley informed the committee that she had
presented their recommendation of the previous meeting to
Leadership and Dr. Brown that the AND be removed from the
Natural Sciences Block of the Core. Leadership supported the
recommendation and agreed with removing the AND from the
Natural Sciences Block. Discussion followed. Tracy
VonMaluski moved that the previous recommendation be
rescinded and that the AND remain in the Natural Sciences
Block.



Dr. Kelley also presented the uniform statement regarding the 6
Course Drop Rule. Below is the statement.
"Students who began attending Texas public
institutions of higher education for the first time
during the Fall 2007 semester or later are subject to
a 6-Drop limit for all undergraduate classes this
includes developmental and ESL courses. Dual
Credit and Early College High School Classes are
exempt from this rule. Whether or not students are
subject to the new rule, they should consult with
their instructor before dropping a class. Academic
intervention may be available. Students are
encouraged to see Counseling Services if dropping
for other personal reasons."
Some discussion was held regarding the possibility for EPCC
having an Associate of Science degree and an Associate of
General Studies degree.



Motion to recommend that the Curriculum Office
find out what it would take to offer an Associate of
Science degree and also an Associate of General
Studies degree was made by Dr. Kathleen Devaney.
Second by Dr. Gene Muller.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Joyce Ritchey informed the committee that the State has put
together some vertical curriculum alignment teams made up of
High School faculty and Higher Education faculty for the
purpose of using the transition in skills from High School to
Higher Education. These are put together to align the
curriculum so that the students will be prepared for Higher
Education. Their work is in draft form and the draft is out on
the Coordinating Board website under College Readiness
Standards. It is very important for faculty to be aware that
those are on the web for review until December 10. Ms.
Ritchey added that she has asked all the deans to forward a
Motion to leave the AND in the Natural Sciences
Block was made by Tracy VonMaluski.
Second by Steve Smith.
Motion passed with four Nays.



Motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Lee
Cannell.
Second by Dr. Irene Dunn.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:30
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Special Session Curriculum Committee Meeting
Thursday November 26, 2007
Valle Verde, Conference Room B240
MEMBERS PRESENT: Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Isela
Castanon-Williams, Tracy Von Maluski, Dr. Kathleen
Devaney, Carlos Armendariz, Dr. Irene Dunn, Veronica
Dominguez, David Moody, Daniel M. Nanguang, Ruben
Gallegos, Claude Mathis, and Lee Cannell.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Richard Yanez, Lesley Pullen, Huili
Wang, Joyce Ritchey, Steve Smith, Barbara J. Yancy-Tooks,
and Dr. Gene A. Muller.
After further discussion, the committee felt that enough
information had been presented and were ready to vote.



GUESTS PRESENT: Dr. Dennis Brown, Rachel Ortega.
Ms. Castanon-Williams, chairperson, called the meeting to
order at 3:30. She thanked the committee for meeting on such
short notice. She welcomed Dr. Dennis Brown and turned the
meeting over to him. Dr. Brown stated that the reason he
wanted to meet with the committee was to better understand the
decision made regarding removing or keeping the AND in the
Natural Sciences Block. He mentioned that he has heard
different perspectives about the issue, and that every
perspective is equally important. He said that the decision
should not be based on the College, or the program, or on the
faculty. He added that the decision should be made based on
the best interest of the students. The committee discussed the
issue and each member had the opportunity to present
documentation, or to speak to either supporting the keeping of
the AND in the Social Sciences Block of the core, or in support
of taking the AND out.
Dr. Dennis Brown thanked the committee for listening to him
and for helping him understand the issue. Dr. Brown said that
he would like to leave before the committee voted and again
mentioned that he did not want his presence to influence the
committee’s decision in any way.



Motion to re-consider the previous vote taken on
Nov. 15, 2007 which stated leaving the AND in the
Natural Sciences Block was made by Daniel M.
Nanguang
Second by Lee Cannell.
Motion passed to re-consider the vote, with one
opposed.
Motion was then made to remove the AND from the
Natural Sciences Block provided that the second
course in the Natural Sciences Block does not fall
out of the core as a result of this decision, was made
by Veronica Dominguez.
Second by Daniel Nanguang.
Motion passed with one nay and one abstained.
Dr. Kelley then clarified that it was the wish of the Committee
that the AND be removed from the Natural Sciences Block.
Lee Cannell suggested that the committee meet more than one
time per month in the Fall semester.



Motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Dr.
Kathleen Devaney.
Second by David Moody.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:00
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Thursday, February 21, 2008
ASC Boardroom
MEMBERS PRESENT: Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Isela
Castanon-Williams, Dr. Kathleen Devaney, Carlos
Armendariz, Daniel M. Nanguang, Claude Mathis, Lesley
Pullen, Joyce Ritchey, Steve Smith, Barbara J. Yancy-Tooks,
Dr. Gene A. Muller, and Lee Cannell.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Ruben Gallegos, Richard Yanez,
Tracy Von Maluski, Dr. Irene Dunn, Veronica Dominguez,
Huili Wang, and David Moody.
GUESTS PRESENT: Rachel Ortega, David Wilson.
Opening Remarks: Ms. Castanon-Williams, chairperson,
called the meeting to order at 3:15. She welcomed everyone to
the meeting. The approval of the minutes was next.






Motion to approve the November 15, 2007 Minutes
as presented was made by Lee Cannell.
Second by Carlos Armendariz.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Motion to approve the November 26, 2007 Minutes
as presented was made by Daniel M. Nanguang.
Second by Lee Cannell.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Announcement: Dr. Kelley announced that Rachel Ortega,
Curriculum Monitoring Specialist, and David Wilson,
Curriculum Facilitator will be attending meetings to provide
assistance in their areas of expertise. Dr. Kelley asked Dr.
Stroud what would be the procedure to have David and Rachel
attend the Curriculum Committee meetings and have the
opportunity to speak whenever they felt it was necessary. Dr.
Stroud said that they do not have to be appointed to the
committee by Dr. Rhodes and that it can be at the discretion of
the Curriculum Office Manager as to when they will attend the
meetings and when to speak. Dr. Kelley welcomed David
Wilson and Rachel Ortega to the meeting.
New Degrees: Dr. Kelley referred the members to their
packets and mentioned that the College will now offer 13
Associate of Arts Degrees in: Art, Chicana/o Mexican
American Studies, Dance, Drama, Economics, English,
General Studies, Philosophy, Psychology, Spanish, Speech
Communication, Teacher Prep High School Ed. Grade 9-12
Option and Teacher Prep Alternative Teacher Cert. Route
Option. The College will also offer 13 Associate of Science
in: Architecture, Biology, Biological Sciences Pre-Dentistry,
Pre-Medicine Option, Pre-Pharmacy Option, PreVeterinary Option, Chemistry, General Studies, Geological
Sciences, Kinesiology with Exercise Science Option,
Kinesiology with Physical Education Option, Mathematics,
and Physics. Some of the degree plans are not complete
because of minor transferability issues, but will be in the 20082010 College catalog with a watermark that says (refer to
College website-www.epcc.edu) and will be finalized before
the Fall 2008 semester. The College will continue to offer
areas of study in: Anthropology, Education, French,
German, Geography, Government, History and Sociology.
Two options of the AAT will still be offered. She also
mentioned that from the nine Fields of Study previously
offered, six will remain. Dr. Kelley, Rachel Ortega, David
Wilson will be meeting on all five campuses with all the
counselors to explain the implementation of these degrees.
During those meetings the counselors will also receive the
Deans and Counselors Special Edition 2008-2010 Catalog. Dr.
Kelley thanked everyone who was evolved in accomplishing
this task in such a short period of time.
Adoption of 6 Drop Rule for Syllabi: Dr. Kelley referred to
the 6 Drop Rule item at the November 15, 2007 meeting. She
mentioned that at the time when the statement was presented no
vote had been taken. The committee read the statement and
recommended minor changes to the statement before taking a
vote. The Curriculum Office will insert the statement in Part II
syllabi and will also update the web. The statement
recommended reads:
Students who began attending Texas public institutions of
higher education for the first time during the Fall 2007
semester or later are subject to a 6-Drop limit for all
undergraduate classes. Developmental, ESL, Dual Credit and
Early College High School classes are exempt from this rule.
All students should consult with their instructor before
dropping a class. Academic assistance is available. Students
are encouraged to see Counseling Services if dropping because
exemptions may apply. Refer to the EPCC catalog and website
for additional information.



Motion to recommend approval of the 6 Drop Rule
Statement was made by Dr. Gene A. Muller.
Second by Dr. Kathleen Devaney.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
New Business: Isela Castanon-Williams addressed the issue
regarding how many members need to be present to have a
quorum. It is understood that the standard quorum is 50% + 1.
The Curriculum Committee has 16 voting members so to have
a quorum; nine members will have to be present. Dr. Kelley
spoke with Dr. Stroud previously regarding this issue and he
said that the committee can choose to change the number which
constitutes a quorum, but will have to update the Standing
Committee Policies and Procedures. It was suggested to set the
quorum at seven.


Motion that seven members will constitute a
quorum was made by Dr. Gene A. Muller.
Second by Barbara J. Yancy-Tooks.
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One of the members mentioned that if the quorum were to be
set at seven, not enough representation would be present.
Dr. Gene A. Muller and Barbara J. Yancy-Tooks withdrew the
motion.
The members discussed that a proxy would be a possibility.
After discussing the issue further, it was agreed to leave the
standard quorum, but to institute a proxy.


Motion to leave the quorum at 50% +1 and to
institute a proxy method was made by Dr. Kathleen
Devaney.
Second by Joyce Ritchey.
An accepted amendment was made by Steve Smith that
each attending member be allowed to choose a proxy, but
that it has to be in writing.

Motion was passed with one abstention.
When the announcement for any future meeting is sent, a proxy
form will be attached.
Dr. Kathleen Devaney requested that the Numbering for
Astronomy I (PHYS 1304) and Astronomy II (PHYS 1303) be
looked at because the numbering is not in ascending order
effective Fall’08. It was suggested that Claude Mathis, as the
liaison to the ACGM committee, bring this to their attention
and ask for recommendations. He is to report back at the next
meeting.


Motion to recommend that Claude Mathis as
Liaison to the ACGM committee check with the
Coordinating Board to look at PHYS 1304 and
PHYS 1303 and to work on putting these courses in
ascending order was made by Dr. Kathleen
Devaney
Second by Dr. Gene A. Muller.
An accepted amendment was made by Carlos Armendariz
to have Mr. Mathis bring back a report to the next meeting.

Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
As discussed by the members, the schedule for the next three
meetings will be:
March 20, 2008 at Transmountain in Conference Room 1005 at
3:15
April 17, 2008 at Valle Verde in Room B240 at 3:15
May 1, 2008 at Transmountain in Conference Room 1005 at
3:15



Motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Lee
Cannell.
Second by Carlos Armendariz.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:45
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Thursday, March 20, 2008
Transmountain Conference Room 1005
MEMBERS PRESENT: Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Isela
Castanon-Williams, Dr. Kathleen Devaney, Carlos
Armendariz, Daniel M. Nanguang, Claude Mathis, Richard
Yanez, Tracy Von Maluski, Huili Wang, David Moody, Dr.
Irene Dunn, Lesley Pullen, Joyce Ritchey, and Steve Smith,
MEMBERS ABSENT: Ruben Gallegos, Barbara J. YancyTooks, Dr. Gene A. Muller, Lee Cannell, and Veronica
Dominguez.
GUESTS PRESENT: Rachel Ortega, David Wilson.
Opening Remarks: Ms. Castanon-Williams, chairperson,
called the meeting to order at 3:15. She welcomed everyone to
the meeting and thanked Joyce Ritchey for the refreshments.



Motion to approve the February 21, 2008 Minutes
as presented was made by Dr. Kathleen Devaney.
Second by Joyce Ritchey.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
6 Drop Rule: Dr. Kelley presented the final 6 Drop Rule
Statement. The following is the statement and will be included
in Part II Syllabi.
Students who began attending Texas public institutions of
higher education for the first time during the Fall 2007
semester or later are subject to a 6-Drop limit for all
undergraduate classes. Developmental, ESL, Dual Credit and
Early College High School classes are exempt from this rule.
All students should consult with their instructor before
dropping a class. Academic assistance is available. Students
are encouraged to see Counseling Services if dropping because
exemptions may apply. Refer to the EPCC catalog and website
for additional information.
Astronomy I and II Report: Dr. Kelley and David Wilson
represented Mr. Claude Mathis and gave the report on
Astronomy I and II. The concern that was previously presented
to the committee was that the Astronomy courses were not
listed in ascending numerical order. The numbering system
will be:
PHYS 1103 Astronomy I- Laboratory
PHYS 1303 Astronomy I
PHYS 1104 Astronomy II- Laboratory
PHYS 1304 Astronomy II
Completer and Non-completer: Dr. Kelley gave information
on the Completer and Non-completer AA degrees and referred
to a copy of the statement that was sent out March 13, 2008
from Daryle Hendry to Personnel in the Registrar’s Office.
The following is the statement:
Per THECB guidance, The Curriculum Office and Dr. Brown’s
Leadership Team substitutions to CORE and field of study
(including the new degrees) will not be permitted for CORE
and field of study courses. Students who do not complete Core
courses may still graduate under the AA non-completer code.
All others who do not complete the concentration courses
(required for the field of study or new AA/AS degree plans)
will be graduated under the basic AA degrees as either a core
completer/non-completer as appropriate.
New Business: It was announced that Dr. Gene Mueller had
been taken ill and would not be returning to the College for the
remainder of the semester. The Committee then signed 2 best
wishes cards to be forwarded to him.
The next meeting will be held on April 17, 2008 at Valle Verde
in Room B240 at 3:15



Motion to adjourn the meeting was made by
Joyce Ritchey.
Second by Carlos Armendariz.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:30
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Tuesday April 29, 2008
Transmountain Conference Room 1005
MEMBERS PRESENT: Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Isela
Castanon-Williams, Dr. Kathleen Devaney, Carlos
Armendariz, Daniel M. Nanguang, Claude Mathis, Steve
Smith, Lee Cannell, Tracy Von Maluski, Huili Wang, David
Moody, Dr. Irene Dunn, Lesley Pullen, Joyce Ritchey and
Barbara J. Yancy-Tooks
MEMBERS ABSENT: Ruben Gallegos, Richard Yanez, and
Veronica Dominguez
Isela Castanon-Williams and Dr. Katherine C. Kelley thanked
everyone for all their hard work and for everything that was
accomplished during the year.
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

Motion to adjourn the meeting was made by
Tracy Von Maluski.
Second by Lee Cannell.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:30
GUESTS PRESENT: Rachel Ortega, David Wilson
Opening Remarks: Dr. Katherine Kelley called the meeting
to order at 3:15 and conducted the meeting until Ms. CastanonWilliams, chairperson, arrived. Dr. Kelley welcomed everyone
to the meeting and thanked Claude Mathis and Joyce Ritchey
for the refreshments. The minutes were presented for approval.
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
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
Motion to approve the March 20, 2008 Minutes as
presented was made by Lee Cannell.
Second by Tracy Von Maluski.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Biology 2401 and 2402: Dr. Kelley presented this proposal
because the Biology department was unable to attend the
meeting. The proposal is to recommend the inclusion of BIOL
2401 and BIOL 2402 to the Core. After the presentation, a
question and answer session was held. Because of some
concerns that were addressed by the members it was
recommended that this item be tabled until a later date. The
members felt that the Biology discipline needed to be present
for this proposal and also felt that the other disciplines affected
by this change needed to be given an opportunity to make a
presentation if they so desire.



Motion to table the proposal of the Biology
department until a later date and to give the
affected areas an opportunity to make a
presentation was made by David Moody.
Second by Dr. Irene Dunn.
Motion was passed with one abstention.
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CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
2006-2007 MINUTES
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Valle Verde Conference, Room B240
Members Present: Gail Shipley, Dr. Katherine C. Kelley,
Antonio Juarez, Susan Selk, Joyce Ritchey, Claude Mathis,
Tracy Von Maluski, Isela Castanon-Williams, Steve Smith,
Monica Wong, and Veronica Dominguez, Barbara J. YancyTooks, Dr. Kathleen Devaney, David Moody, and Huili Wang
Members Absent: Dr. Don Haney, Maria Guerrero, Lee
Cannell, Marybeth Lucy and Ruben Gallegos.
Guest Present: Rachel Ortega, Bobby Ortega.
Opening Remarks: Claude Mathis, Administrative Liaison,
welcomed everyone to the meeting. Mr. Mathis asked the
members to introduce themselves. Dr. Katherine Kelley
introduced Rachel Ortega as the Curriculum Monitoring
Specialist. She mentioned that Rachel is replacing Bertha
Yanez who retired in August.



Motion to approve the April 20, 2006 Minutes was
made by Dr. Kathleen Devaney.
Second by Joyce Ritchey.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Selection of New Chair: Mr. Mathis asked for nominations to
select a new chairperson. He mentioned that Gail Shipley has
served as chairperson for two terms and that she has done a
wonderful job.



Motion to nominate Isela Castanon-Williams to be
the new Chairperson was made by Veronica
Dominguez.
Second by Dr. Kathleen Devaney.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Mr. Claude Mathis turned the meeting over to Isela CastanonWilliams, Chairperson for the Curriculum Committee. Isela
asked Dr. Kelley to address the next item on the agenda.
Syllabus Procedure 6.04.02.10: Dr. Kelley referred the
members to the handout titled Summary of the Process of
Reviewing Board Policies and College Procedures. She read
each of the five steps and explained that the procedure is at the
last stage of the process and will soon become official. Once it
has the appropriate signatures, Dr. Ron Stroud will place the
revised version on the WEB.
International Baccalaureate Program: Dr. Kelley also
talked about the International Baccalaureate Program. She
explained that according to Senate Bill 111 Texas colleges and
universities must prepare a policy for any students who are
participating in the International Baccalaureate Program. If
students at the high schools participate in the International
Baccalaureate Program and receive an International
Baccalaureate Diploma, then they have the right when they
come to a receiving institution, to receive college credits. In El
Paso there are two high schools participating in the
International Baccalaureate Program. This coming May,
Coronado High School will graduate 42 students with an
International Baccalaureate Diploma. The other is El Dorado
High School, and that particular high school just started its
program this Fall, so it will be four years before someone
graduates. The International Baccalaureate is above and
beyond gifted and talented. A great deal of work was done to
compile the information presented. Dr. Kelley and Joyce
Ritchey are putting together the policy and procedure that will
be posted in the 2007-2008 Catalog and on line to comply with
the Senate Bill.
Selecting a Co-chair: Mr. Claude Mathis asked the committee
if they would like to elect a Co-chairperson for the Curriculum
Committee. After discussing the issue, it was decided that a
Co-chairperson should be elected.






Motion to elect a Co-chairperson was made by
Tracy Von Maluski.
Second by Monica Wong.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Motion to nominate Susan Selk as the new Cochairperson was made by Veronica Dominguez.
Second by Barbara J. Yancy-Tooks.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
New Business: Mr. Bobby Ortega, Instructional Dean,
informed the committee that in Fall 2007 the Math Discipline
will start offering a new Math course which is MATH 1333Math in a Modern World. This course is also offered at
UTEP and it is included in their Core Curriculum. This course
is taken by Liberal Arts students. If this course is included in
the Core at EPCC, the students graduating will be identified as
Core Curriculum Completers. If this Math course is not
included in the Core, the students will be listed as non-
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completers. Mr. Ortega asked the committee to consider adding
MATH 1333 to the Core Curriculum.
Dr. Katherine Kelley explained to the committee that what Mr.
Ortega is requesting can be done, because it is not adding to the
core, it is only adding a choice to the Mathematics Block. Dr.
Kelley went on to say that Mr. Ortega has come to the
committee to ask for a recommendation to take back to Dr.
Dennis Brown and it is Dr. Brown who will write a letter to the
Coordinating Board asking that they add this to the Core
Curriculum. The committee made a motion to approve pending
the Mathematics discipline approval.



Motion to add MATH 1333 as a choice to the Core
Curriculum pending approval from the MATH
Discipline was made by Dr. Kathleen Devaney.
Second by David Moody.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
The next item was addressed by Mr. Claude Mathis. He
explained that DRAM 2366 is in the Core Curriculum and that
this particular course has a cross listing course which is
COMM 2366. Mr. Mathis explained that these two courses are
the same, but with a different rubric. COMM 2366 is in the
Communication Field of Study and since it is taught by the
Communication instructors, it should also be managed by them.
Mr. Mathis added that it would be more powerful for the
students to have COMM 2366 on their transcripts as a
communication course.
Mr. Mathis presented two options: One would be to substitute
DRAM 2366 with COMM 2366 in the Core Curriculum and
this is the option he favors. The other option would be to list
COMM2366/DRAM2366 (with a slash) in the Core. The
committee debated for a few minutes and asked Mr. Mathis if
the Drama and the Communication Disciplines were in
agreement with him presenting this to the committee. He
assured the committee that both disciplines had been contacted
and were in agreement. The committee made a motion to add a
slash instead of substituting.



Motion to add COMM2366/DRAM2366 to the
Core Curriculum was made by Susan Selk.
Second by Huili Wang.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
On behalf of the Curriculum Committee, Dr. Katherine Kelley
presented Ms. Shipley a certificate of appreciation and a
beautiful plant for serving as Chairperson for the Curriculum
Committee from 2002-2006. Ms. Shipley thanked the
committee and Dr. Kelley for the gift and the support given to
her during her two terms as Chairperson.
The next meeting will be held on Thursday, November 16,
2006 at Transmountain.



Motion to adjourn meeting was made by Susan
Selk.
Second by Veronica Dominguez.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:30
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Thursday, November 16, 2006
Transmountain Conference Room 1005
Members present: Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Antonio Juarez,
Susan Selk, Joyce Ritchey, Claude Mathis, Tracy Von Maluski,
Isela Castanon-Williams, Steve Smith, Monica Wong,
Veronica Dominguez, Dr. Kathleen Devaney, Maria Guerrero,
Lee Cannell, and Ruben Gallegos.
Members absent: Gail Shipley, Dr. Don Haney, Barbara J.
Yancy-Tooks, Huili Wang, David Moody.
Guest Present: Rachel Ortega, Norman Love, Dr. Gene
Muller, Dr. Eileen Conklin, Pat Aguilar, Thomas Enriquez,
Ronald Suciu, Manfred Silva, and Celina Uranga.
Opening Remarks: Ms. Castanon-Williams, chairperson,
welcomed everyone to the meeting. She asked for a motion to
approve the minutes.



Motion to approve the October 12, 2006 Minutes
was made by Dr. Kathleen Devaney.
Second by Lee Cannell.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Core Curriculum: Mr. Norman Love is proposing to add
HIST 2321-World History to 1648 and HIST 2322-World
History 1648 to Present to the Core. Many supporting
reasons were given by Dr. Eileen Conklin, Dr. Gene Muller,
Mr. Suciu, Mr. Manfred Silva, Mr. Thomas Enriquez, Ms.
Celina Uranga, and Ms. Pat Aguilar who were present to
support Mr. Love’s proposal. Dr. Kelley explained that UTEP
has these two courses in the Humanities Block and that by
EPCC adding these courses in the same block as UTEP, this
will help EPCC students transfer to UTEP as completers of the
Associate of Arts Degree. As it is now, many students are not
completing the Core at EPCC.



Motion to recommend the addition of HIST 2321
and HIST 2322, upon approval of the impacted
disciplines, to the Humanities Block of the Core
Curriculum was made by Dr. Kathleen Devaney
Second by Veronica Dominguez.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Dr. Dennis Brown, Vice President of Instruction, will submit a
letter to the Coordinating Board asking for approval to add
these courses to the Core. If approved by the Board, this
change will be implemented Fall 2007.
A concern was addressed regarding opening the Core. Dr.
Kelley explained that the core has not been opened and that the
terminology is interpreted in the following manner: Dr.
Goeman, from the Coordinating Board, explained to her that
the terminology OPEN and the terminology FOR REVIEW
sometimes get confused. The College is allowed to look at
the Core and open it every five years. If a particular
situation comes about when students are severely impacted
or graduation rates are negatively impacted, then the
College is allowed to review the core and make appropriate
changes. If the Vice President of Instruction feels it is
necessary to do so for these reasons, then he can issue a
letter asking approval from the Coordinating Board. This
rule is in the Code from the Coordinating Board. If any other
discipline feels that they fall in this same category and can
provide appropriate documentation to support an addition to the
Core, they may do so by following the appropriate steps.
Mr. Mathis would like to see if there are other courses/options
and not just HIST 2321 and HIST 2322 that could be added.
Dr. Eileen Conklin made clarification that at this point only
these two courses were being proposed.
Catalog Changes: Rachel Ortega, Curriculum Monitoring
Specialist, provided information on course and program
changes. First list shows new courses, revised courses,
archived courses, reinstated courses, and replaced courses. The
second list shows the courses being archived by the Discipline
Coordinators. The third list shows courses being archived by
any other faculty member. The fourth and last list shows the
programs that have changed and will be electronically
submitted to the Coordinating Board on March 1, 2007. Every
change that Ms. Ortega presented will appear in Catalog 20072008 and will be implemented Fall 2007. The material was
presented as information only and does not need a motion or
recommendation from the committee.
Syllabus Procedure 6.04.02.10: Dr. Kelley informed the
committee that the reason the procedure was being held back
was because the senate wanted to change the name (Official
Course Description) to something else. Dr. Kelley took the
recommendation to Leadership and Leadership thought that
(Official Discipline Course Requirements) would be a good
name. Dr. Kelley took the recommendation back to the senate
on November 15, 2006. After some discussion the senate
decided that the original title should remain as (Official
Course Description). They approved the procedure pending
adding the word (Course) before the word Syllabus in Roman
Numeral II. The next step is for Dr. Carina Ramirez to sign the
procedure and forward it to Dr. Rhodes for his signature.

Motion to accept the recommendation from the
senate to add the word (Course) in Roman
Numeral II was made by Lee Cannell.
Second by Dr. Kathleen Devaney.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.

A motion was made by Lee Cannell to have Dr.
Kelley send out an electronic copy of the new
part I part and II syllabi template to all lead
coordinators and to have the lead coordinators
pass on the information to all part-time faculty
and make them aware of the new part I and part II

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format. This is in hopes of being able to
implement the change by January 2007.
Second by Joyce Ritchey
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.


A discussion was held regarding how difficult it is to navigate
the EPCC Web Page and try to access the syllabi part II.
Different ideas were given on how it would make it easier. Dr.
Kelley mentioned that the Web Layout Committee is already
working on the new look of the home page.



Motion to recommend that the EPCC home page
have a direct link to access the syllabi part II was
made by Susan Selk.
Second by Tracy Von Maluski.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Dr. Kelley will take the recommendation to the Web Layout
Committee.
these disciplines will know if there are more options. Tracy
Von Maluski recommended this item be put on the agenda for
the next meeting. The Curriculum Office will research this
issue before the next meeting.
The committee thanked Joyce Ritchey for providing
refreshments. The next meeting will be held January 25 2007,
at Rio Grande.



Motion to adjourn meeting was made by Susan
Selk.
Second by Lee Cannell.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:45
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
New Business: Mr. Mathis would like to see if the committee
is willing to consider finding out what options there are for
History and Government. The next time the Core does open,
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Thursday, February 15, 2007
Rio Grande Conference Room A121
Members present: Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Antonio Juarez,
Tracy Von Maluski, Isela Castanon-Williams, Steve Smith,
Monica Wong, Dr. Kathleen Devaney, Maria Guerrero, Dr.
Don Haney, Huili Wang, David Moody, and Lee Cannell
choices. It was also mentioned that if a History course is added
it would probably be the one from Chicana/o Studies. Mr.
Mathis was not present so the committee is unsure of what he
will recommend.
Members absent: Susan Selk, Joyce Ritchey, Claude Mathis,
Veronica Dominguez, Ruben Gallegos, Gail Shipley, Irene
Dunn, and Barbara J. Yancy-Tooks
Informational Items: Dr. Kelley had been asked to address
the issue of how a course could be in the Core and have a
prerequisite. The only way that is possible is if the course that
is a prerequisite is also in the core. The example she gave was
the English courses in the core (ENGL 2322, ENGL 2323,
ENGL 2333, ENGL 2342, ENGL 2343, ENGL 2351, ENGL
2373) all have the prerequisite of ENGL 1301 that is all right
because ENGL 1301 is also in the Core.
Guest: Rachel Ortega
Opening Remarks: Ms. Castanon-Williams, chairperson,
welcomed everyone to the meeting. She asked for a motion to
approve the minutes. Dr. Kathleen Devaney recommended a
correction to the minutes.



Motion to approve the November 16, 2006
Minutes as corrected was made by Lee Cannell.
Second by Antonio Juarez.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Options: Dr. Kelley referred to the November 16, 2006
Minutes under New Business where Mr. Mathis had asked if
the committee is willing to find out what options there are for
History and Government so that the next time the Core does
open these disciplines will know if there are more options. Dr.
Kelley presented three handouts and explained them one by
one. The first handout shows the Core Curriculum as it will
appear in the 2008-2009 catalog. She pointed out that the three
different items that were brought to the committee for addition
to the core are now reflected in the core as followed: Under
Mathematics, MATH1333 was added. Under Humanities,
HIST2321 and HIST 2322 were added and under Visual and
Performing Arts, it now reads COMM/DRAM 2366.
The second handout shows the different areas of the Core as
mandated by the state. Dr. Kelley explained each area and
focused on the Social/Behavioral Sciences block where it
shows that it must include U.S. History and must include
Political Science (EPCC calls it Government) and it is
legislatively mandated. As a result the students are being asked
to take 12 mandated hours and have only one more choice.
Dr. Kelley referred to the third handout, a worksheet that
outlines the Core. She focused on the Visual and Performing
Arts to show that compared to the other areas, this particular
area does not have many choices and in fact another choice
would be a possibility. Although another choice can be added,
this would be at the discretion of the Curriculum Committee
and the disciplines impacted as to whether it is done or not.
This action would take place as part of opening the Core
Curriculum in 2010. If there is a sincere need before then, this
choice can be added to the core just as the other three items
were added to the Core this year. Some of the comments made
were that in fact in the Social/Behavioral Sciences block there
are fewer choices, and it is advisable to add some additional
Dr. Kelley informed the committee that the syllabi revisions
that the Curriculum Committee made were approved and
signed by the Dr. Richard Rhodes and is now Policy.
New Business: It was suggested that by means of the minutes,
the Curriculum Committee give a heads up to the District and
let everyone know that even though the Core will open in 2010,
it is advisable and appropriate for disciplines to start the
thought process now.



Move that the committee send out a heads up
notification to all the College programs
concerning the discussion related to additions to
the Core and include the time frame when this
will be and when the discussions will begin was
made by Lee Cannell.
Second by David Moody.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
The 120 rule was discussed. It is believed that by following the
120 rule, the students will focus on only one major and finish it
before starting a new one. After discussing this issue the
committee decided that it would be a good idea to invite Dr.
Stephen Aley from UTEP.



Motion to invite Dr. Stephen Aley to the next
Curriculum Committee meeting to come and
speak about how to better prepare the students
and to guide the programs to stay within the 120
rule was made by Lee Cannell.
Second by Huili Wang.
Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
The next meeting will be held March 22, 2007, at
Transmountain.



Motion to adjourn meeting was made by Dr.
Kathleen Devaney.
Second by Lee Cannell.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:15
Rafaela Franco
Secretarial Support for the Curriculum Committee
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Thursday, April 19, 2007
Transmountain Conference Room 1005
MEMBERS PRESENT: Dr. Katherine C. Kelley, Antonio
Juarez, Tracy Von Maluski, Isela Castanon-Williams, Steve
Smith, Dr. Kathleen Devaney, Susan Selk, Joyce Ritchey,
Claude Mathis, Veronica Dominguez, Maria Guerrero, Dr. Don
Haney, Huili Wang, David Moody, Gail Shipley, Irene Dunn,
and Barbara J. Yancy-Tooks, and Lee Cannell.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Monica Wong, Ruben Gallegos, and
Dr. Donald Haney.
GUEST PRESENT: Dr. Stephen Aley, Rachel Ortega, Dr.
Jaime Farias, Dr. Eileen Conklin, Rene Chavez, David Henry,
and Douglas Schirmer.
Opening Remarks: Ms. Castanon-Williams, chairperson,
welcomed everyone to the meeting. She asked for a motion to
approve the minutes.

Motion to approve the February 15, 2007 Minutes
was made by Susan Selk.

Second by Maria Guerrero.

Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
HB 1172: Dr. Kelley introduced Dr. Stephen Aley, Associate
Provost from UTEP, and thanked him for coming to share the
information regarding the HB 1172. He explained that the
local institution determines what the rules are and that the
Coordinating Board accepts what the institution is
implementing. If someone does complain, the Coordinating
Board will definitely review the degree that is being
questioned. He explained that UTEP and EPCC work together
to develop degree plans that allow students to complete their
first 2 years at EPCC and transfer that credit to UTEP to
complete their degrees keeping with the 120 hour limit. After
and during the presentation he answered any questions the
members had.
The following information was distributed via handout to the
members.
Sec. 61.0515. SEMESTER CREDIT HOURS REQUIRED
FOR BACCALAUREATE DEGREE
(a)
To earn a baccalaureate degree, a student may not be
required by a general academic teaching institution to
complete more than the minimum number of semester
credit hours required for the degree by the Southern
Association of Colleges and Schools or its successor
unless the institution determines that there is a
compelling academic reason for requiring completion of
additional semester credit hours for the degree.
(b)
(c)
The board may review one or more of an institution’s
baccalaureate degree programs to ensure compliance
with this section.
Subsection (a) does not apply to a baccalaureate degree
awarded by an institution to a student enrolled in the
institution before the 2008 fall semester. This
subsection does not prohibit the institution from
reducing the number of semester credit hours the student
must complete to receive the degree.
Dr. Stephen Aley mentioned that the main focus and the goal
are to design an AA Degree that will be 100% transferable.
Old Business: The Chairperson, Isela Castanon-Williams,
referred to the previous Minutes under New Business to the
motion that Lee Cannell made in the February 15 meeting.
Isela quoted the motion.
“that the committee send out a heads up notification to all the
College programs concerning the discussion related to
additions to the Core and include the time frame when this will
be and when the discussions will begin”
A Task Force was assigned to draft the letter. The people
assigned to the Task Force were Lee Cannell, Gail Shipley and
David Moody. Because this letter needs to be distributed as
soon as possible, instead of having another meeting to discuss
only this issue, it was voted that after the letter is drafted and
ready, it will be sent out via e-mail to all the members for their
approval.

Motion to cast the votes via e-mail was made by
Dr. Kathleen Devaney.

Second by Huili Wang.

Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
The Task Force will meet with Dr. Katherine Kelley in her
office on Tuesday, April 24 at 2:30, to draft the letter. The
committee will be looking for a vote e-mail on or about April
30. As soon as all the votes are received and the motion passes
via e-mail, the letter will be sent out District wide.
The next issue that Ms. Castanon-Williams addressed was the
importance of having a quorum and the importance of being
present at every meeting. A copy of procedure 2.01.01.14
Committees was distributed as information. Isela asked the
committee to focus on Roman Numeral III, letters E and F. Dr.
Stroud recommended that a decision should be made now
before the finalizations are made on the appointments to the
committee, so that the people that are looking as being selected
for this committee have all the information before making a
decision. The Curriculum Committee meets every 3rd
Thursday of each month and meetings start at 3:15.
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
Motion to officially put in procedure that if a
member has three absences to any regularly
scheduled meeting in a year, the member will be
removed and replaced. This change will be
implemented in the Fall of 2007.

Motion was made by Lee Cannell.

Second by Steve Smith.

Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.

Motion to make official the unofficial meeting
time at 3:15 on the 3rd Thursday of every month
and rotate campuses to include Mission del Paso
and Northwest Campus was made by Joyce
Ritchey.

Second by David Moody.

The majority were NO votes. Motion did not
pass.

Motion to make official the unofficial meeting
time at 3:15 on the 3rd Thursday of every month
and have all the meeting at the ASC was made by
Gail Shipley.

Second by Lee Cannell.

Motion was passed with one opposed.
Mr. Claude Mathis addressed the issue that the Dean should be
contacted when a faculty member has two absences and makes
that Dean aware that the member in question will be removed
and replaced on the third absence. Isela stated that there is no
procedure at this point and that if the committee felt that this is
important someone needed to make a motion. She also said
that this change will be implemented starting Fall 2007. Tracy
Von Maluski added that not only the Dean should be contacted,
but the faculty member should be contacted too.

Moved that when the faculty member has missed
two meetings the liaison from this committee will
contact the faculty member and the Dean of the
appropriate area. Motion was made by Gail
Shipley.

Second by Barbara Yancy-Tooks.

Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
Another issue that was discussed was the importance of when a
new member is appointed to the committee, someone should
send that new member a letter with the information about
meeting time, attendance, and other pertinent information.

Motion that the Curriculum Office send a
welcoming letter to new members of the committee
informing them of the appointment, meeting time,
day, and rules on attendance. Motion was made by
Lee Cannell.

Second by Joyce Ritchey.

Motion was accepted by unanimous vote.
All of the above approved changes will be effective September
1, 2007.

Motion to adjourn meeting was made by Joyce
Ritchey.

Second by Veronica Domiguez.

Meeting was adjourned at 5:15
Z:/CURRICULUMCOMMITTEE\CURRICULUMCOMMMINUTES(COMBINED)
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