COMMITTEE ON MULTICULTURAL CURRICULUM TRANSFORMATION
Notes from Meeting of
18 November 2014
The second meeting of the Committee on Multicultural Transformation was held on
Tuesday, November 19, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. in Altgeld 203.
Attendance
Carolinda Douglass (Vice Provost of Academic Planning and Development), LaVerne
Gyant (Director, Center for Black Studies), Kristin Huffine (Director, Center for Latino
and Latin American Studies), Teresa Fisher (Education), Gary Chen (Engineering &
Engineering Technology), Anita Maddali (Law), Robin Moremen (Liberal Arts and
Sciences), William Goldenberg (Visual and Performing Arts), Melanie Parks (Curricular
Dean), and Katie Janssen (CMCT Graduate Assistant).
Introductions
Went through and introduced everyone.
Minutes
The September minutes were approved with no changes. Kristen made a motion to
approve minutes, Anita second. Robin and Melanie, abstained due to not being present at
the previous committee meeting.
Diversity General Education Requirements
Kristin Huffine informed the committee members about the meeting she had with
LaVerne, Judy Ledgerwood, and Kristen Myers, as the Directors of Centers. They went
to talk to the NIU Plus Task Force and the General Education Committee about
establishing a diversity general education requirement. Both committees said, “No.” The
group met with Michael Kolb about the possibility of having the same 7 general
education requirements, but one of them would also be a diversity requirement, which
would be across all of the domains. Kristin, LaVerne, Judy, and Kristen are going back to
the NIU Plus Task Force Committee and General Education Committee to propose a
second option that states; students must take the same 7 requirements, in all domains, but
one class would also count as a diversity requirement. As center directors, they would go
through all of the classes and decide which of the classes would work in each domain.
Huffine is asking the CMCT committee to endorse them as they present the new
proposition to the committees. Moremen brought up the suggestion of looking at all of
the existing general education courses and highlighting those that have been a part of a
past MCTI, while being sure to note the faculty who attended the institute. Huffine
suggested highlighting the classes that have been transformed due to the institute, so
those courses would meet our criteria. The Center Directors will get a list of courses to
the CMCT members as soon as possible. Members will be responsible for voting
electronically.
MCTI Planning
Huffine discussed the talk with the Provost about the institute and how the committee
wants to make changes to it. In the past, the CMCT was ran by the center directors,
however, as Huffine stated, they are not in the position to do that currently. The Provost
stated the CMCT and institute would most likely go to the CDO Office, in the future.
There was a recap from the last meeting about what to do for the strategic planning days.
Moremen moved the motion of having three days of strategic planning on September 1012, 2015. Goldenberg seconded the motion, and all were in favor. The schedule is as
follows:
Dates
September 10-12, 2015
Day 1 September 10:
CMCT committee will meet with Fred Hord to discuss changes and questions
(Altgeld 203/225). Followed by a reception talk given by Fred Hord in the
evening (Altgeld 200).
Day 2 September 11:
Strategic planning – Meet with all diversity groups on campus (student affairs,
academic affairs, resource centers, academic centers, ADPAC, Presidential office, and
Janice (Heritage Room, HSC).
Day 3 September 12:
Strategic planning – Just CMCT members meet to discuss what to keep in place
and what to change (Heritage Room, HSC).
Other Business
The idea of having a CMCT member be apart of the CDO search committee was brought
up. Goldenberg moved to have CMCT member be a member of the CDO search
committee and Fisher seconded the motion. All were in favor. Huffine is going to ask
Myers to make a request to make this happen.
There will only be two meetings next semester.
Moremen moved to adjourn the meeting and Fisher seconded.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:17 a.m. The next meeting is scheduled for
Tuesday, February __ 2015 from 10:00-11:30 a.m. in Altgeld 203.