Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee
Minutes from 11/08/06
Kevin Craig, acting chair for Mike Wozny
Jeff Durgee
Les Gerhardt
David Hess
Wally Morris
Chris McDermott
Sharon Kunkel
Ken Warriner
Dave Spooner
Sam Wait
Guests: Atsushi Akera
Charlie Malmborg
1) The minutes from the 10/26/06 meeting were approved as submitted.
2) School of Architecture- Ken Warriner distributed the updated proposal for a minor in Acoustics
with the changes recommended by the FSCC at an earlier meeting. The Math requirement was
deleted because it was redundant. The new minor was approved unanimously.
3) School of Engineering- Charlie Malmborg, chair of DSES, distributed proposals for the following
courses:
a. DSES 4290- Discrete Event Simulation Modeling and Analysis- An Academic Integrity
statement and specific readings were added to the syllabus. The course builds on the
department’s modeling course and differs from the graduate level course with more
hands-on skill building. This is a core competency area for an Industrial Mgmt Engr
(MGTE) major.
b. DSES 4210 –Design and Analysis of Supply Chains- This course is intended for seniors with
a MGTE major.
Both courses were approved unanimously with one abstention.
4) School of Science (SoS) - Sam Wait presented a course drop for information.
a. BIOL 4280- Human Physiology II –The department is combining the material from this
course into 1 course.
5) 72 credit Hour PhD- Les Gerhardt provided an overview as well as background on the
development of this proposal. A discussion followed. S. Wait asked about the approval process. He
believes the entire faculty should vote on it as they did for the core curriculum changes at the UG
level. That is the call of the Faculty Senate. The proposal meets NYS requirements and it meets
Institute policies as well. It also complies with Immigration and Naturalization Services requirements
which the international students must follow. 72 credit hours is the minimum credit hours required. A
student may take more credit hours as appropriate. L. Gerhardt noted that there are still some
questions and implementation issues to be addressed, i.e. the 18 credit hour rule.
S. Wait asked why the total credit requirement isn’t 54. He indicated that most of the SoS
departments are generally in favor and supportive of the change. There are some questions about the
students who are finishing up and the number of terms they can be registered for Registration In
Abstentia (RIA). RIA is intended for 1 term with maximum of 2 terms. However it is for students who
are “in abstentia”. The full time tuition policy applies to the typical academic year and does not
include summer. Students who are on campus and finishing their work are expected to be fulltime
students.
Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee
November 11, 2006
From a content point of view, 72 credits was a more reasonable total than 54 credits. The Committee
decided not to follow the MIT model which is a body of knowledge model rather than credit hours.
The committee coupled the financial model with a content model. The Committee decided that 90
credits were too many and 54 were too few. The full time tuition policy will remain in effect. L.
Gerhardt again reminded the FSCC that the student’s adviser determines when the student is done
not the number of credit hours.
K. Craig asked where the masters degree fit in this proposal. A master’s degree will count toward 1
year of residency. If a student brings in a masters degree, the student must complete 48 credit hours
at Rensselaer.
The FSCC suggested that the committee recommendation should specifically say 3 academic years to
be consistent with NYS regulations. L. Gerhardt reiterated that concern about the content is what
drove the 72 credit hrs.
W. Morris asked if the change will improve the rate of the time to degree. This was not the issue. L.
Gerhardt emphasized it is still the adviser who determines when the student has completed the
degree.
L. Gerhardt will check with NYS to see what approvals are needed from them to implement this
change.
A motion to approve the recommendation, send it back to the Faculty Senate and to
request the Faculty Senate to distribute it to the faculty for a vote was approved
unanimously.
6) School of Humanities and Social Science- Atsushi Akera distributed an updated memo which
addressed the issues raised at an earlier meeting.
a. To avoid reusing course numbers 2 courses have new numbers
i. STSH 4340 Environmental Philosophy
ii. STSS 4540 Inequality in America
b. History AP credit will be approved as STSH
c. The change will have little impact on ROTC students
d. STSS 4430 is communication intensive. Communication Intensive will be added to the
catalog course description
e. The Interschool minor in Energy will not be deleted as a result of renewed interest. Steve
Breyman will remain in the loop although a champion still needs to be identified.
f. A 2 year grandfather clause was suggested for the change in the STSS to STSH courses. S.
Wait suggested making the change effective for the entering class of Fall 2007. After some
discussion, the FSCC voted unanimously to approve all of the changes presented
and to allow students who entered prior to Fall 2007 to count the STSH courses
as STSS for the purposes of the Core requirement.
7) School of Management and Technology- Jeff Durgee distributed a proposal for a new MS degree
in Technological Entrepreneurship and Commercialization. He asked Committee members to
review the proposal and get back to him with comments and any feedback. He gave a brief
overview of the structure of the program. There were some issues with the science courses noted
because most have prerequisites.
-2-