Core Curriculum Committee End of Year Report 2015 - 2016
Membership
Gregg Krippel
Erika Small
Jen Boyle
Jonathan Trerise
Allison Faix, Secretary
Sara Brallier, Chair
Stephen Firsing
Emma Savage-Davis
Sandy Nelson
Agatha O’Brien-Gayes
Nelljean Rice (non-voting)
John Beard
Margaret Fain (non-voting)
David Yancey (non-voting)
Business
Business
COHFA
COHFA
Library
Science
Science
SCOE
SCOE
Univ. College
Univ. College
Provost
Dir., Core Curriculum
Project Coordinator,
Provost Office
Meeting Dates/Times
 August 21, 2015 at 3:15 PM
 September 18, 2015 at 3:15 PM
 October 16, 2015 at 3:15 PM
 November 20, 2015 at 3:15 PM
 December 11, 2015 at 1:00 PM
 January 15, 2016 at 3:15 PM
 February 19, 2016 at 3:15 PM
 March 18, 2016 at 3:15 PM
 April 15, 2016 at 3:15 PM
 May 6, 2016 at 10:00 AM
 June 29, 2016 at 9:30 AM
Overview of Work during the 2015 - 2016 Academic Year
The Core Curriculum Committee focused on four primary issues during this academic year:
 The first issue was petitions to the Core Curriculum Committee submitted by
students.
During the 2014-2015 academic year the committee considered a total of 62 petitions (as
of April 15). The following table gives a breakdown of the petitions by the core goal.
Goal 1
Goal 2
Goal 3
Goal 4
Goal 5
Goal 6
Goal 7
Goal 8

7
3
13
12
12
1
2
12
The second issue was the consideration of courses to be removed from, added to, or
modified in relation to the existing Core Curriculum.
Course Proposals and/or Modifications
Changes to the Core Curriculum for 2016-17
Core Goal 1A: Knowledge of Effective Communication
Core Goal 1B: Knowledge of Effective Communication
DCD 101 Humanities in the Digital Age FS 12/2/15
EDML 317 Foundations in Literacy across the Life Span FS 10/15
ENGL 103 Rhetoric and Argumentation FS 2/3/16
Core Goal 2: Knowledge of Mathematical Concepts
Core Goal 3: Knowledge of Scientific Concepts
Core Goal 4: Knowledge of Humanistic Concepts
DCD 100 Technology and Humanity FS 12/2/15
Core Goal 5A: Knowledge of the Cultures, Languages, and Social Structures of Other
Countries of the World
RUS 110 Introductory Russian to AA 4/13/16
RUS 120 Introductory Russian to AA 4/13/16
Core Goal 5B: Knowledge of the Cultures, Languages, and Social Structures of Other
Countries of the World
ANTH 120 Cultures and Environments FS 10/15
GEOG 120 Cultures and Environments FS 10/15
HIST 152
War & Society in the Modern Era FS 11/4/15
SPAN 150 Language and Culture Abroad to COHFA 7/9/15
Core Goal 7: Knowledge of Human Health and Behavior
Core Goal 8: Knowledge of Creative Expression
ARTH 110 Introduction to American Film FS approved 7/8/15, retroactive for 2015-16
DCD 200 Introduction to Digital Humanities FS 12/2/15

The third issue we considered was revisions to the new Core Curriculum to
decouple Humanistic Thought and Expression and Artistic Expression; creating a
separate core goal for each. These revisions were approved at the December 11,
2015 meeting of the Core Curriculum Committee meeting and at the March 2, 2016
meeting of the Faculty Senate.
Core Curriculum with Goals, Objectives, and Learning Outcomes
Core Curriculum (32-40 hours)
Mission:
The purpose of the Core Curriculum is to provide an educational foundation in the liberal
arts tradition that promotes inquiry, creativity, and critical thinking.
The Core Curriculum provides opportunities for students to develop skills in the following:
critical thinking and reasoning, written and oral communication, and quantitative and
information literacy.
The Core Curriculum provides opportunities for students to apply the above mentioned
skills in the practice of the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities and arts
in the context of global and diverse cultural perspectives.
I. Core Skills (13-21 hours)
Goal: The Core Curriculum seeks to develop skills in reasoning, reading, writing, and
quantifying, as well as a variety of information and communication skills
Objective: Students will utilize these skills in order to understand, question, revise, and
generate knowledge.
A. Critical thinking and reasoning (3 hours)
Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to:
1. identify arguments
2. evaluate arguments through reasoning
3. formulate arguments for a thesis
B. Critical Reading, Writing, and Information Literacy (4-8 hours)
Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to:
1. read for comprehension
2. write for a specific audience and purpose, employing discipline-specific
language
3. locate, evaluate, and apply information appropriate to a specific audience
and purpose
C. Communication Across Cultures (3-6 hours)
Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to:
1. apply foreign language skills consistent with the level of study
2. identify cultural perspectives through language study
D. Quantitative Literacy (3-4 hours)
Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to:
1. interpret quantitative results in context
2. apply mathematical and/or statistical concepts to solve problems
II. Core Concepts (19 hours)
Goal: The Core Curriculum seeks to introduce students to methods of inquiry and practice
within and across disciplines, including scientific concepts and the practice of scientific
inquiry, individual and social human behavior, and humanistic thought and artistic
expression from a national and global perspective.
A.
All students are required to take one course in Scientific Concepts, one course
in Artistic Expression, two courses with different prefixes in Human and
Social Behavior, and two courses with different prefixes in Humanistic
Thought and Expression. Scientific Concepts (4 hours)
Objective: Students will recognize scientific evidence and apply the basic principles of
scientific inquiry.
Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to:
1. apply the methods of scientific inquiry
2. analyze evidence using scientific methods
B. Human and Social Behavior (6 hours)
Objective: Students will recognize a variety of social perspectives and contexts, and
identify connections among individual and group behaviors within and across cultures.
Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to:
1. apply methods of inquiry to investigate social behavior
2. analyze and illustrate the connections among individual and group behaviors
C. Humanistic Thought and Expression (6 hours)
Objective: Students will recognize, identify, and engage with a variety of perspectives
and concepts in the humanities, and evaluate forms of human expression within and
across cultures.
Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to:
1. apply methods of inquiry in the humanities
2. critically interpret forms of human expression
D. Artistic Expression (3 hours)
Objective: Students will recognize, identify, and critically interpret a variety of
perspectives and concepts, as well as engage in forms of artistic expression in the fine arts.
Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to:
1. apply methods of inquiry to the practices of the fine arts
2. analyze, interpret, or engage in forms of artistic expression
The fourth issue was to add a graduation requirement for HIST 201/POLI 201. The new
core curriculum moved the structure and development of the United States courses to a
graduation requirement. This language, which follows the current language for the UNIV
110 graduation requirement ensures that all students will take either HIST 201 or POLI
201 to meet the state graduation requirement. These revisions were approved at our
March 18, 2016 meeting.
Proposal for New Language in the 2017-18 catalog and forward for all undergraduate
majors and minors:
I. GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS (3-6 Credits)
Minimum grades of ‘C’ are required.
A. UNIV 110 The First-Year Experience..................................................... 0-3
UNIV 110 is required for all new entering freshmen and for new transfer students
with fewer than 12 transfer credit hours unless the transfer student has
satisfactorily completed a college transition course.
B. Knowledge of the Structure and Development of the United States.
Choose 1 of the following courses …………………….…………………3
HIST 201 History of the United States from Discovery to the Present
(Discovery through Reconstruction) (3)
POLI 201 Introduction to American Government (3)
Additionally, please note that for the 2016-2017 year Jen Boyle was elected as chair and
Allison Faix was elected secretary.
Respectfully Submitted,
Sara A. Brallier, PhD, Core Curriculum Committee chair 2015 - 2016
Professor, Department of Sociology, College of Science