LIBERAL STUDIES PROGRAM
________________________________________________________________________
Liberal Studies Committee
Meeting Minutes
October 8, 2010
Draft 1
Present Voting Members: Sara Aleman, Patrick Battles, Betty Brown, Mark Cornwall, Bruce Fox, Amalia Garzon
(via phone), John Leung, Jim Morgan, Brent Nelson, Linda Robyn (presiding), Dean Smith, and Nancy Stackhouse
(via phone).
Present Ex-Officio Members and Guests: Rebecca Campbell, Greg Glau, Shelly Pleasants, Karen Pugliesi, and
Blase Scarnati.
Excused Voting Members: Laura Michael-Blocher and Todd Welch.
Absent Voting Members: Chase Hunt and Chunhye Kim Lee.
I.
Welcome – Linda Robyn, Chair
The meeting was called to order at 3:07PM.
II.
Acceptance of minutes – Linda
The 9-10-10 minutes were approved.
III.
Liberal Studies course proposals – Linda
Linda will divide the full committee into subgroups for purposes of reviewing course proposals. She will
select a chair for each of the subgroups and will distribute electronic proposals via email as they are
received.
IV.
Action agenda for LSC – Karen Pugliesi, Vice Provost
 Karen led a discussion about some possible actions the committee might want to engage in to
strengthen course alignment and impact in the liberal studies program. Three main strategies were
discussed.
A. Depend upon department leaders and faculty to sustain alignment of courses over time,
B. Periodic review of all distribution block courses on an ongoing basis, and
C. Charge departments to conduct regular assessment-focused reviews, with annual LSC audits.

A subcommittee was formed to explore these strategies in more depth. Tom Paradis (academic
assessment) will head the committee and Rebecca Campbell and Brent Nelson will participate,
starting in November. They will submit a proposal to the full committee.
Academic Assessment; M. Treml; 10/19/10
Page 1 of 5

Also discussed were recurring topics of: the faculty survey, a periodic LS newsletter, emails to the
campus community, organizing learning communities, improving the LS website, creating an LS
Institute, embarking on an ad/marketing campaign, and generally tightening up the courses to
ensure they meet the learning objectives.

The committee approved a motion to:
A. identify courses not taught for three years or more,
B. remove the LS designation and put that course on an ‘inactive’ list,
C. allow the unit to ‘reactivate’ the course using the same syllabus (a different syllabus would
require a new proposal and review),
D. after two years on the ‘inactive’ list, permanently remove the course from the LS program, and
E. update the ‘inactive’ and ‘removal’ lists yearly.
V.
Liberal Studies program review – Bruce Fox, Vice Chair
Bruce has about half the program review task force assembled. That group may meet with the full LSC.
VI.
First Year Seminar update – Blase Scarnati
Blase provided a brief update on the program, specifically on the new, experimental large-enrollment FS
199 courses that were granted LS distribution block designations for Fall 2010 and Spring 2011. These
courses will be regularized for Fall 2011, likely as topics courses based in each distribution block. Blase
will return for a more detailed discussion when the course proposals are prepared.
Meeting adjourn at 4:56PM.
Academic Assessment; M. Treml; 10/19/10
Page 2 of 5
Distribution Area Courses Not Taught
Academic Years: 2006-07 through 2009-10
Courses Not Taught For Two Years: 2008-09 to 2009-10
Added to Liberal Studies in Fall 2008:
ANT 106: The Art of Ancient Technology
HIS 372: The U.S. in the World
HIS 373: The City in U.S. History
HIS 377: African-American History since 1865
HIS 384: Hopi History
WGS/AIS/ES 255: Authentic Indian: Gender & Indigenous Representation
WGS 325: Sister Nation: Indigenous Women in the U.S.
Courses with Pre-requisites:
ARH 352: Twentieth Century Art to 1945 (Junior Status)
ARH 353: Art Since 1945 (Junior Status)
FOR 370: Indigenous Knowledge: Ecological Implications (FOR 270)
POS 362: Studies in West European Politics (POS 120)
REL 321: Christianity (Sophomore Status)
REL 325: The Historical Jesus (Sophomore Status plus 3 credits in Religion)
RUS 202: Second-Year Russian (RUS 101, 102, and 201)
Added to Liberal Studies in Fall 2008, and has pre-requisites
REL 326: Early Christian Life & Literature (Sophomore Status, also introduce in Fall 2008)
Also:
POS 159: Nature & Politics
REL 210: Judeo-Christian Scriptures (Old Testament)
Courses Not Taught For Three Years: 2007-08 to 2009-10
Courses with Pre-requisites:
HUM 351: Perspectives on Western Humanities I
REL 390: Recent Trends in Religion
Also:
ES 250: Africana Women
HIS 270: History of the Ancient Near East
HIS 343: Nineteenth Century Europe
LAT 101: First-Year Latin
LAT 102: First-Year Latin
PHI 352: Philosophy of Religion
Academic Assessment; M. Treml; 10/19/10
Page 3 of 5
Courses Not Taught for Four Years: 2006-07 to 2009-10
Courses with Pre-requisites:
ARH 380: Islamic Art: Religious & Secular Arts of Islamic Cultures (ARH 143, REL 150, or Junior Status)
GRK 201: Second Year Greek (Ancient) (GRK 101, GRK 102)
GRK 202: Second Year Greek (Ancient) (GRK 101, GRK 102, GRK 202)
MUS 320: Western Musical Heritage (ENG 105)
MUS 393: Music in America (ENG 105)
REL 391: Religion, Nature & the Environment (Sophomore Status)
Also:
ANT 271: Physical Anthropology II: Human Variation
ANT 307: Central America
ARH 270: Arts of Japan: Tradition & Modernity
ART 200: Visual Aesthetics for a Contemporary Culture
ASN 108: Gateways to Asia
ASN 208: The Asian American Experience
FOR 254: Introduction to Forest Health
GLG 110: Environmental Geology
GRK 101: First-Year Greek (Ancient)
GRK 102: First-Year Greek (Ancient)
HIS 334: Ancient World: Egypt, Its Culture & Civilization
PHY 107: Concepts of Physics
POS 344: Environmental Movements
WLLC 140: German-Speaking Europe: Its Cultural & Historical Context
WLLC 150: Intro to Chinese & Japanese Languages & Literature
Academic Assessment; M. Treml; 10/19/10
Page 4 of 5
Academic Assessment; M. Treml; 10/19/10
Page 5 of 5