Approved Minutes of the Meeting
Of the Curriculum Oversight and Administration Committee
September 1, 2015
In attendance: Greg Buchanan, presiding; Mary Boros-Kazai, Yaffa Grossman, John Kaufmann,
Teresa Leopold, Ellie O’Byrne, Britt Scharringhausen, Amy Tibbitts, Erica Daniels.
1. Announcements and Approval of minutes from 8.25.15 meeting.
The minutes were approved.
2. COA waivers or substitutions for students with disabilities.
Ms. Joy DeLeon joined the meeting to discuss the possibility of issuing waivers or substitutions to
students with documented disabilities who wish to be excused from certain domains. She stated
that the goal is to create a process by which the college will fairly consider situations in which a
student’s disability may have a direct impact on their ability to fulfill an all-college requirement. Ms.
DeLeon stated that there have been students in the past that have petitioned the waiver of a
particular course requirement on a major/departmental level. In those cases the department has
been asked to make a decision. Ms. Grossman suggested that since COA’s charge focuses on creating
policy and aPC is charged with reviewing it; COA develop the policy, but aPC review the cases that
may be brought forward by students. Ms. O’Byrne stated that there is currently policy created
around this listed in APM IX, Z, 1. She suggested that a group of committee members most
interested in this topic meet throughout the week to outline the next steps. Mr. Buchanan stated
that he would take the lead on this and invited anyone who would like to join him. The committee
will revisit this topic at a future meeting.
3. FEP course one-time offering.
Mr. Buchanan announced that he received an inquiry from Ms. Nicole Truesdell about a one-time
course that she would like to offer again. The committee discussed this and suggested that Mr.
Buchanan follow-up with Ms. Truesdell to ask which course she is inquiring about and to see if it
could be recommended as a permanent offering. Mr. Buchanan will report back to the committee
regarding this.
4. Course change request (Joy Beckman).
Mr. Buchanan received a course change request from Ms. Joy Beckman regarding Art History 280.
In addition to offering this course as ARTH 280, she would also like to offer it as ARTH 300. This
will allow seniors the opportunity to fulfill a major requirement. There was a brief discussion about
whether this could be handled as a petition within the department. Mr. Buchanan stated that he
would follow up with Ms. Beckman, and he will report back to the committee at its next meeting.
5. COA Board Report.
The committee had a brief discussion about the Board of Trustees report that COA needs to submit.
Ms. Grossman stated that she would send Mr. Buchanan an example of what this should look like.
Mr. Buchanan will compose a draft and present it at next week’s meeting for any edits the
committee may have.
6. Fall course availability.
Ms. Scharringhausen asked the committee to offer its feedback on a survey that has been created by
Ms. Ruth Vater. The survey will ask students two questions related to course availability: 1) Is there
a course that you needed (had to take so you graduated on time) to get into and were unable to
enroll, if so, what? 2) Is there a course that you wanted to get into and were unable to enroll, if so,
what? The committee thought this survey would be very beneficial when planning for the 2016-17
incoming class. It will also allow ASP the opportunity to see which classes are in high demand. Ms.
Scharringhausen stated that Ms. Vater will be piloting the survey tomorrow in DK’s, and will inform
Ms. Vater of our positive feedback and also let her know that we await the results.
7. Deliberation Groups.
Mr. Buchanan announced that tomorrow’s Deliberation Groups meeting would consist of one
agenda item, Mid-Level Governance. Ms. Scharringhausen stated that the Mid-Level Governance
group would present its proposed changes to the current structure for review and discussion.
Representatives from this group will lead the discussion in each Deliberation Group.
Mr. Buchanan remarked that moving forward, the Major Committee Chairs would work together to
solicit topics for the Deliberation Groups meetings.
8. Curricular Assessment.
Mr. Buchanan stated that given the interest of other stakeholders on campus, he thinks that the
committee should assess Intercultural Literacy this year. He asked Ms. O’Byrne if she would mind
sharing some information from other assessments. Ms. O’Byrne remarked that she will put other
assessment information into the committee’s Moodle Groups course once it is updated. She stated
that it would be good to use the same model that the committee has used in the past when
assessing major items, since it has proven to be a success. Ms. O’Byrne remarked that she would
begin initial work on this. She asked if anyone was interested in meeting this week to let her know.
Ms. Scharringhausen, Mr. Kaufmann, Ms. Tibbitts, and Ms. Leopold agreed to meet.
Ms. O’Byrne also asked for a volunteer from the committee to represent COA at a Teagle
Assessment workshop that will be conducted by Mr. Charlie Blaich and Ms. Kathy Wise at the end of
October. The committee members are going to check their calendars and get back to Ms. O’Byrne on
this.
9. Enrollment Projections.
Ms. O’Byrne stated that every semester the number of classes taught and offered on campus change
as people come and go. With the increase of students this fall, she met with Ms. Boros-Kazai and Ms.
Scharringhausen throughout the summer to project numbers for courses (seats/enrollment). Ms.
O’Byrne remarked that she believes the survey being conducted by Ms. Vater will offer additional
information to help with this process. She commented that she will meet with Ms. Boros-Kazai and
Ms. Scharringhausen following the last drop date to begin planning for spring enrollment.
10. Adjournment.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:34 p.m.