Curriculum Committee Meeting Minutes
September 14, 2011
2:30-3:30 pm, EBH 7
In attendance: Suzanne Wilhelm (chair), Pam Arbeeny, John Baranski, Sherry Barnes, Paul
Booth, Olivia Burkhart, Gerald Crawford, John Gadbois, Kristine Greer, Nathan Guss, Katherine
Jetter, Elaine Labach, Stephanie Vie
Absent: None
Business:

Members of the Curriculum Committee introduced themselves to Elaine Labach, a new member.

Erin Lehmer is now chair of the General Education Committee and signs off on courses as such.

Reminder that Suzanne Wilhelm, as chair, does not have a vote in Curriculum
Committee.
 Is there a technical glitch? Some philosophy courses were showing “ready for curriculum committee” when the department chair’s approval was not shown in the system.

We will invite a faculty member (Mary Ann Erickson or Carrie Meyers) from Exercise
Science/Athletic Training to our next meeting to discuss proposals from their department.

We will invite a faculty member (Sandy Gilpin) from the Freshman Math program to our next meeting to discuss proposals from their program.

Next week we will look at several Physics and Engineering courses and program proposals. Jerry can talk about them and gave us a brief overview this week. There are some course number and prefix changes for listed physical science courses; those courses will have physics prefixes and numbers as we do not have a physical sciences department or program. Some of the courses changed impact Teacher Ed. Some courses are going from 4 credits plus a lab to 3 credits plus a lab. Some of the changes are to meet accreditation requirements for general math and science courses. ENGR 405 is renumbered to 315 to better fit the sequence and encourage students to take it in their junior year. ENGR 305 is dropping to 3 credits and changing description and title; the instructor found he didn’t really need the 4 credits of time because he doesn’t need all the lab time. There are other changes we will hear about next week.
Decisions:
1.
Phil 244: Chinese Philosophy. We began discussing this course but could not take action as Erin Lehmer had not yet signed off as Gen Ed chair.

2.
NAIS 123: Name change from American Indian History to Native American History and also adding HI-1 designation. We determined that we would need to put spaces in the name to fit the catalog. Approved.
3.
NAIS 280: Name change from Native American in Modern World to Native Americans in Modern World. Name has no spaces and will go over the 30 character limit if spaces are added; name will need to be abbreviated. Approved.
4.
NAIS 310: Writing in Native American Studies. Stephanie was curious about why the course prerequisite is a CO-1 course (rather than CO-2 course because the course is 300 level) and not completion with a C- or better. Approved.
5.
All NAIS classes were approved as a block.
6.
RS 244/PHIL 244: Chinese Philosophy. Change from 3 to 4 credits, change catalog description, and add AH-3 designation. a.
Rationale for changing to 4 credits: “This proposal is for two, unrelated changes: one concerning credit hours and the second concerning gtPathways compliance. First, PHIL 244 is currently the ONLY 3 credit course in the philosophy curriculum. Moving it to a 4 hour course will allow for easier scheduling during the semester given that philosophy professors teach a 12 credit load. Second, while the department does have some lower-division courses approved for gtPathways, none of these courses focus on nonwestern philosophy.
It would be a strength if we could offer students who are interested in getting
AH3 credit the opportunity to do so without focusing on western philosophy. gtPathways compliance would increase course enrollments while offering the average FLC student a unique course content within the philosophy curriculum.”
Committee members discussed whether there is enough of a change in the pedagogy of the course to justify an additional credit. Several mentioned that having an 11 credit schedule rather than 12 is allowed in some schools and not others (others require you to bank credits). Tabled: We’d like to see a justification of the change from 3-4 for RS 244 and PHIL 244. All in favor of tabling and voting via email. b.
Update 9/20/11: We received a justification via email from philosophy: “It will allow the faculty to teach Chinese philosophy ‘from the classical period to the
20th century.’ They have been unable to fully treat the subject-matter of this course. Adding contact hours will allow them to give the students a complete course in Chinese philosophy.” Suzanne had authorization to add that language to the catalog description. As amended, the description reads: “This course investigates the distinctive character of classical Chinese thought from the classical period to the 20th century, focusing on the three primary schools of philosophy: Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. The theories of human nature, knowledge, and reality embraced by these philosophies, as well as their conceptions of ethics and politics, are examined and contrasted with rival Chinese systems and with Western philosophical views.”
Approved via email with one vote against.
1.
PHIL 141: Introduction to Philosophy. Catalog change only to ensure key words match what students would be looking for. Approved.
[This course was not signed off by Erin

Lehmer at the time we voted but she had orally communicated she approved. It has been signed as of 9/15/11.]
2.
PHIL 251: Moral Philosophy. Catalog change to ensure key words match what students would be looking for. Approved.
3.
PHIL 252, PHIL 264: We skipped these courses as Sarah Roberts-Cady had not yet signed off on them as chair of the department.
4.
PHIL 281: Theory of Knowledge. Catalog change to ensure key words match what students would be looking for. Approved.
5.
PHIL 384: Philosophy of Mind and Language. Catalog change to ensure key words match what students would be looking for. Approved.
6.
PHIL 328: Philosophy of Science. Catalog change to ensure key words match what students would be looking for. Approved.
7.
PHIL 365: Philosophies of Feminism. Catalog change to ensure key words match what students would be looking for. Approved.
8.
PS 400: Not ready to look at; no dean signature and needs impact study.
Respectfully submitted,
Stephanie Vie