Educational Policies & Curriculum Committee
Minutes for September 18, 2012 - Meeting #2
3:30 p.m. – MHB-315
Members in attendance: Pravina Cooper (CWL), W. Gary Griswold (ENG), Andrew Jenks (HIST), Danny Paskin
(JOUR), Heather Rae-Espinoza (HDEV), Jason Whitehead (POLS), Dave Whitney (PSY), Teri Yamada (AAAS), Kris
Zentrgraf (SOC), Mark Wiley (CLA), Cherie Dougan (CLA)
Guests: Tim Caron (ENG), Jeff Blutinger (HEBW/HIST), Ken Green (PSY), Diane Roe (PSY), Elaine Frey
(ECON), Chrys Rodrigue (ES&P), Dave Stewart (R/ST), Chris Warren (PSY), Pete Lowentrout (R/ST)
Gary called the meeting to order.
1.
2.



3.
Approval of EPCC #1 minutes of September 4, 2012.
Minutes approved & commended.
Announcements / Additions to the Agenda
New Curriculum Policy
o Mark reported there may be changes to the policy after Senate discussion on Thursday so we will
continue to review courses.
o Teri indicated a clarifying memo from Lynn Mahoney expected Thursday.
Cherie said a new action form for GE is available on the website
New Business
A) University 300I
1) General Education; Request to add the Writing Intensive category.
 Danny moved, Dave 2nded
 Tim explained Dee Abrahams looking for faculty response to Katrina. Developed
interdisciplinary course with Business students who raised $10,000, Student Life &
Development, and Juan Benitez (CCE). Service-learning needs reflection component in writing,
so seeking GE writing intensive to give credit for work already done.
 Heather asked if the course being repeated to 6 units in different semesters as indicated in the
course description means they could repeat in the same location. Tim said it can’t be repeated
& they need to change the description.
 Teri asked about new locations for the course & Tim said through a vetting process with Juan
more faculty can teach the class as well.
 Dave asked why the GE skills in Part VI weren’t completed on the form since the course would
meet some of the additional skills. The form should be completed in accord with skills
already passed the GEGC.
 Mark asked why the course was getting reviewed in CLA is a University course. Tim said it was
another set of eyes.
 Danny indicated the 35 student cap on Writing Intensive courses would work with the 30
students that usually can be handled with travelling.
 Danny raised concerns on the level of assessment for a writing intensive course since the class is
lacking the 20 pages of writing and the required specification. Tim indicated there is a reflection
essay in the first week after parts of the movie. Kris pointed to section XII on the SCO that
only mentioned three short response papers. Mark clarified the policy that 2/3 of grad eneeds to
be in writing. Kris pointed out the primacy of writing in the first two learning objectives on the


SCO but assignments didn’t support those objective. Students need to build academic writing.
Mark said the GWAR committee may expect more structured responses than a reflection paper.
Tim will expand the SCO to explain better the feedback that will build the responses to
formal papers encouraging analysis.
Ravina inquired about reading selections. Tim spoke to the benefit of having guest lecturers
from different disciplines that can speak to topics like politics, global warming, etc.
Committee decided to suspend approval pending revisions to meet GE goals including
2/3 of grade in writing, specification of early and ongoing writing feedback, 5,000 words
of writing, indication that class size will be less than 35, and detail of assignments for
response vs. reflection. Additionally, the course descriptions on the forms do not match
each other and the repeating policy needs revision. Heather moved, Dave 2nded.
B. ES/P Program
1) Program Change: BS in Environmental Science and Policy
 Danny moved, Dave 2nded.
 Chrys explained that the ES&P program has grown to 200 majors, but many students graduate as
super seniors because of all the hidden units in pre-req’s. Before, students were using the
different tracks to earn a B.S. while avoiding science classes. Thus they reprioritized courses to
reduce units. With careful attention, students can complete their major with 117 units.
 Teri indicated a typo in the lists of changes where it says 101 & 101 instead of 100 & 101.
 Heather asked if removing the course listings to ease catalog updates would end up creating
more work for advising. Chrys said they have a professional advisor.
 Mark questioned the decision to remove ECON 310, and Chrys said they will go from
microeconomics to cross-management for the BS. The BA still has the economics courses.
 Called to question & approved. [Pending approval from CNSM]
C. Economics Department
1) New Course: ECON 587, Research Methods in Economics 3 @ C4
 Andy moved, Danny 2nded
 Elaine explained that this course was designed because ECON students lack research experience.
 Kris asked if the students would use existing data sets or collect data as the course description
indicates. SCO and syllabus are missing coursework to develop data collection skills. Elaine said
the students will use available data. The course description and SCO will be corrected to
reflect the use of existing data sets instead of data collection.
 Gary questioned an item being worth 50% instead of the maximum 33%, and Elaine clarified
that it was 50% of one assignment.
 Dave asked about correcting papers and providing feedback for revision in week 15. Elaine
indicated feedback would be verifying previous changes were made.
 Gary informed the committee that ECON may be asked to drop a class to approve
ECON 587, pending decisions on the curriculum policy.
 Called to question & approved with minor suggestions.
D. Psychology Department
1) Program Change:PSY MS Psychology, Option in Industrial/Organizational Psychology
 Dave explained that Industrial/Organizational Psychology is an applied program. The program
aims to match other graduate departments by making the thesis optional. Both options will have
similar coursework, but now students can choose to create a portfolio to bring to employers.
 Gary asked what if a student decided to go to graduate school after completing the portfolio.
Dave said they would be disadvantaged so they will encourage early selection. However, many
graduate students have to repeat coursework even if they’ve already done a thesis.


Cherie told Dave that the list of changes on the form should be a bulleted list, not
explanations.
Called to question & approved.
2)



New Course: PSY 699: Directed Research and Portfolio
Heather moved, Danny 2nded
Dave reported a 300-page example of coursework was submitted and is available for review.
Heather suggested changing the word “capstone” in the course description since it
already means something else.
 Kris asked how many students would be in the course. Dave said there are 9 in the program,
and they would expect 8 to take the portfolio track. The track may allow more students into the
program. Ken agreed.
 Gary informed the committee that PSY may be asked to drop a class to approve PSY 699,
pending decisions on the curriculum policy. Chris added that they would be dropping a
course eventually.
 Called to question & approved.
E. Religious Studies Department
1) New Course: R/ST 101 Religion at the Movies
2) R/ST 101: General Education Request for C2b category.
 Danny moved, Dave 2nded
 Pete explained that his course would be part of the beach beginnings program to introduce
students to religion, narrative art, and film in large lectures. The course will offer additional
support as they transition to the University. He will teach to the test so they will know how a
course works, including what to study and write.
 Mark asked if the very ambitious course would be too much for first year students. For instance,
learning outcome #3 says the course will cover religion and film from the mid-nineteenth
century to present? Pete said they will dip back to that era. Mark suggested the SCO give
more leeway so faculty are not required to take on so many approaches.
 Pete indicated that the bigger challenge is textbooks are written to level 15.7, but students are at
grade level at 13. He may have to spend more time in class working with the books.
 Teri questioned the learning objective to have “knowledge of different cultures” with the
Western content. Pete said he followed the LEAP outcomes, but he wasn’t going to cover it.
The SCO should be adjusted to the course instead of repeating the LEAP outcomes.
 Danny indicated that a disclaimer that this is a list of possible readings is missing. Heather
suggested he might not want the flexibility to manage course coordination. Pete said he wanted
strict control over the courses to avoid having the herd cats. Kris suggested a compromise with
a list and an expectation to cover “at least 3 of the following,” so there’s both flexibility and
control. Dave suggested the SCO may need similar flexibility throughout, including on
assignments. The SCO should be revised to better meet the needs of other instructors.
 Mark suggested that the rationale for focusing on movies/films should be included in
the description rather than the general “narrative arts.” Dave Stewart explained that movies
have their own rules of representation and the course match updated coursework on
comparative cultures. Pete said film is a narrative art, and it could be limiting to remove
narrative arts that can be useful to create analogies for discussing film.
 Committee decided to suspend approval pending revisions to SCO.
3) Drop R/ST 338I (to be dropped as inactive; no form necessary).
 Course is sacrificial lamb to R/ST 101.
F. History Department/Jewish Studies Program
1) New Course: HIST 344, Tradition and Crisis, 3 units at C2
 Danny moved, Andy 2nded
 Referring back to events of the previous EPCC meeting, Jeff explained HIST 344 brings
together the existing courses HIST 347 & HIST 348. The course will offer a nice contrast
between Eastern and Western European Jewish history.
 Gary indicated that when moving to GE, the papers should indicate the inclusion of an SCO for
one class but the syllabi from the two separate classes.
 Mark indicated that some portions of the proposal (Sage) are not required by GE anymore.
 Mark asked about writing. Jeff indicated that in class essay exams and 2 papers of at least 5
pages will meet the word limit.
 Since History dropped 3 courses last week (HIST 347, 348, & 387), with the new course
HIST 344 they still have 2 courses banked.
 Called to question & approved.
2) General Education: HIST 344: D2, Global and Integrative Learning
 Jeff said HIST 344 will meet D2 global categories by comparing populations throughout Europe,
North America, and the Middle East. Both Dave Stewart and Carl Fisher have written letters of
support for Interdisciplinary credit.
 Called to question & approved.
3) Program Change: BA Modern Jewish Studies
4) Program Change: Minor in Jewish Studies
 Jeff indicated both program changes seek to add 344, and eventually it will be 344I. In addition,
the language requirement will be removed because the inability to schedule the class and
challenges in testing out can block students from completing the programs. Taking out the
language courses will change the remaining credit units from 7 to 6.
 Called to question & approved.
4.
Adjourn. 
EPCC meetings are scheduled the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of each month in MHB-315.
Final submission of Fall 2012 proposals to EPCC is Monday, October 15th.