September 25, 2007

Curriculum Committee Minutes

Members present: Susan Cordes-Green, Mark Gealy, Stephen Grollman, Michelle Lelwica, Mary Rice, Jonathan Steinwand (chair), Samantha Schmidt

Minutes for September 18, 2007 meeting were approved

The first item of business was a new prefix proposal for courses in the Chinese language: “Chinese.” The proposal was approved. A related item was a new course proposal for Chinese 112, which was also approved.

The next item was a request to change Cooperative Education (390) courses by allowing for a lowering the minimum credit threshold from .5 to .25 credits. This change was  approved

The committee then discussed a new course proposal for History 370 “Islam and the West: An Historical Encounter” This course was approved with some feedback for the instructor regarding 1) the seemingly low proportional given the research paper; 2) The apparent tendency to over-associate Islam with the Middle East at several points in the proposal; and 3) the first learner outcome, which suggests a totalizing use of “the Middle Eastern view” rather than opening a place for “Middle Eastern views.” 3) the grading scale, which seemed to be uneven--more rigorously narrow on the top and wider at the bottom.

The next item was a course modification in Religion 300: changes in May seminar locations and prerequisites. These were approved

A new course proposal followed for Neur 400 “Neurobiology”. The committee held up on approval pending specification on graded assignments. We’d like to see a clear description of breakdown of points, page lengths, number of assignments, and approximate due dates. The committee will reconsider 9/27 if response to this issue is made by this date

The final item considered was a new course proposal: Biology 350: Animal Behavior. The course was approved with the following feedback for the instructor: Some members expressed concern that writing requirements could be more rigorous for this level of course.

Some members also expressed concern that in the rationale, though perhaps not in the course, there seems to be a missed opportunity to address the ethical implications of the topic.

The meeting ended at 10:30

Respectfully Submitted,

Stephen Grollman