MINUTES
CAS CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
Wed., Jan. 21, 1998, Pamplin Room, Watzek, 3:15-5:00
Present: Jack Hart, Curtis Johnson, Curt Keedy, John Krussel, Roger Paget, Anne Price, Bill Randall, David Savage, Tom Schoeneman, Phyllis Yes. Student Representative: Elizabeth Thiel. Recorder: Eleanor Leonard.
Absent: Jane Atkinson, Mine Eder. Student Representative: Eric Johnson.
Call to Order
1/ The meeting was called to order at 3:17 pm.
Approval of Minutes
2/ John Krussel moved to accept the Jan. 14, 1998, minutes. Elizabeth Thiel seconded. Vote to accept unanimous.
Course Proposals
3/ 97.92 Sp98 Gend 200 Women and Men in American Society (Smith). Approve for critical inquiry and writing. Tom Schoeneman explained that the other sections of Gend 200 carry these requirements so this section should also. Elizabeth Thiel moved approval. Phyllis Yes seconded. Vote to approve unanimous.
4/ 97.93 beginning Su96 Hist 360 Vietnam and the United States (Paget). This course has been approved as an area studies course. Due to a student petition the department would like to make this approved area studies retroactive. Tom Schoeneman moved approval. John Krussel seconded. Vote to approve unanimous.
5/ 97.81. F98 Span 112 Accelerated Beginning Spanish (Staff). David Savage handed out a proposed catalog description for Span 112. He explained that the Foreign Language Department has three different tracks that students fulfilling their foreign language requirement in Spanish may follow. A brief discussion followed in which the description was slightly altered to emphasize the intensity of the course. The following was proposed for the catalog contingent on the Foreign Language Department's approval: "The course is an accelerated beginning Spanish class that combines Spanish 101 and 102 while attending class five times weekly. This class is designed for students with little or no prior study of Spanish who are willing to engage in intense language instruction in order to complete their foreign language requirement in 2 semesters. Intensive study of basic vocabulary and structural patterns of Spanish. . . ." Roger Paget moved approval of this catalog description. Tom Schoeneman seconded. Vote to approval unanimous.
Letter to CAS Faculty about Open Hearings on General Studies
6/ Bill Randall told the CC that there would be three open sessions of the committee on Jan. 28 (Council Chambers), Feb. 11 (Stamm West), and Feb. 18 (Stamm West). Doors will open at 4:00 pm. Attendance of all CAS Faculty is important. Bill Randall will be the moderator at this meeting.
7/ David Savage handed out a draft of a memo (dated 1/22/98) for distribution to the CAS Faculty regarding the General Education Review. A discussion followed in which the memo was altered slightly to stress the importance of these meetings. CAS Faculty must understand that these three open sessions are being provided so that they can discuss any issues, broad or general, regarding the gen. ed. requirements. They may come and voice concerns or praise about any aspect of gen. ed. and their remarks will be taken into consideration by the committee.
8/ David Savage also handed out a chronology of General Education curricula since 1953 which will be attached to the memo. This is a brief summary outline of the history of gen. ed. at Lewis & Clark. The formal document is on reserve in the library and also available in the Dean of Faculty Office.
9/ The CC agreed that it was important for the CAS Faculty to know that the CC has started the gen. ed. review process and that their review will be completed by Feb. 1999. The time for CAS Faculty to submit their input is during the time period of these three sessions. Once the three sessions are over the CC will shape and focus the rest of the review.
10/ Bill Randall proposed that the memo be mailed to faculty by Friday, Jan. 23; that an e-mail reminder be sent the following Monday; and that an announcement be made at the Feb. 4, Faculty meeting. Additional e-mails will be sent before each open session. Phyllis Yes will make a poster to be distributed to all CAS faculty and also posted around campus. All the members of the CC agreed with this plan of action.
11/ Bill Randall asked Elizabeth Thiel about obtaining student input regarding gen. ed. Elizabeth said that as yet she has been unable to meet with SAAB this semester because this student group has not formed for Spring semester yet. She did mention that Student Advocacy and ASLC would both be good groups to contact to get student input. Elizabeth understands that the CC would like some general ideas from students about what they think of the gen. ed. requirements.
Proposed items for data collection and questions for consideration in the Gen. Ed. Review
12/ Bill Randall asked the committee what kind of data they would like to receive from the administration.
13/ Roger Paget suggested that the committee needed some conversation with Mervyn Brockett about what kinds of data the computer system can get.
14/ Curtis Johnson mentioned that it would be easiest to collect data for Inventing America because it is already available. All it would need is some updating. He feels that they may have trouble identifying what type of data would be needed in other areas of gen. ed.
15/ Tom Schoeneman suggested asking the faculty for an impact statement such as "what has been the impact of any other aspect of the gen. ed. program had on my department?" He mentioned that the committee may have to settle for impressionistic data that would be received from this question.
16/ David Savage said he would ask the chairs in his division at their next meeting what the impact has been in their departments.
17/ Curt Keedy asked about what type of information the overseas office might have on the impact of gen. ed., and David Savage said he has most of that data.
18/ The committee discussed the outline of the CC Report of General Education from Bob Owens and decided that it was OK.
19/ Bill Randall asked if Jane Atkinson had finished the report on the writing requirement. Curtis Johnson said that they had seen a preliminary report but that it was still not finished.
Other
20/ Curtis Johnson mentioned the problems with period 4, 5, and 4/5 in the scheduling of courses for 1998-99. He said that the academic council is trying to do something about this situation. David Savage said that the current tentative schedule is not workable, too many classes are schedule in these periods and there are not enough rooms to accommodate them. Jack Hart asked what could be making the scheduling of periods 4, 5, and 4/5 worse than it had been in the past? He mentioned that the college has been on the semester system for 3-4 years and that this problem has not happened before. Curtis Johnson explained that some classrooms were lost when ISALC was forced to move out of the dorms and when the graduate administrative offices shifted location. These changes contributed to a net deduction in classrooms despite the new buildings. Also, more undergraduate departments are scheduling more courses between 9:00 am and 3:00 pm than in past years. David Savage suggested that the committee review the schedule and come up with ways to improve it in the future.
21/ The next meeting is January 28. This meeting is open to all CAS Faculty and will meet in the Council Chambers.
22/ Meeting adjourned at 4:40 pm.
Approved 1/28/98