Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee

Minutes from September 27, 2006 Meeting

Present:    Kevin Craig              Lee Odell

                 Prabhat Hajela                     John Schroeder

                 David Hess                          Richard Smith

                 Julia Leusner                        Ken Warriner

                 Chris McDermott                Mike Wozny, Chair

Kim Herkert (for Sharon Kunkel)

Sam Wait

1)   The Committee reviewed and unanimously approved the minutes from the September 13, 2006 meeting.

2)  School of Humanities and Social Science-    Lee Odell distributed the template for the proposed 2007-2008 EMAC Requirements for discussion.  Mike Wozny asked for a definition of a culminating experience.

Lee Odell explained that a culminating experience is two courses or an internship that shows they are connected in some kind of sequence.  In the first semester, the student must show that is clearly related to advanced work and have it approved. The FSCC approved the wording defining the culminating experience.

       3)  The meeting was opened up to discuss agenda items for the upcoming academic year.

- 72 Credit Hour PhD- input is needed from Les Gerhardt on this issue.

- Half TA/Half RA Issue- Mike Wozny stated that the Faculty Senate keeps passing the issue back to this committee. Prabhat Hajela suggested that in response to the recent Middle States Accreditation visit, four Institute level committees will be formed to look into a whole range of issues, including graduate tuition policies. We should simply defer to the findings of this committee.

- 4x4 Issue- This generated much discussion on what is best for each school and the students. 

o There was discussion about the need for flexibility, the number of credit hours versus the actual workload, and the possible impact if a change is made.

o There was a suggestion to ask for a study through the Registrar’s Office to look at different scenarios with 3 and 4-credit hour courses to see the impact on scheduling and space allocations.  Mike Wozny will discuss with Sharon Kunkel to see if this is feasible. 

        4)  Core Outcomes and Assessment:

There was some discussion about the issues:

                      - All courses/departments must meet all outcomes?

                      - There are still some red flags- we need to look at the language

                      - How do we move to the next step?

- There was general discussion of measurements of outcomes and the need to provide this information externally. Grades are not outcomes.  There was some discussion of developing a set of learning outcomes for each course.  Who would define the outcomes and measurements?

         5)  The next meeting is scheduled for October 11, 2006.