A&S; Curriculum Committee Minutes, 2/8/99

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
CURRICULUM COMMITTEE MINUTES

FEBRUARY 8, 1999

Members Present: J. Hart, T. Mackey, S. Maloney (Chair), M. Rohmann, R. Sahoo, M. Stenger, R. Taylor

Members Absent: R. Baldwin

Professor Maloney called the meeting to order at 2:05 p.m.

The minutes of the meetings of December 3 and 10, 1998, were approved as distributed.

Meg Rohmann asked for a clarification of the changes to the fine arts curriculum: Professor Maloney confirmed that the changes applied to minors as well as majors in the fine arts program.

The department withdrew requests for new courses WMST 352: Women Identified Women and WMST 353: Introduction to Lesbian and Gay Studies.

The following course actions were approved, effective 99U unless otherwise noted:

  • PHIL 326: Business and Values (delete)
  • POLS 384: Democracy and its Critics (WR credit)
  • POLS 386: Political Theory and Utopia (WR credit)
  • GEOG 656: Spatial Statistics (new course)
  • GEOG 658: Analytical Urban Geography (new course)
  • PSYC 571: Special Topics (new course)
The committee approved a concentration in Geography within the M.A. in Sociology.

Action on the following courses was deferred, pending discussion with the departments: ARTH 641; PSYC 343; PSYC 531; PSYC 472; PSYC 473.

The committee approved a change to the college policy on class attendance. The present policy reads:

"Class attendance per se shall not be considered a standard of academic performance. However, class participation, being a legitimate educational tool for determining a student's comprehension in a class, may be included as a factor in grading. Instructors must clearly define in their syllabi the participation component that requires attendance." (Undergraduate Catalogue, p.60)

The proposed policy, which will be recommended to the Assembly, reads:

"Students are expected to attend class regularly. Instructors who choose to do so may include attendance, along with other factors (e.g., participation, papers, exams, tests, quizzes, presentations, etc.), in determining a student's grade. Instructors who use attendance as a factor must indicate on their syllabus what their policy is and what percentage of a student's grade will be determined by attendance."

The committee reaffirmed the use of TS101 as the orientation course for students admitted in conditional status.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:25pm.