A&S Faculty Assembly Minutes November 4 1999

November 4, 1999

Registering Attendance:

Professor Harris called the meeting to order at 2:11 p.m.

The minutes of the meeting of September 8, 1999, were approved as distributed.

Under new business, the Chair recognized Professor Stenger. Seconded by the Curriculum Committee, she moved the university-wide general education proposal as revised and unanimously approved by the committee.

Professor Harris stated that the Assembly would proceed through the document seriatim,

voting on each section as it was perfected and then at the conclusion of that process returning for consideration of and a final vote on the entire document as amended.

The Chair called for discussion of the preamble entitled "University-Wide Learning Outcomes."

The Chair recognized Professor Journet, who moved to substitute the following for the text of the proposal beginning with the first paragraph ("The learning outcomes approach to education…") and concluding with the list of foundational qualities (item 1, page 1):

"The Foundations for Excellence Curriculum fosters active learning by asking students to integrate academic skills and disciplinary content. All courses in the Foundations for Excellence curriculum will require students to question and evaluate information and develop their own views on the basis of appropriate standards of reasoning. Students who complete the program will fulfill two types of learning outcomes: Academic Skills and Disciplinary Content."

The motion was seconded.

Discussion included Professors Thomas, Stenger, Segal, and Journet. Hearing no call for further discussion, the chair put the question and the motion failed. A division of the house was called. There were 27 in favor, 29 opposed. The motion to substitute failed.

The chair asked if there was further discussion of page 1 of the document.

Professor Journet asked the Curriculum Committee to define "abilities and attitudes" as used in paragraph 1, and to say how these would be assessed. Discussion included Professors Journet, Dakan, Griffin, and Allen.

Professor Allen moved to strike the work "attitudes" from paragraph 1. The motion was seconded.

Hearing no call for discussion, the Chair put the question to amend by striking the word "attitudes." The motion carried unanimously. Paragraph 1, Sentence 1 then read: "The learning outcomes approach to education focuses not on discrete skills or collection of knowledge but on the integration of knowledge and abilities."

The Chair recognized Professor Ziegler who proposed adding the word "courses" to sentence 2, item 1, ("two courses in each of the following:"). Professor Dakan suggested using the word "outcomes" rather than "courses." The Chair asked if there was any objection to adding the word "outcomes" to the sentence. Discussion included Professors Ziegler, Dakan, Stenger, Journet, Segal, Mackey, Clarke, Hudson, Griffin, Pfeffer, and Flodstrom.

There being no motion on the table, Professor Ferre moved to strike "two in each of the following" from sentence 2, item 1. The motion was seconded.

Discussion included Professors Hudson, Griffin, Stenger, Pfeffer, and Flodstrom.

Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question and the motion to strike carried unanimously. Sentence 2, item 1, then read "Every student’s general education program must include:"

The chair recognized Professor Golding, who asked for clarification of "one course in Arts; one in Humanities" (paragraph 3, bullet 1). Discussion included Professors Stenger, Golding, and Hall.

Professor Hall moved to strike "one course in Arts; one in Humanities" from paragraph 3, bullet 1. The motion was seconded.

Discussion included Professors Segal, Clarke, Journet, Wise, Stenger, Barnes, Golding, Davitt, Billingsley, Pfeffer, Cumbler, Thomas, Blum, and Schwartz.

The Chair then put the question to amend by striking the phrase "one course in Arts; one in Humanities" and the motion failed with 36 in favor, 37 opposed.

The Chair recognized Professor Weissbach, who moved to change the phrase "Foundational Qualities" to "Foundational Outcomes" throughout the document. The motion was seconded.

Professor Griffin suggested re-working the language of Professor Journet’s earlier motion. The Chair ruled this motion out of order.

The Chair clarified the options before the House at this point and following further discussion returned to Professor Weissbach’s motion.

Professor Journet moved to table Professor Weissbach’s motion. The motion to table was seconded. The Chair called the question and the motion to table failed.

Discussion of the text of page 1 continued and included Professors Ferre, Golding, Hall, and Maloney.

Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question to replace "foundational qualities" with "foundational outcomes" wherever the phrase appeared in the document. The motion carried with 41 in favor and 24 opposed.

The Chair recognized Professor Pfeffer, who wished to reconsider Professor Journet’s original motion. Professor Dakan moved reconsideration of the motion. The motion to reconsider was seconded.

Discussion included Professors Dakan, Thomas, Schwartz, Hudson, and Journet. The Chair called for a voice vote and the motion to reconsider carried.

Professor’s Journet proposal for new language in page 1, paragraph 1 was once more before the House.

Professor Pfeffer proposed as a friendly amendment the substitution of the word "demonstrate" for the word "fulfill" in the last sentence of Professor Journet’s substitute motion. The Chair asked if there was any objection. Hearing objection, the Chair opened the floor for debate.

Professor Pfeffer then proposed as a friendly amendment that Professor Journet’s substitution motion replace only the language prior to item 1 on page 1. The Chair ruled that this would require a motion to amend. Discussion included Professors Journet, Ziegler, Dakan, and Hudson.

The Chair clarified procedural issues of the discussion. Professor Journet then moved to amend her original motion so that it would not replace item 1, page 1, but only the language prior to item 1, page 1 in the document. The motion to amend was seconded.

The Chair said that the motion before the House was the motion to amend Professor Journet’s original motion so that it replaced only the preamble of the document (language prior to item 1, page 1) and if it failed the motion to substitute through item 1, page 1 would still be on the floor and subject to debate.

Discussion included Professors Journet, Wise, Thomas, Leuthart, Weissbach, Jones, Flodstrom, Griffin, Byers, Clarke, Billingsley, and Maloney.

The Chair then put the question and the motion to limit the substitution to the preamble of the document failed.

Professor Maloney moved to change the second sentence of Professor Journet’s motion to read "The Foundations for Excellence curriculum will require all students to communicate effectively, think critically, and explore cultural diversity." The motion was seconded.

Discussion included Professors Cumbler, Journet, Wise, and Byers. Professor Byers proposed as a friendly amendment that Professor Maloney’s amendment be changed to read "think critically, communicate effectively…." Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question and the motion carried.

The Chair recognized Professor Weissbach who moved inserting the word "acquiring" before "academic skills" and "mastering" before "disciplinary content" in Professor Journet’s motion. The motion was seconded.

Discussion included Professors Dakan, Cumbler, and Allen. Professor Allen suggested as a friendly amendment that the last sentence of the paragraph read "Students who complete the program will acquire academic skills and master disciplinary content." The Chair ruled that such a change would be in the spirit of Professor Weissbach’s motion and would be in order. Professor Allen so moved and the motion was seconded.

Discussion included Professor Ziegler, who proposed a substitution to Professor Allen’s language to change "acquire" to "learn" followed by ": academic skills and disciplinary content." The motion failed for want of a second.

The Chair called the question on Professor Allen’s amendment and it failed.

The Chair returned to Professor Weissbach’s motion to amend so that the bulleted phrases read "acquire academic skills" and "master disciplinary content." A motion to replace "acquire" with "demonstrate" was seconded. Discussion included Professors Weissbach, Cumbler, Hall, and Herlin.

The Chair put the question to replace the word "acquire" with "demonstrate" and the motion carried.

A motion was made and seconded to move into Committee of the Whole for the purposes of discussing language changes. The motion carried.

The House rose from Committee of the Whole and the Chair reported a motion from the Committee of the Whole to strike the third sentence of Professor Journet’s substitute motion, as amended, with the text resuming at the section of the document currently designated page 1, item 2, with renumbering as needed.

Discussion included Professor Cumbler.

The Chair put the question and the motion carried.

Professor Byers moved an editorial change to strike the words "The Foundations for Excellence" in sentence 2 of Professor Journet’s motion and substitute "This." Hearing no objection, the Chair declared Professor Byers’ motion approved unanimously.

Continued discussion of the motion to substitute included Professors Davitt, Weissbach, Stenger, Cumbler, Pfeffer, Billingsley, Dietrich, Hall, and Wise.

Professor Wise proposed adding the word "to" before "think critically" and "explore cultural diversity" in the final sentence of the substitute motion. Hearing no objection, the Chair declared unanimous consent to this change.

Hearing no call for further discussion of the motion to amend by substitution, the Chair put the question and the motion carried. The first paragraph of page 1 then read:

"The Foundations for Excellence curriculum fosters active learning by asking students to integrate academic skills and disciplinary content. This curriculum will require all students to think critically, to communicate effectively, and to explore cultural diversity."

Professor Dakan moved that for aesthetic reasons items on page one no longer be numbered, now that they had been reduced to two items. The motion was seconded and discussion included Professors Clarke and Roebuck.

A motion was made to move to Committee of the Whole for the purpose of perfecting language. The motion carried.

The House rose from Committee of the Whole and the Chair reported a motion from the Committee of the Whole that old item 2 become item 1, reading:

Academic Skills

Students will demonstrate competency in each of the following:

• Quantitative Reasoning
• Qualitative and Interpretive Reasoning
• Communication
• Computer and Information Literacy
• Understanding Cultural Diversity

Discussion included Professors Weissbach and Chalmers.

Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question and the motion carried unanimously.

Noting that it was approaching 4 o’clock, the Chair stated that he would accept a motion to recess. The motion to recess was made, seconded, and approved, and the meeting was recessed until 2:00 p.m. on November 9.

College of Arts and Sciences

Faculty Assembly Minutes

November 9, 1999

Registering Attendance:

Professor Harris, Chair, called the Assembly to order at 2:05 p.m.

The Chair recognized Professor Ziegler, who moved that: "one course in History, the remaining 6 hours in two other disciplines" be struck from the bulleted item "Social and Behavioral Science" under content area outcomes (renumbered as item 2, page 1).

The motion was seconded, and discussion included Professors Ziegler, Blum, Leidner, Stenger, Allen, Laemmle, Schwartz, Dakan, Pfeffer, Cumbler, Herlin, Weber, Wise, T. Maloney, Payne, K’Meyer, and Weissbach.

Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question to amend by striking. The motion was defeated with 14 in favor and 39 opposed.

The Chair recognized Professor Weber, who moved to substitute lower case "h" for upper case in "History" in the phrase "one course in History." The motion was seconded.

It was clarified that the intent of the motion was to remove reference to a specific department.

Discussion included Professors Billingsley, Weissbach, Maloney, Cumbler, Wise, Blum, Byers, Payne, and Chalmers.

The Chair put the question and the motion was defeated with 16 in favor and 36 opposed.

Professor Weissbach moved that the sentence "Outcomes within content areas apply skills to specific disciplines through each of the following" be remanded to the Curriculum Committee for revision.

The motion to remand was seconded and was approved by voice vote.

Professor Journet moved that under the bullet "Written Communication (6 hours)" be added : "the first three hours must be in English 101, 102, or 105." The motion was seconded.

Discussion included Professors Flodstrom, Leidner, Maloney, Wise, Huot, Cumbler, Chalmers, Billingsley, Weissbach, and Hall.

Professor Hall moved to amend the motion by substituting "the first three hours in English composition" for Professor Journet’s language. The motion to amend was seconded.

Discussion included Professors Pfeffer, Hudson, Huot, Cross, and Journet.

The Chair put the question to amend Professor Journet’s motion by substitution, and the motion carried by voice vote.

Discussion of the motion as amended included Professors Hudson, Wise, Billingsley, Weissbach, Byers, John, Cumbler, Blum, Griffin, Hall, Cross, and Schwartz.

It was clarified that the intent of the motion was to specify that the course would be a composition course taught by the Department of English.

The motion to amend the original document by inserting "the first three hours in English Composition" after "Written Communication (6 hours)" carried with 38 in favor and 7 opposed.

Professor Byers moved to remand to the Curriculum Committee the question of capitalization of content areas on page 1 of the document (with the exception of "History" and "English Composition"). The motion was seconded and carried on voice vote. The Chair instructed the Committee to provide such a report prior to a final vote on the document.

At 3:50 p.m. it was moved to recess until 2:00 p.m., November 10. The motion carried and the Assembly was in recess.

College of Arts and Science

Faculty Assembly Minutes

November 10, 1999

Registering Attendance:

The Chair called the meeting to order at 2:07 p.m.

Professor Maloney was recognized and moved to change the term "Foundations for Excellence" to "General Education" wherever it appeared in the document. The motion was seconded.

Discussion included Professors Leidner, Allen, Clarke, Mackey, and Billingsley.

The motion to substitute "General Education" for "Foundations for Excellence" carried unanimously.

The Chair called for any further discussion or amendment to page 1.

It was moved, seconded, and approved to move to Committee of the Whole

The Assembly rose from Committee of the Whole and the Chair reported that the Committee expressed concern about the complexity of the requirements as illustrated in the "Content Areas and Skills Matrix" and wished to simplify them.

Professor Dakan moved to amend the document by substituting the following for the material beginning (top of page 2) "Every course approved for the Foundations of Excellence Curriculum will:" and continuing to "Skills Outcomes" on page 3.

"The goals of the Foundation for Excellence are to assure that all students can

1. Effectively communicate
2. Think critically
3. Effectively address issues in cultural diversity

All courses in the Foundations for Excellence Curriculum will include at least one of the above goals. In meeting those goals, the Foundation Curriculum will prepare students to do all of the following:

(Here retain the wording, pages 2-3, under the headings "Communicate effectively…," "Think logically…" and "Understand cultural diversity." Move the paragraph beginning "Students must complete 12 credit hours of Foundations for Excellence courses within the first 24 degree-applicable credit hours earned…" to the end of this section.)

Professor Pfeffer suggested as a friendly amendment that goals (1) and (2) be reversed, and the change was accepted by unanimous consent.

Discussion of Professor Dakan’s substitute motion included Professors Hashim, Hudson, Billingsley, Blum, Dakan, Journet, Chalmers, Theriot, and Mackey.

Professor Billingsley moved to table the Dakan motion. The motion to table carried.

The Chair recognized Professor Mackey who moved, seconded by the Curriculum Committee, the addition of the sentence "Every student must take courses that cover each skills outcome" following the statement that "The same course can fulfill up to two skills outcomes and two content areas."

Discussion included Professors Blum, Allen, Flodstrom, and Willihnganz.

The Chair then put the question on the amendment sponsored by the Curriculum Committee and it carried on voice vote.

The Chair recognized Professor Billingsley who moved to substitute "may address" for "can fulfill" in the sentence beginning "The same course can fulfill up to two…."

Discussion included Professors Journet, Billingsley, and Dakan.

Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question and the motion carried.

Professor Hudson moved the elimination, beginning on page 2, to of all references to "foundational qualities." The motion was seconded.

Discussion included Professors Billingsley, Allen, and Wise.

The Chair put the question and the motion carried.

Professor Flodstrom moved that the Assembly go into Committee of the Whole. The motion was seconded and approved. The Committee rose and the Chair reported that Professors Dakan and Allen had been asked to draft further amendments to the language of page 2.

At 3:55 p.m., the Chair declared the Assembly in recess until November 16 at 2:00 p.m.

College of Arts and Sciences

Faculty Assembly Minutes

November 16, 1999

Registering Attendance:

The Chair called the Assembly to order at 2:05 p.m..

The Chair reminded the Assembly that at the conclusion of the previous meeting several groups and individuals were charged with drafting revisions which would reflect the concerns of the Assembly.

The Chair then recognized Professor Stenger, who moved the substitution of the document entitled "University-Wide General Education Proposal: Revisions of 11/16/99: A&S Curriculum Committee" for the document currently before the Assembly. She noted that Professors Allen and Dakan, who had been charged by the Assembly to propose certain changes, had been consulted in the preparation of this comprehensive revision. She then moved that the Assembly go into Committee of the Whole to discuss the revision. The motion to move to Committee of the Whole was seconded and carried.

The Assembly rose from Committee of the Whole and the Chair reported that the body favored the new draft from the Curriculum Committee.

Professor Stenger moved and it was seconded to strike "the" before "three hours of Mathematics" on page 1, paragraph 2, line 3. The motion carried unanimously.

Professor Stenger moved and it was seconded to insert "(3 hours)" after the heading "Oral Communication" on page 3. The motion carried unanimously.

Professor Stenger moved to substitute "the first 3 hours in the Department of English" for "the first 3 hours in English Composition" following the heading "Written Communication" on p. 4. The motion failed for want of a second.

Professor Davitt moved to revise the last sentence of page 1, paragraph 2 to add mathematics to the requirements that students must complete before completing 60 credit hours. The motion was seconded. Hearing no discussion, the Chair put the question and the motion carried.

Professor Cumbler moved that "24 hours" on page 1, paragraph 2, line 1 be changed to "30 hours." The motion was seconded and carried unanimously.

Professor Roebuck noted that the statements in sentence 1 and sentence 2 regarding the completion of mathematics courses could now be read to contradict one another.

Professor Cumbler moved to strike the reference to mathematics in sentence 1. The motion was seconded.

Discussion included Professors Roebuck, Flodstrom, Barnes, and Allen.

The Chair put the question and the motion to strike "and three hours in Mathematics" from page 1, paragraph 2, sentence 1 failed with 12 in favor and 23 opposed.

Professor Boehm moved to amend by substituting the following for "and three hours in Mathematics": "; further, students must fulfill or begin working toward the mathematics requirement." The motion was seconded.

Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question and the motion to amend by substitution carried.

Professor Theriot moved to change 12 hours to 9 hours in sentence 1 of paragraph 2. The motion was seconded.

Discussion included Professors Davitt, Pfeffer, Stenger, and Flodstrom.

The Chair called the question and the motion failed.

The Chair then put the question on the motion by the Curriculum Committee to amend by substituting the new document (including the changes approved above) for the old document. The motion carried.

The Chair then stated that he would move through the document seriatim, beginning with the section entitled "Content Areas."

Professor Pfeffer asked what was included in "Humanities" as used in the document.

The chair ruled that "Humanities" meant any department in the Division of Humanities.

He then asked if the sense of the House was that "Humanities" had a broader meaning in this context. It was the unanimous sense of the House that the Humanities are all departments in the Division of Humanities, with the exception of those departmental offerings which meet the Arts requirement.

The Curriculum Committee was asked to prepare language which would clarify those courses to be considered under Humanities and those to be considered under Arts.

The Chair recognized Professor Dakan who moved reintroduction of "Quantitative Reasoning" and "Qualitative Reasoning" under "Content Areas." The Chair ruled the motion out of order.

Professor Journet moved to add the following to "Arts and Humanities":

"4. Communicate effectively, demonstrating the ability to think critically about disciplinary content and employ appropriate conventions of presentation."

Professor Stenger asked if "communicate" referred to written or oral communication. Professor Journet answered that there was an implicit expectation that all general education involved both writing and speaking skills.

Discussion included Professors Stenger, Journet, Allen, Pfeffer, Dakan, T. Maloney, Leidner, Theriot, Blum, Cumbler, Hall, and Dietrich.

Hearing no further call for discussion, the Chair called the question on amending by inserting "4." above under Arts and Humanities. The motion failed with 15 in favor and 17 opposed.

There was a call for recess and the meeting recessed at 4:10 p.m. until 2:00 p.m. on November 17.

College of Arts and Sciences

Faculty Assembly Minutes

November 17, 1999

Registering Attendance:

The Chair called the meeting to order at 2:08 p.m. and asked if there was further discussion of the section on "Arts and Humanities."

Professor Pfeffer moved to change (1) under that section to read: "Understand …within the arts and humanities." The motion was seconded. Discussion included Professors Blum, Mackey, and Journet.

Professor Blum moved to add "both" following "within." The motion was seconded and carried.

Hearing no call for further discussion of the original motion, as amended, the Chair put the question and the motion carried.

The Chair recognized Professor Dakan who proposed the substitution of "Courses that fulfill this requirement will enable students to do all of the following" for "Students who fulfill this requirement will be able to do all of the following." The motion was seconded.

Discussion included Professors Mackey, Maloney, Allen, Hudson, Roebuck, Theriot, Segal, Leuthart, Dietrich, Clarke, and Blum.

The Chair put the question and the motion failed.

The Chair recognized Professor Dakan, who moved to strike "objective" in the sentence "Natural sciences are concerned with understanding the objective world through the scientific method." Professor Segal moved to substitute "physical world" for "objective world," and his motion was seconded. The motion carried.

The motion was made and seconded to move to Committee of the Whole. The motion carried.

The assembly rose from Committee of the Whole and the Chair reported that the body had perfected the motion to amend the section on Oral Communication by substitution of the following (for the entire section):

" Oral communication is the ability to convey ideas, emotions, and information through speech.

Students who fulfill this requirement will be able to do all of the following:

1. Speak publicly, in both formal and informal context, demonstrating skills such as appropriate selection of topic and materials, clear organization, effective presentation, and the ability to adapt to audience, setting, and occasion;
2. Participate effectively in discussion;
3. Analyze and critique the oral communication of oneself and others."

Professor Segal moved the amendment by substitution. The motion was seconded and carried.

Professor Dakan moved substitution of the following in items 1 and 3 under "Social and Behavioral Sciences." Substitute for item 1: "Understand how a social science and its disciplinary perspective is established and how and why it changes over time."

Substitute for item 3: "Demonstrate an understanding of a discipline’s view of human behavior."

Discussion included Professors Allen, Dakan, and Journet. Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question and the motion failed.

Professor Dakan moved that "economics" be inserted into the list of things with which the social sciences are concerned. The motion was seconded. Discussion included Professors Allen, Willard, and Theriot. Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question and the motion failed.

The Chair recognized Professor Journet who moved that the assembly go to Committee of the Whole for the discussion of Written Communication. The motion was seconded and carried and the Assembly moved to Committee of the Whole.

The Assembly rose from Committee of the Whole and the Chair reported that the Assembly did wish to see revision an integral part of work in Written Communication.

Professor Jones moved to endorse the language on Written Communication in the Curriculum Committee document. The motion was seconded. The Chair put the question and the motion carried with 14 in favor and 12 opposed.

The Curriculum Committee was charged to clarify the wording under "Competency Areas" to indicate whether or not computer literacy and cultural diversity courses must also be approved in a content area.

Discussion included Professors Maloney, Dietrich, Dakan, Stenger, Cumbler, and Covell.

Professor Maloney moved to table the first sentence under the heading "Competency Areas." The motion to table was seconded and carried.

Professor Covell moved the insertion of "store" following "collect" in sentence 1 under "Computer and Information Literacy." The motion was seconded and carried unanimously.

Professor Dakan moved the addition of "relevance and accuracy" following "bias" in item 1 of the outcomes of "Computer and Information Literacy." The motion was seconded. Discussion included Professor Blum. Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question and the motion carried unanimously.

Noting that it was 4:00 p.m., the Chair indicated that he would entertain a motion to recess, and the assembly was recessed until 2:00 p.m., November 18.

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College of Arts and Sciences

Faculty Assembly Minutes

November 18, 1999

Registering Attendance:

Anthropology:	E. Segal
Biology:	C. Covell, A. Karpoff
Chemistry:	G. Pack, J. Richardson, C. Trapp
CML:	R. Buchanan, W. Cunningham, J. Greene, A. Leidner, R. Luginbill M. Makris, M. Medina, W. Pfeffer, C. Pooser, R. Roebuck, L. Wagner, J. Winkler
Communication:	J. Hart, E. Warner, S. Willihnganz
English:	D. Billingsley, B. Boehm, M. Bousquet, T. Byers, A. Golding, S. Griffin, D. Hall, D. Journet, S. Ryan
Geo/Geos:	J. Anderson, A. Clarke, W. Dakan, K. Mountain, C. Leuthart
History:	B. Adams, A. Allen, M. Blum, J. Cumbler, S. Herlin, T. Mackey, J. McLeod, P. Sidelko, N. Theriot
Humanities:	K. Gray, M. Stenger
Justice Admin:	D. Wilson
Mathematics:	G. Barnes, R. Davitt, M. Jacobson, S. Seif, W. Williams
PAS:	J. Hudson, R. Jones, T. Rajack-Talley
Philosophy:	J. Flodstrom, N. Hancock, E. John
Physics:	J. Chalmers
Sociology:	L. Akers, M. Austin, A. Furr, W. Usui
Theatre Arts:	N. Burton, A. Harris, M. Hottois, L. Thomas

 

The Chair called the meeting to order at 2:05 p.m.

Discussion began with the section of the document entitled "Computer and Information Literacy."

A motion was made, seconded, and carried to move to Committee of the Whole for the purpose of perfecting language on this section.

The Committee rose and the Chair reported that certain changes to the language of the section on computer and information literacy were agreeable to the group.

It was moved and seconded that the outcomes for computer literacy be:

"1. Evaluate information for bias, relevance, and accuracy;

2. Manipulate information technology effectively by using:

1. the Internet;
2. library databases and on-line research tools;
3. e-mail (send/receive messages; send/receive file attachments);
4. word processing applications."

The Chair clarified that the House had before it an amendment by substitution, replacing items 1-4 under outcomes for computer and information literacy with items 1-2 above. Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question and the motion to amend carried.

The Chair recognized Professor Stenger who moved, seconded by the Curriculum Committee, the following as sentence 1 under "Competency Areas": "In addition, students will take at least 3 hours in a General Education course designated Computer Literacy (CL); prior to graduation, each student must also complete at least 6 hours in courses designated Cultural Diversity (CD)."

Discussion included Professors Karpoff, Stenger, Pfeffer, Billingsley, Byers, and Allen.

Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question and the motion failed.

The Chair said that discussion would now move to the section entitled "Cultural Diversity."

Professor Segal moved to amend by substitution, replacing the entire section of the document entitled "Cultural Diversity" with the following:

"Understanding cultural diversity means students will have a broad exposure to a variety of social systems, cultures, and subcultures, both within the United States and the rest of the world. This portion of the curriculum encourages an appreciation of the realities of a racially and culturally diverse world.

Students who satisfy this outcome will be able to do the following:

1. demonstrate their recognition that social and cultural systems develop out of adaptation to environmental and historical circumstances;
2. demonstrate their understanding that race, ethnicity, and gender are socially constructed;
3. demonstrate an understanding that different cultures may hold different but equally logical visions of the same issue;
4. evaluate pertinent information and assertions for relevance, bias, stereotyping, manipulation, and completeness."

The motion was seconded.

Discussion included Professors Thomas, Stenger, Leuthart, Griffin, Trapp, and Allen.

Professor Allen proposed as a friendly amendment to substitute "coherent" for "logical." The motion was approved by unanimous consent.

Discussion included Professors Dakan and Billingsley.

Professor Billingsley moved to strike "but equally coherent" from #3. The motion was seconded.

Discussion included Professors Jones, Leidner, Allen, Byers, Segal, Stenger, Hudson, Griffin, Blum, Dakan, Barnes, Cumbler, Clarke, John, Boehm, and Thomas.

Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question and the motion to strike carried.

Professor Griffin moved to substitute "understandings" for "visions" in #3. The motion was seconded.

Following further discussion it was moved to change "understandings" to "views." Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question and the motion to substitute "views" carried.

Professor Hudson moved to revise sentence 1, paragraph 2 of Professor Segal’s amendment to read: "Students who satisfy this outcome will take at least one course focusing on persons of non-European ancestry, and will be able to do the following…."

The motion was seconded. Discussion included Professors Hudson, Cumbler, and Flodstrom.

Professor Flodstrom asked how this language would affect courses focusing on Hispanic peoples.

Further discussion included Professors Pfeffer, Segal, Hall, Dakan, R. Jones, Leuthart, Warner, Byers, Blum, Clarke, Burton, Herlin, Journet, Cumbler, Allen, Griffin, and Billingsley.

Professor Billingsley moved to close debate and put the question. The motion was seconded. The Chair put the question on the motion to close debate and it failed with 27 in favor and 28 opposed.

The Chair yielded the floor to Professor Billingsley.

Professor Billingsley, Chair, recognized Professor Harris, who proposed substitution of "valid" for "coherent" in item 3. The motion was seconded.

Discussion included Professors Hall, Blum, Segal, Warner, Stenger, Allen, Clarke, Flodstrom, Golding, Theriot, John, Journet, and Covell.

Hearing no call for further discussion, Professor Billingsley put the question to substitute "valid" for "coherent" and the motion failed with 25 in favor and 27 opposed.

Professor Harris resumed the Chair and sought unanimous consent from the House to continue the meeting beyond the announced time of 4:00 p.m. Consent was given.

Professor Golding moved the substitution of "…of the ways in which race…" for "…that race…" in item 2. The motion was seconded.

The Chair put the question and the motion carried.

Professor Trapp moved and was seconded to strike "race and gender" from item 2.

Professor Cumbler moved to call the question. The motion to call the question was seconded and carried.

The Chair put the question on the motion to strike. The motion failed.

Professor Stenger moved to change "and" to "or" in item 2. The motion was seconded.

Discussion included Professors Golding, Stenger, Hudson, and Mackey.

The Chair put the question. The vote was 21 for, 20 opposed. The Chair then voted against the motion and it failed on a tie vote.

Professor Boehm moved to substitute "and/or" for "and" in item 2. The motion was seconded. Discussion included Professors Segal, Blum, Theriot, and Barnes.

Professor Barnes called for a quorum count.

The meeting was recessed at 4:25 for lack of a quorum.

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College of Arts and Sciences

Faculty Assembly Minutes

November 22, 1999

Registering Attendance:

Anthropology:	E. Segal
Biology:	J. Alexander, G. Cobbs, C. Covell, R. Fell, A. Karpoff, W. Pearson, M. Perlin
Chemistry:	R. Baldwin, R. Buchanan, D. Gibson, M. Mauer, G. Pack, J. Richardson
CML:	R. Buchanan, W. Cunningham, J. Greene, A. Greenfeld, A. Leidner, R. Luginbill, W. Pfeffer, C. Pooser, R. Roebuck, L. Wagner, G. Zinn
Communication:	J. Hart, J. Monberg, E. Warner, S. Willihnganz
English:	S. Biberman, D. Billingsley, B. Boehm, M. Bousquet, T. Byers, G. Cross, J. Dietrich, M. Flannery, S. Griffin, P. Griner, D. Hall, D. Journet, M. Rosner, S. Ryan, T. Van
Geo/Geos:	A. Clarke, G. Lager, K. Mountain, D. Scott
History:	B. Adams, M. Blum, J. Cumbler, S. Herlin, T. K’Meyer, T. Mackey, J. McLeod, P. Sidelko, N. Theriot
Humanities:	K. Gray, M. Stenger
Justice Admin:	D. Wilson
Mathematics	B. Bradley, M. Jacobson, R. Powers, T. Riedel, P. Sahoo, W. Williams
PAS:	L. Badru, M. Dogbe, J. Hudson, R. Jones, T. Rajack-Talley
Philosophy:	J. Flodstrom, E. John, T. Maloney
Physics:	J. Chalmers
Political Science:	A. Caldwell, D. Clayton, A. Hashim, R. Payne, L. Rhodebeck, P. Weber, C. Ziegler
Psychology:	D. Molfese
Sociology:	J. Busch, W. Usui
Theatre Arts:	N. Burton, A. Harris, D. Palmer, L. Thomas

 

The Chair called the meeting to order at 2:10 p.m.

He announced that the section of the document on Cultural Diversity was still under discussion and that a motion to amend by substituting "and/or" for "and" in item 2 was still on the floor.

Discussion included Professors Thomas, Griffin, and Stenger.

Professor Flodstrom moved to table the motion for substitution. The motion to table was seconded and carried.

The Chair recognized Professor Mackey who moved to reconsider Professor Hudson’s motion. Motion to reconsider was seconded and carried. It was noted that the motion was slightly re-worded and that its placement in the document would be changed. This was agreeable to the House.

The motion would now read: "…students will take…6 hours in courses designated Cultural Diversity (CD), 3 hours of which will focus on persons of African, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic, or Native American ancestry."

Discussion included Professors Hudson, Usui, Pfeffer, Billingsley, and Sidelko.

The Chair instructed that the minutes reflect that the intent of the Cultural Diversity requirement was to permit a focus on more than one culture in individual courses and that courses addressing mid-Eastern cultures would be included in the Cultural Diversity category.

Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question and the motion carried.

Professor Sidelko moved insertion of "Arab" in the list of "persons" in the language just approved. The motion was seconded.

Discussion included Professors McLeod, Segal, Clarke, Hashim, Thomas, Pfeffer, Byers, Billingsley, Maloney, Blum, and Sidelko.

The Chair instructed that the minutes note that the language of Professor Hudson’s motion reflected the legal categories used in American law.

Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question on the motion to include "Arab" in the list of "persons." The motion failed

Professor Byers moved the substitute the word "color" for the list in Professor Hudson’s amendment. The motion was seconded.

Discussion included Professors McLeod, Clarke, Molfese, and Byers.

The Chair put the question and the motion failed.

Professor Molfese moved to strike the list of "persons" and substitute "of different cultures." The motion was seconded. Discussion included Professors Maloney, Bradley, Clarke, and Billingsley.

Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question and the motion failed.

Professor Byers moved to close debate. The motion was seconded. The Chair put the question and the motion to close debate carried.

The Chair put the question on Professor Hudson’s motion and the motion carried.

The House returned to the discussion of Professor Segal’s amendment.

Professor Pack moved the addition of the word "roles" after "gender" in item 2.

The motion was seconded. Discussed included Professor Byers.

Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question and the motion failed.

Professor Pfeffer moved the substitution of "coherent" for "valid" in item 3. The motion was seconded. Discussion included Professors Blum, Maloney, Cross, and Chalmers.

Professor Hall moved to call the question, and the motion was seconded. The motion to call the question carried.

The Chair put the question on the substitution of "coherent" for "valid" and the motion failed.

The Chair recognized Professor Stenger who moved that the motion to substitute "and/or" for "and" (item 2) be removed from the table. The motion was seconded.

The Chair put the question on the motion to remove from the table, and the motion carried.

Discussion of the motion to substitute "and/or" included Professors Stenger, Blum, Griffin, Byers, and Segal.

The Chair then put the question on the substitution and the motion carried.

Hearing no call for further discussion of any part of Professor Segal’s motion, as amended, the Chair put the question and the motion to substitute carried.

The Chair noted that the House had now completed its discussion of the document seriatim and that the entire document, as amended, was now on the floor.

Professor Journet moved to substitute the following for the present text under "Written Communication":

"Written communication is the ability to develop and express ideas, opinions and information in appropriate written forms. To fulfill this requirement, students will complete a substantial amount of writing, including several texts that go through the composing process. Specifically, students who fulfill this requirement will be able to:

1. understand and use composing processes, including invention, drafting, organizing, revising through multiple drafts, and editing;
2. write clear and effective prose in several forms, demonstrating an awareness of audience and purpose;
3. understand and use appropriate academic textual conventions of presentation, from sentence level and beyond;
4. employ critical thinking processes, such as abstracting, synthesizing, representing, and developing complex structures for ideas; collect, select, and integrate material from a variety of sources into their writing, citing it appropriately."

The motion to substitute was seconded.

Discussion included Professors Journet and Pfeffer.

Unanimous consent was given to substitute "writing processes" for "composing processes" in item 1.

Professor Stenger suggested as a friendly amendment that "do all of the following" be inserted at the end of the last sentence prior to the enumerated items. This was accepted by unanimous consent.

It was clarified that the intent of the body was to exclude creative writing from courses which would fulfill the writing requirement.

Professor Stenger moved to strike "Specifically," at the beginning of the final sentence.

The motion was seconded and carried.

The Chair put the question on Professor Journet’s motion, as amended, to substitute and the motion carried.

Professor Billingsley moved to substitute "Students who satisfy this outcome will demonstrate that they are able to do all of the following:" for "Students who fulfill this requirement will be able to:"

Hearing no call for discussion, the Chair put the question and Professor Billingsley’s motion carried. The secretary was instructed to make this change throughout the document.

Professor Cumbler proposed the following amendment under "Social and Behavioral Sciences."

"History (3 credits)

Students who satisfy this competency will be able to do all of the following:

1. Understand the process of historical change, and the significance of place and time;
2. Understand the creating, development and changing nature of historical knowledge and the importance of historical documentation;
3. Demonstrate comprehension of a specific broad body of historical knowledge encompassing at least some comparison between the Western and non-Western world;
4. Demonstrate an ability to construct a historical argument employing historical facts."

Professor Cumbler’s motion was seconded. Discussion included Professors Cumbler, Journet, Roebuck, and Sidelko.

Professor Byers moved to substitute "Eurocentric and non-Eurocentric" for "Western and non-Western." The motion was seconded.

Discussion included Professors Byers, Chalmers, Cumbler, Ziegler, Cross, McLeod, Covell, Maloney, Segal, Pfeffer, Billingsley, Hudson, Clarke, and Wilson.

The Chair put the question, and the motion to substitute failed.

The house accepted as a friendly amendment the substitution of "Western and non-Western worlds" for "the Western and non-Western world" in item 3.

Professor Billingsley moved to strike #3 and to add the following: "General Education courses in History will use a comparative methodology."

The motion was made and seconded to table Professor Cumbler’s amendment. The motion to table carried.

Professor Boehm moved to substitute "the first 3 hours must be a writing course in the Department of English" for "the first 3 hours must be a course in English Composition" under "Written Communication."

Discussion included Professors Cumbler, Boehm, and Dogbe.

The chair put the question and the motion carried.

The Chair recognized Professor Mackey, who moved that the following be inserted as paragraph 3, page 1: "Every course approved for general education will address each outcome in every content and/or competency area for which it is approved."

The motion was seconded.

Discussion included Professor Pfeffer.

The motion carried unanimously.

Professor Cumbler’s motion was removed from the table.

Professor Billingsley moved to strike item 3 in Professor Cumbler’s motion and substitute: "Courses addressing this requirement cover a broad body of historical knowledge and use a methodology comparing Western and non-Western worlds."

Discussion included Professors Byers, Griffin, Journet, McLeod, Billingsley, Clarke, and Herlin.

The Chair put the question on Professor Billingsley’s amendment, and the motion carried.

Further discussion of Professor Cumbler’s motion included Professors Payne and Stenger.

The house accepted as a friendly amendment the striking of "Demonstrate an ability to" in item 4 and the addition of "and communicate" after "Construct" in item 4.

The Chair put the question and the motion carried as amended.

Professor Clarke moved to amend the preamble to the section on "Cultural Diversity" by adding "The remaining 3 hours may focus on either racial, ethnic, religious, or gender diversity issues." The motion was seconded.

Discussion included Professors Herlin, Roebuck, Pfeffer, K’Meyer, Byers, and Cumbler.

Professor Herlin proposed as a friendly amendment that "either" be removed from Professor Clarke’s motion. This was accepted by unanimous consent.

The Chair put the question on Professor Clarke’s motion and it failed.

Professor Chalmers moved to recess and the motion was seconded.

The Chair put the question to recess and the motion failed with 11 in favor and 30 opposed.

Professor Byers received unanimous consent that "at least" be inserted before "3 hours of which will focus…" in paragraph 1 of the section "Competency Areas."

Professor Journet moved that "communicate an understanding of" be inserted in item 1 of the section on Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Professor Covell called for a quorum count.

The meeting was recessed for lack of a quorum.

---

College of Arts and Sciences

Faculty Assembly Minutes

November 23, 1999

Registering Attendance:

Anthropology:	E. Segal
Biology:	J. Alexander, P. Bukaveckas, G. Cobbs, R. Fell, Karpoff, J. Steffen
Chemistry:	R. Baldwin, P. Kozlowski, M. Mauer, N. Noble, C. Rich, C. Trapp
CML:	R. Buchanan, W. Cunningham, J. Greene, A. Leidner, M. Makris, A. Mastri, W. Pfeffer, C. Pooser, R. Roebuck, L. Wagner, J. Winkler, G. Zinn
Communication:	J. Hart, E. Warner, C. Willard, S. Willihnganz
English:	B. Boehm, T. Byers, G. Cross, J. Dietrich, A. Golding, S. Griffin, D. Hall, D. Journet, M. Rosner, S. Ryan
Geo/Geos:	A. Clarke
History:	B. Adams, A. Allen, J. Cumbler, S. Herlin, T. K’Meyer, T. Mackey, J. McLeod, N. Theriot
Humanities:	K. Gray
Mathematics	B. Bradley, R. Davitt, M. Jacobson, R. Powers, S. Seif
PAS:	J. Hudson, F. Iyun, R. Jones, T. Rajack-Talley
Philosophy:	E. John, T. Maloney
Physics:	D. Brown, J. Chalmers
Political Science:	M. Frazier, A. Caldwell, P. Weber
Psychology:	J. Pani
Sociology:	C. Talley, W. Usui
Theatre Arts:	A. Harris

 

The Chair called the meeting to order at 2:05 p.m.

Professor Pfeffer moved that the Assembly express its appreciation to Diane Johnson of the dean’s staff, who had provided up-dated copies of the working documents each day. The motion was seconded, and approved unanimously.

Professor Maloney moved that the Assembly express its appreciation to the member of the Curriculum Committee and to Professor Harris. These motions were approved unanimously.

The Chair recognized Professor Journet who moved to substitute "communicate an understanding of " for "understand" in items 1 under "Arts and Humanities" and "Social and Behavioral Sciences."

Discussion included Professors Clarke and Hudson.

It was clarified that the motion would encompass replacing "understand" with "communicate an understanding of" in any part of the document where the word was used in a similar context, and that the secretary would be instructed to make such changes.

Professor Journet said that it was not her intent that the addition should mean that all courses in all areas should meet the requirements for written and/or oral communication.

The question was put and the motion carried.

Professor Mackey moved that in item 1 under "Arts and Humanities" the word "both" be struck and that "and" be replaced by "and/or." He received unanimous consent for this change.

Professor Bradley moved to change "optimal" to "precise and accurate" in item 4 under "Mathematics." The motion was seconded, and discussion included Professors Pfeffer and Griffin.

The motion was tabled to allow the mover and other representatives of the Department of Mathematics to perfect the language.

Professor Mackey requested and received unanimous consent for item 4 under "Written Communication" to be divided into items 4 and 5.

Clarification was requested of item 3 under "Written Communication" ("understand and use appropriate academic textual conventions of presentation, at sentence level and beyond").

Discussion included Professor Journet.

Professor Journet was asked to provide an explanatory paragraph clarifying this language, to be inserted into the minutes.

[Professor Journet has provided the following statement: "Employ appropriate academic textual conventions at the level of word, sentence, paragraph and beyond (e.g., grammar, syntax, style, and organization."]

Clarification was requested of (old) item 4 under "Written Communication." Professor Journet stated that "…such as abstracting, synthesizing, representing, and developing complex structure" was a series of examples and did not mean that all would be required in each course.

Professor Golding moved that item 4 be revised to read: "Employ critical thinking processes, such as abstracting, synthesizing, and representing ideas, and developing complex structures for them." The motion was seconded, and discussion included Professors Journet, Maloney, Chalmers, and Golding.

The Chair put the question to amend item 4 under "Written Communication" and the motion carried.

Professor Byers moved to change "English Composition" on page 1 to "Written Communication." The motion was seconded; the Chair put the question and the motion carried.

The group perfecting the language of item 4 under "Mathematics" stated that it was ready to report to the Assembly. Professor Bradley’s motion was left on the table and the group moved to change "optimal solutions" to "correctness and completeness of solutions."

The Chair put the question and the motion carried.

Professor Hall moved the substitution of "arithmetic" for "arithmetical" in item 2 under "Mathematics." The motion was seconded; the Chair put the question and the motion carried.

The Assembly briefly discussed what the next steps in the implementation process for the new General Education program would be if the document were approved. Professors Hall and Willihnganz responded that the Academic Programs Committee of the Faculty Senate was in the process of drafting a proposal on University-wide review of courses and on the assessment process and that such a document would be subject to discussion, amendment, and approval by the unit faculties.

Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question on the entire document, as amended, and the motion carried.

The Assembly adjourned at 2:50 p.m.