Baccalaureate Core Committee

Voting members present: Heather Arbuckle, Aidas Banaitis, Geoffrey Barstow, Daniel Faltesek, Kelsey Emard, Matthew Kennedy, Jack Istok, Kyle Niemeyer, Rene Reitsma, Justin St. Germain, Kaplan Yalcin
Voting members absent: Lori McGraw, Randy Rosenberger
Ex-officio members present: Ecampus – Karen Watte; Office of Undergraduate Education – Heath Henry; WIC – Sarah Perrault

Guests: Funmi Amobi

CIM Review

• PSY 301 – no discussion needed
  • Approved with no discussion needed

Science, Technology & Society (STS) Category Review

• CS 391/391H – no discussion needed
  • Recertified with no discussion needed
• GEO 307 – no discussion needed
  • Recertified with no discussion needed
• HST 481
  • A revised Corvallis syllabus was provided that adds more explicit connections between course content and the STS learning outcomes.

Action: Motion to recertify; motion seconded and passed with 10 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition and 0 votes in abstention.

• HSTS 415
  • Syllabus includes a modified alignment matrix that focuses on description of class activities and assessment but it’s not clear in the syllabus that the content aligns with the STS learning outcomes (LOs).
  • The writing assignment seems well done and relates well to the category.
  • It is likely that the course meets the STS LOs, but the connections to the category could be made stronger.
  • Connections to the topic of technology may be somewhat lacking.
  • One committee member did work closely with the instructor and is certain that the outcomes of the category are being met.

Action: Motion to recertify with a note to put some more development in to alignment matrix and put more detail about course content and how it fits into the category; motion seconded and passed with 10 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition and 0 votes in abstention.

• HSTS 423
  • Being taught by the same faculty member who teaches HSTS 415. Both syllabi are very similarly laid out and have similar issues.

Action: Motion to recertify with a note to put some more development in to alignment matrix and put more detail about course content and how it fits into the category; motion seconded and passed with 10 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition and 0 votes in abstention.

• NSE 319
  • Syllabus is largely improved but the course itself does not seem to fit the category.
  • Course material is rather dated.
  • The largest issue is that the students are to write an advocacy paper about nuclear power, which would be a good topic for a Contemporary Global Issues (CGI) course, but may not be a good fit for STS.
    • Economics can be an STS topic, as it is largely influenced by society. The description is somewhat brief, so it’s not overtly clear.
    • The alignment matrix does lean more into the STS category, though other parts of the syllabus lean into a more normative approach.
    • Other examples offered for the writing assignment do seem to fit the category well. Perhaps suggest removing the more normative prompts.

Action: Motion to recertify with a note to think about the prompt for the writing assignment and focus more on prompts 7 and 8 and less on prompts 1 and 2; motion seconded and passed with 11 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition and 0 votes in abstention.

• BI 420
  • Syllabus is compliant.
  • One issue is remaining – 100% of enrollment was College of Science as it has disciplinary pre-requisites. The unit was encouraged to either open up the course or remove the course from the Bacc Core.
    • They responded to state that they have removed some of the more restrictive pre-requisites but a CIM proposal is required to change pre-requisites for a course.

Action: Motion to decertify so the pre-requisite issue can be addressed through a CIM proposal; motion seconded and passed with 11 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition and 0 votes in abstention.