Date: 
11/12/2014 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
Location: 
128 Kidder Hall
Event Description: 

A PDF of the agenda can be found here.

A PDF of the minutes can be found here.

Agenda: 

Curriculum Council

November 12, 2014 ~ 1:00-3:00 PM

128 Kidder Hall

Agenda

 

Anticipated absence: R. Mathern                                                                         

 

1:00 – Anthropology Academic Program Review

Curriculum Council reviewers: Mina Ossiander, Daniel Stroud

The Council is asked to identify concerns that the reviewers can ask the unit to address when they meet with the Council.

 

Course Designator Review Checklist – Stefani Dawn

(see attached CrsDesigRevCklist.docx)

 

Academic Program Review Schedule – Stefani Dawn

  • Identify additional Curriculum Council reviewers for Winter 2015 reviews:
    • Chemistry (February 22-24) – Sue Helback and ? (need a reviewer who has experience with program reviews)
    • Bioresource Research (January 25-28) – Anne-Marie Deitering and ? (need a reviewer who has experience with program reviews)
    • Applied Visual Arts/Art  (March 8-11) – Neil Davison, Mina Ossiander (no additional reviewer needed)
    • Biochemistry and Biophysics (joint graduate/undergraduate review) (February 15-17) – Tasha Biesinger and ? (need a reviewer who has experience with program reviews)

 

Undergraduate Program Review Guidelines

 

Matters Arising

 

Report from the Co-chairs – Prem Mathew, Richard Nafshun

 

Report from Academic Affairs

 

 

Information Items:

  1. Any materials distributed during this meeting must be sent electronically to Prem Mathew, Richard Nafshun, and Vickie Nunnemaker prior to the meeting.

 

Pending Issues:

  • Category I proposals eventually need to include mention of assessment and learning outcomes (includes Ecampus memos)? CC to discuss
  • Review guidelines for Category II proposals
  • Course designator vs. Subject Code – S. Dawn (see 1/24/14 minutes)
  • Comm courses
  • Pre-requisites, unenforced pre-requisites, and past ‘recommended’ listings

 

 

Meeting Schedule

Friday, November 21– 1:00-3:00 PM ~ 128 Kidder Hall

Wednesday, November 26 – CANCELED

Friday, December 5 – 1:00-3:00 PM ~ 128 Kidder Hall

Minutes: 

Curriculum Council

November 12, 2014

Minutes

 

Voting members present: Mike Bailey, Tasha Biesinger, Neil Davison, Joan Gross, Sue Helback, Prem Mathew, Richard Nafshun, Mina Ossiander

Voting members absent: Paul Adams, Bradley Boovey                                        

Ex-officio members present: Academic Affairs (Stefani Dawn), Extended Campus (Shannon Riggs), University Libraries (Anne-Marie Deitering)

Guests: Gary Beach, Daniel Stroud

 

Anthropology Academic Program Review

Curriculum Council reviewers: Mina Ossiander, Daniel Stroud

  • Report
  • Self-study
  • Daniel reported that this is an outstanding program that is doing a lot with a little. The review was on the heels of School restructuring; the program appears to be quite strong; the primary recommendations align with what the Anthro faculty stated in the self-study.
  • Mina – external reviewers had good things to say about the program – impressed by the welcoming atmosphere; students had positive comments, particularly re: advising. Areas where they’re stretched are in Biocultural Anthropology and Archeology; there are a few faculty providing a lot of students, and several Archeology faculty are close to retirements. In the Biocultural area, an outstanding younger faculty member is being highly recruited elsewhere. If junior faculty are not successfully recruited, the programs will suffer. There were a couple of new development re: Ecampus – they’ve reached a tipping point where about ½ of their degrees are via Ecampus – issues with who is delivering classes (not curriculum issues) - this was learned from students – they indicated it was difficult to get letters for graduate programs since they don’t have a one-to-one impact with faculty . Additionally, Ecampus students didn’t have the same experiential learning opportunities, really had to plan for archeology trips aside from their coursework. Their experience was not the same as the on-campus students. Daniel agreed that Ecampus students have a distinctly different experience than on-campus students. Mina noted that the unit is starting policy of regular faculty teaching one Ecampus course as a regular course. Joan clarified that faculty were allowed to teach one Ecampus course in the summer, but not as part of their regular teaching load. Additionally, the office support staff is limited (.5 FTE), and impacts on faculty productivity. They have space to house archeology items, but not space to display them so students have access to the items.
    • Mike suggested to strongly state in the Curriculum Council response who is impacted by the limited office staff.
  • Stefani stated that the unit chose not to prepare a response to the report since they are in agreement with the report.
  • The Curriculum Council will accept the program review, and will file an addendum addressing office staffing, additional resources, and faculty attrition.
    • Stefani stated that there are no structures in place for rewarding outstanding reviews or to strongly encourage improvement for reviews that are lacking – this needs to be occurring at the Provost’s Office level.
  • Richard requested from Mina and Daniel a bullet list of items to include in the Curriculum Council response to the APC Review: support staff, faculty strength in the two delineated areas, overall facilities, and strategic plan. A response will be drafted during the next meeting to include these points.

Action: Mina moved to accept the report; motion seconded and passed with one abstention.

 

Course Designator Review Checklist – Stefani Dawn

  • Feedback last week was to remove two columns, and there was a suggestion to ask whether specifications can be achieved through the course title (it was added).
  • Intended to be a mechanism for the CC to think about when a course designator request is received. The CPS would contain
  • Richard requested that this issue be tabled until Rebecca is present because she has concerns.
  • Mina would appreciate the Registrar’s Office indicating their perspective of the request.

 

Academic Program Review Schedule – Stefani Dawn

  • Identify additional Curriculum Council reviewers for Winter 2015 reviews:
    • Chemistry (February 22-24) – Sue Helback and Paul Adams (unless he objects)
    • Bioresource Research (January 25-27) – Anne-Marie Deitering and Joan Gross (unless she objects)
    • Applied Visual Arts/Art  (March 8-11) – Neil Davison and Mina Ossiander
    • Biochemistry and Biophysics (joint graduate/undergraduate review) (February 15-17) – Tasha Biesinger and ? (need a reviewer who has experience with program reviews)

 

Undergraduate Program Review Guidelines

  • Guidelines 
  • Information for Reviewers 
  • Stefani explained that the guidelines discussion began last year, and much of the discussion related to metrics. The understanding is that some metrics are more meaningful and useful to some programs than others, however, additional metrics may be identified during program reviews. Stefani will update the guidelines based on input from Council members and unit faculty, and she’ll bring it back to the Council for discussion. Input is due at the beginning of winter term; reminders will be sent.

 

Report from Academic Affairs

  • Stefani stated that, beginning next week, she will be taking a leave of absence from the university until mid-January.
  • Regarding the Course Proposal form that was distributed last week, immediate feedback can be forwarded to Stefani. She noted that there are 10 of these forms, and three or more per month need to completed. Stefani will share a suggested schedule for distribution and will develop a process for collecting input. After the CPS is operational, the APAA will build samples of the forms, and there will be an opportunity for additional feedback. Stefani would like both Gary Beach and Cheryl Hagey present at meetings to capture feedback from these forms. Stefani will forward the forms and provide a timeframe for completion of the forms.