Curriculum Council

Curriculum Council

December 5, 2014

Minutes

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

Voting members absent: Paul Adams, Joan Gross

Ex-officio members present: Academic Affairs (Cheryl Hagey), Extended Campus (Alfonso Bradoch), Registrar’s Office (Rebecca Mathern), University Libraries (Anne-Marie Deitering)

Liaison members present: Academic Advising Council (Carey Hilbert), OSU-Cascades (Sandy Brooke)

Guests: Allison Dorko

Anthropology Academic Program Review Response

• Report

• Self-study
  • Items identified on November 12 to include in the Curriculum Council’s response to the program review: support staff, faculty strength in the two delineated areas, overall facilities, and strategic plan. A response will be drafted during the November 21 meeting to include these points.
• Indicate in the Curriculum Council response that external reviewers felt these are important points. Richard will forward bullet points to be included in the minutes.

Curricular Proposal – PhD in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies #89374

          Curriculum Council Reviewers: Mike Bailey, Anne-Marie Deitering

          Proposal approved by both Budgets & Fiscal Planning and Graduate Council

• Online version
• Mike reported this is a well-written proposal, internal and external liaisons were appropriate and supportive, budget; co-hort of 4 per year; four-year program.
  • Ann-Marie felt this was a strong proposal, there were no red flags, but were minor issues with course credits and names because the proposal was written when courses were going through Cate II process; recommend CC to approve and they will work with Susan to make minor corrections so it can move through the process.
• Tasha questioned whether the Council considers impacts of undergraduate programs, and questioned whether the undergraduate program would be disadvantaged to support the graduate program. Page 27 indicates a plan to phase out fixed-term instructors for most of the 200 and 300-level courses and use those instructor funds for GTAs to teach these courses. Is this undermining graduate students to require they teach these courses? Prem noted that it depends on the discipline. Mike observed that the savings is not reflected in the budget. Tasha would prefer graduate students to do internships and indicated that companies didn’t feel this degree was useful, unless it’s coupled with something else. Bradley noted that, with PhD programs, the sense is that graduates will end up with academic track positions. Mina noted that one of the four tracks requires a teaching position. Mina noted potential turn-over of GTA instructors.
• Richard asked reviewers whether they

Action – Vickie will invite Patti Duncan to attend the December 10 meeting at 2:00 PM to address these concerns; alternatively December 12 at 2:00 PM.  If Patti isn’t available, wait until Susan Shaw is available. Mike and Anne-Marie will develop a bullet point document of the concerns raised.

Baccalaureate Core Committee Requests 

1)  BCC has tasked our office (APAA) with contacting the Academic Units to find out what kind of lead time is needed for turnaround of Proposals. I thought in the Curriculum Council (CC) meetings we discussed this and I’m a little vague on how that part went. Was it decided CC would contact the Academic Units? (Is this an area that we are holding off on until your meeting with Becky & Prem?)

2)  BCC has shown an interest during their meeting yesterday to assist CC in the reviews of Proposals. They would like to know what checklist is used by the CC to review proposals so they can look over the proposals while in BCC and provide a lighter load for the CC. I remember you and Mike Bailey were talking about a checklist and were talking about designing one for the CC committee. Would this be a good idea to share with BCC?

Action: Vickie will invite Kevin Gable to the December 10 Curriculum Council meeting to discuss these requests.

Course Designator Review Checklist

• Identify Registrar’s concerns.
• The Registrar’s perspective was also requested by a Council member.
  • Lastly, should this document go on the CC and/or APAA website as a resource?

• Tasha questioned what constitutes a significant risk for students to take the same course twice? Rebecca – between 150-200 students fall into this category among all university courses. Advisors talk with students when the change occurs, then the discussion wanes and students end up taking the course again. The change could be added to the course description.
• Rebecca suggested two approaches 1) continue to have discussions and approval all requests, or 2) while the CC wants proposers to consider questions with clarity and thoughtfulness, the proposers could ask responses be included in the proposal, and it will go to the Registrar’s Office to determine if the requested designator is available.
• Tasha has developed a revised checklist that she will forward to Vickie for distribution to the Council members.

Course Proposal Form

• No discussion

Academic Program Review Schedule

• Identify additional Curriculum Council reviewers for Winter 2015 reviews:
  • Chemistry (February 22-24) – Sue Helback and Kate Field? (need a reviewer who has experience with program reviews)
  • Bioresource Research (January 25-28) – Anne-Marie Deitering, Joan Gross
    • Copies of reviews available?
  • Applied Visual Arts/Art  (March 8-11) – Neil Davison, Mina Ossiander
  • Biochemistry and Biophysics (joint graduate/undergraduate review) (February 15-17) – Tasha Biesinger and ?? (Sandy Brooke will determine whether Jeff Gouchy (?) at Cascades is available) 12/10/14 – sent follow-up to Sandy re: Jeff

Vickie will ask Bev Dirks to include Joan Gross on the messages for Bioresource Research – requested 12/10/14

Report from Academic Affairs

• Advise Cheryl Hagey if the CPS indicates that a CC member is only a user – members should be reviewers rather than users.

Report from Registrar

• There were recently 80 proposals in the CPS, and Cheryl Hagey has reduced the volume to 40. Larry Bulling and Cheryl will ensure that things that can be pushed through are resolved. Faculty should be contacting Cheryl with inquiries.