Curriculum Council

Voting members present: John Bailey, Allison Dorko, Michael Harte, Prem Mathew, Tom Miller, Barbara Muraca, Richard Nafshun, Mina Ossiander

Voting members absent: Tasha Biesinger, Joan Gross, Sue Helback, Norm Johnson, Carol Rivin, John Schlipf, Ingrid Skoog, Ann Zweber

Ex-officio members present: Academic Affairs - Janine Trempy, Extended Campus - Shannon Riggs, Registrar's Office - Rebecca Mathern, University Libraries - Anne-Marie Deitering

Liaison member present: OSU Cascades – Daniel Stroud

Guests: Peter Sparks, Dorthe Wildenschild

Art/Visual Art Action Plan – Bradley Boovey, Neil Davison, Peter Sparks (via phone with Daniel Stroud)

• Undergraduate Program Review Report – Corvallis
• Undergraduate Program Review Report – Bend
• Action Plans – Corvallis and OSU Cascades

• Neil noted that this was a dual report; the team spent one day in Corvallis and one day in Bend; and the program had problems to be addressed. Bend has a small program staffed by two faculty who were retiring during the year of the review. The Corvallis  program had been a fiefdom in department form; issues included student retention, a small number of majors, students having issues with space and access to professors, courses they felt should have been staffed by professors were staffed by instructors, advocating to another school, etc. There was a lack of data and the programs were never studied by national organizations. The review felt it was important to get the program up and running and successful.
• Bradley mentioned that the Corvallis Action Plan is comprehensive; the report addressed points made related to advancing the program and recruiting majors. Important issues: the unit doesn’t see a return of Graphic Design to Liberal Arts (from Business) and they’re thinking of how to align the arts degree with other Liberal Arts units – the bulk of the majors were in Graphic Design. They’re putting plans in place to be accredited – it’s crucial to move forward. They’re reviewing existing teaching faculty and hiring teaching faculty to teach beginning courses. Outreach, JumpStart and Montage had fallen by the way, but there’s a commitment to bring those programs back on board. The Advisor in Art is incredible, very familiar with majors, and is re-centering his role via UEngage. There is planned hiring in Sculpture and 3D and, hopefully, the new faculty will be onboard in Fall 2017. Facilities are limited for what Art needs to do. The Liberal Arts Strategic Plan includes a new Art facility, and the Snell studio renovations are underway for majors. The question now is where the program is in terms of addressing issues.
• Neil noted that there is a lost sense of community among majors; there is an attempt to mesh Fine Arts and Art into Design.
• They are attempting to create connections with other colleges, e.g., Renewable Wood Art.
• Peter noted that two OSU Cascades art professors retired last year, and they had to decide whether or not to keep Art. OSU Cascades wants a vital Art program, for students and campus, and for a vibrant art community in and around Bend. OSU Cascades is currently trying to expand from an 800 student to a 5,000 student campus; planning and managing both is stretching resources thin. The need for re-envisioning and recreating Art is in the mix programmatically and structurally.
• Richard mentioned a very strong comment regarding moving the program from Liberal Arts to Business (inexplicable was the term used in the review). Should the Curriculum Council invite the two parties to meet? Prem explained that the Curriculum Council often has an addendum to the Action Plan.
• Neil mentioned there is a lot of history with the unit, including a rift between the design person and unit head; Graphic Design felt that their future may be better in Business, but they took a large number of majors with them to Business. School head Lee Ann Garrison felt that the program can be meshed via coursework.
• Bradley noted a change in leadership (the former leadership is no longer at OSU), and Lee Ann laments the move from Art to Business. Neil and Bradley felt there were other issues occurring that aren’t being addressed – some felt that it’s an Academic Affairs issue. The former committee system was broken in Art.
• Neil felt that the external reviewer’s comments were vital to the review re: their Art knowledge – one will revisit campus to discuss issues. 
• Janine indicated that the unit has not technically been charged with implementing the Action Plan recommendations since the Action Plan has not yet been reviewed by the Curriculum Council.
• Bradley noted a lack of leadership in Art. There was a sense of junior and tenure-track faculty carrying the program, and instructors doing too much. There was a lack of community structure and workload and not a lot of mentorship, senior faculty were not around much.
• Janine questioned whether there was a loss of institutional knowledge, or no knowledge? Neil responded that it was hard to say, and unclear whether they had a better committee structure when they were a department. Senior faculty had their own things to do and junior faculty and instructors had a heavy teaching burden.
• Peter noted that, in Bend, every program has been given the task of creating 3, 5, and 10-year plans. In Art, with recent retirements, there was no motivation to create a plan. Since then, a highly motivated instructor has been hired (not Art History, but Art). There was an obligation to teach out the current students, and most of them need studio design, rather than Art History.
• Neil explained that senior faculty felt that the university always gave them a short shrift re: spaces, and students always had to work around a space handicap. Part of the culture is that there has never been a real gallery, the university has never supported the Arts program, and Cascades Hall Art spaces were an afterthought.
• Richard questioned whether there is a lack of leadership. Janine responded that Lee Ann was hired in 2014 as an outside hire, and she needs to respond to these inquiries. Neil added that the original plan for Liberal Arts restructuring was to hire all outside directors who had a history of successful leadership. Janine felt Lee Ann is moving in the right direction.
• John questioned whether a new building will be built; the response was no. John noted that the numbers are low and going down. There are very few Art History majors due to the retirement of the star faculty member in Art History.
• Michael noted that the separation of Graphic Design was the beginning of the downturn. Perhaps the Curriculum Council could ask in an addendum whether Graphic Design could return to Art or at least create a better communication with them.
• It was suggested that Lee Ann meet with the Curriculum Council prior to its acceptance of the Action Plan; per Janine, Lee Ann wants to meet with the Council. An addendum could occur whether or not Lee Ann felt it would be helpful. Janine suggested inviting Marion Rossi to discuss Liberal Arts strategies to attract students; Prem requested waiting to invite Marion until all of the Liberal Arts program reviews are completed.
• There are no recommendations that the Action Plan doesn’t address.

Actions:

• Vickie will invite Lee Ann to an upcoming Curriculum Council meeting.
• Jeanine will inform Lee Ann that the Curriculum Council favorably discussed the Action Plan and Vickie will invite her to a meeting.
• Peter will be kept in the loop of what’s happening related to the review and Action Plan.

Reading and Conference Course as a Non-reading and Conference Course Follow-up – Prem Mathew, Richard Nafshun

• Rebecca explained that CE 505 is a reading & conference course, but with a blanket course number. For about six years CE 505 had been offered with different course titles, but only listed on the transcript as reading & conference. Students taking CE 505 lost credits due to exceeding the repeat credit rule.
• Prem noted that the graduate program of study was previously required to be submitted by students early in the program; possibly this would have been caught if it still occurred early. Theresa Filtz will discuss the issue with the Graduate Council.
• Dorthe indicated that Rosemary Garagnani in the Graduate School will run numbers and verify how many students are affected. Rosemary contacted Rebecca Mathern to fix the issue for this particular student – it likely will go through some type of petition process since the student didn’t create the problem.
• Rebecca suggested that the Council could annually request units to provide information to the Registrar’s Office to create reports related to courses offered, seat time, etc. Another idea is to determine how many times a special topics course is offered and, if offered more than three times, the Curriculum Council is notified; the Registrar’s Office would pull the data. This is a way to ensure that what the Curriculum Council approves actually occurs.
• Janine felt it was time to review definitions, i.e., special topics, special projects, etc.

Action: Rebecca will create a list of items that she feels may be institutional risk factors and present to the Curriculum Council in Fall 2016 to determine which reports they wish to receive from the Registrar’s Office on a regular basis.

Pending Approval Policy

• 4/8/2016 Draft Policy
• 6/2/2015 Draft Policy
• When can units advertise programs prior to Curriculum Council approval?
• Prem noted that the Program Policy doesn’t indicate what would be an appropriate time when units can advertise that a program is pending approval. The Program Policy should be parallel to the Course policy.

Actions:

• Janine moved the following text to the end of the Program policy: “For a course to qualify as “Pending Approval”, it must have moved past Liaison review and has been submitted to the College Approver for review by the college curriculum committee. If a course proposal remains in Draft, the course will not be considered as “Pending Approval.” This will be resubmitted and voted on next Tuesday.
• Janine will communicate to Gary Beach that it will be noted in the flowchart.

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

• No report

Report from Academic Affairs

• Prem noted that, in order to expedite proposal approvals, there is an effort to have all the Faculty Senate committee and councils review proposals concurrently, with the Curriculum Council having final approval. However, the Curriculum Proposal System (CPS) moves consecutively to Budgets & Fiscal Planning first, then Graduate Council, then Curriculum Council – the Faculty Senate wants to review out of CPS order.
• Two proposals are coming: Graduate Certificate in Financial Planning (reviewer – John) and BS in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (reviewer – Prem), potentially for consideration on the May Faculty Senate agenda. Two more will be coming for potential consideration on the June Senate agenda.

Category II Proposal Approvals

All Curriculum Council members are asked to review the below proposals which were previously distributed by Richard Nafshun. Please inform Vickie Nunnemaker if there is a proposal(s) that needs to be discussed during the meeting. If there are no concerns, all of the below Category II proposals will be approved by a co-chair.

Action: Co-chairs will approve all Category II Proposals, with the exception of #97391 – Science/Mathematics Education – College of Education.

• #96362 – Equine – College of Agricultural Sciences
  • New Undergraduate Option – effective Spring 2016
  • This is an area of specialization sought by many students, not just Agricultural Sciences.
• #96949 – Computer Science Double Degree – College of Engineering
  • Change Undergraduate Option – effective Summer 2016
  • Moving three required classes to restricted electives: CS 351, CS 372, CS 496.
  • Requiring three restrictive electives to allow flexibility based on interests.
  • Developing online versions of some current restricted electives offered on campus.
• #97182 – Advanced Science and Mathematics Education – College of Education
  • New Graduate Option – effective Spring 2016
  • Will be offered as a Master of Education (EdM) in the Education Major.
  • Was previously an area of concentration in both the Science Education and Mathematics Education majors as a Master’s of Science degree.
  • Change is due to college reorganization to reduce the number of majors.
  • Eventually both the Science Education and Mathematics Education majors will be terminated.
  • Option offered exclusively via Ecampus with online delivery only.
• #97183 – PK-12 English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) – College of Education
  • New Graduate Option – effective Spring 2016
  • Will be offered as a Master of Education (EdM) in the Education Major.
  • Content specialty courses are currently offered to non-degree students via Ecampus.
  • Option will allow degree-seeking students access to these courses.
  • Related to the college reorganization.
• #97338 – Agricultural Education – College of Education
  • New Graduate Option – effective Summer 2016
  • Agricultural Education resulted from College of Education reorganization. Previously Ag. Ed. PhD students enrolled in the Science Ed. Major because Agricultural Sciences didn’t have their own PhD program specifically in Education.
  • Will be transcript visible and student data disaggregated from the two other new PhD options to be submitted in the Education program.
• #97391 – Science/Mathematics Education – College of Education
  • New Graduate Option – effective Summer 2016
  • Currently two separate majors offering doctoral degrees (PhD) Science Ed. and Mathematics Ed. Due to College of Education reorganization, these two majors will be terminated.
  • Doctoral students pursuing PhD degrees in Science Ed. or Mathematics Ed. will be able to enroll in the new Science/Mathematics Ed. option in the Education major.
• #97394 – Language Equity and Educational Policy – College of Education
  • New Graduate Option – effective Summer 2016
  • As part of the College of Education's strategic plan, each discipline area would have a doctoral program with a research focus. This option provides a PhD pathway for the Cultural and Linguistic Diversity discipline utilizing the College's research expertise in language equity and educational policy.
• #97431 – Education – EdD, MS, EdM, PhD – College of Education
  • Change Graduate Major – effective Summer 2016
  • The Education Major is being updated to reflect the changes based on the College of Education reorganization.
  • This proposal is a complete program description for all degree types offered. Each degree has a distinct description and requirements in conjunction with new options to be added.
• #97466 – Mathematics Education – College of Education
  • New Graduate Option – effective Summer 2016
  • Mathematics Education (MS) option is being created to replace the existing MS degree in the Mathematics Education major due to the reorganization of the College of Education.
• #97468 – Science Education – College of Education
  • New Graduate Option – effective Summer 2016
  • The new Science Education (MS) option has been created in the Education major due to the College of Education reorganization.
  • Eventually, the Science Education Major will be terminated.
• #97032 – Management – BA, BS, CRED, HBA, HBS – College of Business
  • Change Undergraduate Major – effective Summer 2016
  • Adding a first year experience requirement so all first-time, first-year students will go through a three-course sequence of courses in the first year.
  • Moving professional development course from the third year to the second year to better prepare students for internship and experiential learning opportunities.
  • Added an ethics course as a requirement for all majors.
  • Placing an increased emphasis on business analytics within the majors, which involves removing Math 245 as a requirement and changing four-credits of business statistics (BA 276 and BA 376) to eight credits of statistics and business analytics (BA 275 and BA 375).
  • Changed the catalog so that majors appear in a similar format.
• #97033 – Accountancy – BS, CRED, HBS – College of Business
  • Change Undergraduate Major – effective Summer 2016
  • Adding a first-year experience requirement so all first-time, first-year students will go through a three-course sequence of courses in the first year.
  • Moving a professional development course from the third year to the second year to better prepare students for internship and experiential learning opportunities.
  • Added an ethics course as a requirement for all majors.
  • Placing an increased emphasis on business analytics within the majors, which involves removing Math 245 as a requirement and changing our four-credits of business statistics (BA 276 and BA 376) to eight credits of statistics and business analytics (BA 275 and BA 375).
  • Changed the catalog so that majors appear in a similar format.
• #97034 – Finance – BA, BS, CRED, HBA, HBS – College of Business
  • Change Undergraduate Major – effective Summer 2016
  • Adding a first-year experience requirement so all first-time, first-year students will go through a three-course sequence of courses in the first year.
  • Moving a professional development course from the third year to the second year to better prepare students for internship and experiential learning opportunities.
  • Added an ethics course as a requirement for all majors.
  • Placing an increased emphasis on business analytics within the majors, which involves removing Math 245 as a requirement and changing four-credits of business statistics (BA 276 and BA 376) to eight credits of statistics and business analytics (BA 275 and BA 375).
  • Changed the catalog so that majors appear in a similar format.
• #97035 – Marketing – BA, BS, CRED, HBA, HBS – College of Business  
  • Change Undergraduate Major – effective Summer 2016
  • Adding a first-year experience requirement so all first-time, first-year students will go through a three-course sequence of courses in the first year.
  • Moving a professional development course from the third year to the second year to better prepare students for internship and experiential learning opportunities.
  • Added an ethics course as a requirement for all majors.
  • Placing increased emphasis on business analytics within the majors, which involves removing Math 245 as a requirement and changing four-credits of business statistics (BA 276 and BA 376) to eight credits of statistics and business analytics (BA 275 and BA 375).
  • Changed the catalog so that majors appear in a similar format.
• #97036 – Business Information Systems – BA, BS, CRED, HBA, HBS – College of Business
  • Change Undergraduate Major – effective Summer 2016
  • Adding a first-year experience requirement so that all first-time, first-year students will go through a three-course sequence of courses in the first year. Moving a professional development course from the third year to the second year to better prepare students for internship and experiential learning opportunities. Added an ethics course as a requirement for all majors. Placing an increased emphasis on business analytics within the majors. This involves removing the Math 245 course as a requirement and changing four-credits of business statistics (BA 276 and BA 376) to eight credits of statistics and business analytics (BA 275 and BA 375). The catalog was also changed so that majors appear in a similar format.

Matters Arising

• Per Rebecca, Larry Bulling would like the Curriculum Council to determine how long a program can be suspended or on hold. Prem thought that a new policy was approved.

Action: Janine will determine whether the policy is on the APAA website.

• Joan Gross requested that the Curriculum Council discuss language requirements and new degrees.
• The Curriculum Council needs to discuss and determine the expectation of liaison for Category II proposals.
• Units have intentionally created programs for students to convert from BA to BS, but who don’t want to take a foreign language. Category II proposals coming through in the meantime will be discussed individually by the Curriculum Council. Students are finding ways to dumb down a BS degree with no program math requirements.

Minutes recorded by Vickie Nunnemaker, Faculty Senate staff