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Details

Date

2007-11-07

Time

Location

Agenda

4-5:30PM University Hall 156

1. Political Theory curriculum change

2. Political Science major revision

3. Poli Sci 559

4. Comm 331

5. Comm 420.03

6. Comm 449

Notes

SBS College Curriculum Committee

11-07-2007

 

Present: Hobgood, McGraw, Mumy, Weinberg, Liddle, Colleen, Thompson, David, Hallihan, Vasey

 

1. Approval of 10-10 minutes  Hobgood moves, McGraw 2^nd, all in favor with one abstention

 

2. Political Science Major

            A. Discussion of page 3 Item 1: Which course(s) should be required of pre-majors        before they declare?  One of each of 100, 101, 145, 210 plus 165, 201, 245, and             211, which are all foundational in their respective fields? Why exclude the latter four?

                        i.Advising a concern in that the advisors have to steer students toward 8                                    courses instead of four, each one representing an area.  Courses will be                          identified by title and sts can determine which one(s) to take. 

                        ii. 200-level courses are already part of the major so those courses can                          count towards major and can do double duty

iii. Q: What is rationale for adding a pre-major?  State law.  If there were no pre-major courses, transfer sts can substitute a low level course from elsewhere for a high-level course here. PS doesn’t have a “state and local” course here so sts were getting course credit for these at a higher number.  Some faculty would like to see students having more foundational courses.

                        iv. Q: If you are coming in as an undergrad, are advisors telling sts to take                                  200s?  No, but they make the sts aware of the double dipping.

                        Q: If a st takes a 200 as a pre-major course, can it really still count toward                                major?

                        v. Committee would like more clarification of “Pre-Major” label because                                   they are worried about PS losing their major courses.  100-level courses                                    have historically been for general population, not pre-majors

                        vi. A “pre-major” course by definition (and hopefully there is one on the                                     books) cannot count toward the major. Would disadvantage others in other                   fields taking 100-level pre-major courses.

                        vii. Q: Would it be better to say all 100 and 200-level courses, as EA                            proposed?  Seems like 100s as a pre-major would be tighter. With the                               newly resurrected 165, this is now possible.  Theory faculty would not like                that as they see 210 & 211 as their intro to theory courses.  Could they                                     teach them as 110 and 111?

                        viii. Bill Liddle will bring these issues back to dept. checking carefully on                                    whether or not pre-major courses are mutually exclusive

           

            B. 5-hour increase

                        i. brings dept in line with benchmark institutions

                        ii. items 2 & 5 argues for increased rigor by eliminating internship,                                  bringing curriculum into line with better prepared students

                        iii. introducing a concentration as part of justification, plus more political                                     theory courses which reflect new staff – introducing this depth focus does                                 not increase hours but because of this, sts cannot just absorb increased                             breadth

                        iv. adding to breadth area, which is what accounts for the credit hour                             increase Suggestion to make Item 3 explanation more explicit. Adding a                                    requirement to better reflect changes in field; We don’t want to sacrifice                                depth for breadth so when depth is added, breadth must be expanded

                        v. Do internship hours count toward a specific concentrations?  No, they                                   shouldn’t.  Overlap between breadth requirement and concentration.                                  Likely internship is a separate component.

                        vi. Suggestion: a diagram or a sample 4-year plan b/c it’s difficult for                            committee to figure out a student’s path

                        vii. If you reduce internship from 20 to 10, why add another 5?  Isn’t that a                    net increase of 15?  Why need the extra 5?

 

            C. Make more transparent that there are now 400 level courses show old and new        structures in a side-by-side table

            D. Committee recommends revisions including syllabus for 211.

            E. Caution: any new 100 or 200-level course could potentially be a pre-major. Listing 4 or 8 specific courses would counteract that

            F. Bill will bring back a new draft at the next meeting.

 

3. Comm 449

            A. Herb and Jerry have worked hard with grads and undergrads to develop course

            B. Pre-Req or no pre-req? Need clarification on whether or not it should be there or not.  Make consistent for both

            Move for approval Vasey, McGraw 2^nd  Unanimously approved with contingency (B. and remove “political science” header from Comm syllabus)

 

4. Political Theory bundle

            A. all 600-level courses should say only “G” not “UG”

            B. 570 and 472 have content overlap. Is that common?  There is a sufficient distinction between 400 and 600 level courses…570 focus on topic, freedom, vs 400 focus on era  Some Mill overlap but theoretically it could work out to be clearly a different focus.

            C. 210, 473 No academic misconduct, 211 not standard

            D. Make academic misconduct statements uniform

            E. Go over subsidy codes D vs. B

 

Move to approve with contingencies above: Vasey, 2^nd McGraw

All in favor

 

5. Poli Sci 559

            A. Subsidy level should be B – changed

            B. Elective within major/minor vs. Choice on major/minor?  Former implies totally free elective whereas the latter implies a given domain from which to choose

            C. This is Thompson’s academic specialty and will develop in this field.  His texts are well known and good

            D. Intl’ Stds, Geography? Nat Resources? Check concurrences

 

Motion to approve: Prabu, 2^nd Colleen

Approved

 

6. Comm 331 SENT BACK

            A. Concurrences: Business?  English?

            B. How is this different from 321?  Desc is similar.  One component is business within 321 but 331 is mainly in Business environment.  Also similar to 322.  331 is a speech course.  Prabu will check 322.

 

7. Comm 420.03

            A. Context 1-credit course, 420 series was approved last year as one credit courses to help sts get grounded in journalism. This is an addition to that initiative

            B. 5 two-hour classes = 10 class contact hours. Typical class

 

McGraw Move to approve, Vasey 2^nd  Unanimously approved.

 

8. Geog 410  approval