March 21, 2016

Attending: Sara Hillin, English and Modern Languages; Melissa Riley, College readiness; Boyd Lanier, Political science; Judy Smith, Nursing; Lula Henry, Education; Judith Mann, Arts and sciences;  Zanthia Smith, Deaf studies and deaf education; Daniel Bartlett, Director Undergraduate Advising Center;  Kevin Smith, Senior Associate Provost; Vivek Natarajan, Management and Marketing-Faculty Senate representative; Molly Daum, Hospitality Management; Jim Sanderson, Chair Department of English and Modern Languages ; Carmen Doering, Distance Learning Library Resources; Stefan Andrei, Computer Science; Paul Hemenway, Fine Arts and Communications.

Call to order: 3:33 p.m.

Approval of Minutes from 2-15-16: Judy Smith made a motion to approve the minutes. The motion was seconded by Lula Henry. Approved Unanimously.

Old Business:

• General Business-Industrial Engineering Restructure/Rename: deferred

New Business:

• General Discussion-Status of Common Course Syllabi formatting: presented by Melissa Riley and Vivek Natarajan. Several formats being looked at but main concerns are ensuring that Standard University Policies such as Academic Honesty, Disability information, Emergency Procedures and Continuity Statements should be a protected part of the template chosen so it cannot be edited or changed indiscriminately. These would need to be updated by the administrators who are responsible for the specific policy when changes are made to any of the policies. Stefan Andrei volunteered his department to develop a template tool for the additional required information in the syllabi beyond the common syllabus requirements outlined above. Also Vivek will assess for products available on the market to develop a common course syllabi format. Stefan made a motion to have his department see what they can develop. Seconded by Molly Daum. Approved by consensus.

English and Modern Languages:

• • English 4333, 4344, and 4346-Jim Sanderson discussed how the courses are conducted. Courses frequently consist of multiple content options and can be repeated a maximum of four times with a different focus option each time.               
    • Judith Mann suggested that all courses such as this that are repeatable with different focuses at varying intervals should perhaps be submitted as a Special topics course with a recurring number.
    • All other courses that content does not vary and are taught on an on-going repetitive basis require separate course numbers.
    • Boyd Lanier suggested that Special Topics course be developed for each major area of English-Literature, Rhetoric, and Creative Writing.
    • Paul Hemenway moved to table all Syllabi for English and the syllabus for Spanish 3311 courses until there can be more discussion with the department on the committees concerns. Judy Smith seconded the motion. 9 members voted to approve the motion and 2 opposed the motion. Motion carried by majority vote.
  • Spanish 2315:
    • There are repeated hour issues with these courses that need clarification.
    • Spanish 2315 may be the final language course for Heritage speaking students.
    • The department accepts 9 hours of CLEP credit.
    • Spanish 2315-listing of a minimum grade required for pre-reqs as a D was considered to be problematic.
    • Page 5 of the syllabi regarding attendance and tardiness refers the reader to course requirements in section 3 of the Syllabus but it is unclear as to what is considered to be section 3. It would be clearer to the student to delete the reference to Section 3 and merely say refer to Course Requirements.
    • For classes missed it says the student will receive a grade of Zero but after 3 absences the student’s grade is lowered by 1 point. This is rather confusing and needs clarification.
    • Also lists on Spanish 2315 facesheet other degrees requiring course just lists a B.A. but a B.A. in what? Also needs clarification on the course numbers for advanced upper level courses.
    • Molly Dahm moved to approve the Syllabi with further clarification of the issues outlined above and minor revisions. Boyd Lanier seconded. Approved by consensus.
    • Minor in Humanities: Designed for professional students to complete a minor in Humanities in addition to their major degree focus. Course of study designed for nursing, pre-med, computer science, business degrees, engineering degrees and others to give a broad sampling of humanities courses which the different programs felt would help ground their students better in the humanities.
      • Molly Dahm moved to approve with more clarification on the numbers of advanced level courses that can be taken to satisfy the minor degree requirements. Lula Henry seconded. Approved by consensus.

Business Courses:

• • • CMGT 4310:
      • Page 2 grading divides out between CMGT 4325 and CMGT 5325 and then later in the paragraph it lists an additional assignment for students registered in CMGT 5310. The course numbering and pairing of undergraduate courses with graduate courses needs to be clarified.
      • Justification needs to be corrected.
      • Request that references to graduate level courses be removed from this syllabus and that syllabi be developed for the graduate courses separately.
      • Lula Henry moved to approve with requested corrections. Paul Hemenway seconded. Unanimously approved.
    • CMGT 4325:
      • Page 2 grading similar issue to above. Needs to be re-evaluated.
      • Suggest removal of references to graduate students and having a separate syllabus for those students.
      • ACCE requirements on page 1 add up to 47 hours not 45 as indicated on the face sheet. Please correct.
      • Judy Smith made a motion to approve with corrections. Seconded by Stefan Andrei. Approved by consensus.
    • CMGT 4370:
      • Page 2 Grading criteria only lists what constitutes and A. Need to add percentage points for grades of B, C, D, and F
      • Page 2 Needs further clarification of how participation will be evaluated.
      • Page 2 Clarify what is meant by a number of homework and a number of projects being issued (i.e. include specific numbers of homework assignments and projects will be assigned.)
      • Page 2 Request that the statement NO NEGOTIATIONS!!! be revised by removing the exclamation points and using both upper and lowercase letters.
      • If this is an on-line course, clarify classroom policy
      • It says that there will be a 30% deduction of full credit for work submitted before class ends but how does this work if the assignment is only worth 20%?
      • Molly Dahm moved to send the syllabus back to the department for review and corrections. Judy Smith seconded. Approved by consensus.
    • Next meeting Monday March 28, 2016 at 3:30 P.M. in room 717 of the Mary and John Gray Library. Because of the extensive agenda for this meeting the committee may also need to meet on Monday April 4, 2016 in room 717 of the Mary and John Gray Library.
    • Melissa Riley moved to adjourn the meeting, Lula Henry seconded. Approved unanimously.
    • Adjourned at 5:30 P.M.