Arts and Sciences Senate

Undergraduate Curriculum Committee

Academic Year 2003-2004

21st   Meeting, March 24, 2004 – Approved on April 15, 2004

 

Present:   S. Sternglanz (chair), M. Barnhart, E. Kaplan (secretary), C. Green-Forde, A. Feldman, T. Weinacht, J. Lochhead, M. Read

 

I  Committee Business

 

The minutes of March 17th were approved.

 

II Routine Administrative Matters

 

Physics:

 

Removal of “permission of instructor” from PHY 311 Connections in Science.

 

Political Science:

 

Change the grading requirements for the major from:  All political science courses numbered 200 or above offered for the major must be passed with a letter grade of C or higher to:  All  courses numbered 200 or above  offered for the major must be passed with a letter grade of C or higher.     (The difference is that this includes the six credits of cognate courses that are required.)  

 

Members wondered why POL 101, 102 and 103 were not included in the grading stipulation.  It was later discovered that these are included as a separate statement.  The statement will be reworded in one place to read:  All courses offered for the major must be passed with a letter grade of C or higher.

 

III Old Business:

 

Restoration of DEC K

 

With the exception of Linguistics and Philosophy, all departments had responded quickly to the request that they review the restored definition of DEC Category K and whether the courses that had been moved into another category should be returned to DEC K.  Most of the courses will be returned to DEC K; a few will remain where they are.

 

Correspondence from University Senate Brent Lindquist was reviewed.  Lindquist had requested that the Undergraduate Council review this proposal and report back to the University Senate Executive Committee.  Members wondered why this was necessary, since the Undergraduate Council doesn’t have the purview over curricular matters.  In addition, time is of the essence.

 

Kaplan has been directed to make sure that the courses offered for Fall 04 that fall into the restored DEC K category are so designated in the official class schedule which is currently being finalized.

 

IV New Business

 

PSY 334 Autism and Mental Retardation

 

The course was approved pending a few small clarifications regarding a discrepancy in the prerequisites and advisory prerequisites for the course.

 

Members also questioned a statement on the course syllabus that reads “As per university regulation, there is no make-up work in courses.  The grade you receive is based solely on the two midterms plus final exam.  No requests for make-up work can be honored."

 

What is meant by “make-up work?”   If a student misses an exam for a legitimate, well documented reason such as a major illness, there is no university regulation that prevents instructors from giving a substitute exam.  Most instructors provide this as a courtesy for students, assuming the reason for the make-up examination is valid. 

 

If "make-up work" means that a student cannot make individual arrangements with a professor to do extra work during a semester to improve his or her grade, without the professor's offering that same opportunity to everyone in the class, then the statement is correct.  University policy does prohibit this.

 

Kaplan will request clarification of this statement.

 

_____________________________________________________________________

Arts and Sciences Senate

Undergraduate Curriculum Committee

Academic Year 2003-2004

20th Meeting, March 17, 2004 – Approved on March 24th

 

Present:    S. Sternglanz (chair), M. Barnhart, E. Kaplan (secretary), C. Marrone, C. Green-Forde, A. Phillips, A. Feldman, T. Weinacht

 

I  Committee Business

 

The minutes of March 3rd were approved.

 

Update on Senate Proposals:

 

Two Curriculum Committee proposals were approved at the March 15th meeting of the Arts and Sciences Senate—the proposal to add two ex-officio professional staff members to the Committee and the proposal to return to the original definition of DEC Category K.

 

The Committee reviewed three lists of courses—the original list of courses included in Category K; the list of courses removed from Category K since 2001; and the list of courses approved for Category K since 2001.

 

Kaplan will write to the affected departments to inform them about the change in the title of Category K from The American Experience in Historical Perspective to American Pluralism.    The directors of undergraduate studies and the chairpersons will be ask to review the list of courses removed from Category K The American Experience in Historical Perspective  since 2001 and to determine whether these courses should be put back into Category K American Pluralism.  They will also be asked to look at the courses that have been approved since 2001 for Category K The American Experience in Historical Perspective and to determine whether these courses should continue to be included in Category K American Pluralism.

 

This project must be completed by the end of March, since the fall 2004 schedule will become official at that point.

 

II Routine Administrative Matters

 

Psychology

 

PSY 240 Survey in Social Psychology was removed as a prerequisite to PSY 349 Special Topics in Social Psychology.

 

Marine Sciences:

 

At the request of the Marine Sciences Research Center curriculum committee and in consultation with the instructors from the physics department who will be teaching the course, the prerequisites for PHY/ENS 119-E Physics for Environmental Studies were changed from MAT 125 or 131 or 141 or AMS 151 to:   MAT 123; CHE 131

 

Mathematics:

 

Revision of prerequisites for MAT 322 Analysis in Several Dimensions from:  C or higher in MAT 203 or 205 or AMS 261; B or higher in MAT 320  to:  C or higher in MAT 203, 205 or AMS 261; C or higher in MAT 211 or AMS 210; B or higher in MAT 320; Advisory pre or co-requisite:  MAT 310.

 

Although this particular matter was approved routinely, members expressed concern with the notion of requiring a grade of B or higher to continue in subsequent course or in a particular program.   Earlier conversations regarding the request by the Professional Education Program to require a grade of B-minus or higher in the first semester of the methods sequence in order to continue in the second semester methods were recalled.  Members think that requiring a minimum grade above C will make B the average grade and will result in grade inflation.   This issue will be revisited at a later date.

 

III Old Business

 

LSE 320-H Future Trends in Science and Engineering

 

A revised course proposal was received from Tom Cortina.  The course was approved and members agreed with the Category H designation.

 

Organic Chemistry

 

Correspondence from David Hanson was reviewed.  The Department has changed its plan to offer CHE 324 and proposes to offer CHE 322 Organic Chemistry II A and the alternative course CHE 326 Organic Chemistry IIB instead.  Both courses will satisfy the prerequisites for all chemistry courses that have organic chemistry as a prerequisite.  Biochemistry students will be encouraged to take CHE 326.

 

This proposal was approved by the committee.

 

IV New Business

 

Revision of prerequisites for WST courses

 

The department has requested that for all courses in the 390 topics course series, the prerequisites read:  WST major or minor or WST 102 or WST 103 or 6 credits of WST or related classes in other departments.

 

For WST 301-G, the prerequisites will read:  WST major or minor or WST 102 or WST 103.

 

For WST 305 the prerequisites will read:  WST major or minor or WST 102 or WST 103 or WST/PHI 284.

 

____________________________________

Arts and Sciences Senate

Undergraduate Curriculum Committee

Academic Year 2003-2004

19th   Meeting, March 3, 2004 – Approved on March 17th

 

Present:   R. Cerrato (chair), S. Sternglanz, J. Lochhead, M. Barnhart, A. Hasloecher, E. Kaplan (secretary), C. Marrone, C. Green-Forde

 

I  Committee Business

 

The minutes of February 25th, 2004 were approved.

 

II Routine Administrative Matters

 

Chemistry:

 

As part of the revisions to the organic chemistry curriculum, the following new course descriptions were approved:

 

CHE 321 Organic Chemistry I

Introduction to the structure, reactivity and properties of organic compounds is presented using modern views of chemical bonding.  These fundamental ideas are applied to topics ranging from synthetic chemistry to complex functional structures such as lipid bilayers.

Prerequisites to CHE 321: C or higher in CHE 132 or 142.

3 credits

 

CHE 341 Organic Chemistry Honors Seminar I

Advanced topics in organic chemistry within the scope but beyond the reach of CHE 321 (Organic Chemistry I) will be discussed along with an introduction to contemporary research topics.  Permission to enroll will be granted to students who have demonstrated excellence in their General Chemistry courses.

Prerequisites to CHE 341: CHE 132 or 142, Permission of the instructor.

Corequisite to CHE 341: CHE 321

1 credit

 

CHE 342 Organic Chemistry Honors Seminar II

Advanced topics in organic chemistry within the scope but beyond the reach of CHE 322 (Organic Chemistry II) will be discussed along with topics in contemporary research.  Permission to enroll will be granted to students who have demonstrated excellence in CHE 321.

Prerequisites to CHE 342: CHE 321, Permission of the instructor.

Corequisite to CHE 342: CHE 322.

1 credit

 

Economics:

 

The prerequisite of WRT 101 or equivalent was removed from ECO 108.  The majority of incoming students are now placing into WRT 101, so many freshmen cannot take ECO 108.  This is delaying their progress toward necessary prerequisites for ECO and BUS majors.

 

III Old Business

 

Category K resolution

 

Cerrato reported that the Arts and Sciences Senate Executive Committee agreed with the Curriculum Committee’s proposal to return to the original definition of DEC Category K.  The Exec requested that Cerrato draft a formal proposal for consideration at its meeting on Monday, March 8th and for presentation at the Arts and Sciences Senate meeting on Monday, March 15th.

 

Cerrato mentioned that the campus has still not received official notification that its proposal for Competence in American History has been approved by SUNY System Administration to meet the SUNY-GER American History requirement.

 

Specializations

 

The specializations proposal has been redrafted and is now ready for resubmission to the Senate Exec.  It currently reads:

 

Guidelines for Specializations:

 

            The following guidelines will be used by the Curriculum Committee in reviewing requests for listing an approved track within a major as a specialization on the transcript:

 

            1) To propose listing a specialization, the major must have at least two distinct tracks.  One of these may be considered a "general" track and need not be listed as a specialization.

 

            2)  For departmental majors, the specialization should be an area of concentrated study that involves at least 18 upper-division credits within the major.

 

            3) For interdisciplinary majors such as MTD, the track being proposed for listing as a specialization must focus study on a single theme, it must incorporated all of the two or three areas of study within the major, and it must involve most of the upper-division courses.

 

Economics

 

The Committee approved the request by the department to add “ passed with a grade of C or higher” to all economics courses that have other economics courses as prerequisites.  This change will become effective in fall 2004.

 

LSE 320-H Future Trends in Science and Engineering

 

The Committee received correspondence from Tom Cortina in answer to questions raised about the course.  The matter was postponed until the next meeting because Tom Weinacht, the presenter, was unable to attend today’s meeting.

 

Organic Chemistry Proposals:

 

At the Curriculum Committee’s request, the Chemistry Department sent its proposal for the new courses CHE 324 and 326 to the academic units that would be affected by this change in the curriculum.  A number of concerns were raised.  Until these concerns can be addressed, the Chemistry Department requested that the matter be tabled.

 

It should be noted that the Committee’s policy of requiring departments to consult with units within the purview of the Arts and Sciences Curriculum Committee, and, where applicable, with programs in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and in the Health Sciences Center, is an excellent mechanism to ensure that proposed curricular changes are acceptable to all stakeholders.

 

New Business:

 

MAT 319 Foundations of Analysis and MAT 320 Introduction to Analysis

 

For the past few years, these courses, which are scheduled at the same time, have had a special registration arrangement.  Students initially select the class that they believe is more appropriate for them (MAT 319 is more applied; MAT 320 is more theoretical).  After six weeks, MAT 320 students who would be better served by MAT 319 and vice versa are permitted to switch to the alternate course.

 

In order to facilitate this process, the department has proposed an alternative registration procedure.  All students would register initially for MAT 319.  After the six-week period, students who qualify for MAT 320 would be moved into the course by the Registrar’s Office.

 

The Committee approved this plan.

 

MAT 205 Calculi III

 

The Mathematics Department requested additional prerequisites for MAT 205.  Currently the course prerequisites are a grade of C or higher in MAT 127 or 132 or 142 or AMS 162 or level 9 on the Mathematics Placement Examination.  Prerequisite courses MAT 211 or AMS 210 (or corequsite enrollment in either of these courses) will now be required.

 

The department feels that knowledge of linear algebra is important to students’ success in this course.  Since MAT 203 and AMS 261, alternatives to MAT 205, do not require the linear algebra prerequisite, students’ progress toward degree should not be impacted by the linear algebra pre- or corequisite.

 

This was approved by the Committee.

 

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Arts and Sciences Senate

Undergraduate Curriculum Committee

Academic Year 2003-2004

18th   Meeting, February 25, 2004 – Approved

 

Present:   R. Cerrato (chair), S. Sternglanz , T. Weinacht, J. Lochhead, M. Read, M. Barnhart, A. Hasloecher, A Feldman, E. Kaplan (secretary), E. Lindquist (observer), D. Hanson (guest)

 

I  Committee Business

 

The minutes of February 18, 2004 were approved.

 

II Routine Administrative Matters

 

English

 

The Committee had previously questioned whether LIN 101 was an appropriate alternative for the otherwise upper-division requirement “Study of English.”  In response, the department decided to drop LIN 101 as an alternative.

 

Asian and Asian-American Studies

AAS 211-F Asian and Asian-American Studies Topics in the Social and Behavioral Sciences and AAS 212-G Asian and Asian-American Topics in the Humanities were approved.  Since these are general education courses, they need to be sent to SUNY System Administration for review before the courses can be scheduled.

 

Women’s Studies

 

The department wanted to change DEC codes for some of its 390 series of topics courses.  The current numbering system had been adopted under the Legacy system, which could only allow one section of a topics course per number.  In addition, the department now has a requirement that students take one course in gender and sexuality.  This course can be taken as either a social science course or a humanities topics course.  The department wanted to make this distinction clearer to students by having WST 398-F Topics in Gender and Sexuality and WST 399-G Topics in Gender and Sexuality. 

 

It was pointed out that these changes would need to be submitted to SUNY System Administration and, even though this was basically a case of course renumbering, not a change in the content of the courses, it  might mean that the courses would be scrutinized once again. 

 

The Committee agreed that the department should simply use the topics course numbers that are already approved and advise students accordingly.  WST 391-F is approved as Special Topics in Women and the Social Sciences.

 

III Old Business

 

Chemistry:

 

David Hanson, director of undergraduate studies for chemistry, explained the reasons for the course reorganization in organic chemistry.  Previously, the standard two semester sequence of organic chemistry was jammed, while seats in the honors version of the course were underutilized.   

 

The department would like to split the second semester of the standard sequence into CHE 324, designed for students who will not enroll in subsequent chemistry or biochemistry courses and CHE 326, designed for students who will enroll in subsequent courses in chemistry or biochemistry.  It is expected that this will split the very large student population more nearly in half.

 

The explanation of material covered and the assurance that students, especially transfer students, would be accommodated, was reassuring to the Committee.  We still need to be sure that CEAS programs and the HSC program in Clinical Laboratory Sciences are notified in advance of the implementation of these changes. 

 

            The Committee needs fuller course descriptions for CHE 324, CHE 326, 341 and 342.   

 

            Hanson will follow up with the above two items and will then correspond again with the Committee.

 

Resolution on Restoration of Category K

 

            Cerrato presented a revised version of the memo discussed at last week’s meeting.  Members will review the memo and will respond to Cerrato by e-mail if they have any comments.

 

Specializations

 

            Cerrato distributed a revised draft of the proposal but indicated that he still had more work to do on it.  This will be discussed at a future meeting.

 

New Business:

 

Economics

 

            The department had sent a terse request that a grade of C or higher be required for any economics course that has another economics course as its prerequisite.   No rationale was included.  Presumably the reason is that students who earn a D in a pre-requisite course don't have the necessary background to succeed in the next course, but that may not be the only reason for the request.

 

            One member noted that a C grade in all courses is required to graduate with an economics major.  Wouldn't that be sufficient to discourage the D students from taking economics courses?

 

Revisions to Living/Learning Center Minor in Science and Engineering and new course LSE 320 H Future Trends in Science and Engineering

 

The minor has been revised to reflect the Living/Learning Centers new status as an upper-division component of the Undergraduate Colleges structure.    The Committee approved the text of the recommended changes to the minor program, with the deletion of one left-over sentence from its previous focus on freshman and sophomore students. 

 

The concern with LSE 320 involved the method of grading, which seemed somewhat inconsistent with the format of the course.  According to the course proposal, 60% of the grade is based on quizzes and exams on material that would be taken from the presentations by guest lecturers discussing their research.  The Committee suggested that this be rethought. 

 

            The Committee also wanted to know more about how the courses in the minor would address the advances in biotechnology.

 

            Kaplan will correspond with Tom Cortina to resolve these matters.

 

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Arts and Sciences Senate

Undergraduate Curriculum Committee

Academic Year 2003-2004

17th    Meeting, February 18, 2004 – Approved on 2/25/04

 

Present:   R. Cerrato (chair), S. Sternglanz , C. Marrone,  T. Weinacht, J. Lochhead,  M. Read, M. Barnhart, A. Hasloecher, A. Phillips,  A Feldman, E. Kaplan (secretary), E. Lindquist (observer)

 

I  Committee Business

 

The minutes of February 11, 2004 were approved

 

Cerrato reported that the Arts and Sciences Senate had unanimously endorsed the Curriculum Committee’s proposal to increase the number of ex-officio members on the Curriculum Committee to include two professional representatives.  The proposal must be presented at two Senate meetings before it can be voted on.  The next Senate meeting is on March 15th.

 

II Routine Administrative Matters

 

At the request of the Department of European Languages and Literatures, the title of HUR 141 was changed from Literature and Empire to The Age of Empire and the title of HUR 142 was changed from Literature and Revolution to Culture and Revolution.

 

III Old Business

 

Specializations:

 

Cerrato reported that the A and S Senate Executive Committee had also discussed the Curriculum Committee’s proposal for specializations within majors.  Some wording changes were suggested.  Members of the Executive Committee also thought that, for interdisciplinary majors, more than 18 credits should be required to complete a specialization.  Cerrato will rewrite the proposal for further discussion by the Committee.

 

IV New Business

 

Chemistry proposals

 

The department had temporarily discontinued its honors version of the two-semester organic chemistry sequence (CHE 331 and 332 Honors Organic Chemistry I and II), replacing these courses with optional one-credit seminars to supplement the standard CHE 321 and CHE 322 organic chemistry courses.  The department is now requesting that CHE 331 and 332 be permanently deleted from the curriculum and that   the experimental courses CHE 341 and CHE 342 Organic Chemistry Honors Seminar I, II be permanent replacements for the CHE 331-332 sequence.

 

In addition, the department proposes to replace the second semester of the standard organic chemistry course sequence (CHE 322) with two courses, CHE 324 Organic Chemistry IIA and CHE 326 Organic Chemistry II B.  CHE 324 is designed for students who will not enroll in subsequent courses in chemistry or biochemistry and CHE 326 is designed for students who will enroll in subsequent courses in chemistry or biochemistry.

 

            Committee members raised a number of questions about the proposals.   The course descriptions submitted for CHE 324 and 326 did not indicate the material that would be covered in each course and did not include the required syllabi.

 

            University Senate policy requires that departments proposing curricular changes consult with affected units as the changes are proposed.  In this case, the affected majors could be pharmacology and clinical laboratory sciences in the HSC and biomedical engineering and chemical and molecular engineering in CEAS.  

 

            The issue of awarding appropriate transfer credit for the second semester of standard organic chemistry courses was also raised.

 

            More information and answers to the above questions will be requested from David Hanson and Robert Kerber.

 

DEC K Update and Restoration Proposals

 

            Earlier this week the campus received notice that the 22 non-history courses pending approval for the SUNY-GER American History requirement had been rejected by the Advisory Council on General Education.

 

            This unsurprising news underscored the soundness of last semester’s decision to divorce DEC Category K from the SUNY-GER American History requirement and create Skills 4 Competence in American History requirement.  It also underscored the proposal discussed at last week’s meeting to restore Category K to its original intent. 

 

             The proposal, drafted by Kaplan at the request of the Committee,   restores the original DEC Category K American Pluralism definition and returns courses removed from DEC K because they did not fit the new “The American Experience in Historical Perspective” requirement.  The new definition of K had been adopted by the campus in an effort to fulfill the SUNY-GER requirement in American History.   This effort was unsuccessful and last fall we shifted gears in an effort to develop a more direct approach to the SUNY-GER American History  requirement—Skills 4 Competence in American History.

 

            The Committee voted unanimously to present this resolution to the Arts and Sciences Senate for its discussion and approval.  Cerrato will re-write the draft and resend it to the Committee for endorsement.

 

            Once approved by the Arts and Sciences’ Senate Executive Committee, it must go to the full Arts and Sciences’ Senate for approval at the March 15th meeting and then to the University Senate for a vote on April 12th.    Implementation of this for the fall 04 semester would be desirable, but it was noted that students begin registration for fall 04 classes on April 19th.

 

_________________________________________

Arts and Sciences Senate

Undergraduate Curriculum Committee

Academic Year 2003-2004

16th    Meeting, February 11, 2004 – Approved on February 18, 2004

 

Present:  S. Sternglanz (acting chair), C. Marrone,  J. Lochhead, M. Read, M. Barnhart, A. Phillips, A Feldman, E. Kaplan (secretary), E. Lindquist (observer)

 

I  Committee Business

 

The minutes of February 4, 2004 were approved.

 

Kaplan announced that 13 newly general education courses approved by the Committee from December 11, 2003 to February 4, 2004 were sent to Mark Aronoff for submission to SUNY System Administration.

 

II Routine Administrative Matters

 

Revised prerequisites for CAR 110 and CAR 210

 

Approved request by Career Center to limit CAR 110 Career Development and Decision Making to U1 and U2 students.  Prerequisite of “U 1 or U2 standing” added to current prerequisite of “Completion of DEC category A, first course.”

 

Approved request by Career Center to limit CAR 210 Career Planning” to U3 and U4 students.  Prerequisite “U3 or U4 standing” was added to current prerequisite of “Completion of DEC category A.”

 

ANT 203-J Native Peoples of North America

Approved request by the department to eliminate prerequisite of ANT 102.

 

III Old Business

 

ECO 329-F Urban Economics

 

The course, previously offered under a topics number, was approved by the Committee as a regular course offering.

 

IV New Business

 

ANT 105 Introduction to Archaeology Lab

 

This one-credit optional laboratory supplement to ANT 104 Introduction to Archaeology was approved by the Committee.

 

EGL 380 The English Language

 

The department requested the renumbering of EGL 207-G and a revision of the English major’s Study of the English Language requirement.

 

The reason for the request was that, in their quest to satisfy the DEC category G requirement, students were signing up for this course for the wrong reasons.  They found themselves in an increasingly difficult, technical course that was designed for English majors.  In addition, since EGL 207 was required for the English major, students who needed the course were being shut out from it by students who were taking the course because it was a DEC G course.  

 

Moving the course to the 300 level and dropping the DEC designation would address the issues listed above.

 

The department has also proposed alternative ways to satisfy the Study of the English Language requirement.  In addition to EGL 380, students can use EGL 300-G Old English, LIN 101, or a language study course planned by the Secondary Education Program for NCATE certification requirements.

 

The change increases the number of 300-level courses required by the English major from six to seven.

 

The Curriculum Committee approved the new course and the changes to the major that resulted.  The course description for EGL 380 will state “Not for credit in addition to the discontinued EGL 207.”   Retroactive upper-division credit for students who took the course as EGL 207 will not be possible as this would involve determining an exact date that the course became more suited for upper-division credit.

 

Discussion about DEC Category K

 

            Since the agenda was completed early, the Committee began its discussion of the restoration of DEC Category K that had been planned for the February 18th meeting.  Now that Stony Brook has submitted a new plan to address the SUNY general education requirement in American history and these plans do not rely on the current definition of Category K and the pared-down list of courses now in Category K, members believe that we should propose a return to the Category K American Pluralism requirement that was in effect from 1991-2001. 

 

            Kaplan was asked to provide a list of the courses that were previously in DEC K and information about what has happened to these courses.  She was also asked to draft the wording of a resolution that the Curriculum Committee could edit next week for presentation to the A and S Senate and then to the  University Senate.

 

________________________________________

Arts and Sciences Senate

Undergraduate Curriculum Committee

Academic Year 2003-2004

15th   Meeting, February 4, 2004 (Approved on February 11, 2004)

 

Present:  R. Cerrato (chair), C. Marrone, A. Hasloecher, T. Weinacht, J. Lochhead, S. Sternglanz, M. Read, M. Barnhart, A. Phillips, A Feldman, E. Kaplan (secretary)

 

I  Committee Business

 

Michael Barnhart (History) and Malcolm Read (Hispanic Languages) were welcomed back to the committee. 

 

The minutes of December 11th   were approved.

 

Cerrato read e-mail correspondence from Patricia Pietrapaolo to Mark Aronoff addressing the delay by SUNY System Administration to the changes in the DEC and the delay by ACGE to the proposals that were forwarded to them in November.   No official decisions on the changes to DEC and the 22 contested courses has been made.  In addition, we have not had a response to the Skill 4 proposal. 

 

Just before Christmas, the Committee voted to send updated requests for Skill 4 approval for the following courses:  AMR 301, SOC 302, AFS 101, AFS 102, POL 317, POL 322, POL 323, POL 324, POL 326 and POL 336.  But some faculty and administrators expressed the opinion that this should wait until we hear whether the Skill 4 plan has been accepted by SUNY System Administration.  The Committee decided that, since scheduling for the fall semester is now taking place, the Secretary should forward the “State University General Education Requirement Course Addition Reporting Template” form for the courses listed above and for any other general education courses to the Stony Brook Provost’s office as soon as they are approved.

 

II Routine Administrative Matters

 

Environmental Studies Major:

 

 BIO 150 was added as an option to requirement B.1 of the major.  The requirement will now read:

 

1.       BIO 113 General Ecology or

BIO 150 The Living World

 

MAT 260 Problem Solving in Mathematics

 

            This 1 credit course concentrates on problem solving techniques, encouraging students for the yearly Putnam competition.  Because it is yearly, students take it multiple times.  The problems in the course differ each time.   The course was approved as repeatable, up to a limit of four credits.

 

III Old Business

 

Proposal to add two ex-officio members to the Curriculum Committee

 

            As discussed last semester, the Committee values the expertise of professional employees and would like to propose an amendment to the bylaws to allow two additional professional employees to serve as ex-officio, non-voting members.

 

            The approved the following proposal presented by Cerrato, who will now bring it to the Arts and Sciences Executive Committee:

 

            One professional employee knowledgeable about registration procedures and graduation requirements appointed from the Registrar’s Office as a non-voting member.  This individual will be appointed annually by the Registrar after consultation with the Curriculum Committee.

 

            One professional employee knowledgeable about both general student concerns and transfer student issues appointed from Enrollment and Retention Management as a non-voting member.  This individual will be appointed annually by the Associate Provost for Enrollment and Retention Management after consultation with the Curriculum Committee.

 

Discussion about specializations within majors

 

            Cerrato presented the revised guidelines for specializations that appear on students’ transcripts.  The following guidelines were approved by the Committee and will be brought to the Senate Executive Committee for its consideration:

 

1)      To propose listing a specialization, a major must have at least two distinct tracks.  One of these may be considered a “general” track and need not be listed as a specialization.

2)      Specializations must be in areas of concentration that are distinct from one another.  They should involve at least 18 upper-division credits within the major.

3)      For MTD majors and other interdisciplinary majors, the name of the proposed specialization must reflect all of the two or three areas of study.  Only coherent plans, submitted by the Program Director and intended as a regular course of study for multiple students, will be considered.  Specializations will not be granted for an individual student program.

 

Economics Matters

 

1)      The revised proposal for the honors program requirements was approved.

 

2)      ECO 316-K U.S. Class Structure was approved.   In addition, the Committee would like to submit the course for Skill 4 American History.  The course will be entered into PeopleSoft as a Category K for fall 04, since K is a local category.  The Skill 4 designation will be entered when it is approved by Albany.

 

3)      ECO 337-F Health Economics.   Since health economics is a controversial topic, the Committee would like additional information on the textbook to make sure that it includes information about different viewpoints.   Kaplan will request this information from the department.

 

4)      ECO 328-F Regional Economics was approved

 

5)      ECO 346-K US Economic History was approved and the Committee would like to submit the course to Albany for Skill 4.  Professor Sanderson has a joint appointment with the History Department, so perhaps crosslisting the course with History would strengthen the submission of the course to meet Skill 4.  This will be suggested to the economics department.

 

6)     ECO 362-F Financial Economics—The course was approved, but members were unsure about how it differed from ECO 389 Corporate Finance.  The department will be asked to re-write the course descriptions for ECO 362 and 389 to more clearly distinguish between the two courses.

 

7) ECO 364-F Thinking Strategically-- The course was approved, but members were unclear about how it differed from ECO 355/AMS 335 Game Theory. The department will be asked to re-write the course descriptions for ECO 364 and for ECO 355/AMS 335 to more clearly distinguish between the two courses.

 

            There was general concern about how students in ECO will fulfill the upper-division writing requirement since most of the courses do not require term papers.