4th
Meeting, September 25th, 2003—Approved October 2, 2003
Present: R. Cerrato (chair), C. Marrone, T. Weinacht,
A. Phillips, C. Promin, J. Lochhead, A. Feldman, S. Sternglanz, E. Kaplan
(secretary), J. Kuchner (guest)
The
minutes of September 18th were approved with corrections.
Cerrato
reported that the guidelines for submission of general education were approved
by the Arts and Sciences Senate. They
were sent to the University Senate Executive Committee for discussion at the
Undergraduate Council.
Since
we will be unable to fully implement the online course approval process until
the end of November, it was decided to post all the guidelines for the
Curriculum Committee at the bottom of the new course approval form. Submitters will be asked to read all the
relevant guidelines, but not to send them back when they submit their course
proposals.
It
was also suggested that a contact person’s (Kaplan’s) name be put on the
website.
II
Routine Administrative Matters
Incorrect prerequisite. Bulletin lists prerequisite as THR 216
Introduction to Visual Interpretation; the correct prerequisite should be THR
223 Stage Costume.
These two courses have been co-taught on a temporary basis and are
now requesting permanent crosslisting.
They have settled on the title above, with a revised course description
and prerequisites of:
Ecosystem ecology with an emphasis on biogeochemical cycling in
oceans
and on land and on biosphere-atmosphere interactions. Topics include
earth system processes such as climate and atmospheric
composition, the
hydrological cycle, cycling of chemicals such as nutrients and
metals in the oceans, the soil cycle, and the fate and transport of materials
in the atmosphere. Natural and perturbed systems are discussed.
Prerequisites: BIO 201; CHE 131
Advisory Prerequisite: MAR 104
HIS
281 Global History and Geography
The
Committee agreed that this is a good area of study for prospective social
studies teachers and many other west campus students. A few comments and questions were raised. Will HIS 281 be required for students in
the secondary education program or will it be an elective? How will it fit into the history major?
There is a disconnect between the syllabus and the course
description/title. This is a course
about global history, but the syllabus doesn't include anything about
non-Mediterranean geography and history.
Information about the role of the ancient Chinese in geographical
exploration and map-making could be included to provide a broader focus.
The new course proposal
form that was submitted is an older version of the form currently used. The new form requires information about how
the proposed course fulfills the objectives of the D.E.C. category requested
and a statement of the learning objectives of the category.
Kaplan will correspond with the department.
As a result of the New York State Education Department requirement
that teacher preparation programs be accredited by the National Council for
Accreditation of Teacher Education Programs, the ESS department has developed a
track within the BA in Earth and Space Sciences major that meets these
requirements.
The department’s memo clearly presented the new track, which has
already been approved by the National Science Teacher Association. The significant features are that the
education track requires different preparation in general sciences. It requires chemistry and biology instead of
a choice in science sequences; it requires fewer credits in calculus; and it
requires courses in statistics and oceanography. The upper division writing requirement for the track involves
collecting data or observations, processing and interpreting this information
and preparing a professional quality report.
A few questions were raised by the Committee. In the category of Upper Division Earth and
Space Science course electives, atmospheric sciences are included, but courses
in marine sciences are not included.
Is there a reason for this omission?
Marine science courses seem very relevant for prospective teachers of
earth science.
If the track is to be called "earth science education,"
do we need a name for the original set of requirements for the major? How many students will be in each
track? Do most students in the B.A.
program in ESS elect the secondary education option?
Kaplan will correspond with the department.
She
presented data from Institutional Studies about the major. While the number of majors in the program
has decreased significantly (277 in 1998 versus 137 in 2003), she believes that
the major is a significant educational program that provides students with
integrated knowledge about social sciences and supports career paths in such
fields as law, social policy, counseling, education and government.
Cerrato
asked whether the goals of SSI could be accomplished within the MTD major. Kuchner stated that SSI graduates leave
Stony Brook with an integrated body of knowledge in social sciences and it is
important to note that on the transcript.
It was pointed out that PeopleSoft can note “specializations” on
transcripts and that a social science specialization within MTD was possible.
Kaplan
questioned whether the structure of the SSI major was consistent with the
statement that the major provides students with integrated knowledge about
social sciences. As an example, a
student could take courses in eight social sciences disciplines to satisfy the
major. The MTD major requires that
students concentrate on a maximum of three areas of study.
The
Committee discussed the possibility of whether the SSI major could continue to
be an option for students, as it does not rely on an extant academic
department. Since time was getting
short, Cerrato suggested that the Committee continue the discussion at an
upcoming meeting.
3rd
Meeting, September 18th, 2003—Minutes approved 9/25/03
Present: R. Cerrato (chair), C. Marrone, A. Hoeslocher,
T. Weinacht, A. Phillips, C. Promin, J. Lochhead, E. Kaplan (secretary)
The
minutes of the meeting of September 11, 2003 were approved with corrections.
Cerrato
reported on the meeting of the Arts and Sciences Senate Executive Committee,
which he and Kaplan had attended on September 15th. The Exec agreed with the Curriculum
Committee’s suggestions about requesting time limits for responses by SUNY
System Administration and ACGE to our proposals for DEC SUNY/GER courses. They also agreed with our concerns about the
composition of ACGE; however these are not areas that we can control. Cerrato will present the plan for
submission of general education courses to the Arts and Sciences Senate on
Monday, September 22nd and to the meeting of the Directors of
Undergraduate Studies on Thursday, September 25th.
The
committee reviewed the draft of the New Course Proposal Form. The intent is for submitters to complete the
form online and to click on various explanations and guidelines while working
online (e.g. film and video guidelines, general education guidelines). The current A and S and University Senate
websites probably do not support this application. Phillips agreed to look into how this can be done.
The
only significant changes in the draft of the form relate to question 16, which
concerns submission of general education courses to SUNY Central. Cerrato presented a revised version of this
question and members made several comments on his revision. Cerrato will incorporate the suggestions
and send this to Kaplan by e-mail.
II
Routine Administrative Matters:
Biology:
Currently
BIO 475 and 476 Undergraduate Teaching Practica are variable credit (2-3
credits). Department requests that this
be extended to 0-3 credits in order to accommodate part-time students and
students who wish to participate to a lesser extent than two credits.
1. Delete RLS 110 and RLS 220
2.
Crosslist RLS 102 Eastern Religions with AAS 102
3. Crosslist introductory Asian religion courses
with Asian and Asian American Studies designators:
|
Current
Course Number |
New
Course Number |
|
RLS
280 J Islam |
RLS/AAS
280 J Islam |
|
RLS
240 J Confucianism &Taoism |
RLS
/AAS 240 J Confucianism &Taoism |
|
RLS
260 J Buddhism |
RLS/AAS
260 J Buddhism |
|
RLS
250 J Hinduism |
RLS/AAS
256 J Hinduism* |
|
RLS
246 J Korean & Japanese Rel. |
RLS/AAS
246 J Korean & Japanese Rel. |
*Note
change in Hinduism course from RLS 250 to RLS 256; AAS 250 number is not
available for crosslisting.
4. Renumber 400 level Asian religion
courses to 300 level to a) boost enrollments; b) crosslist them with numbers
that fit into the general Asian studies course numbering scheme; c) have them
meet DEC category G.
|
Current
Course Number |
New
Course Number |
|
RLS
408 Islamic Classics |
RLS/AAS
380 G Islamic Classics (prerequisite is RLS/AAS 280) |
|
RLS
406 Japanese Buddhism |
|
|
RLS
426 G Feminine Spirituality |
RLS
366 G Feminine Spirituality (prerequisite is any 200 level RLS course)
not crosslisted with AAS. |
5.
Renumber
RLS 341J to place it relative to RLS/AAS 366.
|
Current
Course Number |
New
Course Number |
|
RLS
341 J Meditation and Enlightenment |
RLS/AAS
367-J Meditation and Enlightenment (prerequisite is AAS/RLS 102 or AAS/RLS
260) |
6.
Renumber
RLS special topics courses from the 400 level to the 300 level
to encourage
enrollment and to be consistent with topics numbers offered through other CAS
departments:
|
Current
Course Number |
New
Course Number |
|
RLS
430 G and 431 G Special Topics |
RLS
390 G and 391 G Special Topics |
Crosslisting AAS and HIS courses:
Crosslist
HIS 219 Introduction to Chinese History and Civilization, HIS 340 Topics in
Asian History and HIS 341 20th Century China with AAS. (Approved by History Department on 5/16/03.)
|
Current Course Number |
New Course Number |
|
HIS 219 J Introduction to Chinese Hist & Civ |
HIS/AAS 219 J Intro to Chinese Hist & Civ |
|
HIS 340 J Topics in Asian History |
HIS/AAS 340 J Topics in Asian History |
|
HIS 341 J 20th Century China |
HIS/AAS 341 J 20th Century China |
Message from Greg Ruf, director of the minor: There is a perception that the minor is only
for those who do coursework in Chinese language. Although some students do this, and while we encourage students
to take language courses, the proposed new title (China Studies) more
accurately reflects the broader (and more inclusive) scope of our curriculum.
Many
students take ARS 154 Studio Art. Those
who enjoy the course but who are not planning to be studio art majors do not
have a way to continue their study of studio art in courses other than those
designed exclusively for studio art majors.
ARS 390 G has a studio art
component as well as a literary component, allowing it to meet the general
humanities DEC requirement G. The
prerequisite is ARS 154 and the course is not for major credit.
The
topic proposed for spring 04 is: Pictures and
Words: Narrative Expression in Art
The phenomenon of words
and pictures used together in narrative expression will be studied within the
various genres of art and literature.
Examination of the work of artists who are also storytellers (such as
William Hogarth, Robert Crumb, and Chris Ware), as well as that of writers who
are also visual artists (such as William Blake, Lawrence Stern and Denton
Welch.
The major project for this course will be a series of images that
work together to form a narrative. Works will be judged not only on the quality
of the artwork, but also on how well the discreet images function together to
create a story.
ATM 320 Applied Spatial Analysis was approved.
PSY 337 Applied Behavior Analysis/Positive Behavior Support was approved
with the prerequisite of PSY 103 and the advisory prerequisite of U3 or U4
standing.
Specializations
within majors and minors: PeopleSoft can recognize “specializations” (commonly referred to as “tracks” at Stony Brook) within majors
and these can now be printed on students’ transcripts. In June, the dean’s office was advised that
this could be done for spring 03 graduates so we reviewed the majors and minors
within the College to determine likely candidates for this. Biology
(with 7 tracks) and geological sciences (with 4 tracks) are very
structured and require students to complete a distinct group of courses that is
composed of more than 30 credits of study.
The two departments had wanted this recognition for their students for
some time, but it had not been possible before. Several departments in CEAS elected to note specializations as
well.
Kaplan distributed a chart that indicates which A
and S programs specify subfields, tracks, concentrations, programs of study or
depth requirements. The Committee
agreed not to make a general rule about what constitutes an appropriate
specialization notation on the transcript.
If a department requests that specializations be noted for its students,
we will review each request individually.
Specializations might be particularly valuable for students in the
Multidisciplinary Studies major.
Arts
and Science Senate
Undergraduate
Curriculum Committee
Academic
Year 2003-2004
2nd
meeting, September 11, 2003—minutes approved 9/18/03
Present:
S. Sternglanz (acting chair), A. Feldman, C. Marrone, A. Hasloecher, T. Weinacht,
T. Phillips, E. Kaplan (secretary), J. Lochhead
I. Committee
Business
The
minutes of the meeting of September 4th were approved.
II. Routine
Administrative Matters:
1.
During the summer, BIO 312 Bioinformatics
and Computational Biology (3 credits) was approved as an experimental
course. Prereq: BIO 202; MAT 126 or 132 or 142. This action was confirmed by the committee
on 9/4/03.
2. HIS 363-F Topics
in American History
Prerequisite:
HIS 103 or 104
History’s existing topics courses all satisfy
K. HIS requested a course number for
topics that would be questionable for meeting the SUNY-GER guidelines for
American history courses.
3. Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
New
designators for SSI courses. Child and
Family Studies courses will now use CFS designator and be housed in
psychology. SSI courses that are part
of the secondary education program will use SSE designator and will be housed
in history.
4. Pharmacology
BCP 401 Principles of Pharmacology changed from a 3-credit
course to a 4-credit course (effective fall 03)
BCP 402 Advanced Pharmacology changed from a 3-credit
course to a 4-credit course (effective spring 04)
(These
courses include an additional one-hour per week recitation.)
5.
Theatre Arts
THR 264 Movement Analysis and Awareness—added to DEC category
D. Prerequisite of THR 105 dropped.
Remove
“not for major credit” stipulation from THR 104. THR 104 was required for the old set of THR major requires but
was not included in the new set of THR requirements that we approved in
01. In fall 02, the department
requested a return to the old set of requirements, citing its inability to
deliver the new curriculum without additional resources.
6. Specializations within Biology and Geology
In
Undergraduate Bulletin, “tracks” in
biology and geology will be changed to
“specializations”. PeopleSoft
allows “sub-plans” to be noted on transcripts and biology and geology have
elected to do this. However, PeopleSoft
only allows the choice of the words “specialization” or “concentration” for
transcript notations. Since we already
use “concentration” in other majors that will not use the notations, and since
CEAS is using the term “specializations,” we have agreed to use the term
“specializations.”
7.
Ownership of RLS courses is moved to the Department of Asian and Asian American
Studies.
8. Change
prerequisites for WST 390-G, 391-G, 392-H, 393-I, 394-H, 395-J, 396-K, 397-F,
398-G, and 399-G to Prerequisite: U3 or U4 standing; other prerequisites may be
announced with the topic. Previously
the other prerequisites were only advisory.
III. New Business
Procedures for submitting general
education courses to SUNY Central
The proposed
guidelines for submission of general education courses to SUNY Central
Administration outlined in the minutes of 9/4/03 was approved, with a few
comments and suggestions:
Members asked for information about the composition of the
Advisory Council on General Education and would like assurance that the four
members selected by the President of the University Faculty Senate include at
least one faculty member from a research university, at least one faculty
member from the social sciences, and at least one historian. A given member can satisfy more than one
category.
Members wanted time frames to be stipulated within the
process. If System Administration does
not initially respond to the campus within two weeks, we should assume that the
course has been approved and that we can add it to the list of DEC/SUNY GER
courses. In addition ACGE should be
given a timeline to respond to the campus.
The Committee suggested a time frame of one month.
New
course PSY 351 Drugs and the Brain
The course proposal did not include a reading list. A 300 level course requiring several other
PSY courses as prerequisites should have significant reading as part of the
assignments.
The
Committee also wondered about whether 10 quizzes, with no midterm, final or
papers, was sufficient basis for assigning a course grade. Kaplan will correspond with the instructor
and department.
New
course PSY 337 Applied Behavior Analysis/Positive Behavior Support
The Committee appreciated the idea that the course should
not be restricted to PSY majors only and have minimal prerequisites; however we
would like to see some reasonable prerequisites so that students are advised
about the level of the course and the background that they should have. At a minimum, upper division courses should
require "U3 or U4 standing."
In addition, we wonder if students should at least have taken PSY 103
prior to enrolling in the course.
The course reading list requires only one textbook. Are students required to read additional
textbooks or articles?
There is no writing required and only one final exam and one
midterm. Is this sufficient input to
assign a grade in an upper division course?
New
Course ATM 320 Spatial Data Analysis
Members liked the proposal for ATM 320 and the changed title of
Spatial Data Analysis, but Weinacht noted that PHY 251 is a highly theoretical
course and ATM 320 is a highly practical course. How could these two courses be part of the same requirement
group?
Members also noted an inconsistency in the grading scheme. In the new course proposal form, exams were
included as part of the grading scheme, but the syllabus does not mention
this. Do projects or exams form the
basis of the grade?
Kaplan will correspond with the department.
The change to ATM 487, to be repeated up to a limit of 12 credits,
was approved.
Discussion—Should a representative from the
Registrar’s Office be an ex-officio member of the Curriculum Committee?:
Kaplan
proposed that the Curriculum Committee’s membership be expanded to include an
ex-officio member from the Registrar’s Office in order to bridge the often
lamented gap between the academic decision makers and the office that
implements their decisions. It would be
advantageous for Registrar to understand how and why academic decisions are
made and it would be advantageous for the Committee to understand the impact of
its decisions. Other committees have ex-officio members from campus
offices. Undergraduate Council has
ex-officio members from the AIM/EOP program, from the Registrar’s office, from
Undergraduate Academic Affairs, and from Academic Advising.
The
Committee unanimously approved this proposal and recommended that it be brought
to the Arts and Sciences Senate Executive Committee for their
consideration. This proposal requires
an amendment to the Senate’s constitution and bylaws.
1st meeting, September 4, 2003
Present: R. Cerrato
(chair), S. Sternglanz, A. Feldman, C. Marrone, A. Hasloecher, T. Weinacht, T.
Phillips, E. Kaplan (secretary), J. Kuchner (guest)
New
member Tom Weinacht from Physics was introduced.
The
minutes of May 15, 2003 were approved.
The
Committee reviewed the extensive distribution list for approved minutes. The list was approved, with the addition of
Mark Aronoff, Deputy Provost for Undergraduate Studies.
During
the summer, members of the committee BIO 103 voted electronically to approve
DEC E status for BIO 103 Introduction to Biotechnology.
President
of the Arts and Sciences Senate Joan Kuchner welcomed the committee and
distributed an excerpt from the revisions to the Arts and Sciences Senate
constitution that were approved in May 2003.
These changes include the stipulation that a committee member can only
serve as chair for three consecutive academic years, unless the Executive
Committee approves an exception. This
exception was granted to Bob Cerrato at the final Executive Committee meeting
last spring. With a great sigh of
relief, the committee unanimously elected Cerrato as its chair for the
2003-2004 academic year.
The
Committee summarized the status of the general education program since it was
submitted to SUNY in the summer of 2001.
At that time, 22 courses that Stony Brook submitted were not approved
for the SUNY-GER American history requirement.
These courses are still pending.
In addition, there are approximately 100 new and revised DEC courses in
several categories that were approved locally since 2001, but that have not yet
been sent to SUNY because our general education procedures had not been
approved. During the summer of 2003 the
Stony Brook Provost’s office received the news that our procedures were indeed
approved, but the Curriculum Committee is still waiting for written confirmation
of this.
In
late July Cerrato and Kaplan representing the Curriculum Committee, Dean James
Staros and Associate Dean for Curriculum Anthony Phillips representing CAS,
Provost Robert McGrath and Deputy Provost Mark Aronoff, Senate representative
Norman Goodman and Arts and Sciences Senate President Joan Kuchner met to
discuss how the campus is going to submit general education courses to the SUNY
Provost’s office. After some revision,
there was agreement on the proposed procedures. These must now be approved by the Curriculum Committee, the
Senate Executive Committee and the Arts and Sciences Senate body.
The
Committee will discuss the revised draft of the “Stony Brook Procedure for
Submitting General Education Courses” on Thursday, September 11th
for presentation to the Arts and Sciences Senate Executive Committee on Monday,
September 15th. After these procedures are endorsed by the Senate
Executive Committee, they will be discussed at the October meeting of the Arts
and Sciences Senate.
The proposed procedure is for the secretary
of the Curriculum Committee to fill out the “Course Addition Reporting
Template” and submit this electronically to the Stony Brook Provost’s office
for transmission to the SUNY Provost’s office.
If the course is approved, the SUNY Provost’s office will communicate
this to Cerrato. If the course is not
approved by the SUNY Provost’s office, it will be sent to the Advisory
Committee on General Education, a 12 member group composed of four faculty
members from the SUNY universities and colleges, four faculty members from the
SUNY community colleges and four locally based campus academic administrators
or members of the professional staff.
ACGE will communicate directly with Cerrato and has the authority to ask
that additional information be submitted about courses in question.
As
soon as the Committee approves the “Stony Brook Procedures for Submitting
General Education Courses,” the CEAS Curriculum and Teaching Policy Committee
and the HSC dean’s office will be contacted for their approval.
In
addition, the committee’s New Course Proposal Form will be modified to
incorporate the new procedures, which, for the first time, include review of
their courses externally for approval as general education courses. Faculty and department chairpersons must be informed specifically about this
and agree that all (or some) of the submitted materials can be sent to
SUNY.