Eastern Mennonite University

 

Eastern Mennonite University
Undergraduate Council
January 21, 2008
CC301/302
#7

Present: Kim Brenneman, Spencer Cowles, Vi Dutcher, Cathy Smeltzer Erb, Joan Griffing, Cyndi Gusler, Doug Graber Neufeld, Nancy Heisey, Elroy Miller, Marie Morris, Patrick Reynolds, Deirdre Smeltzer, Mary Sprunger, Arlene Wiens
Student Rep: Lindsey Grosh
Absent: Gloria Rhodes

 

1. Lester shared a devotion and prayer on “beauty.”

2. Approval of minutes

Marie distributed copies (reduced in size to save paper) of the minutes of the October 15 th meeting and the November 12th meeting, which were approved without corrections or amendments. Members did underline the mention in the minutes of October 15 that regarding the speech requirement, providing a rationale for such a course was part of the assignment to VACA and GVCC.

3. Reporting: Curriculum Revisions

a) The biology/chemistry department has dropped/reduced a number of courses since the 05-06 academic year; and added only three courses in the same time period. Beginning in the 08-09 academic year, it proposes to drop, offer every-other year, or reduce credit hours to an additional 11 courses. At the same time, seven courses will be offered every-other –year or be offered annually. One of the courses to be offered every-other-year would be Earth Science; the Education Department is concerned that could cause scheduling problems for students. Doug and Cathy decided they would work together to resolve the issue.
b) SOC 261 & CHST 432 merge – Because of significant overlap of the courses, the merge is proposed to meet annually. The new course will be housed in the Bible & Religion dept., and well be ascribed a 300-level. It will still be considered a cross-cultural designate ( as was SC 261) and will be a core course for the new Peacebuilding and Development major and the CRAM major. The new merged course will still fill sociology requirements, even though it bears an REL name, and should meet nursing department requirements.
c) The music department will reduce the loading of Jazz Ensemble from 3 SH to 2 SH to save 2 SH per year. This change is recommended based on loading for other instrumental ensembles; and with adjunct director, there is less touring. The music department will also change the curriculum for music theory and skills. The current program contains two separate courses in both the first and second levels of the theory and skills sequence: Music Theory I and Music Skills II, and Music Theory II and Music Skills II. By simultaneously studying the structure of music, the material can be covered more effectively. Combining courses will result in a 1 SH reduction for each level or 2 SH hours per year.

4. Updates

a) Global Village Curriculum – Beth Aracena
1) Writing Intensive/ Community Learning Information – Beth distributed a memo seeking input from departments regarding the requirement. Currently not enough CL courses are offered. Regarding community learning, internships were not allowed to count towards the requirement, but we are revisiting that discussion. In order to make that change, the GVCC invites departmental proposals for specific internships to count towards CL designates. There was also discussion about reducing the CL requirement from 3 to 2, as some majors have a difficult time fulfilling the requirement before graduation. Some feel that CL would have more value being housed in the major rather than GVC. Issues with CL were raised and they are:

Regarding Writing Intensive courses, some feel, like CL, it should become a part of the major. Revised Writing Intensive Guidelines were distributed. One suggestion was that we identify which WI courses require a series of short papers and which one long paper. Both cultivate writing in stages with opportunity for revision. One current problem with WI, is that it is usually offered at upper level courses, which makes it difficult for non-majors to take and be successful. Lower level courses need to be offered that are WI, but this will mean smaller class size. Beth asked that each department respond by Feb. 3 to the three questions she asked in the memo.

2) GVC Workshop Report – Beth distributed a summary of learning outcomes from the GVC Workshop held on January 7. This is a work in progress.

Marie noted that the budget target given to the undergraduate unit was a reduction of $143,200 ( » 3FTE – 2 for recruitment and 1 for prioritization). This reduction also assumes incorporation of any undergraduate faculty promotion or step increases. Therefore, the expected “bottom line” for the undergraduate unit is to be $4,139,212. Marie reported that while budget projections for 2008-09 are still being developed the current “bottom line” is not meeting the goal. It was also explained that currently only about 8 SH have been loaded for “recruitment” FTE and that assigning time for this is posing quite a challenge as currently all full-time faculty have full loads. The 2 FTE put in the budget target for “recruitment” translates into 16 courses that we would not offer. It is not immediately evident from a review of course offerings what courses those might be. A potential place for further reduction may be to look at courses currently not staffed. Wouldn’t it be easier to not hire an adjunct professor than to cut a regular full-time professor? Marie noted that while preliminary loads reveal about 57 SH not yet staffed only about 23 SH could possibly be dropped. She will work with specific department chairs on this question. Marie concluded this update by saying that President’s Cabinet/Strategic Planning Council will be reviewing the preliminary budget at their next meeting (Jan. 30, 2008).

  1. Action Items

This will provide First Year Students with smaller classes. The 4SH will include one hour for an orientation component. This course will be offered at various levels of writing ability (i.e. Reading & Writing for College, College Writing, and Advanced Writing). Discussions still need to be held concerning whether the course will have a faith based component. The action was passed with 100% approval (yes and OK).

It was requested that for the faculty assembly vote that a summary be provided prior to the vote.

Although the major and minor will no longer be offered, the 12 SH will be retained with the possibility that 6 SH of elementary French be offered, and perhaps 3 SH of Arabic and 3 SH of Chinese. A question was asked as to whether EMU might join in a cooperative agreement with JMU so students could take upper-level languages. Marie noted that because students who are not Virginia residents have to pay out-of-state tuition this becomes a cost prohibitive option. The action was passed with 94% approval (yes and OK; one no).

  1. Discussion Item: 1990 Dean’s Committee Guidelines for Curriculum Changes: Marie noted that the Provost found a statement from 1990 that capped the number of semester hours a student could take within a major, placed a cap on the number of “support” courses the student could take, and mandated that at least 50% of the courses in the discipline be at the 300- or 400-level. This raised the question; does EMU need to return to a set of guidelines that could strengthen the GVC and majors? Currently the majority of EMU majors exceed the guidelines set forth in 1990. It was suggested that a conviction or vision is needed as the foundation for guidelines. Marie offered to draft such a model that the council could discuss further.

 

Recorder,
Cheryl Doss