Faculty Senate

Baccalaureate Core Committee

Present: John Bailey, Vicki Tolar Burton, George Caldwell, Margie Haak, Victor Hsu, Denise Lach, Cheryl Middleton, Jay Noller

Note taker:  George Caldwell

Old Business

1. Minutes from previous meeting differed.

New Business

1. STS Category review update: J. Noller reported that the letters have been sent to the departments.
2. The BCC membership schedule of assignments for STS Course Review was passed out. STS is one of the smaller categories, and there appeared to be an equal number of category and course change applications. The assignments were made by C. Middleton based partially on previous choices.
3. The co-chairs requested of the membership to complete the reviews within two weeks from the previous meeting and/or application availability. J. Noller and C. Middleton will do a preliminary check of the applications and will notify the members when they are ready for review.
4. The committee reviewed the tables of proposed credit increases to Bacc Core as prepared by J. Noller. A 5-year mean was used for English courses at 3 credits, excluding graduate and transfer students. It was noted that an Impact Index of 1 or less is a problem. 2.4 is considered healthy, equaling 4,000 potential seats. The question was raised, is 1.5 a significant impact?  The committee considered whether to ask the History Department to withdraw its 100 level courses from the 3 to 5 credit change. Accordingly, such a motion was made but failed owing to lack of a second. However, a sense of the committee was reached that the BCC co-chairs meet with the Chair of the Department of History with the request that the History 100 level courses remain at 3 credits.
5. The application of TOX 360 (new course) looks favorable and will be handled via e-mail by the end of the week.
6. The application of PH 112 (new course) indicates it is part of a sequence, named for education students and aimed at how to teach physics. The courses and skill sets build through the course of a year. PH 112 is part of 111 and 113. The course uses a model curriculum based on national standards. Deficiencies cited by the committee include: the syllabus does not indicate Bacc Core status or the category; inclusion of pedagogy in the description should be considered; laboratory requirement is not in the syllabus, although it is in the application; the syllabus lacks a schedule of lab activities; the syllabus should list the required readings; and, the syllabus lacks sufficient detail. The reviewer recommended approval of the application following a positive outcome in a discussion with the departmental chair. Owing to the schedule, an assessment will be made by the committee via e-mail by the end of this week. PH 111 and 113 will be reviewed Winter Quarter.
7. J. Noller will discuss similar issues regarding the PH 231, 232 and 233 sequence with the chair.
8. V. Tolar Burton explained to the committee that the review of every WIC course varies significantly, because every syllabus is different. Typically, the Word-Count Table for Proposed WIC Courses is requested only for submissions seeking assistance. A motion was made to require the Word-Count form of all applications seeking WIC status. The motion was seconded and passed.

The meeting was adjourned.