Faculty Senate

Curriculum Council

Annual Report 2008-2009

Activity report prepared by Carol E. Brown, Chair

Proposal Title	College/Department Effective Date/Status Abbreviated/Full	Description
Approved Proposals
Renaming the Graduate Degrees in Economics Leading to Master of Arts, Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Economics	The Graduate School Fall 2009 Abbreviated	Renamed the Master's and Doctoral degrees in Economics to formalize the applied nature of the current graduate program and moved responsibilities for the program to a Director who reports to the Dean of the Graduate School.
Suspension of the Graduate Degrees in Agricultural and Resource Economics	College of Agricultural Sciences/Agricultural and Resource Economics Fall 2009 Abbreviated	The AREC degrees will be suspended and not eliminated because the Department currently has students enrolled on those degrees. Commitments to those students will be honored. Moreover, the nationally-ranked AREC program will be eliminated only after the successful implementation of the graduate program in applied economics.
Renaming the B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. Degrees in Nutrition and Food Management	Health and Human Services/Nutrition Summer 2008 Abbreviated	The B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Nutrition and Food Management have been changed to B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in Nutrition.
Reorganize Administrative Units in the College of Business	College of Business Summer 2008 Abbreviated	The COB eliminated its two departments. The new administrative structure replaces the department chairs with an Associate Dean of Faculty. The position of Associate Dean of Academic and Student Services is renamed the Associate Dean of Programs. The change has no impact on academic programs.
Religion and Culture Undergraduate Certificate in Philosophy	College of Liberal Arts /Philosophy Fall 2008 Full Proposal	This proposal enacts a recommendation made by the 2006 undergraduate program review committee. The program will further the academic interests of many students in the department and give a distinctive pedagogical function to the religious studies courses offered by the department.
Reorganize the College of Forestry	College of Forestry Spring 2009 Abbreviated	This proposal reorganized the College of Forestry from four to three academic units. The two primary reasons for the change are to reduce administrative expenses and to position the College for future success in a changing environment.
Suspension of the MS degrees in: Environmental Health & Occupational Safety Management, Public Health, and Health Promotion & Health Behavior	Health and Human Sciences/Public Health Summer 2009 Abbreviated	Due to the success of the MPH program and the MPH degree being the degree of choice for students, the department wishes to suspend their other masters programs. They do not want to terminate them at this time because they may want to revive them if some plans come to fruition in the next five or six years.
Name Change for Department of 4-H Youth Development	College of Education Summer 2009 Abbreviated	Activities of the faculty and staff in the department extend far beyond 4-H into undergraduate teaching, research and evaluation. The new name, Youth Development Education, better reflects current activities.
Pending Proposals
Approved by Faculty Senate Awaiting Approval by State Board
BA, BS in Women Studies	College of Liberal Arts	Women Studies proposes to offer a major in Women Studies in response to increased student interest and the University’s emphasis on issues of diversity, student engagement, social justice and social responsibility.
Bachelor of Science in Finance and Bachelor of Arts in Finance	College of Business	During the 2005-2006 academic year, the faculty of the College of Business (COB) participated in forums and working groups ofemployers, alumni and students to address issues related to satisfaction of business students with their education and employers'specific demand for talent. These discussions resulted in a revision of the mission of the COB consistent with the land grant mission of the University. These proposals are part of the overall plan to transform the academic programs within the COB. The Business Major currently has four options. These proposals seek to change the existing options to majors. All the proposals currently match the existing course work for the proposed major to the course work required for the current options.
Bachelor of Science in Business Information Systems and Bachelor of Arts in Business Information Systems
Bachelor of Science in Management and Bachelor of Arts in Management
Bachelor of Science in Marketing and Bachelor of Arts in Marketing
Formal Proposals in Process Not Yet Approved by Faculty Senate
New Instructional Program for Masters of Natural Resources	College of Forestry/ Forest Ecosystems and Society Forest Engineering, Resources and Management College of Agricultural Sciences/ Agriculturaland Resource Economics Crop and Soil Science Fisheries and Wildlife Range land Ecology and Management College of Liberal Arts/ Political Science Philosophy Sociology Speech Communication College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences/ Marine Resources Management College of Science/ Botany and Plant Pathology Environmental Sciences Geosciences Approved by Curriculum Council, awaiting Faculty Senate Approval Full Proposal	Managing natural resources is a complex problem involving production, ecological, social, economic and ethical systems, which affect and, in turn, are affected by the others. The proposed Master of Natural Resources (MNR) degree is designed to engage university scientists and world-wide natural resource professionals in a process that integrates diverse perspectives about natural resource situations at the state, regional, national, and international levels. The MNR degree will help agency and industry personnel meet their self-improvement goals. It will be helpful to anyone looking for an advanced degree in natural resource management, especially people with at least two years of experience in a natural resource discipline.
Name Change for Department of 4-H Youth Development	College of Education Summer 2009 Abbreviated	Activities of the faculty and staff in the department extend far beyond 4-H into undergraduate teaching, research and evaluation. The new name, Youth Development Education, better reflects current activities.
Pre-Proposals -Initial Program Review Meeting Held Formal Proposal not Yet Submitted
Rename the Department of Foreign Language and Literature	College of Liberal Arts Abbreviated Proposal	The "Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures" will change to the "Department of World Languages and Cultures."
Graduate Certificate and Minor in Rural Studies/ Program Area Name Changes within OSU Extension	College of Agriculture Full Proposal	The interdisciplinary graduate certificate and minor will introduce students to four general sets of policy challenges that threaten economic, environmental, social and cultural well-being, and governance in rural communities. These include: (1) Economic development and natural resource management. (2) Individual and family well-being. (3) Cultural identity and change. (4) Local governance.

The Category I process is working smoothly. There were a few issues related to document versions, my not understanding all I was expected to do, and controversial proposals. The office of Academic Planning and Assessment is redoing their website and that should correct the issues related to document versions. I am now better versed in what I am expected to do.

We instituted an executive summary for the Category I proposals. To be consistent with the information requested by the State Board, the Executive Summary will answer the following questions:

Why are you making this proposal?

• Describe the purpose and relationship of the proposed program to the institution's mission and strategic plan.
• What evidence of need does the institution have for the program?
• Are there similar programs in the state? If so, how does the proposed program supplement, complement, or collaborate with those programs?

What are you proposing?

• Briefly summarize what will change.

How will the program be financed?

• What new resources will be needed initially and on a recurring basis to implement the program? How will the institution provide these resources? What efficiencies or revenue enhancements are achieved with this program, including consolidation or elimination of programs over time, if any?

Course	new			change			drop			total
N = New System; O = Old System; T = Total	N	O	T	N	O	T	N	O	T	N	O	T
Academic Learning Services	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1
College of Agricultural Sciences	2	13	15	6	25	31	16	2	18	24	40	64
College of Business	5	3	8	3	4	7	3	0	3	11	7	18
College of Education	0	6	6	0	1	1	0	3	3	0	10	10
College of Engineering	2	16	18	6	33	39	21	8	29	29	57	86
College of Forestry	1	3	4	9	16	25	7	1	8	17	20	37
College of Health and Human Sciences	5	9	14	8	16	24	14	3	17	27	28	55
College of Liberal Arts	3	19	22	2	25	27	20	10	30	25	54	79
College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences	0	3	3	0	2	2	6	2	8	6	7	13
College of Pharmacy	5	4	9	1	5	6	0	3	3	6	12	18
College of Science	7	8	15	3	10	13	25	2	27	35	20	55
College of Veterinary Medicine	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Defense Education	0	0	0	0	11	11	0	0	0	0	11	11
Graduate School	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Interdisciplinary Programs	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Overseas Study	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
University Honors College	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	31	86	117	38	148	186	112	34	146	181	268	449

Program	new option/minor			change option/minor			drop option/minor			change college			change department			total
N = New System; O = Old System; T = Total	N	O	T	N	O	T	N	O	T	N	O	T	N	O	T	N	O	T
Academic Learning Services	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
College of Agricultural Sciences	0	2	2	2	13	15	0		0	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	17	19
College of Business	0	1	1	1	1	2	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	3
College of Education	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
College of Engineering	0	0	0	4	9	13	0		0	0	0	0	1	2	3	5	11	16
College of Forestry	0	0	0	4	2	6	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	2	6
College of Health and Human Sciences	0	0	0	5	7	12	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	8	13
College of Liberal Arts	0	1	1	0	3	3	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	4
College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
College of Pharmacy	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
College of Science	0	0	0	1	7	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	8	9
College of Veterinary Medicine	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Defense Education	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Graduate School	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Interdisciplinary Programs	0	1	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2
Overseas Study	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
University Honors College	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	0	5	5	17	46	63	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	5	6	18	57	75

• (New On-Line System) Academic Planning and Assessment implemented a new on-line Category II Proposal System. The new system went online in January and we are still running both systems. We hope to close out the old system by the end of Fall Term 2009.


• We were asked by the Executive Committee to achieve one week turnaround on proposals. With a few exceptions the Curriculum Council has reviewed most proposals within two weeks, many within one week.


• The Category II process has not been running smoothly. The Graduate Council developed a serious backlog of proposals to review. That backlog was reduced by the end of the year but not eliminated. There is still a backlog. Following is a summary of the status of the pending proposals:

Summary of In-process Proposals 8/30/2009
	Old System		New System		Total
Pending Review
College	4		33		37
Curriculum Coordinator	3		2		5
BCC Committee	2		2		4
Graduate Council	29		33		62
Curriculum Council	1		2		3
APA Director	1		1		2
Total Pending Review	40		73		113
Sent Back By College	8		1		9
Curriculum Coordinator	6		5		11
BCC Committee	5		0		5
WIC Committee	1		0		1
Graduate Council	12		4		16
Curriculum Council	6		0		6
Total Sent Back	38		10		48
Total In Process	78		83		161

Most of the backlog in the old system for the Graduate Council relate to a group of History proposals wanting to change the designator from History of Science to History for 27 classes. Most of the proposals sent back by the Curriculum Coordinator relate to missing or problematic items that are listed on the minimum syllabus requirements for the university, including prerequisites, learning outcomes, required notices etc. Items sent back by the graduate council relate to learning outcomes and other syllabus information as well as level of work for the graduate credits (especially when it is a slash course). Most of the Curriculum Council returns relate to liaison or missing syllabus items.

Articulation Agreements

• Articulation for Housing Studies Professional Program between Portland Community College and Oregon State University was approved
• Articulation Agreement for Applied Exercise and Sport Science between Portland Community College and Oregon State University was sent back for revision. The primary concern was the number of lower division credits being substituted for upper division credits.

Academic Program Reviews

• Academic Learning Services was reviewed. Recommendations were made regarding reducing the number and type of classes offered as ALS classes, and tighter coupling of classes offered by EOP with their academic homes. Per the August 24, 2009 Program Review Meeting, all recommendations are being acted on. It appears that most changes will be completed by Fall term 2009. Follow-up with Adult Education may be necessary to assure that the courses transferred to them have been appropriately integrated.

Academic Regulations

• The council discussed and agreed to three revisions to Academic Regulations (20, 23, 24) and a newly proposed AR 31.

Pending Issues

• Minutes-Due to Vickie's work load related to the budget situation she was unable to process the minutes for the Curriculum Council in a timely manner. Some have been written-up but none have been approved and posted at this time. I do not foresee her workload changing any time soon so I think we will have to make other arrangements for minutes.
• Cat II Reviews-The new time of one week for processing reviews will present some challenges. To help with this process we discussed key areas for the CC Rep review which include the syllabus, proper liaison and prerequisites. We further discussed that proposals with minor syllabus issues should be forwarded with a comment rather than returned. After reviewing the returned proposals we need to reinforce these concepts next year.
• Meeting Attendance-On a couple of occasions we had to do email votes for Cat I proposals because of lack of a quorum at the meeting. We need to reinforce the importance of attendance with the members again.
• BAC Core-The BAC Core has not yet been revised despite a committee being created to do so. We need to revisit that issue and determine if we want to provide any further input to that process.

Thank-you to the membership and support staff

Overall the membership did an outstanding job on the committee. They clearly answered the call to speed up the review process -though we were pretty current even before we were asked to speed things up. From reading the comments it was clear to me that all reviewers took their job seriously and did an excellent job. Perhaps most telling of the actions of the members was that ALL members agreed to continue doing reviews and to meet if necessary over the summer even though most members are on nine-month academic appointments and not paid during the summer. I could not have asked for a better, more dedicated membership. Despite her extremely busy schedule Vickie Nunnemaker did an excellent job keeping us on track. I cannot thank her enough for the many questions she answered for me. Susie Leslie and the crew at Office of Academic Planning and Assessment provided assistance for all kinds of things. I especially appreciate the advice I received from Susie on so many occasions. When I faltered she very gently corrected me. Susie and her crew provided most of the information for the two major tables in this report.

Carol Brown '09, Chair	College of Business
Mike Bailey '09	Computer Science
Alison Bobal '09	Valley Library
Sandy Brooke '09	OSU-Cascades/Art
SueAnn Bottoms '10	College of Education
Marisa Chappell '10	History
Rick Nafshun '10	Chemistry
John Simonsen '10	Wood Science & Engineering
Adry Clark '11	Career Services
Kate Field '11	Microbiology
Dianna Fisher '11	Ecampus
Mary Flahive '11	Mathematics
Kate Mactavish '11	Human Development and Family Sciences

Ex-officio members:
Director of Academic Planning and Assessment (Susie Leslie)
Budgets & Fiscal Planning Committee (not assigned)
Extended Campus (Alfonso Bradoch)
Registrar's Office (Tom Watts)
University Libraries (Laurel Kristick)

Liaison members
Academic Advising Council (Angela Austin Haney)
Instructional Technology (John Greydanus)
OSU-Cascades (Sandy Brooke)

Curriculum Council representation (appointed annually):
Distance Education Committee - Dianna Fisher (ex-officio, non-voting)
University Council for Student Engagement and Experience (UCSEE) - Richard Nafshun

Executive Committee Liaison - Deb Pence