Minutes of Education Policies Committee

March 19, 2002

Members Present: Kris Eitrheim, Terry Schlabach, Pam Long, Bryan Arensdorff, Rich Legg, Cathy Daters, Dan Zeimet, Marge Legg, Bonnie Leonhardt, Greg Bereskin

Guests Present: Paul Koch, Dan Bozik, Lew Sanborne, Maureen Baldwin, Andy Axup, George Bailey, Art Serianz

Motion to approve the minutes of March 5^th with the corrected spelling of “Deanna Stoube” from Education. (Terry Schlabach moved, Kris Eitrheim seconded.) Motion carried.

Motion to approve the Chemistry Department's Program Review including adding two new courses CHEM 120: Chemistry of Art (including general education status in Natural Sciences) and CHEM 150: Career Exploration in Chemistry and including CHEM 106: General Chemistry II in the courses with general education status in Natural Sciences and increasing the credit hours of the BS in Chemistry to 44-45 credit hours. (Kris Eitrheim moved, Bonnie Leonhardt seconded)

Marge Legg described the review process. Beginning last year, the faculty began discussions and reviewed documents. During the past semester, they met weekly. The instructor for the ACCEL Chemistry class worked with the on campus faculty and wrote the course description aligning that course with General Education requirements. The faculty shared exams for information, and checked programs at other schools. The proposed changes will impact the hours for the BS in Chemistry, raising the required credit hours from 42 to 44 or 45.

The department did not involve students directly in the process, since there are few majors: 10 at present. The department surveys alumni every 10 years and receives favorable reviews. The committee discussed the reasons for the low enrollment. Faculty suggested that many Chemistry programs are small, including Augustana’s which is ACS approved. ACS approval today is difficult to get. It requires additional faculty and more students in the major before applying. The department is currently working with International Student Services to explore international recruiting. Maintaining a major in Chemistry is critical to maintain good faculty and support the Liberal Arts. Innovative courses in this program include a Lab Safety course and the new Chemistry of Art (CHEM120).

The proposed course in Career Exploration in Chemistry (CHEM 150) is needed to provide students with career help. The Chemistry faculty did not feel these issues could be adequately addressed within existing courses in other departments.

The program review was well done and clearly tied to the new General Education requirements. Motion passed.

Motion to approve the General Education Proposal on Transfer Students:

1. Transfer students for academic purposes are defined as students with 24 transferable hours successfully completed before entering SAU.

2. Transfer students for Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees are not required to complete the Theme requirement.

3. Transfer students for Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees must complete the equivalent of three semesters of college-level language (either in high school language courses, college language courses, or some combination thereof), but are not required to complete all semesters in the same language.

(Kris Eitrheim moved, Pam Long seconded)

Discussion centered on whether the new requirements made it more difficult for transfer students. The language requirement was a concern, in particular because of learning disabled students. Rich Legg said that this policy is consistent with the new General Education policy, and does allow transfers to take a different language or even the beginning course of the same language to satisfy the requirement. 75% of transfers currently enter Ambrose with the language requirement completed. Disability needs are decided on a case-by-case basis. Motion carried.

No items are on the current EPC agenda.

Submitted by Bonnie Leonhardt