EPC Minutes of Mar. 30

Members Present: Bill Hixon, Brenda Peters, Dan Zeimet, Nathan Schlueter, Miranda Nelp, Rancy Richards, Ragene Gwin, Barb Weise, Jeremy Burke, Kris Eitrheim, Corinne Winter

Guests: Paul Koch, Ken Grenier, Mark McGinn, Bill Parsons, Charles, Minnick

Motion to approve the minutes of Mar. 16: Bill Hixon, Second: Barb Wiese

Discussion: Amendments to the minutes of Mar. 16 were submitted by email by Sarah Vordtriede and have been incorporated into the minutes. Changes include the notation that CRJU 420 is a new course. Revised minutes have been submitted to Judy Gagne. Minutes approved as amended.

An informational note: It has been brought to the committee’s attention since the Mar. 16 meeting that an agency does exist for accrediting programs in criminalistics. Accreditation would require the addition of a semester of Calculus and a second semester of Physics to the program proposed for SAU. This information does not change the EPC’s approval of the program as it was proposed.

I. Proposed change in the CIS (Computer Information Systems) major. This change affects primarily the business component of the CIS major and is a response to the Business Dept. having dropped the General business minor. In place of the requirement that CIS majors complete that minor, then, two options are proposed:

Option One - ACCT 201, 202; ECON 101; FNCE 300; MKTG 309; MGMT 310; one business elective at or above the 300 level.

Option Two - Complete an approved College of Business major or minor. (The teaching minors do not fulfill this requirement.)

A student could also complete a second major within the College of Business.

The other change is in the Statistics course requirement such that all students must complete the STBE 337 statistics instead of selecting between STBE 337 and STATS 213. STBE 337 is offered through the college of business and seems more relevant to the CIS major.

The change from a General Business minor to the options provides for some flexibility in the number of credits a student will need for a CIS major. Instead of 60 credits, the major may now comprise from 51 to 69 credits depending on which option a student chooses.

Motion to approve the change: Nathan Schlueter; Second: Ragene Gwin

Discussion:

What is the purpose of the business component of the CIS major? CIS is geared toward Business Data processing. Therefore, students need some familiarity with business vocabulary and systems.

Motion passed.

II. MOL 5-year Program Review.

Motion to approve: Corinne Winter; Second: Kris Eitrheim

Significant curriculum changes in the MOL program were made in Fall of ’03; In the process of making those changes, the department effectively completed the bulk of the Program Review at that time. Only minor changes are proposed at this time:

1. Change the name of MOL 555: Psychology of Motivation to Leadership and Motivation. Rationale: The new course title would reflect better the interdisciplinary emphasis of the curriculum and the subject matter of the course. The old title suggests too narrow of a focus.

2. Drop MOL 650: Public Policy and Government Regulation. The market for this course, even at the Arsenal has been quite low. While the MOL needs to include a public sector and non-profit component, MOL 650 appears to be too narrow to draw students into the course as an elective when electives more relevant to their lives are available. Public sector applications of leadership are still found in the curriculum in courses such as MOL 655: Political and Civic Leadership.

The MOL program was first offered as a pilot program at the Rock Island Arsenal. It opened with about 20 students per year. Then, the faculty proposed an on-campus program anticipating perhaps 10 students per year. Instead, the numbers grew to about 80 students per year including both the Arsenal and the campus programs. Changes were made in the fall of ’03 in order to allow the faculty to continue offering a quality program within existing resources.

Comprehensive exams have been offered as an alternative to the thesis. Thos exams are designed to be rigorous and, in fact, about 10% of students do not pass them the first time. Those students are granted a re-write. This system seems to be working well.

Strengths of the program:

-Assessment of papers submitted in the capstone course along with thesis and Comprehensive exam papers show significant growth when compared to the papers submitted by the same students in MOL 501 – the introductory course. These observations suggest strengths of the program as well as individual growth.

-The cross-disciplinary nature of the program is well maintained.

Areas of growth:

-The comprehensive exam program will continue to be adjusted for maximum effectiveness.

-Faculty are concerned about future expansion due to limited resources.

It was noted in the EPC discussion that while the MOL program was built on a model that used adjunct faculty and faculty overload, additional resources will certainly be needed if the program is to continue growing. Several likely opportunities for such growth seem to be presenting themselves, including the chance to offer the course at off-campus sites.

-The program at the Arsenal has met a few bumps in terms of meeting needs of students there.

-While the faculty teaching overload courses for the program on-campus are dedicated to the program and recognize its value, those contracts do not require perseverance in the program.

Question: Will the Arsenal continue to provide student over time as current employees complete the MOL program? The original 3-year contract, which was won by SAU despite offers from other institutions to provide the program at less cost to the Arsenal, has been renewed for 5 years at the request of Arsenal personnel. There has been an influx of newer, younger employees who continue to value the program. Certainly a question of diminishing need may arise in the future.

The rigor and effectiveness of the MOL program is attested by the growing number of companies who recognize the degree for promotion, and who are willing to pay for students to pursue the degree.

Concerning resources, the College of Business has been very helpful. Some faculty have taught courses in the MOL program within their COB load. Also, a 15-credit certificate in Organizational Management can be earned in the COB and then applied toward either an MBA or an MOL. Since the COB provides daytime courses, some students can complete an MOL in one year. Most students can finish within two years.

Question: Is it a requirement that MOL 501 be taken before any other courses in the degree program? That is the “normal” course. However, some kinds of background prepare a student to enter another course first. Such students usually take 501 second, with the possible exception of those who begin with the certificate in Organizational Management.

Question: How does the LTPS course fit into the MOL? Should it be taken earlier in the program? This course, required for both MOL and MBA but also open to many people from the community as well as to other SAU students, contributes to the skills needed by organizational leaders. When students comments on taking it early or later in the program, their responses vary. Ideas gained in the course often appear in responses to Comprehensive exam courses.

Motion passed.

III. Proposed minor.

Organizational Leadership Interdisciplinary Minor

Required Courses (6 Credits)

These courses provide the foundation and capstone components for the minor.

Orgl 104 – Contemporary Issues in Leadership (Gen Ed Class)

Psci 401 – Leadership Theory or Mgmt 325 – Leadership in Organizations (WI Class)

Core Courses (Choose Two – 6 Credits)

These courses are core to the understanding of leadership in the varied contexts explored in the minor. They are essential to the study of leadership in public, private, and non-profit organizations.

Comm 327 – Organizational Communication

Mgmt 332 – Organizational Theory and Behavior

Soc 280 – Conflict Resolution (Gen Ed Class) or Mgmt 336 Mediation

Phil 207 or 305 or 343 (All are Gen Ed classes)

Applied Electives (Choose One – 3 Credits)

These courses provide the student with the opportunity to explore an aspect leadership that is of benefit to them in conjunction with their major course of study.

Students would be able to complete any applied leadership course relevant to the student’s special interest listed below:

Comm 203 – Interpersonal Communication (Gen Ed Class)

Comm 306 – Group Decision Making (Writing Intensive Class)

Engl 220– Minority Voices (Gen Ed Class)

Engl 223- African-American Literature (Gen Ed Class)

Engl 315 – Written Business Communications

Mgmt 310 – Principles of Management (Writing Intensive Class)

Mgmt 320 – Human Resource Management

Mgmt 337 – Gender in Organizations

Mgmt 338 – Diversity in the Workplace

Orgl 201 – Intro to Leadership Development (Gen Ed class)

Orgl 199/299/399 – Special Topics in Organizational Leadership (Gen Ed Classes)

Phil 210 – Social and Political Philosophy (Gen Ed Class)

Psci 320 – The Presidency, Congress and the Courts

Psci 322 – Urban Politics

Psci 370 – Public Administration (Writing Intensive Class)

Psyc 314 – Human Motivation (Writing Intensive Class)

Soc 225 – Sex and Gender (Gen Ed Class)

Soc 240 – Race and Ethnicity (Gen Ed Class)

Theo 219 – Moral Issues (Writing Intensive and Gen Ed class)

Theo 250 - Comparative Religions (Gen Ed class)

Theo 362 – Social Justice

Wmst 201 – Intro to Women’s Studies (Gen Ed Class)

Motion to approve: Kris Eitrheim; Second: Nathan Schlueter

Discussion:

This program grows out of a desire to proposed leadership ideas for consideration by undergraduates in a quality interdisciplinary program. It fits the goals of SAU and of the College of Arts and Sciences both by its interdisciplinary nature and by its goal of helping to encourage quality people to exert influence in their communities.

Most of the courses included in the program are existing courses. New courses are ORGL 104 (introduction) and ORGL 199/299/399 (Topics courses)

Will courses that are listed as program electives count toward the minor even if they have been taken before a student declares the minor? The concern here is that a student may be less able to apply the leadership component of the course if s/he has taken the course without the minor in mind. This seems to MOL faculty not necessarily a problem. The capstone course (Either PSCI 401 or MGMT 325) should provide the student an opportunity to integrate ideas.

There followed considerable discussion of the meaning and importance of sequence in the development of knowledge in this minor (as well as elsewhere). Differences of opinion persist, but the committee agreed with a recommendation that the instructors of the capstone courses pay attention to the differences in achievement between students who plan the minor beginning with 104 and those who put it together later after observing that it is an option due to the set of courses they have already taken.

Do faculty have any sense how many students might choose this minor? No.

Is it necessary that an interdisciplinary minor used to fulfill Gen Ed. Requirements include at least 9 credits in courses designated as Gen Ed? If so, can Recors and Registration check that students have met the requirement. There was some uncertainty whether such was the intent when the option of Interdisciplinary minor was offered in the Gen Ed. Revision. If it is essential, Records and Registration can include a footnote within the audit process.

Clarification received after the meeting: 9 credits of gen ed is a requirement for an interdisciplinary minor to meet the Level II requirements. This is described in detail at http://web.sau.edu/GeneralEducation/IDM_final.htm.

Is there any difficulty with the fact that the designated capstone courses are not designed for the minor itself but are courses existing within other minors? Could a student end up starting with the capstone course and doing the entire manor in a backwards fashion? This seems unlikely as students in PSCI and MGMT take the courses in senior year. Should the courses be cross-listed as ORGL 401? Charles Minnick and Dan Zeimet will discuss this issue and report back to EPC.

Motion to approve the minor is amended by friendly amendment to include the condition that above-mention discussion take place and the decision be reported to EPC.

A discussion of the core courses and their centrality to the goals of the monor led to a second friendly amendment. The Core requirements will be changed so that all students in the minor are required to take one of the courses in ethics (Options include Phil 207, 305, 343, and Theo 219) plus one of the other three courses listed in the Core.

Revised Program description was submitted and is appended to these minutes.

Where will the program be housed – in Political Science.

Why is there a need for the topics numbers in ORGL when topics in the other disciplines already exist? There might be a course that is appropriate for the minor that doesn’t fit, for example, in Sociology or Political Science as such.

The committee asked for more clarity regarding the assessment tools that are proposed. The courses that have been designated as capstones for the minor will be re-configured to accommodate the need for assessment in the minor. This needs to be spelled out in greater detail.

Question – How are social science methods addressed in the ORGL 104 that it should count as Gen Ed. In Social Sciences? This led to another lengthy discussion of the meaning of social science and the standards that are applied to interdisciplinary course included as Gen. Ed. That discussion concluded with the proposal that Brenda Peters and Jeremy Burke will work on a proposal to clarify the standards applied for that designation. They will propose criteria to EPC and the criteria that are passed will be added to the website as applicable to all courses designated Gen Ed in Social Sciences. Paul Koch will work with Charles Minnick to assure the inclusion of Social Science methods in ORGL 104.

Motion passed with one dissenting vote.

The question was raised whether there are any known results of a survey regarding the structure of the university (number of colleges). EPC would like to go on record requesting that those results be reported to the faculty.

The next meeting is April 13. On the agenda so far: Prgram Reviews from Philosophy (already received) Communication (to be received), and General Business (to be received).

Motion to adjourn: Kris Eitrheim; Second: Bill Hixon

Adjourned 4:45.

Submitted by Corinne Winter

Appendix: Revised program description

Interdisciplinary Minor in Organizational Leadership

I. Title of Interdisciplinary Minor

Interdisciplinary Minor in Organizational Leadership

II. Coordinator

Charles Minnick, Master of Organizational Leadership Department

III. Mission Statement of Interdisciplinary Minor

In keeping with the mission of Saint Ambrose University, and more specifically the mission of the College of Arts and Sciences, the following will serve as the mission statement for the Interdisciplinary Minor in Organizational Leadership:

The Interdisciplinary Minor in Organizational Leadership will challenge students to critically analyze their own values and beliefs in order to acquire and enhance their skills in the areas of self-awareness and personal leadership, vision, execution, adaptability, social influence, and developing others. Additionally, the minor will assist students in developing the skills necessary to act as knowledgeable, ethical, and caring leaders for the diverse world in which we live.

IV. Learning Objectives of the Interdisciplinary Minor

A. The students will become comfortable with the concept of leadership in a variety of contexts and approaches.

The students will have an understanding and appreciation of the unique challenges that face women and minority leaders.
The students will gain an enhanced understanding of the moral and ethical dimensions of leadership.
The students will acquire enhanced critical thinking, written, and oral communication skills.
The students will become aware of individual styles, approaches, strengths, and opportunities that he or she brings to the leadership process.
The students will gain an enhanced understanding of the varied contexts, situations, and settings in which leaders operate. Including private, public, and non-profit organizations.

V. Program Curricular Structure

In order to successfully complete the Interdisciplinary Minor in Organizational Leadership students must satisfy the following curricular requirements, adding up to a total of fifteen credits.

Beyond the six required General Education credits students must complete three additional credits of approved General Education classes from the Core and Applied Elective courses for a total of nine credits minimum of approved General Education credits. General Education classes are noted as such in the list below.