Educational Policies Minutes, Oct. 7, 2003

 

Members present:  Barb Wiese, David O’Connell, Randy Richards, Bill Hixon, Lori Rodriguez-Fisher, Nathan Schlueter, Ragene Gwin, Nate Mundy, Kris Eitrheim, Bill McAleer

 

Guests:  Bob Ristow, Paul Koch, Scott Heisdorffer, Hope Gardina, Waylyn McCulloh, Sandra Quinn, Kathleen Zajicek, Bill Parsons, Charles Minnick

 

  1. Approval of Minutes from Sept. 9

 

Motion – Barb Wiese,  Second – Nate Mundy  Approved

 

  1. Occupational Therapy proposal to reduce number of Social Science pre-requisites for entry into the program

 

Motion – Nathan Schlueter, Second – Ragene Gwin

 

Discussion:  STAT 213 has moved from the Social Sciences to the Mathematics category with the General Education changes.  Therefore, the students will take the same courses; only the designation will change

 

Motion passed

 

  1. Formal approval of the change in course designations:

 

 

MATH390, Operations Research I be designated as:

IE409, Operations Research - Mathematical Programming

 

       MATH391, Operations Research II be designated as:

IE391, Operations Research - Probability Models

 

Motion – Bill Hixon,  Second – Kris Eitrheim

 

Discussion:  This change was informally approved via email among EPC members so that IE and MATH could send the change to records and Registration in time for the Spring course schedule.  These courses have served almost exclusively IE majors and are taught by IE faculty.  Both departments and both deans support the change.

 

Motion passed.

 

  1. Approval of accelerated BCJ program.

 

Motion – Barb Wiese, Second – Bill Hixon

 

Discussion:  This program arises from a desire to serve CJ practitioners who currently hold two-year degrees but need the Bachelors degree for promotion.  It is also a response to expected competition from KAPLAN College, which now offers a 4-year degree in CJ.  A challenge will be the high number of prospective students who work second shift.  The hope is that this issue might be addressed by offering a good number of the courses on-line.

 

The Accelerated program includes fewer credits in CJ itself  (39 compared to 54 in the BACJ offered on-campus) and includes two new courses that address interests expressed in a focus group of CJ professionals.  These courses – Special Issues in Corrections and Theoretical Concepts in Criminology – connect the theory with the practical aspects of CJ work.

 

In regard to the idea of attracting persons who currently hold a 2-year degree by billing this as a 2 + 2 program through articulation agreements with community colleges, a question was raised about the percentage of current CJ majors who are transfers.  This major is intended to attract working adults rather than traditional transfer students.  It is hoped that students who complete the BCJ might be further  attracted to pursue an MCJ which could be completed in one additional year.

 

A question was raised about the additional burden this program might place on CJ faculty who seem already to accomplish a great deal.  Hope Gardina expressed the conviction that the courses at ACCEL can be taught by qualified adjuncts including some of SAU’s MCJ graduates.  An August assessment brought 7 applicants qualified for CJ courses and an upcoming assessment will include more such candidates.  Advising can be accomplished by ACCEL staff with Sandra Quinn serving as liason for content advising.

 

Several questions were raised about the listing of gen ed. Courses.  CATH 201 was not listed as an option for the Theo/Phil.  That is because the course is not yet offered at ACCEL.  Creative arts courses were listed as humanities options.  They are not yet offered at ACCEL either, but it is hoped that they will be soon.  ACCEL student can take on-campus courses.

 

A final question was raised about the lack of a constitution course in the proposed curriculum. Certain constitutional issues are important for CJ professionals.  Waylyn McCullough agreed that the issues are important and expressed his opinion that the relevant material is covered within the proposed courses although not in a separate course.  The faculty were asked to review the curriculum and report to EPC how the constitutional material is covered within the proposed curriculum or to consider adding a course.

 

With that agreement, the motion was passed.

 

  1. Review of Portfolio learning – review submitted by Hope Gardina from ACCEL

 

Motion to accept the review – Ragene Gwin  Second – Nathan Schlueter

 

Discussion:  The credit for prior learning process used to be handled by the Continuing Education office.  In 2000, ACCEL took over the process for both ACCEL and on-campus students.  It is, in fact, mostly ACCEL students who request such credit.  ACCEL really handles only the portfolio process.  Other process for receiving credit – including CLEP testing and evaluation of military training programs are handled directly through Records and Registration.  In the portfolio process, students are asked to define the course for which they believe they have met the learning objectives and then to have a discussion with a faculty member in the relevant department to determine the viability of their request.  If the request seems viable, the student must outline the ways in which the learning objectives have been met and show examples of their work.  The faculty in the department has the final decision as to the amount of credit to be awarded.  This is credit for learning – not for life experience.  Since ACCEL took over the process, 17 students have requested a total of 120 credits,; 111 of those have been awarded. 

 

ACCEL was complimented on the clarity of the process and on the way it upholds academic standards.  It was noted that the report did not include evidence of an assessment conversation having taken place.   

 

Motion to give conditional approval to the report pending the submission of a report of an assessment conversation to include students and faculty who have taken part in the process.  Motion – Bill Hixon,  Second – Ragene Gwin.  Motion passed.

 

  1. Approval of new MOL course – MOL 625 Leading Organizational Change.

 

Motion – Kris Eitrheim; Second David O’Connell

 

Discussion:  the course addresses a key interest in society, one that has arisen in discussion within current MOL courses. Organizational change is a significant issue within organizational culture today.  Current MOL faculty have the expertise to develop and teach the course.  MOL 625 would be an elective offered once each year MOL students take 3 or 4 MOL electives during their course of study. 

 

Motion Passed

 

  1. Clarification of the Language requirement. 

 

Scott Heisdorffer and Paul Koch discussed the nature and apparent source of some confusion among advisors regarding the requirement, in particular for transfer students.  The necessary information is included in EPC minutes from the past and was sent in a campus-wide email Sept. 17, 2003, by Paul Koch.  Scott Heisdorffer agrees that Paul’s email clarifies the situation and that information  bears repetition here:

 

While it is true that the language study for transfers does not have to be in the same language, it is possible for a student to take less than three semester of language at any level if they have some previous language credits either in high school or another college.  The current language of the catalog is as follows.

 

            "Transfer student with 24 transferable hours successfully completed before entering SAU 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."

 

            Thus, for example, if a transfer student comes into the institution with 2 years of high school language, they only need to take 1 semester of language at St. Ambrose.  This semester could be in any language, either the language of original study or a new language.  This semester of study could also be at any level (see the minutes of the Educational Policies Committee <http://www.sau.edu/provost/EPCmin031902.htm> that clarify this; "...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"; emphasis added). 

 

Perhaps the easiest way to think of the language requirement for transfers with at least 24 transferable hours, is that any combination of years of high school and/or semesters of college languages at any level that equal three "units" of language study will satisfy the language requirement.  A unit of study would be one year of high school or one semester of college language.

 

Scott Heisdorffer will examine the catalogue language to see whether it needs to be clarified.

 

  1. Request from catalogue committee for an EPC member to attend their meetings to be certain that changes passed by EPC are correctly reflected in the catalogue. 

 

The committee suggested that someone from catalogue join the EPC meetings.

 

  1. New Business

 

Suggestion – that the general education worksheets applicable to student currently at SAU (i.e. 1999 catalogue version, 2001 catalogue version and 2003 catalogue version) be made easily accessible on line.

 

Suggestion -  that submission guidelines for Program Reviews, New Program Proposals, and New Course Proposals be made easily accessible on the Provost web page.  Corinne Winter to see what is there at present.

 

Question about some EPC members missing materials for the meetings.  Request that all relevant materials be posted on the Provost web page and email notice be sent to members that they are available for download.  Randy Richards to contact Judy Gagne.

 

  1. Draft Agenda for Oct. 21:

 

Program Review – Physics

Program Review Economics

New program proposal – Health, Physical Education, and Sport Medicine.

 

Motion to Adjourn – Kris Eitrheim;  Second – Nathan Schlueter

 

Submitted by Corinne Winter