Undergraduate Education, Council on - Minutes - 2007-2008
CUE MINUTES 2-29-08
Opened at 1:40 p.m.
Members Present: Jon Rust, chair; Barbara Kirby, past chair; Ingrid Schmidt; Larry Brown; Carry McLean; Andy Nowel; John Tector; Gary Weinberg; Douglas Barlage; Hans Kellner; Cynthia Levine; Tamah Morant; David Auerbach; Randolph Foy; Chad Jordan; Brian Matthews; Jack Wheatley; Amber Joyner; Seth Palmer; Allen Dupont; John Ambrose; Catherine Freeman
Comments from the Chair:
Welcome to all the members! Jon Rust gave an update to the Interdisciplinary Courses and Symposium to the Faculty Senate on Tuesday, February 26. 2008. Thanks to members who attended the meeting.
Comments from the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Academic Programs:
Ambrose mentioned Rust’s presentation seemed well received at the Faculty Senate meeting and members agreed CUE is doing a good job of keeping people updated and informed about the implementation process so far. Talking to R&R to get hard deadlines on curricular revisions to them so they have it ready for the Summer ’09 students.
Minutes from 2-15-08:
- added Ingrid Schmidt to helping with the Global Knowledge Category subcommittee
- Minutes approved with the revision. Moved and seconded. Approved unanimously.
Randolph Foy presented the rationale and objectives for the Visual and Performing Arts. (See final Version attached).
Discussion followed concerning suggested revisions.
- Rational- inserted “distinct” after enquiry and “both “ after from, and “and” after Social Sciences, and spell out STS, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.
- Deleted “capacity to” and changed “be” to “being”
- Deleted “therefore”
- Added “Familiarity” after “educated as”
- Remove “Verbal and Mathematical”
- added “other” – “familiarity with other modes of discourse”
- Remove “fully human and therefore”
- change Discourse to Inquiry
- Change “Many of the most profound expressions of meaning…”
- change develops to promotes in second to last sentence
- remove personal before creativity
- remove the comma before “ and the Science, Technology…”
- change “promotes” to “encourages”
Moved to approve the revised VPA rationale as it is currently written during the meeting. Discussion: none. Seconded. Approved unanimously.
Moved to approve the VPA objectives as they are. Seconded. Discussion: Some members discussed “recreating” in the objective and how it pertains to arts. Objectives were approved unanimously. (See approved version attached)
Allen Dupont presented the rational for the Additional Breadth Category. This was written in collaboration with other CUE members.
Discussion: Can the VPA be included on both sides as an option?
- added Lists – “The student will select this course from either the Humanities/Social Science Lists, the Visual and Performing Arts lists, or the Math/Natural Science/Engineering lists.”
- Brief discussion of how programs’ ability to decide on the additional breadth choice for their students. Setting it up that a CHASS student could choose from a STEM or VPA list, and STEM students could choose from a HSS or VPA list?
- Suggestion of each program will select the two lists (categories) from which their majors will choose from.
- Changed “lists” to “Category” : “The student will select this course from either the Humanities/Social Science category, the Visual and Performing Arts category, or the Math/Natural Science/Engineering category.”
- “Determining the appropriate category for any one student…”
- Remove “for any one student”
Hans Kellner made the recommendation to divide the additional breadth into three categories rather than the two categories recommended by the task force.
Concerns were raised about having enough courses to offer to students in a visual and performing arts category. Several members commented on the possible limited seating available for students.
Dr. Ambrose explained that the Additional Breadth Category was a compromise reached by the GER Task Force in its efforts to ensure that students took a reasonable number of both Math and Science courses and Humanities and Social Science courses.
Additional Breadth Rationale - Moved and seconded. (See final version attached).
- 1 – Nay
- Majority carries.
- Approved.
Rust moved the IP Symposium update up on the agenda:
Matthews presented an update on the IP Symposium. The date has been altered to April 2, and will be held at the University Club. We have specifically 2 keynote speakers, Will Kimler and Bill Winter. We will need to email the folks on the presenter list to discuss and organize poster sessions. Please continue to submit nominations for the list of Interdisciplinary folks. Invite and see if they will present a poster as well as coordinate roundtables. Suggestion of having posters could be put into a powerpoint and hosted on a website so that people can view them. We are looking for someone to help with this task. Keep asking around to find someone to do the web design and template.
- Solicit for poster sessions
- Ask folks to be panelists with Will Kimler and facilitators for roundtables or breakout sessions.
- General invitation to the whole university – perhaps put it on our website? Hans ask the faculty senate to help invite the general faculty.
- Suggestions for a title for the IP Symposium - “Symposium: Inderdisciplinarity in General Education”
- Suggestion to solicit questions beforehand for the panel and keynotes to answer.
Course Lists update. Catherine Freeman has sent out to academic department heads, associate deans, etc, a memo from the Associate Dean as well as GER course lists and the departments offering these GER lists. These lists will be reviewed and submitted back to DUAP by March 26. The email included a memo from Dr. Ambrose and a copy of course lists . (request to send the memo to the CUE members also).
Meeting adjourned at 2:55 p.m.
(Approved Versions)
Visual and Performing Arts
Rationale:
The Visual and Performing Arts constitute a separate, unique, and independent mode of inquiry distinct from both the Humanities and Social Sciences and the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics disciplines. Being conversant in the symbolic languages of the Arts is as important as familiarity with other modes of inquiry. Many of the most profound expressions of meaning and value are embodied in the arts, and developing sensitivity and responsiveness to these through visual and performing arts courses encourages students’ aesthetic sensitivities, critical judgment, and creativity. Courses in the arts also provide students with an understanding of the cultural and historical dimensions of artistic expression.
Objectives:
Each course in the Visual and Performing Arts category of the General Education Program will provide instruction and guidance that helps students to:
- deepen their understanding of aesthetic, cultural, and historical dimensions of artistic traditions; and
- strengthen their ability to interpret and make critical judgments about the arts through the analysis of structure, form, and style of specific works; and
strengthen their ability to create, recreate, or evaluate art based upon techniques and standards appropriate to the genre.
Additional Breadth
Rationale:
One purpose of the General Education Program is to introduce students to a variety of disciplines. To this end, students are required to successfully complete a course that represents an approach to scholarship that is clearly distinct from the primary approach of their major. The student will select this course from either the Humanities/Social Science category, or the Visual and Performing Arts category, or the Math/Natural Science/Engineering category. Determining the appropriate categories is an exercise in judgment best left to faculty in the major; accordingly, each program will select up to two categories from which their majors will choose a course to fulfill this requirement. The faculty’s category selection will be reviewed through appropriate college-level mechanisms and then reviewed by CUE.