COUNCIL
ON CURRICULAR PROGRAMS AND INSTRUCTION
Thursday, 23 February 2006
3:30 p.m.
Algonquin Room - University
A C T I O N M
I N U T E S
MEMBERS PRESENT: P. Anderson, L. Conover, B. George, J. La Prad, A.
Melkumian, K. Neumann,
N. Parsons, K. Winters,
Ex-officio: B. Baily, D.
Williams
MEMBERS ABSENT: T. Waldrup
GUESTS: Rita Creger, Tej Kaul, Jim
McQuillan, Vicki Nicholson, Jim Schmidt
I. Consideration
of Minutes – 9 February 2006
APPROVED
AS DISTRIBUTED
II. Approvals from the Provost
A. Requests for New
Courses
1. EM 276,
Introduction to Hazards, 3 s.h.
2. EM 304,
Principles of Emergency Management, 3 s.h.
3. EM 305,
Dimensions of Disaster, 3 s.h.
4. EM 306, Individual
and Community Disaster Education, 3 s.h.
5. EM 460,
Weapons of Mass Destruction in Health Sciences, 3 s.h.
6. EM 461,
Business and Industry Emergency Management, 3 s.h.
7. EM 491,
Emergency Management Internship, 9-12 s.h.
B. Request for New
Major
1. Emergency
Management
C. Request for New
Minor
1. American
Humanics: Nonprofit Youth and Human Service Organizations
D. Request for Change
in Minor
1. Occupational
Safety
E. Request for Change
in Option
1. Athletic
Training
III. Announcements
– None
Chairperson
Anderson asked for a motion to reorder the agenda to consider the CCPI
subcommittee report next.
Motion: To reorder the agenda to
consider VI.A. immediately following Announcements (Parsons/La Prad)
MOTION APPROVED 9 YES – 0 NO – AB
VI. Reports
A. CCPI Subcommittee to Define Terms Related to
Academic Programming (Reordered)
Provost
Rallo and Faculty Senate Parliamentarian Dale Hample met with the subcommittee
this morning following a request by the Senate Executive Committee. Chairperson Anderson reported that they asked
the subcommittee to evaluate all existing programs at WIU and to decide whether
or not their total semester hours are overly high, taking into account that
some programs, such as Education, may have exceptional reasons for the
additional hours, such as accreditation requirements. Chairperson Anderson told CCPI she sees this
as a huge undertaking and that the subcommittee this morning decided that the
charge was too big for them alone and to include the full CCPI membership in
the process. She stated that CCPI will
need to begin meeting every Thursday afternoon instead of alternate ones in
order to meet the additional charge.
Nancy
Parsons stated that the Executive Committee representatives indicated a desire
for the subcommittee to consider whether the University should have less
definitions and categories for academic programs than are currently used, and
if they can be written in a way that would be inclusive for more programs in
order to reduce the number of definitions.
She said they were instructed to focus on a template prepared by Vicki
Nicholson of the Provost’s office. Dr.
Parsons stated the subcommittee is to look at what is considered to be a major,
what is included within it, and whether it is too large, considering each
program at the University. She said CCPI
is to determine the standard number of hours for a major, unless there are ways
to justify hours beyond the standard, such as similar programs at sister
institutions, accreditation and state regulations, etc. It was also noted by Drs. Rallo and Hample to
the subcommittee that Western does not have “bail out” majors available to
students who cannot complete the required hours but still wish to graduate with
a degree.
Associate
Provost Baily, who serves as an ex-officio member of the subcommittee, stated
that the first priority really is the template, which should be used to
determine what should be considered a major, minor, option, etc. and whether
WIU should even have minors, options, or other categories currently utilized. She said CCPI is being asked to start with a
clean slate and to come back to Faculty Senate with a recommendation for a
template for all majors. Dr. Baily
stated that CCPI is being asked to concentrate on two questions asked
previously by the Executive Committee:
1.) Should there be a cap on the number of semester hours in a
comprehensive major, and 2.) Should the range of semester hours in categories
other than the comprehensive major be as large as was indicated on the original
subcommittee report? She stated that
Provost Rallo believes there should be limits on the number of semester hours
in majors. Dr. Baily said she does not
know at this point if the recommendations of the subcommittee, if accepted by
Faculty Senate, would be applied retroactively to majors. Dr. Parsons added that the concern is that
there has been a lesser focus on the size of majors during the approval process
and what is now being requested is a fresh look at how curriculum is done at
WIU. She said it was pointed out during
this morning’s meeting that perhaps an entire course is not needed to provide
students with the same information that is infused throughout other
courses. Dr. Parsons said CCPI is being
asked to assess whether the University is being responsible in the number of
hours expected for students to complete.
She added that since consideration of curriculum issues is the role of
CCPI, it was thought that the full council may carry more authority and that
other members of the council who were not on the subcommittee may wish to be
more involved in the process. Associate
Provost Baily told CCPI members that it is their responsibility, as
representatives of their colleges, to participate in discussions to determine
the ideal curriculum structure for the University. She added that Provost Rallo has indicated
that he will not sign off on any more large majors; he will review closely
anything over 120 hours, both entire program hours and major hours. She said one of the Provost’s concerns is
that Western is retaining its students too long, and that he feels strongly
that there should be some sort of “bail out” program for WIU majors. Ms. Nicholson noted that if the University
should wish to add a foreign language requirement or a required FYE course,
many majors are so full that that there is no space to add any additional
requirements without going well over 120 hours.
One
CCPI member remarked that it was challenging to attend meetings and find time
for teaching, grading, scholarship, and applying for grants, and that to meet
every week for CCPI would be very difficult.
Kathy Neumann, who serves on the subcommittee, responded that there does
not seem to be any alternative to weekly meetings, but that the subcommittee
realizes that not all members may be able to attend all meetings. Chairperson Anderson also suggested that a
time limit could be placed on the joint CCPI-subcommittee meetings.
IV. Old Business – None
V. New Business
A. Requests for New Courses
1. IM 344, Telecommunications Planning and
Management, 3 s.h.
Motion: To approve IM 344
(Melkumian/Parsons)
MOTION APPROVED 9 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB
2. TM 321, Local Area Network Management, 3
s.h.
Motion: To approve TM 321 (Conover/George)
Dr.
Woell noted that nine new courses were being requested by Computer Science but
that the requests indicate that no additional faculty are needed. Computer Science Chair Kathy Neumann
explained that the department has been hoping to propose the Telecommunications
Management major for some time, and for the past two years has made strategic
hiring decisions in anticipation of being able to offer it. She stated the number of Computer Science
majors has declined to the point that the only reason the department is being allowed
to maintain its current level of faculty is in anticipation of the new major,
and if the major is not approved, Computer Science will probably lose some of
them. She added that the department
hopes to be able to draw new students into the proposed major, not to dilute
the current pool among multiple majors.
In response to a question about not needing additional library resources
for the proposed new courses, Dr. Neumann stated that when a search for books
appropriate to the proposed major is performed, it comes up with hundreds of
hits, and since telecommunication is used by everyone on a daily basis, the
department hopes to tap into those existing resources. She
added that the field is changing so fast that any books more than two years old
are not going to be terribly relevant.
Change: Change Date of First Offering
to Spring 2007
MOTION APPROVED WITH CHANGE 8 YES – 0 NO – 1 AB
3. TM 322, Wide Area Network Management, 3
s.h.
Motion: To approve TM 322
(Parsons/Conover)
Change: Change Date of First Offering
to Spring 2007
MOTION APPROVED WITH CHANGE 8 YES – 0 NO – 1 AB
4. TM 422, Web Technologies, 3 s.h.
Motion: To approve TM 422 (La
Prad/Melkumian)
Change: Change Courses to be Deleted
with Approval of this Request from “none” to CS 487
MOTION APPROVED WITH CHANGE 8 YES – 0 NO – 1 AB
5. TM 432, Network Performance Analysis, 3
s.h.
Motion: To approve TM 432
(Melkumian/Parsons)
MOTION APPROVED 8 YES – 0 NO – 1 AB
6. TM 434, Distributed Systems, 3 s.h.
Motion: To approve TM 434 (La Prad/Melkumian)
MOTION APPROVED 8 YES – 0 NO – 1 AB
7. TM 436, Advanced Network Security, 3 s.h.
Motion: To approve TM 436
(Melkumian/Parsons)
MOTION APPROVED 8 YES – 0 NO – 1 AB
8. TM 490, Telecommunications Management
Seminar, 1-3 s.h. (repeatable to 6 s.h., 3 s.h. per semester)
Motion: To approve TM 490 (La
Prad/Melkumian)
Change: Change Prerequisite from
“consent of department” to “junior standing and consent of department.”
MOTION APPROVED WITH CHANGE 8 YES – 0 NO – 1 AB
9. TM 495, Telecommunications Management
Internship, 1-12 s.h. (repeatable to 12 s.h.)
Motion: To approve TM 495 (Parsons/La
Prad)
Change: Change catalog description from
“Credit for work experience in a research, government, or business organization,”
to “Provides work experience in a …”
MOTION APPROVED WITH CHANGE 8 YES – 0 NO – 1 AB
10. TM 499, Independent Study, 1-3 s.h.
(repeatable to 6 s.h., 3 s.h. per semester)
Motion: To approve TM 499 (La Prad/Conover)
Dr. Neumann explained that the 3 s.h. per
semester stipulation is intended to keep students from taking too many
independent study courses at the expense of traditional classroom
instruction. She said the department’s
independent study courses are to be a vehicle for their better students to
investigate an advanced topic with a professor.
Change: Change Prerequisite from
“consent of department” to “junior standing and consent of department.”
MOTION APPROVED WITH CHANGE 8 YES – 0 NO – 1 AB
B. Request for Change in Prerequisite
1. CS 470, Database Systems, 3 s.h.
Current: CS 351
Proposed: CS 351 or TM
432
Motion: To approve CS 470
(Melkumian/Parsons)
Change: Change Effective Date to Spring
2007
MOTION APPROVED WITH CHANGE 8 YES – 0 NO – 1 AB
C. Request for Change in Course Description
1. CS 420, Computer Communication and
Networks, 3 s.h.
Current: Survey of the operational features of telecommunications
systems, computer network, and distributed-processing systems. Considerations for the design of real-time
systems.
Proposed: Survey of
the operational features of telecommunications systems, computer network, and
distributed-processing systems.
Considerations for the design of real-time systems. Cannot
be applied to the telecommunications management major.
Motion: To approve CS 420
(Melkumian/Conover)
Change: Change Effective Date to Spring
2007
MOTION APPROVED WITH CHANGE 8 YES – 0 NO – 1 AB
D. Request for Change in Course Title and
Description
1. IM 125, Entrepreneurship: An Introduction
to Business, 3 s.h.
Current: Entrepreneurship: An Introduction to Business
A first course in business. Introduction to entrepreneurial concepts of
American business as related to management and organization, human resources
management, marketing, finance, international business, and information
management. Some emphasis on careers and
small business management.
Proposed: Business and
Technology in a Global Society
A
comprehensive overview of global business principles, practices, and trends
that are reshaping today’s business and affecting tomorrow’s competitive
environment. The impact of technology,
ethics, diversity, culture, and various emerging issues are applied to all
business disciplines.
Motion: To approve IM 125
(Conover/Parsons)
In response to a question as to why a new
course is not being proposed instead of changes to the current course,
Information Management and Decision Sciences Chair Tej Kaul explained that the
modified course will still cover over 50 percent of the material that was
covered under the existing title and description, with only 30 to 35 percent
new material.
Change: Change the last sentence of the
course description to read, “Consideration of the impact of technology, ethics,
diversity, culture, and various emerging issues on all business disciplines.”
MOTION APPROVED WITH CHANGE 9 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB
E. Request for New Major
1. Telecommunications Management
Motion: To approve new major
(Melkumian/Conover)
Change:
Following discussion of the expanded charge to the subcommittee, CCPI felt
Computer Science should include a statement in their rationale explaining why
the proposed new major is not comprehensive.
Dr. Neumann explained that the request parallels traditional Computer
Science majors, and that until today’s discussion, it was understood that
anything requiring less than 48 s.h. was not considered comprehensive. Dr. Neumann explained that she feels the
content of the proposed major would not provide students with the totality of
exposure to the discipline that they would need, so a minor is needed, and CCPI
advised Dr. Neumann to include such a justification within the rationale. Dr. Baily stated that Computer Science could
include information showing that the major was patterned after others at sister
institutions and that the courses are needed to cover the breadth of material
contained in the major.
MOTION APPROVED WITH CHANGE 8 YES – 0 NO – 1 AB
Dr. Kaul remarked that changes to the business
core will come before CCPI at its next meeting.
He asked what message he should take back to the departments within the
VI. Reports
B. Provost’s Report
– None
Motion: To adjourn (Parsons)
The Council adjourned at 4:55 p.m.
Ed Woell, Secretary
Annette Hamm, Faculty Senate Recording Secretary