October 5, 2010

October 5, 2010

Academic Council (approved November 2, 2010)

Present: Athinarayanan, Barrios, Hinkle, Janzow, Lilly, McDougall, McGowan, Miller, Prater, Ray, Roeder, Rosati, Ruediger, Shaw, Timlin, and Ustinova

Guests: Tamela Hanebrink

A.  MINUTES:
Upon a motion by McDougall; seconded by McGowan, the minutes of September 7, 2010 were unanimously approved.

B.  ACTION ITEMS:

1.  Department Name Change - Department of Accounting and Management Information Systems to Department of Accounting
McDougall moved approval of the proposed department name change from the Department of Accounting and Management Information Systems to the Department of Accounting; seconded by Janzow. McDougall explained that there was previously a major in Management Information Systems (MIS), and in 2003, the Department changed their name to include that degree. However, with the elimination of the MIS degree in Spring 2010, the Department supports changing the name. Further discussion followed. Motion passed unanimously.

2.  Master of Public Administration – Deletion of Community Wellness and Leisure Services Option
 Prater suggested that this item be tabled, as Joe Pujol, department chair, was not in attendance. McGowan pointed out that deleting the Community Wellness and Leisure Services option would leave only one option under the MPA and suggested that that option should possibly be deleted as well. McDougall moved approval to table the item; McGowan seconded. Motion to table item passed unanimously.

3.  History Minor – Proposed Changes
 Barrios moved approval of the proposed changes to the History minor; Lilly seconded. The proposal is to remove the GH315 requirement, and instead take a GH, US, EH, WH, or HP course. The change would allow the minor to be offered completely online. There were no questions from the Council. Motion passed unanimously.

4.  Bachelor of Science in Psychology – Off Site Delivery
 Barrios moved approval of the proposal to offer the BS in Psychology off site at the regional campuses and at Perryville; Shaw seconded. Discussion followed. Shaw expressed that Extended Learning appreciates the Department of Psychology offering the program off site. Motion passed unanimously.

C.  DISCUSSION ITEMS

1.  Program Review
Rosati explained that there have been a number of meetings with groups in the state regarding program review. He explained that in terms of process, the state hasn’t mandated a formal process at this point, but we have developed a draft (handout). He stated that we don’t have a final list of low completers from MDHE, but we’re supposed to get it by Thursday. He explained that MDHE’s list will contain programs with low completers, more specifically, baccalaureate programs with fewer than ten completers, masters programs with fewer than five completers, and doctoral programs with fewer than three completers per year. Rosati stressed that we must go through the process. He explained that the list should be able to be broken down into three categories: 1) programs which our office can justify (ex., new programs, no cost programs, programs already recommended for deletion, etc.); 2) programs that have recently gone through our Program Review (if the program has been reviewed in the past year, the department can make changes to their report or choose to leave the review as is); and 3) programs that don’t fit in the other categories and will go through our Program Review process this month. We have an October 29th deadline to return our justifications/explanations to MDHE. Further discussion followed. Ray questioned how transparent the process would be; Rosati explained that the affected departments will be notified first, but the information will be shared. He further explained that we don’t want to alarm the campus by sending out a list prematurely. Lilly suggested that a letter to the campus be sent once we have the final list from MDHE, explaining that there is a very short timeline.

2. MA134 & MA139
McGowan explained that the Mathematics Department will pilot course redesign with MA134 and MA139 in Spring 2011. The pilot will be the on-campus courses, will be three hours of lecture and one hour of recitation, and will be offered much like the current chemistry courses are offered. MA134 will have 100 students in the lecture, and 25-30 students in the recitation; MA139 will have 75 students in the lecture, and 25-30 students in the recitation. Graduate assistants will be used in the recitation sections. Further discussion followed. McGowan explained that the Mathematics Department anticipates bringing forward a proposal next fall, based on the outcome of the pilot.

Motion to adjourn was made by Janzow; seconded by McGowan. Meeting adjourned.