403CAC

March 11, 2002

Faculty Senate Curricular Affairs Committee

Four Hundred Third Report

At the Curricular Affairs Committee's meeting of March 4, 2002 the following matters were considered and are now presented to the Faculty Senate.

S E C T I O N I

Informational Matters

College of Arts and Sciences

1. Department of Biological Sciences

CHANGE: Prerequisite for BIO 242 to "Pre: 121."

2. Department of Economics

ADD: ECN 360X Health Economics (3)

Economic analysis of health services. Topics include demand and supply in markets for health care and insurance, government regulation, and performance of national health systems. (Lec. 3) Pre: 201.

3. Department of Journalism

CHANGE: Prerequisite for JOR 215 to "Pre: 110 or 115."

S E C T I O N II

Curricular Matters that Require Confirmation by the Faculty Senate

College of Arts and Sciences

1. Department of Biological Sciences

ADD: The following new courses:

1) BIO 105 Biology for Daily Life with Laboratory (3)

Basic biological principles needed to understand contemporary issues in biology, for example, forensic biology, cloning, genetic engineering, reproductive technologies, "alternative" medicine, biodiversity, habitat alteration, and endangered species. Designed for nonmajors. (Lec. 2, Lab. 2)

2) BIO 106 Biology for Daily Life with Recitation (3)

Basic biological principles needed to understand contemporary issues in biology, for example, forensic biology, cloning, genetic engineering, reproductive technologies, "alternative" medicine, biodiversity, habitat alteration, and endangered species. Designed for nonmajors. (Lec. 2, Rec. 1)

2. Department of Journalism

CHANGE: Grading method for JOR 345 from S/U to letter grades.

3. Department of Music

a. ADD: MUS 109 Basics of Singing (1)

Basic singing technique, tone production, interpretation and introduction to song literature for those not enrolled in MUS 110 - 510 Applied Music. (Lab. 2) Pre: Must not be registered for MUS 110, 210, 310, 410, 510. Staff

b. CHANGE: Level, number, number of credits and grading method for MUS 250:

MUS 300 (250) Music Convocation (0-1) ... delete "S/U credit."

c. CHANGE: Number of credits for MUS 350 Junior Recital to "0-1."

S E C T I O N III

Joint Report of the Curricular Affairs Committee and Graduate Council on 400-level courses

At the February 11 and March 4 meetings of the Curricular Affairs Committee and the March 8 meeting of the Graduate Council the following matters were considered and are now presented to the Faculty Senate.

A. Informational Matters

College of Arts and Sciences

Department of Biological Sciences

CHANGE: Expiration for the following temporary courses to permit a third offering in Fall 2002:

a) BIO 469X Tropical Marine Invertebrate Zoology (5)

b) BIO 475X Coral Reef Ecology (5)

c) BIO 495X (or AFS 495X or NRS 496X) Tropical Marine Biology Research (6)

B. Curricular matters that require confirmation by the Faculty Senate

College of Arts and Sciences

1. Department of Communication Studies

ADD: COM 446 Media Theory (3)

Examines major theoretical approaches to the study of media. Includes perspectives on media institutions, media texts, and media audiences. (Lec. 3)

2. Department of Journalism

*CHANGE: Level and number for JOR 342 to JOR 442 (342) Editing for Publication II ... Not for graduate credit.

3. Department of Music

*CHANGE: Number of credits for MUS 450 Seminar Recital to "0-1."

*No action by Graduate Council. Not for graduate credit.

SECTION IV

Open-ended Courses

At the Curricular Affairs Committee's meetings of October 29, 2001, January 24, January 28, February 11 and March 4, 2002, issues related to the approval and oversight of open-ended courses were considered at length. In consultation with the Acting Registrar, the Assistant Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Associate Deans of the Graduate School and the Chairperson of the Faculty Senate, the Curricular Affairs Committee agreed that the existing legislation on open-ended courses should be clarified.

It was agreed to revise the open-ended course topic authorization form that is used by the College Dean's Offices and the Office of Enrollment Services for record keeping. The revised form requires that the department chair and the college dean assure that no overlap exists between the proposed topic and a permanent course. Consistent with established regulations, the Office of Enrollment Services must accept the signed form only from the academic dean of the college in which the department resides. For record keeping purposes the CAC recommends that the appropriate dean forward an electronic copy of the topic title and description to the Office of Enrollment Services.

It was also agreed to permit the cross-listing of topics if the two parent courses are at the same level and if both courses are open-ended courses; but not to permit the cross-listing of a topic with a permanent course. At the request of the graduate school, the existing requirement that the graduate dean must approve 400, 500 and 600-level topics in addition to the college dean has been removed.

With regard to a sunset provision for topics, the CAC recommends that the number of times a topic may be offered before it must become either a permanent course or a permanent topic listed in the catalog description be limited to three. In order that departments be given adequate time to follow the new provisions, spring semester 2003 is designated as the official date for the regulations to go into effect. Spring 2003 will be accepted as the date of first offering for any specific topic and the clock on the limitation to three offerings would start at that time.

Following is the definition of open-ended courses as it appears in section 8.80.11 of the University Manual:

8.80.11 ... A permanent course may be open-ended; that is, a course whose subject matter may vary between offerings. Open-ended courses may include workshops, seminars, colloquiums, special topics, special problems, and special projects. Only permanent courses may be listed in the University Catalog

The Curricular Affairs Committee recommends that the Faculty Senate approve the following changes to the UNIVERSITY MANUAL to become effective as of the spring 2003 semester (changes are in boldface):

8.81.20 An Open-ended Course shall be administered by the department which originated it. Initially, an open-ended course shall be proposed and approved in the same manner as other permanent courses (8.81.10 above). Prior to offering a specific topic the content of the course shall be approved in a department meeting.

8.81.21 After approval of each offering of an open-ended course topic, a copy of the title, subtitle, and description shall be forwarded for schedule authorization to the Office of Enrollment Services via the dean of the college in which the department resides. The dean's authorization shall ensure that no overlap exists between specific topics and existing courses.

8.81.22 A specific topic within an open-ended course may be offered three times. After three offerings the topic shall be approved through the appropriate channels as either a permanent course or as a permanent topic within an open-ended course and shall be included in the University Catalog.

8.81.60 Limitations. It is the responsibility of the Office of Enrollment Services to limit the offering of a temporary course to only twice during a two-year period and to limit to three times the offering of a specific topic within an open-ended course.

8.81.61 A course that has been formally deleted may not be offered again without formal approval. The code and number of a deleted course may not be re-used before four academic years have elapsed.