Curriculum Committee

Academic Year 2022-2023

2022-2023 Committee Members and Regular Guests:

Chairperson: Beatriz Maldonado (International Studies)
Secretary: Dan Maroncelli (Mathematics)
Members: Amy Gordanier (History), Anthony Greene (African American Studies), Kelly Hudson (Library), Becky Kyrykiuk (Health and Human Performance), Jordan Ragusa (Political Science), Sarah Robertson (Psychology), Funke Oladimeji (Physics and Astronomy – Fall 2022), Qian Zhang (Physics and Astronomy – Spring 2023), Aoife Weiss (Student Representative), Aimee Pfeifer (Registrar), Mark Del Mastro (Associate Provost of Academic Affairs)

Other regular attendees:

Tom Buchheit (Senior Associate Registrar), Jerry Mackeldon (Assistant Registrar, Degree Works specialist), Bert Schewel (Faculty Secretariat, Academic Coordinator), William Veal (Speaker of the Faculty)

Summary of Activities:

While the bulk of the time was spent on reviewing undergraduate curriculum proposals, the committee also updated some procedures and worked on dealing with the Interdisciplinary Guidelines that were posted on the curriculum committee website – an issue that was carried over from the previous academic year.

Curriculum Changes:

The committee held 8 meetings during the 2022-2023 academic year. All meetings were held at 3 pm and all meetings except the final meeting were held in person. The meetings took place on the following dates:

  1. September 16, 2022
  2. October 7, 2022
  3. November 11, 2022
  4. December 9, 2022
  5. January 20, 2023
  6. February 17, 2023
  7. March 17, 2023
  8. April 21, 2023

A total of 287 proposals were reviewed – 26 in September, 31 in October, 33 in November, 77 in December, 47 in January, 67 in February, and 6 in March. Note that the committee did not meet on March 3 (the non-overflow final meeting) and instead postponed the March meeting to the overflow date on March 17 to allow for the Health Services Administration Management proposals to arrive at the committee in time for review during the 22-23 academic year (although this new major will not go into effect until the 24-25 academic year). The last meeting on April 21 was held to wrap up the academic year and to elect officers for the next academic year.

Among the proposals reviewed and passed this year were 4 new degrees:

  • BA in Biochemistry
  • BA and BS in Environmental and Sustainability Studies
  • BS in Health Services Administration Management

5 new minors:

  • Statistics
  • Health Informatics
  • Computing in the Arts
  • Digital Manufacturing
  • Financial Technology

3 new certificate programs in Musical Theatre and 1 termination:

  • Physical Education Teacher Education Concentration

Procedural Changes:

It has been customary for all proposals being considered at the curriculum meeting to have a representative present to answer any questions and address any comments that might come up. In recent years, the curriculum committee has made use of the Oaks discussion board to discuss proposals prior to the meeting. This allows members to review the proposals and ask any questions ahead of time. In some cases, the committee has no questions/comments on the proposals.

There was a proposal, motion, and vote to allow proposal representatives for proposals with no OAKS comments/discussion to be exempt from attending the FCC meetings. A concern was raised that this procedural change would create problems if someone from the broader community had a comment and came to the committee meeting. To address this concern, the committee chair and faculty secretariat will coordinate to post the proposals in advance of the meeting to give the broader campus community a chance to comment. Representatives for proposals with either Oaks or SharePoint comments will be asked to attend the curriculum committee.

Interdisciplinary Guidelines:

During the 2021-2022 academic year, the committee had various discussions about what to do with the interdisciplinary guidelines posted on the curriculum committee website. At the start of the 2022-2023 year, a sub-committee was created to consider the matter, write up a proposal, and present it to the wider curriculum committee.

  • The sub-committee members were – Amy Gordanier, Becky Kyrykiuk, Beatriz Maldonado, Dan Maroncelli, and Mark Del Mastro.
  • The committee created a survey and sent it out to program directors, chairs, and deans to get a better sense of what the campus thought about the guidelines and the definition of interdisciplinary.
  • Based on the responses, the committee wrote up a report and came up with a proposal to present (pages 19-27 below) to the wider curriculum committee, which suggested that the interdisciplinary guidelines be removed from the curriculum committee website and devolve the identification and labeling of interdisciplinary programs to the school(s) level.
  • The proposal was presented to the wider curriculum committee who voted to approve the proposal.
  • The approved proposal was presented to the senate and approved.
  • The guidelines were removed from the website.

Presentation of proposals at Faculty Senate meetings:

Proposals that were approved by the Curriculum Committee were presented to the Senate on the following dates.

  1. October 11, 2022
  2. November 1, 2022
  3. December 6, 2022
  4. January 17, 2023
  5. February 7, 2023
  6. March 14, 2023
  7. April 4, 2023

2023-2024 Curriculum Committee Members:

The 2022-2023 and 2023-24 committee met briefly on April 21 (via Zoom) to elect officers. The new committee roster is:

  • Erin Beutel (Geology and Environmental Geosciences)
  • Amy Gordanier (History)
  • Becky Kyryliuk (Health and Human Performance)
  • Namjin Lee (Communication)
  • Beatriz Maldonado (International Studies, Chair)
  • Dan Maroncelli (Mathematics, Secretary)
  • Andrew Przeworski (Mathematics)
  • Gretchen Scronce (Library)
  • Anton Vander Zee (English)