Index of Topics 1/17/2006	For Approval 1/31/06 – to Faculty Senate 2/6/2006
ISTM Rubric – *MOTION*
GER Chair to make final GUR decision - *MOTION*
X97 Experimental courses – *Review*
Curricular Minutes – *Summaries*

WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

ACADEMIC COORDINATING COMMISSION MINUTES

Regular Meeting -- January 17, 2006

Chair Tom Downing called the meeting of the Academic Coordinating Commission to order on January 17, 2006 in OM340 at 4:04 p.m. There were sixteen (16) members present, seven (7) guests, one (1) recorder, and the Registrar for a total of twenty-five. (25). (See attached roster).

Approval of ACC minutes

Minutes of November 15 had been approved via email and accepted by the Senate on January 9^th, 2006. Members reviewed the minutes and made minor corrections.

AGENDA ITEMS

ISTM RUBRIC (Interdisciplinary Science, Technology, and Mathematics).

A motion by Jim Hearne, and seconded by Linda Kimball, was passed by the Commission instituting the “ISTM” rubric. The language of the motion read:

“The College of Sciences and Technology may use the prefix “ISTM” (Interdisciplinary Science, Technology and Mathematics) for courses it wishes to offer but are deemed inappropriate to designate with a departmental prefix, e.g., CHEM, GEOL.”.

Commissioners assumed that for accounting purposes SCH for courses taught under this rubric are credited to the instructor’s department. (Subsequently verified.)

Role of GER Chair Expanded

A motion by Jim Hearne, and seconded by James Sanders, was passed by the Commission which proposed that final decisions on assigning GUR status to transfer courses in certain situations where the Registrar seeks clarity may be made by the Chair of the GER Committee. The language is as follows:

“Whereas the Registrar’s office has considerable experience in assigning appropriate GUR status to transfer courses and does so regularly, occasions arise when they are uncertain as to how to do this. On these occasions, the Chair of the GER Committee is empowered to decide whether and how GUR credit shall be assigned.”

ITEMS FROM THE CHAIR

Experimental or “97” courses

Chair Downing called attention to the fact that there are currently three UNIV 197a courses being taught (and identically numbered courses have been taught in previous quarters); in addition there are two UNIV 497s being taught this quarter, at least one of which – UNIV 497f – is also scheduled to be taught next quarter. X97 courses are supposed to be experimental and are ordinarily offered just once (though they may be offered as many as three times), then if the experiment is deemed successful the appropriate party petitions the appropriate collegiate curricular committee for approval of the course as a regular offering under a regular number. Clearly the convention governing x97 offerings is not being observed in these instances. No one at the meeting was entirely sure under whose authority the courses were offered in the first place.

· The sections designated “UNIV 197a”, Susanna Yunker explained, are offered to freshman who come through on academic warning after their first quarter at Western. Yunker promised to develop data on this course, with a standard syllabus, and a followup on the academic success of students after they take the course.

· Downing asked whether 197 courses are remedial in nature, as there are problems historically with giving university credit for remedial courses.

· Currently there is no academic home for these courses or their potential regular-number successors. The recently proposed “Integrated Studies and International Studies” office might be an appropriate place for these to go. Until a home is found and they are subjected to the scrutiny imposed on all other credit offerings at WWU, these courses must not be offered.

· Downing also brought forward the case of 497F -- Seminar for Learning Assistants -- which has been taught under the same number and letter more than once.. It looks like a training course, and appears to be for writing fellows. However, a faculty body must look at the course, and a different rubric proposed. The same goes, of course, for UNIV 497g -- Writing Capstone (WI).

· Downing requested that the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education talk to the Commission on the target.

READING of Curricular Minutes – Exhibit B with COMMENTARY

The following materials were mailed prior to the cancelled meeting of 11/29/05:

College Curricular or Standing Committee	Date	ACTION TAKEN BY ACC AT THE MEETING

College of Humanities & Social Sciences **	11/3/05	Accepted. Question about how many “study abroad” credits can be transferred to the major. 50% must be Western resident credit.
College of Science & Technology	10/28/05, 11/8/05	10/28 accepted. Typos in Geology major. 11/8 accepted.
Honors Program – Memo to Committee	11/18/05	Accepted.
The following materials are for the Agenda of 1/17/2006
College of Business and Economics	11/29/05	POSTPONED. Associate Dean of HSS Knutsen, who happened to be attending the ACC meeting, asked whether ECON 315 Health Economics might overlap offerings in PEHR. There is a potential in this offering to affect the PEHR Department, and in accordance with the long-standing “Monahan Rule,” the Department of Economics is invited to consult with the PEHR Department on the matter. ECON 315: Admission to Fairhaven must be clarified. The very notion is not well-defined. Commissioners also admitted to some puzzlement about the topic of the course. Is “The Political Economy of Language and Culture” a common and well-understood term?
		ECON 410 – Number of credits not indicated. P. 8 – 2d line from top: “non-Majors” rather than “majors”.
College of Fine & Performing Arts	11/28/05	POSTPONED. The new description of ART 301, Experimental Drawing, (pp. 2-3) to be exceptionally verbose and the ACC requests a much briefer version. Second, on page 5 A/HI is renamed “”Indigenous Arts of the Pacific Northwest,” but the description still includes the line “Selected topics in the arts of cultures around the world.” We think that is an error. The chair questioned the practice of distinguishing separate courses by the use of a letter subscript as opposed to a number. A/HI 270a and A/HI 270b are completely distinct courses and should have completely distinct numbers, but see below.
On the matter of A/HI 270a and A/HI 270b: These are two separate courses and should simply be given two separate numbers. Letter subscripts generally are used to indicate repeatable courses. However, when we discussed this it emerged that other departments and colleges also use the letter subscripts in a bewildering variety of ways which, according to the Registrar, will seriously frustrate degree auditing and may be a source of some confusion. Because the problem is so widespread (and includes other courses in A/HI as well), we are not going to do anything about it until we can come up with an overall policy regarding the use of subscripts. That means CFPACC need not do anything now, but may very well be asked to find altogether separate numbers for these courses next year. -T.Downing

College Curricular or Standing Committee	Date	ACTION TAKEN BY ACC AT THE MEETING
College of Humanities & Social Sciences CHSS is requested to alter the format of its minutes to follow the template on the ACC website, and to use strike-through for deletions, and underlining for new material.	11/17/05, 12/08/05	11/17/2005 Accepted: PLEASE NUMBER YOUR PAGES so commissioners can locate items under discussion. History 151. Clarify as an FYE in History. Prerequisite should say “Freshman status” rather than “entering freshmen” Mod War & Canadian Society 477. Which war is being discussed? Please clarify in description. Topics in Latin American History 475. Clarify by use of topics rubric or at least indicate repeatability. Physiology of Exercise 413. Please clarify punctuation by using commas, so students understand that all prerequisites must be met, OR by permission of instructor. Perhaps should read as follows: Prereq: PE or community health major status, Bio 348, PE306 recommended; OR permission of instructor. 12/08/05 Accepted
College of Science & Technology	11/15/05, 11/18/05	11/15/05 Accepted 11/18/05 Accepted. The recurring usage of subscripts was noted, particularly in Advanced CADa, b, c, d; and Advanced CNCa, b, c, d, etc. Commissioners resolved that the entire topic of the usage of subscripts ought to be reviewed, and a policy derived for the use of subscripts across the curriculum. ETEC415a, and 415b also; these are studio courses.
General Education Requirements Cte	10/20/05, 11/10/05	Both accepted. Commissioners request the use of COMPLETE COURSE TITLES in the GER minutes in order to find courses referred to in the catalog. Vice Provost Bulcroft first name is spelled “Kris”
Graduate School	5/10/05, 11/22/05	5/10/2005 Accepted 11/22/2005 POSTPONED: *Please use “strike-through” old material, and underline new material conventions*. Otherwise Commissioners cannot follow changes you have made in your descriptions. Please add up the total credits in the school counseling program.
Honors Board	11/16/05	Accepted
International Programs Advisory Cte	10/04/05, 11/03/05. 10/18/05	All Accepted

Teacher Curricula and Certification Council

11/18/05, 11/22/05

12/06/05

11/8/2005, Accepted. Typo page 5. “Music curriculum has changed: 124 now covers the material formerly covered by ~~226.~~ 126.

11/22/2005, Accepted. [There was some concern that adding Biology 348 as a prerequisite to certain PE courses might exacerbate the problem students have in getting into this course, but all of these PE courses are part of majors which already have Biology 348 as a requirement, so the effect of the changes in the prerequisites should be zero.]

12/6/2005, Accepted.

NOTE TO ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTS

Please number the pages of your minutes. With so many minutes under discussion, Commissioners would find page numbers very useful in pointing others to the course topic under discussion.

Please follow the convention of using strike-through (~~strike-through~~) for deletions, and underlining for changes in the right hand column. If you have questions on how to do this or would like suggestions, please email the Senate office (RoseMarie.Norton@wwu.edu), or call x6808. A sample of curricular minutes are on the Senate website. Copies of particularly excellent minutes can be sent to your office through campus mail upon request.

Adjournment

Commissioners adjourned at 5:47 pm.

Rose Marie Norton-Nader, Recorder, January 17, 2005

ACADEMIC COORDINATING COMMISSION 2005-2006 ROSTER

	Membership (term ending 2007)			Chair – Tom Downing – 2004-2005
1	A - James Hearne, Computer Science, CST	P		Vice Chair – Jim Hearne
2.	D – Grant Donnellan, Music, CFPA	P		Ex-Officio
3	E -- George Zhang, Decision Science, CBE	P	17	Bodman, Andrew (Provost) (in Olympia)	-
4	A – Michael Meehan, Senator (thru 2006)	P		Dean Ghali sitting in		P
4	F -- Marie Eaton, Fairhaven	P	18	Perry, Karen (Catalog Coordinator)		P
5	G – David Wallin, Huxley	--
6	H – Marsha Riddle Buly, Teacher Ed, Woodring	P
7.	A - Jim Stewart, Senator (thru 2006), CST	P		Registrar, Recorder
				Joe St. Hilaire, Registrar		P
	Membership (term ending 2006)			Rose Marie Norton-Nader, Recorder		P
9	B – Robert Thorndike, Psychology, CHSS*	P
10	AL – Linda Kimball, AT-LARGE (rep to GER)	P
11	C - Thomas Downing, Chair, (UPC, EESP)*	P		*Guests*
12	I – Jeff Purdue, Library	P		Kathy Knutzen, Asst. Dean, CHSS		P
13	S - James Sanders, ASVP-Academics, 2005-2006	P		Jeff Newcomer, Eng Tech		P
14	S - Chiho Lai, 2005-06	P		Rob Stoops, Liberal Studies		P
15	S - Nate Warren, 2005-06	P		Vicki Hamblin, IPAC		P
16	S- Lauren Balisky, 2004-06	P		Susanna Yunker, Asst VP, Student Affairs		P
	*Not Eligible for Re-election (served 4 yrs)			Troy Ragsdale, Classroom Scheduling		P
	Members (18)
	12 faculty (2yr terms) rep each area. Provost, Catalog Coordinator (ex officio) 4 students (1 ASVP), 2 faculty Senators. ACC reps: to UPC, to GUR, to SenLegislCte. Guests: Registrar, Recorder			Members Register, Recorder Guests		16 2 7
				November 15, 2005 TOTAL		25

College Curricular or Standing Committee

Date

ACTION TAKEN BY ACC AT THE MEETING

College of Humanities & Social Sciences **

College of Science & Technology

Honors Program – Memo to Committee

College of Business and Economics

College of Fine & Performing Arts

College Curricular or Standing Committee

Date

ACTION TAKEN BY ACC AT THE MEETING

College of Humanities & Social Sciences

College of Science & Technology

General Education Requirements Cte

Graduate School

Honors Board

International Programs Advisory Cte

Teacher Curricula and Certification Council