back

                                                               WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

                                                  ACADEMIC COORDINATING COMMISSION MINUTES

                                                                 Regular Meeting  --  January 8, 2008

Chair James Hearne called the meeting of the 2007-2008 Academic Coordinating Commission to order at 4:02 pm on

Tuesday, January 8, 2008, and announced minor changes to the agenda.  There were thirteen (13) members present and three (3) others for a total of  nineteen (19). Hearne welcomed Kathleen Knutzen, Associate Dean, College of Humanities and Social Sciences. 

Approval of ACC minutes

Members approved minutes of December 4, 2007 with minor corrections.

Reading of Curricular Minutes (Exhibit B)

Chair Hearne reported that certain revised minutes from previous meetings were outstanding but were on their way.   Commissioners then considered the following curricular items:

Comments on the Minutes

CHSS:  11-29-07 

§    Question of History and Political Science prerequisites --referred to the departments.  Banner prerequisites’ checking requires that a list of courses be provided.  Political Science wishes to broaden its prerequisite requirements and open up its classes to more students.  Banner requires either no prerequisite checking at all, or requires an override for every student.  Kathy Knutzen will explain details to departments.

§    CSD 499.  Is this repeatable and up to how many credits?

§    Has LBRL360, a course which deals in part with Chinese history, been coordinated with the History department?  What is official ACC policy (see ACC Handbook, p. 8)  It is not required that permission be given by one department to another for courses, but it is requested that departments have a conversation.  Collegiality is the point.  Courses ought to be discussed across departments so that professors can send students to courses relevant for their majors.

§    The Chair suggested that it might be useful for ACC to send Chairs a reminder that departments normally have conversations with each other when proposed courses are duplicates or are similar in subject matter in different departments, and volunteered to do so.

§    Commissioners also asked:  Was the new Director of the Center for International Studies a part of the conversation in which the course on ideology, policy and experience in the non-European world was cancelled?  A good question might be how many courses are being offered in the traditions of the non-western world?  If these courses are cut it does not bode well for our future vision.  Some courses that were cut were simply too broad in scope for a 12-week quarter. 

§    Education language may be misleading.  ACC was asked to address the question of the range of confusing sentences such “professional preparation in elementary education requires….” And other requirements listed throughout the catalog that are inconsistent or confusing to students and that might imply different requirements than actually exist in Woodring.  Some departments list actual credits, other simply suggest a professional preparation.  ACC plans to address this in the future.

Other Comments:

Minimum GPA for graduation. 

§    The question reoccurred of departments requiring some range of minimum GPA requirements for entrance to the major, that is at variance with the overall university requirements for graduation.  Provost Murphy reported that he is currently investigating the topic and is fairly along on his review.  Murphy plans to propose some guidelines and criteria in the near future.  Murphy added that sometimes the requirements arise because of excess demand, sometimes the notions about the quality of students is not well defined, sometimes it is just imitation of what seems like a good idea.  There is a hodgepodge of reasons.  One Commissioner added that grades actually have no objective significance but seem to be adjusted to meet the social demand, and there are other ways to address this.

Unfortunately those that cannot sustain the higher GPAs end up with the General Education degree.  However, some departments are now requiring an exit GPA.  This seems odd, to tell a student that “you completed all the courses but you can’t graduate.”  The varying GPA requirements also contribute to grade inflation.  ACC hopes to come to grips with this dilemma in future discussions.

Public History Minor

Hearne reminded Commissioners that the previous description was diffuse, and the current submission is more specific and the requirements and rationale are clearer.  One Commissioner asked if there were other majors or minors in the humanities that appeared to have this “vocational” aspect, and was reminded that students can and do work in multiple vocations with varying college degrees.   The Associate Dean was supportive of this degree because of its strong connectivity to the community, and noted that other history departments across the country also have these types of arrangements with strong degrees of public service.  Commissioners voted to approve the Public History minor as submitted.

Adjournment

Adjourned at 5:30 pm.

Rose Marie Norton-Nader, January 8, 2008

ACADEMIC COORDINATING COMMISSION 2007-2008 ROSTER