2017-11-07 Minutes | The Administrative Boards

MINUTES
MEETING OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE BOARDS
of the General College and the College of Arts and Sciences
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
3:30–5:00 PM, 3020 Steele Building

Members in attendance: Amy Cooke, Lauren DiGrazia, Mara Evans, Beverly Foster, Kelly Giovanello, Jennifer Larson, Lauren Leve, Lee May, David Mora-Marin, Abigail Panter, Valérie Pruvost, Nick Siedentop, James Thompson, Frank Tsui, Charlie Tuggle, Jonathan Weiler

Absent: Rita Balaban, Claude Clegg, Kevin Guskiewicz, Richard Langston, Cary Levine, Christian Lundberg, Doug MacLean, Ted Mouw

Guests: Jessica Brinker, Wayne Lee, Jennie Leob, Andy Perrin, Shai Tamari

Staff: Ben Haven

1. Welcome and updates by Abigail Panter, Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education
Senior Associate Dean Panter welcomed the Boards to the second meeting of the term and began with a brief update on the progress of the new 2019 General Education Curriculum prior to introducing Andy Perrin to discuss the details of the proposal.

2. Discussion of the New General Education Curriculum
Andy Perrin, Professor, Department of Sociology and Special Assistant to the Dean
The Coordinating Committee will have an official unveiling of the 2019 Curriculum proposal tomorrow. The Committee has been busy reading several hundred pieces of feedback from across campus and looking for ways to incorporate this feedback to amend the proposal. Perrin discussed the reasons for the proposals in the curriculum, including the primary claim that study in the liberal arts is the best way to provide students with mastery for the capacities they need to be productive employees, entrepreneurs, and outstanding citizens.

The new curriculum strives to provide students with capacities that are portable to many dimensions or areas. There are four guiding principles. The Curriculum should be 1) student focused, 2) developmental oriented, 3) capacity driven, and 4) simplified. Additionally, the Committee took into account research about persistence. The research shows that the more academically and socially involved students are, the more likely they are to persist. See 2019 Curriculum Proposal for more details about specific elements in the curriculum.

After additional feedback is incorporated into the proposal, 11 committees will be established to look at implementation feasibility and design. The Coordinating Committee will still continue to take feedback during this time.

3. Request to Establish Neuroscience B.S. Degree Program
Kelly Giovanello, Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience
The Request to Plan proposal, approved by the Boards in spring 2017, was submitted to and approved by General Administration on August 1, 2017. The Request to Establish must be submitted to General Administration by Dec 1, 2017. Neuroscience would be an interdisciplinary major. There are currently nine signatory departments in the College as well as the Department of Biostatistics in the School of Public Health. The Executive Advisory Committee, chaired by Giovanello, with members in all the affected units, in collaboration with advisor Beth Shuster, revised the proposal in response to Boards’ recommendations and other feedback. They have removed two requirements to electives and changed the gateway to PSYC 175. Additionally, there are now more options for the physics courses so that those students transferring in with different physics courses will not lose credit. The number of credits is still high, but consistent with other similar B.S. programs. The Boards approved the Plan to Establish the Neuroscience B.S. Degree Program.

4. Minor in Conflict Management Proposal
Shai Tamari, Lecturer in Department of Peace, War, and Defense and Associate Director for the Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations
Wayne Lee, Professor and Chair, Department of Peace, War, and Defense
The majority of conflict management courses are geared toward graduate students, but there is a desire in the undergraduate population to communicate and negotiate with confidence, especially in the areas of business and psychology. Tamari has taught courses on the Isreali-Palestinian conflict and negotiation. Since there was demand, he also developed a course for undergraduates, PWAD/PLCY 330, which was the brainchild for the minor. The Boards supported the idea of the minor, but expressed some concerns about 1) logistics since the program hinges on two courses that may not be offered enough or with enough seats to satisfy demand and there are other required courses in the minor that are high-demand for other disciplines, 2) the lack of a historical component or other offerings that may have relevance in psychology, linguistics, etc., and 3) the limited focus, which could be expanded to different kinds of conflict. Peace, War, and Defense will incorporate the Boards recommendations and submit a revised draft for review at a later meeting.

The final three agenda items were postponed due to lengthy discussions of the previous items. Time permitting, Nick Siedentop will review the Undergraduate Majors-Taxonomy Report with the Boards sometime in the spring 2018 term. The October 31, 2017 Curriculum Committee Report and the following undergraduate program proposals will be reviewed at the next meeting on December 5, 2017.

The meeting adjourned at 5:00 PM.