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2018-01-30 Minutes

MINUTES
MEETING OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE BOARDS
of the General College and the College of Arts and Sciences
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
3:30–5:00 PM, 3020 Steele Building

Members in attendance: Rita Balaban, Amy Cooke, Mara Evans, Beverly Foster, Kelly Giovanello, Richard Langston, Jennifer Larson, Lauren Leve, Doug MacLean, David Mora-Marin, Ted Mouw, Abigail Panter, Valérie Pruvost, Nick Siedentop, James Thompson, Frank Tsui, Charlie Tuggle, Jonathan Weiler, Lyneise Williams

Absent: Claude Clegg, Kevin Guskiewicz, Cary Levine, Christian Lundberg, Lee May

Guests: Drew Coleman, Jason Kinnear, Andy Perrin

Staff: Ben Haven

1. Updates and Remarks by Senior Associate Dean Abigail Panter
Dean Panter welcomed the Boards to the first meeting of the spring term.

2. Discussion of the New General Education Curriculum
Andy Perrin, Professor, Department of Sociology and Special Assistant to the Dean
Perrin presented an overview of the newest draft of the General Education Curriculum Proposal – now called the IDEAs in Action Curriculum – to the Boards.

  • The Curriculum will have a more structured first year, requiring students to enroll in a first-year seminar (or some other kind of first-year focus course); ENGL 105; and Ideas, Information, and Inquiry (III). III courses are envisioned as large courses, with a central theme, team-taught by faculty from different disciplines with a connective thread between them that relates the different disciplines.
  • Students will belong to a long-term student cohort coordinated by Student Affairs.
  • Throughout the students’ undergraduate career, they will
    • take nine General Education (GE) courses. The new General Education courses, with one focus capacity per course, will be distinct from, but taught through, course content: Ethical, Civic, and Democratic Thinking; Diversity, Power, and Inclusion; Evidence-based Research and Inquiry; Engagement with the Human Past; Quantitative Reasoning; Aesthetic and Interpretive Analysis; Creative Expression; Natural Scientific Investigation; or Global Engagement.
    • fulfill their foreign language requirement
    • complete a lifetime fitness requirement (LFIT)
    • possibly complete a mental health and wellness requirement (MFIT)
    • engage in some kind of high-impact experience
    • have e-Portfolios which will allow students to reflect substantively upon their learning and curate their work and experiences.
  • All students will take a junior/senior seminar which focuses on communication.
  • There are also some recurring capacities that are a part of each GE course in some measure.

Over the course of the past two months, 11 Feasibility and Design Committees have met to discuss implementation and feasibility of the new elements of the curriculum proposal. At the same time, the Coordinating Committee has been conducting a review of new curriculum implementations at peer institutions. The reports from the Feasibility and Design Committees are due on February 1. Throughout February, the coordinating committee will synthesize the Feasibility Committee recommendations and develop a new draft proposal. The Coordinating Committee intends to release a new legislative draft on March 1 for faculty to provide comments and suggestions. The Committee will then spend March and April discussing the draft with faculty, the Educational Policy Committee, the College’s Administrative Boards, and Faculty Council.

3. First Year Seminar Eligibility and Enrollment Policy
Drew Coleman, Professor of Geological Sciences and Associate Dean for First Year Seminars

Some first-year (FY) students are taking too many first-year seminars (FYS), defined as more than three FYS; however, large populations of these multiple enrollments are student athletes. In response, the FYS Program would like to implement a new enrollment policy. The policy would allow students to enroll in no more than two FYS per semester and no more than 3 total FYS. Students would be prohibited from enrolling in more than 1 FYS until open enrollment, at which time, students could petition the Associate Dean for FYS to enroll in up to two FYS.

The Boards had questions about total FYS seat capacity as it relates to the new Curriculum, since these may be required courses. Currently, 67% of students take at least one FYS, but the FYS Program has availability for roughly 90%. Many students who don’t take FYS are science majors, first-generation students, or coming from rural communities. The First-Year and Resources Feasibility Committees are currently looking into the feasibility of requiring FYS for all entering FY students and ways to increase the number of FYS classes taught by incentivizing departments to offer these kinds of courses. This will be especially important if FYS become a General Education requirement in the new curriculum.

4. Study Abroad Advisory Reports (report 1; report 2)
Jason Kinnear, Interim Associate Dean for Study Abroad

The Boards approved the study abroad proposals as distributed.

5. Undergraduate Program Proposals
Nick Siedentop, Curriculum Director, Office of Undergraduate Curricula

The Boards approved the program changes as distributed.

6. Curriculum Committee Report
James Thompson, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Curricula and Professor of English

The Boards approved the Curriculum Committee Report as distributed.

7. Interdisciplinary Studies Program
James Thompson, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Curricula and Professor of English

The Interdisciplinary Studies Program has grown significantly in the last four years. In fall 2014, the program had 22 majors. The program now has 67 majors. Most of the students were originally Cultural Studies majors, a program run out of the Department of Communication. Many other Interdisciplinary Studies students were majoring in food studies; numbers in this major may soon decline given the recent approval of the food studies minor. Thompson also presented a list of other popular choices for interdisciplinary students: neuroscience, behavioral economics, various issues in health policy, the environment, social justice, and the economics/business of sport. Additionally, there is an uptick in the number of students interested in design.

It is increasingly apparent that more than one person needs to be approving these major plans. Thompson would therefore like to establish an executive board, and he is working with academic advising to remove any bottlenecks in the TarHeel Tracker adjustment process. Additionally, a set of guidelines will be created to assist faculty who offer to help and support these students. Once finalized, Thompson will bring this proposal back to the committee for further discussion.

The meeting adjourned at 5:00 PM.

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The Administrative Boards of the General College and the College of Arts and Sciences are responsible for advising the Dean of the College about the undergraduate curriculum, including changes in that curriculum, approving individual courses offered in Departments and Curricula of the College, and making decisions when requested on specifications for degrees.