Academic Affairs and Curriculum Committee
Meeting Minutes of
April 16, 2003

 

Members Present:  Larry Bergin, Barbara Boseker, Deb Cumberland, Dan Kauffman, Kendall Larson, Fred Lee, Win Lewis, Dan Lintin, Rich MacDonald, Celeste Matthews, Charla Miertschin, Pat Paulson, Dan Rand, Alicia Reed, James Reidy, Greg Schmidt, Paul Schumacher, Richard Shields, Cathy Summa, Ed Thompson, Kerry Williams

 

A2C2 Meeting agenda for April 16, 2003 3:30 p.m. Maxwell Teleconference Center

 

I.          Meeting was called to order by Chairperson Charla Miertschin at 3:36pm

 

II.         Adoption of agenda by consensus

 

III.       Approval of minutes of April 2, 2003. (available at http://www.winona.edu/ifo/a2c2minutes/) m/s Summa/Boseker to approve.  Motion passed.

 

IV.       Chair’s report,

            A.        MnSCU system-wide new programs and revised programs, Chair Charla Miertschin can review these, but not comment.  VP Richardson can comment.

                        1. #13257-58 New Massage Therapist Diploma, NWTC-Bemidji, NWTC-Wadena.

                        2. #13344-47 RCTC: Replication of Health Information Technology and Coding Specialist Certificate to Virtual-RCTC.

                        3. #13289 Alexandria TC: Replication of Practical Nursing Diploma to a Melrose location.

                        4. #13451New Virtual Paraprofessional Certificate at MN West CTC.

            B.         Thank you’s - Chair thanked all A2C2 members, subcommittee members, and US Director Williams for their service this year.

 

V.        General Education Substitution Requests

            A.        Angela Britton and Anna Hoffman - RESC 233 Interdisciplinary Approach to Latin American and Caribbean Immigration in the United States (4 SH) from WSU for Different Culture.  m/s Shields/MacDonald to approve.  Motion passed.

            B.         Ahmed Fazly - FLAN 100 Beginning Arabic (3 SH) from WSU for Humanities.  m/s Boseker/Thompson to approve.  Motion passed.

            C.        Abigail Peters - GEOG 360 Geography of Travel & Tourism (3 SH) from St. Cloud State for Different Culture. m/s Shields/Williams to approve.  Motion failed.  Thompson objected based on requirements of Different Culture classes at WSU.  MacDonald pondered whether there was in depth study.  Summa spoke against based on course assignments such as the vacation itineraries

            D.        Sarah Roberts - POL 195 Democratic Citizenship: American National Government (3 SH) from St. Cloud State University for Social Science.  Fred Lee taught this course at St. Cloud and states this is a reasonable request.  m/s Boseker/Thompson to approve.  Motion passed.

 

VI.       University Studies Subcommittee (USS) report from April 9, 2003.  Kerry Williams reported on subcommittee and recommended approval.  

            A.      Math 440 Abstract Algebra (4 SH) -m/s Williams/Shields, to withdraw Math 440 as an oral flag.  Upon approval below, it will become a writting flag course.  Note that the web catalog and Registrar identifies it as an oral flag.  Change will be effective Fall 2003.  Motion passed.

            B.        Course Requirements

                        1. Unity & Diversity - Science & Social Policy

                                    ECON 450 Health Economics (3 SH)

                        2. Unity & Diversity - Multicultural Perspectives

                                    ECON 435 The North American Economies (3 SH)

                                    THAD 315 Japanese Classical Theatre (3 SH)

                         3.  Unity & Diversity - Global Perspectives

                                    ECON 430 Asian Economies in Transition (3 SH)       

            B.         Flag Courses

                        1. Writing Flag

                                    ECON 303 Intermediate Macroeconomics (3 SH)

                                    EDUC 410 Foundations of Early Childhood Education (3 SH)

                                    GEOS 280 Field & Analytical Methods I (2 SH)

                                    GEOS 340 Sedimentology & Stratigraphy (4 SH)

                                    MATH 440 Abstract Algebra (4 SH)

                                    STAT 450 Introduction to Mathematical Statistics I (3 SH)

                                    STAT 460 Introduction to Mathematical Statistics II (3 SH)

                        2. Oral Flag

                        3. Critical Analysis Flag

            The following course approvals are pending due to receipt of revisions and/or web posting:

            A.        Flag Courses

                        1. Writing Flag

                                    POLS 450

A2C2 approved the courses above.

 

VII.      Notifications

            A.        Business Administration - B.S. Minor – Production and Operations Management (POM). Add to the electives list: DIS 342 Advanced Business Computer Applications (3), ACCT 361 Intermediate Managerial/Cost Accounting (3).

            B.         English - Prerequisite change: ENG 220 Multicultural American Literature - remove ENG 111.

                       

            C.        Psychology - PSY 308, retroactive credit for University Studies, 3 hrs for critical analysis, 2 hours for oral flag for fall 2002, spring 2003.

 

VIII.     Old Business

            A.        Ad hoc Repeated Course Committee report:

 

We briefly examined data that sizes the problem of students repeating courses for a grade 3 or more times. From sampling some high occurrence courses, we estimate that a range of 40 to 80 seats per semester are taken up by these "serial repeaters" across campus. The impact on any individual course is rather small. Here is an accounting of the approximate number of students taking a course for a grade a third (or more) time since 1998 (semester conversion) for the most frequently listed 13 courses:

Course  - max students

PSY 210  - 47

CS 234  - 25

ENG 111 - 24

STAT 110 - 23

BIOL 211 - 16

ACCT 211 - 16

ECON 202 - 12

FIN 360 - 10

MATH 140 - 10

MCOM 130 - 10

SOC 150 - 10

MATH 160 - 10

PSY 250 - 10

 

We discussed some policy changes that could be considered, but we considered most to be unactionable under registrar policies, typically limited by MNSCU programming constraints. The main policy change that fell into this category was a way to detect and eliminate registration for a course a third time for a grade. 

 

One action that we ask to have discussed by the larger A2C2 body is the potential elimination of erasing or bracketing a grade from a student's GPA once the student has re-taken the course and received a higher grade. Currently, the prior grade is listed on a transcript, but not counted in GPA, with or perhaps without filing a form requesting re-taking the course for a grade. A2C2 could recommend that the grades of all earlier attempts at a Winona State course are included in the calculation of cumulative GPA. We are also investigating how these two primary policies are handled at other MNSCU institutions.

 

We recognize that this discussion probably cannot take place until A2C2 reconvenes next fall.

 

Dan Rand

Math & Statistics

Winona State University

507-457-5655

 

m/s Rand/Paulson to average the highest 2 out of 3 grades for the GPA calculation.  Discussion around what happens when person takes the course 4 times or more times for GPA calculation....This issue should be discussed with the Registrar’s office to obtain their input.  Motion withdrawn.

 

IX.       New Business

            A.       

 

X.        Adjournment

            The meeting was adjourned by Chair Charla Miertschin at  4:30 pm

 

The following notifications from English were presented via e-mail to A2C2 members by Chair Miertschin on 4/17/03:  There were no objections.

 

1.    ENG 221 Topics in World Literature - Remove the prerequisite of ENG 111.

2.    B.A. Minor - English: Creative Writing Option - Remove ENG 447 Modern Literary Criticism (3 SH) from the list of required courses.  Without this course, the listed courses total 17 SH as the section header indicates.