Subcommittee on Core Curriculum Minutes 2013-10-02

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order by John Swinton at 1:00 p.m. in Arts & Sciences Room 2-51.

Attendance

Voting Members Present: Scott Butler, Roberta Gorham, Mary Magoulick, Cara Meade, Chavonda Mills, Amy Sumpter, John Swinton, Shaundra Walker
Non-Voting Member Present: Kay Anderson
Regrets: Yeprem Mehranian

Approval of Minutes

The minutes from the September 18th meeting were approved with corrections.

Discussion Items

GC1Y Submission Form. The committee reviewed Mary’s revised draft of the approval form. After some minor edits, the form was approved for distribution with a vote of 8-0-0. John will circulate this to the chairs.

Action Items

Proposed Changes to SoCC Bylaws. Mary and Cara distributed proposed changes to the bylaws, which were addressed separately.

The first proposal addressed committee membership and read as follows:

Section2.D.1.a. Membership
The Subcommittee on the Core Curriculum shall have members distributed as follows: the University Registrar and a member of the University Assessment Team, who shall be ex officio non-voting members, at least one (1) teaching representative from each Area of the Core (A1, A2, B, C1, C2, D, & E), at least one (1) representative from each Academic Unit, and one (1) member who is the Chief Academic Officer or an individual appointed by the Chief Academic Officer to serve as his/her designee. At least three (3) members of the subcommittee shall be elected faculty senators, and all voting members shall be from the Corps of Instruction.

Discussion followed. When the committee was originally formed, the intent was that each area of the core would be represented. This change accounts for this. The change also allows the committee to have more than ten members. Under this plan, a single individual could fill multiple “spots” on the committee, such as a faculty member from the College of Arts & Sciences who also taught in Area E. Discussion focused on whether there should be a cap to prevent an excess of volunteers from a single area from being placed on the committee. The current format allows for 15 members if each member filled only one specific role (area rep, college rep), but feasibly could also include fewer. An amendment was made to the proposal to specify that the committee would have 10-15 members; that amendment was accepted without dissent. The committee also discussed the rationale for each area of the core that was specified. There was a question about whether or not the committee could be formed if all of these positions were not filled; at the last meeting, Craig Turner said that each of the positions would have to be in place before the committee could be formed. The committee also discussed the meaning of “teaching representative” from the core areas and whether or not these representatives needed to be someone who is currently teaching in the core, versus regularly teaching in the core. The committee agreed that the intent was regularly teaching.

The final copy of the proposal, following the amendment, read as follows:

Section2.D.1.a. Membership
The Subcommittee on the Core Curriculum shall have 10-15 members distributed as follows: the University Registrar and a member of the University Assessment Team, who shall be ex officio non-voting members, at least one (1) teaching representative from each Area of the Core (A1, A2, B, C1, C2, D, & E), at least one (1) representative from each Academic Unit, and one (1) member who is the Chief Academic Officer or an individual appointed by the Chief Academic Officer to serve as his/her designee. At least three (3) members of the subcommittee shall be elected faculty senators, and all voting members shall be from the Corps of Instruction.

The committee voted to endorse the proposal and support its submission to Executive Committee of University Senate with a vote of 6-1-0. Three senator signatures are required to submit this to the Executive Committee of University Senate. Mary will obtain these signatures. Cara will also add this item to CAPC’s next agenda for their possible endorsement.

The second proposal addressed committee composition and read as follows:

Add to Section2.D.1.a.: a majority of the voting membership of the subcommittee shall be teaching in the core while serving on this committee.

Discussion followed. This may be unnecessary, since seven members of the committee have to be affiliated with certain areas. There was also a concern that this would require the members to be currently teaching in the core, which could limit the number of faculty who could participate. On a vote, this proposal failed with a vote of 1-6-0.

The next proposal addressed the selection of officers and read as follows:

Section2.D.1.c. Officers.
The members of the Subcommittee on the Core Curriculum shall elect a chair, a vice chair, and a secretary by secret ballot. These elections shall be facilitated by the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Committee chair or his/her designee. Any member of the subcommittee is eligible to serve as chair, vice chair, or secretary. The chair, vice chair, and secretary shall be elected for a period of one (1) year. The chair, vice chair, or the secretary may be reelected.

Discussion followed. This proposal does not require the chair to be a member of University Senate. All other Senate committees are required to be University Senators. However, this committee does not have to report to Senate and does not have the same responsibilities. The committee also discussed whether the chair, as a senator, had any responsibilities that a chair who was not a senator could not fulfill. The chair has an elected responsibility to a constituency. This would increase the number of individuals who would be able to serve as chair. Other committees have more senators than SoCC has.

The committee voted to endorse the proposal and support its submission to Executive Committee of University Senate with a vote of 5-2-0. Three senator signatures are required to submit this to the Executive Committee of University Senate. Mary will obtain these signatures. Cara will also add this item to CAPC’s next agenda for their possible endorsement.

At that time, the meeting was scheduled to end. Amy Sumpter moved to extend the meeting. Chavonda Mills seconded the motion. On a voice vote, the motion to extend the meeting passed.

The fourth proposal addressed term limits and read as follows:

Section2D.1.c.:. No single individual may be elected for more than three consecutive one-year terms in any single office.

Discussion followed. The previous proposal that increases the number of people who can serve as chair probably already addresses this issue. On a vote, this proposal failed with a vote of 0-7-0.

Next Meeting

The committee’s next meeting will be Wednesday, October 9, at 1:00 p.m. in Arts & Sciences Room 2-51.

Adjournment

The committee adjourned at 2:03 p.m.