Liberal Studies Program Committee

Old Main—Room 304

2 p.m.

October 31, 2006

Attendance:  Jace Condravy, Julie Snow, Chris Kreiser, Langdon Smith, Susan Parsons, Deborah Wells, Jesus Valencia, Sharon Sykora

Guests:  Bruce Russell

L. Smith called the meeting to order at 2:05 p.m.

I.  Old Business

A.      Approval of minutes from October 10, 2006

L. Smith called a motion to approve the minutes from October 10, 2006.

First:  S. Parsons

Second:  D. Wells

All approved, motion passed.

B.      LSPC Assessment Plan

L. Smith informed the committee that the Assessment Plan was approved by the UCC and will be sent for faculty vote ending November 10, 2006, with an email reminder sent to faculty members before that date.  He also informed the committee about several issues surrounding the Assessment document, specifically, whether or not new courses must meet the new assessment requirements, whether or not changing a course’s name requires course assessment, and finally, faculty concerns about meeting all required assessment outcomes. The committee decided that all new courses must meet the new assessment requirements to receive liberal studies approval, and a motion was called for all curricular changes to require an assessment plan.

First:  S. Parsons

Second:  S. Sykora

5 approved, 3 opposed, motion passed.

J. Snow announced that the STEM information for the Science, Technology, and Mathematics block is now available on the Liberal Studies I-Drive.

C.      Liberal Studies Five-year Program Review

L. Smith informed the committee that several candidates for an external reviewer have been identified and that he planned to further the review committee’s pool of candidates during his trip to SUNY Fredonia. 

J. Snow announced that the review committee should start thinking about a standard format for the review document.

D.      Changes to Rules and Procedures

L. Smith told the committee that the Rules and Procedures will be updated to reflect the newly approved procedure of requiring all curriculum changes to be accompanied by an assessment plan.

II.   New Business

A.       Discussion with Department of Professional Studies members about the creation of new Liberal Studies courses

After discussing the background of the formation of the new Professional Studies department, Dean Bruce Russell explained the need for more Liberal Studies courses to support the major and sought the committee’s guidance and advice on how to go about submitting those courses.

B.      Miscellaneous

LSPC’s Electronic Status

The committee discussed the possibility of going fully electronic, viewing the minutes and agenda only on the I-Drive, and decided that they would prefer some copies still to be made available.

L. Smith called a motion to adjourn the meeting.

First:  J. Snow

Second:  C. Kreiser

All approved, motion passed.

Adjourned, 3:04 p.m.

Recorded and submitted by Katie Thomas (GA)