Liberal Learning Program Council Minutes 2009-2010

May 5, 2010

Present: Bob Anderson (Secretary), Mary Biggs, Richard Blumbert, Amberlyn Daniels, Monika Drozd, Amanda Esposito, Mary Goldschmidt, Nancy Lasher (chair), John Laughton, Romula Ochoa, Monisha Pulimood, Catie Rosemurgy, John Ruscio, Philip Sanders, Glenn Steinberg, Karen Yan

1. A light lunch of assorted sandwiches, salads, cookies, brownies, juices, coffee, and teas was enjoyed.
2. The minutes of April 21st were approved as corrected.
3. SPA 119, Spanish I for Health Care was approved for global credit by unanimous vote (without abstentions)
4. ELE 203, Urban Education was approved for community engaged learning II by unanimous vote (without abstentions)
5. Action on AAS 252/MLD 371, Harlem Renaissance: Black Paris was tabled because the proposal still lacks sufficient clarity in the manner in which it addresses the learning goals for the literary, visual, and performing arts and the global categories.  Nancy Lasher and Bob Anderson agreed to meet with Dr. Sow and others as appropriate.
6. An informal proposal to consider awarding global credit for foreign language study to engineering majors was strongly rejected after a brief discussion but without a motion or vote.
7. Nancy Lasher commended Glenn Steinberg for his service on LLPC and for his excellent service as FSP Coordinator.  Bob Anderson seconded the commendation and announced that Tom Hagedorn would be taking Glenn’s place as a non-voting member of LLPC next year. Nancy also bade farewell to council members whose terms expired.  Bob remarked that although all LLPC chairs have been excellent, none have reached the level of excellence displayed by Nancy Lasher.
8. Adjournment was at 2:30 sharp.  The next meeting will be in September.

April 21, 2010

Present: Bob Anderson (Secretary), Mary Biggs, Dan Frieri, Nancy Lasher (chair), John Laughton, Romula Ochoa, Monisha Pulimood, John Ruscio, Philip Sanders, Glenn Steinberg, Jon Stauff (Guest)

1. Jon Stauff, Director of the Office of Global Programs, spoke regarding the question of automatically granting global credit for semester-long, TCNJ approved study abroad experiences. After spirited, prolonged discussion of various pros and cons, a clear consensus emerged to take no action at this time.
2. Modifications to the language describing the global outcomes, approved unanimously, included the following:
   • The third sentence of the first bullet was changed from “Students should recognize the international dimension that most disciplines have today” to “Students should recognize the international dimensions of academic disciplines.”
   • The first sentence of the third bullet was changed from “Students should seek to understand cross-cultural issues” to “Students should understand the development of cross-cultural differences.” The vote was unanimous.
3. The minutes from April 7th were approved without dissent.
4. IDS 361/362, The Natural History of the Galapagos Islands I and II were approved, when taken together, as satisfying the global requirement.
5. Monisha Pulimood agreed to represent LLPC on CAP beginning next academic year.
6. Adjournment was at 2:50 pm.  The next meeting was set for May 5th with a suggestion that lunch be provided.  No mention of a possible earlier meeting time was made.

April 7, 2010

Present: Bob Anderson (Secretary), Mary Biggs, Richard Blumberg, Susan Donohue (Guest), Dan Frieri, Mary Goldschmidt, Nancy Lasher (chair), John Laughton, Amy Ogbonna, Monisha Pulimood, John Ruscio, Philip Sanders, Karen Yan, Kristen Zalan (Guest)

1. Susan Donohue responded to questions from council members, and provided a written response to the minutes of February 3rd which indicated reasons for its non-approval at that time.  Nevertheless, the council did not approve her request for mid-level writing-intensive approval. Rather the council recommended that Prof. Donohue  meet with Mary Goldschmidt, Director of Writing to discussion modifications that will make the course acceptable for the writing intensive designation.
2. CSC was added to the list of prefixes for courses that automatically grant the quantitative reasoning designation.  It was unanimously approved.
3. Minutes from March 17th were unanimously approved.
4. IDS 361/362, The Natural History of the Galapagos Islands I and II were approved as courses meeting the natural science, with laboratory domain.  Action on the request for global was tabled pending the anticipated discussion of that category on April 21st.
5. Adjournment was at 2:56 pm.

March 17, 2010

Present: Bob Anderson (Secretary), Mary Biggs, Dan Frieri, Nancy Lasher (chair), John Laughton, Romula Ochoa, Monisha Pulimood, Catie Rosemurgy, John Ruscio, Philip Sanders, Glenn Steinberg, Karen Yan

1. The Minutes from February 3, 2010 were approved as submitted.
2. Bob Anderson reported that a modified version of the streamlined approval process for liberal learning courses is now displayed on the website in several places where it should be easy to find. Modifications were necessary because some read the process to mean that existing approvals were no longer in affect and/or that only courses with prefixes indicated in the proposal would be eligible for liberal learning approval.  The modified version clarifies that and also integrates those parts of the old process that still apply.
3. After Bob Anderson reported that the Biology Department curriculum committee had agreed that it should be, ANT 111, Introduction to Physical Anthropology was approved for natural science, non-lab. The vote was 10 in favor, none opposed, and no abstentions.
4. HIS/AAS 351, Ancient and Medieval Africa, already approved for social change in historical perspectives and race/ethnicity by virtue of its dual prefixes, was further approved for global.  The vote was unanimous and without abstention. Without vote council members agreed to look again at the precise wording of the global requirement.
5. HIS 354, South African History and HIS 355, East African History were both approved for global and race/ethnicity, each by the same unanimous vote without abstentions.  All three proposals were hailed as models of clarity.
6. The proposal to grant global ‘credit’ to any student who completes a semester-long, TCNJ-approved study abroad experience was tabled after a lengthy discussion. Council members agreed to continue the discussion after hearing from Dr. Jon Stauff, Director of Study Abroad Programs, who will be invited to the next LLPC meeting.
7. Adjournment was at 3:30.  The next meeting was set for April 7th at 1:30 in Social Science 131.

February 3, 2010

Present: Bob Anderson (Secretary), Mary Biggs, Richard Blumberg, Dan Frieri, Mary Goldschmdt, Nancy Lasher (chair), John Laughton, Romula Ochoa, Amy Ogbonna, Monisha Pulimood, Catie Rosemurgy, John Ruscio, Philip Sanders, Glenn Steinberg

1. Minutes from December 2, 2009 were approved as corrected (John Ruscio was indicated as having been present).
2. A proposal for streamlining liberal learning approval by designating certain prefixes as ‘automatically’ counting for appropriate domains (see attachment) was unanimously accepted subject to the understanding that it is but a starting point in the rationalization of the council’s approval process.
3. Action on ETE 261, Multimedia Design was deferred pending responses to the following questions or issues: Some of the writing is done in teams.  We need to know how much writing is done individually (even if after working in teams). The writing assignments need to be broken out so we can more clearly approve them. It is not clear what kind of writing the ‘storyboards’ and the ‘documentation’ encompass. We do not think we have the rubric for the final project.  If it was included it is not clear how it works.
   What is the relationship between the smaller assignments and the larger project?
4. MGT 498, Senior Seminar in Management was approved as a Senior Level writing intensive course.
5. Adjournment was at 2:40.  The next meeting was set for February 17th at 1:30 in Social Science 131.

December 2, 2009

Present: Bob Anderson (Secretary), Richard Blumberg, Dan Frieri, Mary Goldschmdt, Nancy Lasher (chair), John Laughton, Romula Ochoa, Amy Ogbonna, Monisha Pulimood, Catie Rosemurgy, John Ruscio, Philip Sanders, Glenn Steinberg, and Karen Yan

1. Minutes from November 18th were approved as submitted.
2. At the request of the CAP subcommittee recommending revisions to the Majors and Minors Defined document found at <http://www.tcnj.edu~academic/policy/majorsandminors.html>, members of LLPC voted 12 to 0 with one abstention to strike the final sentence under “Interdisciplinary Major.”  It states: “If an Interdisciplinary Major represents course work from at least two of the broad sectors of the Arts and Humanities, History and Social Science, and Natural Science and Quantitative Reasoning, it may be approved as a means of meeting the Liberal Learning requirements so long as the student completes the required number of courses from any absent sector.”  There were two main reasons for removing the sentence.  The first was that it lacks clarity.  It does not indicate how many courses must be present from each broad sector.  If it means three courses, then there is no difference between an interdisciplinary and a disciplinary major in that respect.  In satisfying option C of the breadth requirements, there are no limits to the number of major courses that may be used.  It if means two courses, as in Option A, second major, then the overwhelming sense of the council members was that interdisciplinary majors, even when its courses ‘sample’ across the broad sectors, are focused on the topic of the major, and therefore, do not provide a broad enough vision to warrant the Option A course reduction. Furthermore, interdisciplinary majors have not been treated as though they were double majors; to do so would be a departure from continuing practice since the inception of the current liberal learning program.
3. Action on MGT 498, Senior Seminar in Management was tabled pending responses to several issues including: The fact that there is no required writing until quite late in the semester.  Could students do some preliminary writing earlier in the semester?  It was suggested that feedback to the ‘review of the literature’ be moved up so that it is due prior to April 1st.  Also, it was suggested that there be some faculty feedback prior to the peer feedback.
4. The meeting tentatively scheduled for December 16th was canceled.  The next meeting will be at the earliest possible time in the second semester, and will be announced prior to the beginning of the semester.
5. Adjournment was at 2:55 p.m.

November 18, 2009

Present:  Mary Biggs, Dan Frieri, Nancy Lasher (chair), John Laughton, Romula Ochoa, Monisha Pulimood, Catie Rosemurgy, John Ruscio, and Glenn Steinberg (secretary)

• Minutes from October 21 were approved as submitted.
• AAS 281, Race and Race Relations in the United States was confirmed for race & ethnicity.  There were, however, questions about how assignments in the class specifically assess the students for the goals of behavioral, social, & cultural perspectives, and confirmation for that requirement was deferred.  The course’s sample syllabus also claimed writing-intensive credit, but the committee felt that it did not meet the requirements for that credit and should not falsely represent itself as a writing-intensive course.  Finally, the committee suggested that greater care be taken in proofreading the documents of the course before submission to the committee.
• RUS 171, Contemporary Russia was approved for global (by a vote of 8 in favor, 0 opposed, and 0 abstentions), but approval for literary, visual, & performing arts was deferred until clarification could be provided for how the class assignments will assess the students for the learning goals of that domain.
• MUS 230, Social and Political Issues in American Music was not approved for race & ethnicity.  The clarification requested was not adequately provided.  The committee would like to see a significant statement that explains where the course focuses on the goals of the race & ethnicity requirement and how class assignments will assess the students specifically for those goals.
• The committee voiced frustration over not receiving all the materials requested by the committee for courses submitted for review.  The committee’s chair agreed to arrange for a campus-wide email to be sent out reminding faculty to include the requested paperwork (found on the committee’s website) with course proposals for Liberal Learning credit.
• Adjournment was at 2:40 p.m.

October 21, 2009

Present: Robert Anderson (secretary), Mary Biggs, Dan Frieri, John Laughton, Nancy Lasher (Chair), Romula Ochoa, Amy Ogbonna, Catie Rosemurgy, John Ruscio, Monisha Pulimood, Philip Sanders, Glenn Steinberg, Karen Yan

1. The Minutes from September 16th were approved as submitted.
2. Bob Anderson agreed to fix the confusion engendered by the fact that the left and center areas of the website offer conflicting ‘advice’ on new course proposals and how to present them.
3. ECO 120, European Economic History was approved for social change in historical perspectives. The vote was 10 in favor, one abstention, and none opposed.
4. A preliminary discussion of ANT 111, Introduction to Physical Anthropology was held.  LLPC members indicated appreciation of the course in concept, but recommend that a fully developed syllabus be created with an explicit rationale for its category (non-lab natural science) following the check list on our approval process. Interest was expressed in seeing the texts for the course.  Questions concerning the role of hypothesis testing in the course were raised. A discussion of the nature of ‘natural science’ did not rule out the possibility of physical anthropology being included within that category.
5. Bob Anderson, in the interests of forest preservation and carbon neutrality, agreed to bring only six copies of each document to meetings.
6. Adjournment was at 2:35.

September 16, 2009

Present: Robert Anderson (secretary), Mary Biggs, Dan Frieri,Mary Goldschmidt, John Laughton, Nancy Lasher (Chair), Romula Ochoa, Amy Ogbonna, Catie Rosemurgy, Monisha Pulimood, Philip Sanders, Glenn Steinberg, Karen Yan

1. Nancy Lasher was elected chair by a unanimous vote of 12 to 0 (with one member not yet in attendance)
2. Bob Anderson was re-elected vice-chair and secretary by the same vote.
3. The minutes from May 6, 2009 were approved as submitted
4. Meeting dates for 2009-2010 were set as follows:
   • September 16
   • October 21
   • November 4
   • November 18
   • December 2
   • December 16 (if needed)
   • February 3
   • February 17
   • March 3
   • March 17
   • April 7
   • April 21
   • May 5 (if needed)
5. A set of goals and outcomes for Broad Sectors of Human Inquiry and Civic Responsibilities was distributed to all members.
6. MUS 230, Social and Political Ideas in American Music was considered for race and ethnicity.  Council members agreed a that closer articulation of race and ethnicity goals and course activities needs to be demonstrated.  The same would apply to a request for gender.
7. Cursory examinations of MAT 255 and ARA 245 revealed that neither course was ready at this time for consideration by the council.  The on-line “Approval Process for Liberal Learning Designation” needs to be followed. Bob Anderson agreed to inform the submitters today’s courses of that requirement. Further, he agreed to find an appropriate and efficient means of publicizing the need for the process to be followed.
8. Bob Anderson and Glenn Steinberg provided brief up-dates on FSP housing and orientation issues, as well as an overview of assessment efforts in FSP and senior-level writing.   Bob Anderson also reported on a survey of 2009 graduates that seems to indicate some level of success in achieving major liberal learning goals.
9. Adjournment was at 2:40.  The next meeting was set for Octobr 21st in a room to be announced.