The following courses were approved as WI courses via e-mail ballot.

Esns 320: Development and Operation of Technology-Based Business, Doug Arion
Soci 141: Principles of Sociology, Rick Matthews
Soci 142: Sociology of Social Problems (ACE), Rick Matthews
Soci 227: Juvenile Delinquency, Rick Matthews
Csci 435: Software Design and Development, Mark Mahoney
Educ 325: Teaching Mathematics Effectively in Elementary and Middle School, Barb Short
Exss 270: Elementary Physical Education/Principles of Movement, Susanna Swenson
Math 103:  Applied Mathematics, Charlotte Chell
Geos 471: Senior Seminar in Geography, Matt Zorn

Respectfully submitted,
Mark Snavely

May 7, 2008

Present: Bonn, Short, Matthews, Montanaro, Wallace, Cassidy, Steege, Preston

1. WI proposals

From Biology: A proposal to allow two faculty to teach the senior seminar. Both faculty are WI approved. A request has been made to add WI designation to their sections of the senior seminar, even though neither one has submitted a proposal. They will be using the same syllabus created for another section of senior seminar that has been previously approved by the committee.
The consensus of the committee was as follows: when faculty who are not the original proposers of the course teach a WI course, they should submit both the form and syllabus (even if it is the same syllabus given to them by the course originator). The rationales behind this were as follows: even though this case involves full-time faculty, we do not want to set a precedent which would create potential problems of department chairs submitting syllabi for adjuncts in a similar situation. Second, and more importantly, the committee believed that the actual submitting of a proposal is necessary for both record keeping and a “contract” of sorts between faculty and the WAC committee, even if they intend to use someone else’s syllabus (which some members were not necessarily opposed to in principle, but uncomfortable). This is consistent with our policy of submitting the form again for an approved faculty member and course for renewal.
Faculty Member Dept. Course Action
Duncan English American Literary Traditions passed
Maria Carrig English Senior Seminar passed
Leslie Cameron Psychology Cognition passed
Renaud/Vogt Classics Race, Ethnicity and Gender in the Ancient World passed
2. Waivers
Ashley Ferrara, denied (transfer student, senior, but still has time to take a course outside her major next fall).

Melissa Hawn, granted (transfer student, no opportunity to take course before graduation).

3. August writing workshops draft—AW and RM

Alan gave an update on the August workshop, sessions are shaping up. He and Rick will continue to work on this through the summer.

4. Welcome to chair of WATF, Chris Renaud

5. Cassidy to talk with Heritage on them using workshop time for teaching writing specific to Heritage.

6. Plagiarism: Committee discussed using the Hacker text as a standard for WI courses, consensus was that we might want to issue some kind of statement that encourages faculty to use common source for definition, etc. More discussion to follow.

Meeting Adjourned at 1:07

April 23, 2008

Present: Steege, Snavely, Cassidy, Wallace, Montanaro, Matthews, Bonn

1. WI proposals.

Cassidy Art courses (Art 224 and Art 305) passed
Rothstein Modern Languages 471 (Topics) passed
Easley EDUC 322 Reading and Language Arts passed
Easley & Rieman EDUC 352 Developmental and Content Reading Area
Maleske PSYC 370 Thesis Development Tabled, Alan will talk with him

2. Waivers

Matthew Zielinski, chemistry approved because he’s a transfer student and no chemistry course will be offered before he graduates in spring 2009.

3. International WAC Conference—Rick

Matthews and Trautwein will attend, Matthews plans to attend a pre-session to have a team of experts give feedback on the development of WAC at Carthage. .

4. August writing workshops draft:

Alan and Rick are working together on the sessions for the August workshop.

Meeting adjourned at 1:00

WAC Committee Meeting Minutes – 4/09/08

The meeting was called to order at 12:00 with the following members present:
Mark Snavely, Alan Wallace, Rick Matthews, Barbara Short, Anne Cassidy, Ed Montanaro, Michelle Bonn, Jean Preston

The agenda was then addressed.

1. Proposals

The following WI proposals were presented for approval:

Julio Rivera – GEOG 373 (Urban Geography)
Approved as submitted
Erik Tou – MATH 322 (Abstract Algebra I)
Approved with the understanding that Mark Snavely will consult with Professor Tou regarding the implementation of the proposal.
Robert Grant – MGMT 490 (Business Policy Seminar
And
MKTG 490 (Marketing Research Seminar)
Both proposals approved with the understanding that Alan Wallace
will consult with Professor Grant regarding the implementation of the proposals.

2. Waiver Requests

There were no Waiver Requests

3. The two remaining meetings this term will be held on April 23rd and May 7th.

4. Rich Matthews will seek funding approval from Kurt Piepenburg for three people (Rich Matthews, Aaron Trautwein, and Jean Preston) to attend the International WAC Conference in Austin, Texas at the end of May.

5. Several pending issues were discussed, and will be addressed in some fashion at the August workshop:
– Refining WI guidelines and due dates
– Informing Department Chairs of W.I. guidelines, departmental requirements, and various due dates
– Preparing for departmental writing assessments

6. A draft of the August Workshop schedule has been/will be sent to committee members. We will have separate workshops for veterans and first-time participants.

7. The meeting was adjourned at 1:00 p.m.

The meeting was called to order at 12:00 with the following members present:
Mark Snavely, Alan Wallace, Rick Matthews, Barbara Short, Anne Cassidy, Ed Montanaro, Michelle Bonn, Jean Preston

The agenda was then addressed.

1. Proposals

The following WI proposals were approved:
Jeff Roberg – POLS 400
Elaine Radwanski – BIOL 251

The following WI proposals received retroactive approval:
Dan Miller – NEUR 250 for 2007-2008

WI status was removed from Cynthia Allen’s EXSS 235 course, now taught by Steve Domin.

2. Waiver Requests

There were no Waiver Requests

3. August Workshop

The workshop will be held on August 26, 27, and 28.

Marty Townsend will present for one day of the three-day workshop.

Please give some thought to the schedule of events and ideas for the workshop before the next WAC Committee meeting.

Along with this discussion, two issues were raised:
1) Must both faculty members of a team-taught WI course be certified for WI?
2) How will the committee deal with students in a WI course who must take the course to fulfill a minor requirement but are not ready for/do not need the course to be WI?

4. The International WAC Conference will be held in Austin, TX on May 28, 29 and 30th. Rich Matthews will attend, as well as another committee member and an additional faculty member not on the committee. Aaron Trautwein and Jacqueline Easley were suggested as possible choices for the non-committee attendee. Jean Preston offered to attend if no other committee member can attend.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:00 p.m. The next meeting will be held on April 9th.

WAC Committee
Minutes of 3/6/08

Present: Bonn, Cassidy, Matthews, Preston, Snavely, Short Wallace,

Waiver Petitions Passed: Kaminski, Xu (tabled from last meeting)

Waiver Petition Denied: Huczla

Waiver Petition Tabled: Diaz (Pending more information)

The committee discussed sending representatives to the International WAC Conference in Austin, TX in late May. Matthews and Preston will go from the committee. We are still considering another person, likely someone outside the committee who is committed to WAC and has been at the fore of teaching WI courses.

The WAC workshop will be August 26, 27 and 28 this year. Wallace and Matthews agreed to begin outlining the workshop and then bring a draft to the committee.

Courses

Faculty Member Course Action

Dan Miller Neroscience 250 Passed
Ellen Hauser Sociology 271 (Women in Developing Countries) Passed
Ellen Hauser Sociology 271 (African Transitions) Passed*
Schlack Economics 450 Passed

Meeting Adjourned at 1:00

*Passed pending Wallace discussing with Hauser the use of a mid-term exam as part of the writing assignments in the course, the committee felt the mid-term, as presented, was not process writing.

WAC Committee Minutes
2/20/08

Present: Bonn, Cassidy, Matthews, Preston, Snavely, Wallace

Several courses were brought by the committee:

Instructor Course & Number Action

Cynthia Allen Methods and Materials EXSS 420 passed
Mark Petering Music Technology & Industry MUS 117 provisional pass
Brian Schwartz Experimental Physics PHYS 406 passed
Aaron Trautwein Linear Algerbra MATH 200 renewed
Ellen Hauser SOCI 271 tabled
Ellen Hauser SOCI 271 tabled

The committee discussed what to do in the event the course caps are violated. Consensus was that the committee should send a letter to the faculty member, copied to the department chair, division chair and Dean of the College reminding about the importance of maintaining the integrity of the 22 student limit on WI course enrollments.

The committee reviewed petitions by students requesting exemption from WI:

Student Reason Action

Xuelean Peak no course offered before graduation granted
Yuen Shing Ka unclear tabled for clarification

Two other petitions were distributed to committee members to be voted on by email (Joanna Huszla and Kevin Kaminski).

Meeting adjourned at 2:20

The following WI proposals were approved via e-mail.

POLS/ECON 405 Senior Seminar, Cyr
POLS 205 Philosophical Foundations of Political Economy, Cyr
MATH 309 Real Analysis, Snavely (renewal)

WAC Committee Meeting Minutes
11/15/07

The meeting was called to order at 3 p.m.

The committee welcomed Dan Miller to the meeting to speak about possible methods of assessing both the W.I. program and student outcomes in regard to writing. After much discussion, the committee and Dan agreed that the committee should prepare in 07/08 for the first round of departmental assessment of writing skills of their majors in 08/09. Dan suggested that the appropriate time for WI assessment in the disciplines would be no sooner than 2009, and many departments will probably do theirs at the end of the first full cycle of WI in 2010. During this spring and next year, departments should identify what discipline-specific writing traits they want to test and should find or create the instruments to assess those traits in their graduating seniors. The WAC Committee should start planning how to assist departments in their writing assessment.

Alan Wallace announced that Anne Cassidy has agreed to be the representative from the Fine Art’s Division, and the committee’s liaison with the Heritage program.

Jean Preston presented a draft of a letter to the Administration requesting a wage for Writing Fellows more equitable to what wages are for other student positions on campus. The committee requested a second draft, revises per committee suggestions, be sent to the committee via email for further input and/or committee endorsement.

The committee approved the renewal of Pam Smiley’s Interpreting Literature course for W.I. renewal. The other proposals and renewals on the agenda will be voted on by the committee via email.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Jean Preston