WAC Meeting Minutes
February 20, 2015
12:00p.m., LH 331
Present: Matthews, Snavely, Steege, Heinrichs, Cronovich, Greene
We approved the minutes from the October meeting.
We passed the following course proposals:
FRN 4010 Senior Seminar in French, Isabel Rivero-Vila
CRJ 2260 Criminology, Rick Mathews
Discussion of course approval process:
Eric sent an email to the committee about the course approval process, and the criteria we use to pass courses. We discussed our role in the course approval process (and WAC more broadly). Matthews noted that historically, we have not been “pass or fail.” Rather, we have worked with our colleagues to facilitate course approvals. He noted that in order for WAC to succeed, we need wide participation by the faculty throughout the College. The need to promote WAC, however, needs to be balanced with course proposals that have integrity.
We also discussed committee composition and noted that it might change given the proposal by the Academic Senate.
As it stands, it is difficult for the entire committee to meet.
We discussed e-votes, and the problem of committee members that do not respond. We decided to end the practice of e-voting on course proposals.
We had a long discussion about the course schedule. Every semester, departments add courses to the schedule that have not been approved. Currently, Mark and Rick work together to check the course schedule each semester and send emails to solicit proposals for unapproved course-instructor pairs. While time-consuming, we have not found a better method to ensure the course schedule is accurate. We will continue to think about ways to make sure departments and instructors are not listing unapproved WI courses on the schedule.
Meeting adjourned at 1:00. Submitted by Matthews