Undergraduate Curriculum
and
Academic Policy Committee


Report to Faculty Senate, Meeting of January 8, 2001

Since its November 27 report to the Faculty Senate, the Curriculum Committee met on December 13. At that meeting the committee acted on the following:

Course Modification and Inventory Requests: Reviewed 50 Course Inventory and Modification Requests: COLA (42), CECS (3), COBA (5) -- approved 48, returned 1 needing additional work and postponed 1 per review request by another college.

Program Changes (Unfinished Business): In unfinished business carried over as postponements from the November 16 meeting based on requests for review by the COSM, the committee, upon being informed of withdrawal of objection from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, approved

Computer Science (all versions of B.S.) Program Changes
Computer Engineering Program Changes
and further postponed, based on requests from the Department of Chemistry, consideration of the following until the January 18 meeting
Mechanical Engineering Program Changes
Material Sciences and Engineering Program Changes.
The committee discussed the current and apparently recurring problem associated with the break down of inter-college communications regarding curriculum matters concerning new course proposals, modifications of existing courses, changes in existing programs, and proposals for new programs. Past and current practice has been that all such proposals submitted to the Undergraduate Curriculum and Policy Committee also be submitted to all college Deans for consideration among colleges. In many, if not most, cases curriculum proposals, although submitted through this process, are not being made available for review by faculty, including appropriate college curriculum committees, college departments, and individual faculty. While some colleges have performed better than others in this respect, there is a real need for overall improvement. The UCAPC chair will bring this to the attention of the Provost.

Program Changes: The committee reviewed and approved

International Studies Major Program Change (COLA)
Creation of Research/Intelligence Analyst Track
Music Program Changes (COLA)
BA in Music
BM in Performance
BM in Music History and Literature
BM in Music Education
Music Minor
New Programs: The committee reviewed and approved
Certificate in Research and Intelligence Analysis (COLA)
Writing Across the Curriculum Committee: Joe Law, WAC Coordinator, reported as follows
Together with the University Writing Center, the Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program is completing an administrative review. Three external reviewers--Joan Mullin, University of Toledo; Jacob Blumner, University of Michigan-Flint; and Maureen Fry, Wittenberg University--were on campus October 19-20, and they have now submitted their written report and recommendations. Because the report arrived during the final week of the quarter, I have not called a meeting of the WAC Committee to share the report.

The reviewers noted the "top down, bottom up support" for both WAC and the Writing Center, commenting that the university community is "justifiably proud of its commitment to writing and to the two units under review." Concerning WAC, the reviewers commented that it is well placed in Academic Affairs and has developed a positive reputation on campus. It also applauded the inclusion of a WAC requirement as part of the General Education program. Among their recommendations are the following:

· Develop means of connecting faculty participation in the WAC program to recognized systems of faculty reward (e.g., explicit link to tenure and promotion considerations, annual awards for excellence in teaching)
· Expand current surveys of WAC faculty to include faculty who do not teach WI courses
· Continue to monitor closely large WI courses in GE
· Reconsider the long-term effects of the dual grading system in WAC courses
· Periodically survey incoming and graduating students about the writing experiences and perceptions
· Develop faculty workshops for discipline-specific writing
· Continue to implement assessment measures and, in addition, develop "more direct measures to assess faculty use of WAC techniques"
· In conjunction with the University Writing Center, continue to investigate possibility of providing supplementary instruction for WI classes in GE 
· Investigate the possibility of an assistant to the WAC coordinator
· Locate a larger space for WAC office, preferably adjacent to conference space
In addition, I conducted the first student focus group about WAC on November 16, meeting with seven students from SOC 200. Since all were juniors and seniors, they had taken a number of WI classes in GE and their majors. This self-selected group was generally positive about WAC, pointing out the necessity of clear communication. In addition, they were in agreement that writing assignments related to courses materials did not seem like an additional task (they were also politely dismissive of writing assignments not evidently connected to the course).
More detail regarding the committee's work is available at the UCAPC website:
http://www.wright.edu/ucapc/ucapc.htm

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