Minutes

Liberal Arts and Sciences Senate Subcommittee C Meeting

Tuesday, February 18, 2003, 3:30pm

Members present: Tove Finnestad (Philosophy), Glenn Geher (Psychology, chair), , Linda Benbow (Sociology), Jeff Miller (Political Science)

(1) Proposal for course number 71201 from the Philosophy Department:

This course, titled Symbolic Logic, was proposed for the Mathematics requirement of the GEIII. This course included a minor course revision to change the title from “Logic” to “Symbolic Logic” for clarification purposes. The subcommittee approved this proposal unanimously.

(2) Proposal for course number 71110 from the Philosophy Department:

This course, titled “Reason and Argument,” is being proposed to serve as a Composition II course in the new GEIII. The proposal conformed to the GEIII guidelines well. Issues regarding the nature of the composition component in the new GEIII were raised, and clarification would be helpful (e.g., will the standard Freshman Comp I and II from the English Department be replaced by an interdisciplinary set of possible sequences?). The subcommittee approved this proposal unanimously.

(3) Proposal for course number 77216 from the Political Science Department:

This course, titled American Government and Politics, is being proposed for the United States Studies category of the new GEIII. The subcommittee is willing to approve this proposal unanimously given the following minor revisions:

A. Emphasize that only course objectives A and C (as outlined in the syllabus) primarily address Objective 2 of the US Studies Category (the existing document states that all objectives in the syllabus meet that GE objective).

B. It would be helpful if the specifics regarding the software that will be used by students (e.g., votesmart.org) would be included in the syllabus as well as in the narrative (where these specifics are currently outlined).

(4) Proposal for course number 77227 from the Political Science Department:

This course, titled “Introduction to International Politics,” is proposed for the World Civilization and Culture category of GEIII. The subcommittee approved this proposal unanimously.

(5) Proposal for course number 77327 from the Political Science Department:

This course, titled “Classics of Political Theory,” is proposed for the Western Civilization category of GEIII. This proposal included some minor issues that should be clarified. From the written materials, it was unclear whether this proposal would include a name change or a number change. Jeff Miller kindly suggested that it would include a number change (to a lower level number to allow lower-level students to take this class) and that it would NOT include a title change. The subcommittee approved this proposal unanimously given these minor revisions.

(6) Proposal for course number 77229 from the Political Science Department:

This course, titled “Introduction to Comparative Politics,” is proposed for the World Civilization and Culture category of GEIII. While this proposal was strong, the committee suggested several potential revisions outlined subsequently:

A. un-underline the Effective Expression GE category on the cover sheet.

B. Answer #7 on the cover sheet (we believe the word “YES” was supposed to be circled, but this fact was unclear).

C. It would be useful if an explicit objectives section in the syllabus were added. This section should explicitly address the World Civilization category in addition to the critical thinking category of Systematic Inquiry in a detailed fashion.

Respectfully submitted, 2-18-03

Glenn Geher

Subcommittee Chair / Secretary pro tempore