Minutes
Curriculum Committee
February 15, 2005
Members: James Swartz (Chair), Gerald Adams, Daniel Reynolds, Lee Sharpe, Jean Ketter, Rebecca Miller, Peter Clough, Courteney MacKuen, Abel Lomax, and Wayne Moyer.
Agenda:
1. The minutes
from the 2/1/05 meeting were approved.
2. Tom Crady spoke
to the committee about academic stress among faculty and students that builds
up during the academic year. The college has been looking at what triggers negative
reactions by students during the highest stress period in the spring. What changes
can we make within the culture to diffuse this stress? Tom and his committee
are asking us to look at ways we might reduce the academic stress without weakening
the academic mission of the college. How can we modify and conduct our courses
in ways that do not intentionally add to the stress level at the end of the
term such as an e-mail assignment to a class on Sunday night or an assignment
that must be completed during an official break from the college? The committee
decided that the divisional representatives on the committee will lead a general
discussion of these issues at their next divisional meetings. The student representatives
on the committee agreed to carry out a parallel conversation among students
as to how they may take steps to reduce their own stress in more constructive
ways.
3. The committee
approved a proposal submitted by the Dean that the tutorial committee is at
liberty to talk about advising provided that the tutorial committee periodically
report back to this committee on the nature of their discussions regarding academic
advising.
4. The social
studies division discussed the question of a minimum GPA requirement to be an
Independent Major. They decided that they could support an idea that says that
the GPA must be 3.00 or above two out of three semesters prior to application.
The committee will work on a proposal at our next meeting to be considered at
the divisional level.