Minutes
Curriculum Committee
November 16, 2004


Members: James Swartz (Chair), Gerald Adams, Daniel Reynolds, Lee Sharpe, Rebecca Miller, Courteney MacKuen, and Wayne Moyer.

1. The minutes from the 11/02/04 meeting were approved.

2. Update on the evaluation of MIPs. The Social Studies Division has not had an opportunity to discuss this issue. The Science Division had strong support for MIPs. They would like to see a clarification between 299s and 399s. They were also interested in 5 week MIPs (2 credits) as well as 10 week MIPs (4 credits). [The current catalog states that MIPs can be either 2 or 4 credits.]. The Humanities Division has no objections to MIPs at this time. After a lengthy discussion the committee decided to work on the following items with respect to MIPs/ Independents in general:

a. Examine with the objective of revising the catalog description of MIPs.
b. Examine with the objective of revising the catalog description of 297s, and 397s.
c. Examine with the objective of revising the catalog description 397s with respect to MAPs.
d. Examine with the objective of revising the catalog description of 399s with respect to MIPs and MAPs.
c. Is it possible to supervise a MIP at a time other than summer?

3. Update on a possible proposal for a minimum GPA requirement to be an Independent Major. The Social Studies Division has not had an opportunity to discuss this issue. In the Humanities Division there were a few people who felt that there should not be any changes in the requirements to do an independent major. Some felt that there should be a strongly worded guideline with respect to minimum GPA. Some expressed the need to see a more specific proposal regarding GPA. Some in the Science Division acknowledged that it is a privilege to do an independent major. Some stated that the minimum GPA be consistent with the requirement for OCS which is 2.75. Eighteen members voted to leave it as is, one voted in favor of a 3.0 GPA, 4 voted for an expression of stronger expectations, and ten members did not vote at all. The committee decided to table further discussion on this item until the Social Studies Division has discussed this topic.


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