Curriculum Committee Self Study

Name of Committee:  Curriculum Committee

Current Committee Members (please indicate chair and any other officers): 

David Chioffi (Chair)  [CHIOFFI COMMENTS IN BROWN].

Ellen Daugherty

Tom Lee

Remy Miller

Ken Strickland

Part 1:  MCA Faculty Handbook Description

1) The 2011-2012 MCA Handbook includes the following description of the Committee:

Curriculum—Reviews proposals for new courses or substantive changes to existing

 courses and/or programs. See curriculum development procedures on page D-5. Membership:

The appropriate Department Head, Division Chair(s), and the VPAA/Dean. Secretary/record keeper will be chosen from within the committee.  For the purpose of continuity, at least one member of the committee will continue to serve through the following year. The VPAA/Dean will respond, in writing, on all proposals received, and the action taken. An annual log of deliberations and actions will be maintained.

2a) In the opinion of the committee, does the handbook description accurately describe the function, purpose, and membership of the committee? Please explain.

The handbook describes a process which has in the past been the previous manner of action and provided functionality. The suspension of the Committee and the reinstatement [under these parameters] remains uncertain for the past several academic years. The current operational sequencing as voted upon by the faculty on 20 April 2011 is as follows:

START QUOTE: The establishment of a Curriculum Committee, in response to a mandate by the governing Faculty, was enacted through an open nomination and election process for representation by: the Divisions of Design Arts, Fine Arts, Foundations, and Liberal Studies. The Committee is now comprised of the following full-time faculty:

Division of Design Arts: David Chioffi Division of Fine Arts: Tom Lee Division of Foundations: Remy Miller Division of Liberal Studies: Ellen Daugherty

The Committee convened its first meeting on 23 March 2011.

_______________

Passed Motion: The Curriculum Committee as charged by the governing Faculty puts forth a Motion to suspend all current policies and procedures regarding the Curriculum Committee as outlined in the 2010-2011 Faculty Handbook, as well as for the proposed 2011–2012 version. These statements are attached and noted as:

Curriculum Policy [p. D5-6] Faculty Committees [p. E-7]

Revisions to the policy regarding roles and procedures of the Committee will be drafted by the Committee and submitted to the full Faculty for approval. Once sanctioned by the Faculty, the changes shall be distributed as an amendment to the 2011–2012 Faculty Handbook. In the event that the Committee will need to review curricular proposals prior to the official establishment of new procedures, interim methodologies for such review will be conveyed to the Faculty in a transparent manner. END// END QUOTE.

2b) Please suggest changes/edits/rewrites for the Handbook description of your committee.  If the Handbook does not currently include a description for your committee, please write one. (Answers to this section of the self-study are suggestions only. They are intended to help the faculty move toward Handbook revisions, but they should be regarded as draft versions at this stage. Please don’t spend an inordinately long time trying to craft the perfect description—they can be changed and edited as we go through the process.)

Curriculum—Reviews proposals for new courses or substantive changes to existing courses and/or programs. Membership: The establishment of a Curriculum Committee, in response to a mandate by the governing Faculty, is enacted through an open nomination and election process for representation by: the Divisions of Design Arts, Fine Arts, Foundations, and Liberal Studies. A chair, as well as a secretary will be chosen from within the committee. The term of each member shall be [00]. Outside of reviewing proposals the committee will meet for administrative and evaluation purposes [00] times per year. For the purpose of continuity, at least one member of the committee will continue to serve through the following year. Curricula Proposals will be reviewed [00] times per semester and must include the following forms: [XX]. Committee members will review all course applications and additional information may be requested. The recommendation of the committee will be composed in writing. A motion will be drafted by committee members and presented by the chair at the next scheduled faculty meeting following conventional practices. Actions of the faculty will be conveyed in writing to: [Sponsoring Faculty, Department Head, Chair, Registrar, Dean].The chair of the committee will present the VPAA/Dean with the approved actions of the full faculty in writing for proposed implementation]. Faculty staffing and operational budgetary concerns are independent of the advancement of the College’s permanent course offerings. An annual log of minutes, deliberations, and actions will be maintained in digital form for committee administration, faculty review, and archiving purposes.

Part 2:  Committee Charge, Duties, and Goals

1) Does the committee operate under a clearly stated committee “charge” (that is, a statement of purpose explaining what the committee is charged with doing on behalf of the faculty or college—this may be different from the catalog description of the committee)?  Is this charge written down and made available to the members of the committee and the college community at large?  Please explain. (If you feel that the current catalog description or any revision to the description that you made above functions adequately as a charge, please say so).

For the moment, [Part 01/2B] satisfies this aspect yet requires additional and more specific guidelines and procedures.

2) Does the committee maintain a set of specific duties? Are these written down? If a set of such duties exists (written down or in the minds of the chair or other members of the committee), please list them here.  (In other words, what is the committee specifically responsible for? What does the committee do?)

All Members:

01_Maintain the operation of the committee as charged by the faculty.

02_Abide by the approved operational procedures.

03_Represent the philosophies of their Division.

04_Maintain an active participation within the committee.

05_Provide diversity in opinion and experiences in review and deliberations.

06_Provide information and guidance regarding procedures for faculty.

Chair:

01_Implement administrative sequences.

02_Represent the committee as requested by the faculty or College

03_Call meetings and request agenda items from members and or faculty

04_Facilitate meetings

Secretary:

01_Maintain accurate accounting of meeting discussions and actions in written form.

02_Prepare materials for presentation and distribution to faculty.

03_Prepare motions in written form for consideration within faculty meetings.

04_Maintain all materials as they relate to faculty course proposals.

05_Maintain all forms and their distribution for faculty use in preparation for proposals.

06_Maintain digital archive of all operational, supplemental, actions of the Committee.

07_Convey in writing and signed by the committee approved actions on behalf of the faculty to the appropriate parties [Sponsoring Faculty, Department Head, Chair, Registrar, Dean].

3) Does the committee have a set of goals (short and/or long-term)? If so, please list them and briefly explain the process the committee used to arrive at these goals.

01_Evaluate the processes of curricula development to be implemented for the advancement of a specific department while further expanding the inter-disciplinary relationship to the greater scope of the College and its benefits.

02_The request of Division’s to review course offerings which are active and those inactive to be appropriately represented in the course bulletin.

03_The request of Division’s to provide and maintain the sequence of course offerings for student advising in relation to degree completion.

04_Request policy of faculty in relation to the construction in language of course descriptions and the ownership of these and who may amend them.

05_Implement all processes for curricula requests to become fully digital.

06_Request review and further development that Divisional curricula meets accreditation expectations.

07_Review of comparable institution’s policies and procedures for further insight.

08_Implementation of designated sequences of committee evaluation.

4) Other than verbal reports at faculty meetings, does the committee make reports in verbal or written form to the faculty or administration? How often are these reports made? Where are written reports housed and are they available to other members of the college community?

Not at this juncture, however the intent is to in alignment with the faculty’s and College’s initiative of transparency to have this realized. The physical aspects of a secure and logical methodology have yet to be determined as a committee and a faculty body.

5) Please add any additional comments about the charge, duties, and goals of the committee.

The intent of serving the academic needs of the student body through the faculty remains of the highest priority in an efficient and professional process.

Part 3:  Committee Membership

1a) To the best of the committee’s knowledge, how are faculty members of the currently committee chosen?

“The establishment of a Curriculum Committee, in response to a mandate by the governing Faculty, was enacted through an open nomination and election process for representation by: the Divisions of Design Arts, Fine Arts, Foundations, and Liberal Studies.”

1b) If it is not explicitly stated in the description/rules/by-laws of the committee, how do you think the members of the committee should be chosen?

The membership process [should] include that the committee be composed of full-time faculty members.

2a) Do the faculty members on the committee have limited terms of service?

No, however the current [non-faculty approved version] states that one [01] member should be sequence in to provide consistency.

2b) If it is not explicitly stated in the description/rules/by-laws of the committee, should there be terms of service? Please explain.

Currently it is not explicitly state and should be. A single academic term may not be advantageous due to the short and long term goals being ambitious. This is augmented by, in recent years, the committee not in existence and not within a process available to all faculty’s consideration

3) Does the current committee membership structure make sense? Is the committee too big, too small, the right size?  Please explain.

Currently the committee membership and structure are fairly distributed by the Divisional representation and its size allows for dialogue and productivity.

4a) Does the committee as it currently exists have faculty members from each of the Divisions of the College?  If so, do you feel (or is it a requirement of the committee) that it always have representation from each of the Divisions? 

“The establishment of a Curriculum Committee, in response to a mandate by the governing Faculty, was enacted through an open nomination and election process for representation by: the Divisions of Design Arts, Fine Arts, Foundations, and Liberal Studies.” This composition has been successful as it allows a diverse voice in the meetings and enables each member to, when required, a faculty’s concerns either in identifiable or concealed representation.

4b) If the Committee does not include members from each Division, should it? Please explain.

Asked and answered, please see [4a].

5a) If there are administrators on the committee (according to Dean Strickland’s committee grid), explain their role(s).

Not applicable in the sense of the committee composition however the Dean’s role within the process remains uncertain. Upon completion of the committee and faculty-at-large processes the Dean [will] be provided with a recommendation for possible implementation Can the Dean reject the recommendation of the faculty? Will the Policy on Policy overshadow the actual functionality of this and other committees? Will the faculty be devoid of their academic governance? It is understood that ultimate independence as a faculty is not possible but where is the line to be drawn?

5b) If administrators are members of the committee, do you feel that their roles are necessary? In other words, does the committee feel that administrators should be members of the committee? Please explain.

Asked and answered, please see above, [5a].

6a) If there are staff members on the committee, explain their role(s).

Not applicable.

6b) If staff are members of the committee, do you feel that their roles are necessary to the successful functioning of the committee?  Please explain.

Asked and answered, [6a].

7) To what extent are the decisions of your committee autonomous? In other words, do you make decisions that do not go to the full faculty for approval? Or do you make recommendations that then must be approved by the faculty or others?  Please explain.

Asked and answered, please see [Part 1, 2a-2b].

8) Please add any additional comments related to membership, committee structure, the appointment or election of members, participation of non-faculty members, etc.

Part 4: Committee Meetings and Time Commitment

1a) On average, how many times per semester does your committee meet?  Please indicate if the number of meetings varies by semester and explain why.

This will be determined by the process which is now in a fluid state.

1b) Is there a set meeting schedule (e.g., once monthly, bi-weekly, etc)?  If not, how does the committee determine if a meeting is necessary and who calls the meeting?

This will be determined by the process which is now in a fluid state.

1c) If there is no set meeting schedule, do you think that there should be a set meeting schedule or a minimum number of meetings for your committee per semester? Please explain.

This will be determined by the process which is in a fluid state.

1d) How long is the average meeting?

The developmental meeting was fifty [50] minutes long.

2) In general, how many hours of commitment per semester does this committee require of members?

As this aspect of the College can be viewed as one of the foundations of its mission, the current developmental commitment can be large. This would be associated with policy, administrative sequences, and form/paperwork. After which, based on the outlined tenets and a [hopeful] productive process, the time association is inline with the expansion of the course catalogue as requested by the faculty.

3a) Does the committee take minutes, keep notes, or otherwise track and archive the activities of the committee?

Yes.

3b) If you do keep minutes, where are they housed? Can other faculty (or administrators) not on your committee look at these minutes easily?

Asked and answered, please see [Part 2, 4].

4) Please add any additional comments on committee meetings and the time commitment required of faculty on this committee.