DRAFT
EDUCATIONAL POLICY COMMITTEE
Minutes
November 29, 2007

Attending: S. Birrell, J. Cox, H. Dettmer (Chair), M. Gilbert, K. Hall (committee staff), R. Honey, R. Ketterer, J. Kimberley (student member), J. Menninger, M. Niño-Murcia, M. Reagan, A. Segre

Guests: Professor Alan J. Christensen, Chair of the Department of Psychology; Professor Prahlad Gupta, Undergraduate Director of Psychology, and Deb Johnson, Academic Coordinator, Psychology         

1. The minutes from November 8 were deferred until December 6.
2. At the request of the GE Curriculum Committee, EPC discussed whether or not to regulate GE three-week summer offerings to assure that they are equivalent to those offered in other sessions. While agreeing that some courses are not well suited for such a short duration, the EPC recognized that GE outcomes can be met for many courses in the three-week session. In fact, the intensity of focus can be refreshing for both faculty and students in some circumstances. A CLAS report on the topic suggested that appropriate GE courses have been offered during recent three-week sessions. Some members suggested that current guidelines and policy already provide sufficient regulation and that continued GECC assessment might be preferable to new regulation.  EPC agreed not to create an additional GE three-week summer session policy but to advise GECC to continue its careful scrutiny of all offerings. Miriam  Gilbert, the liaison for GECC, will convey this recommendation to GECC.
3. Guests Professor Alan J. Christensen, Chair of the Department of Psychology; Professor Prahlad Gupta, Undergraduate Director of Psychology; and Deb Johnson, Academic Coordinator of Psychology, spoke with EPC concerning proposed changes to the BA and BS in psychology. The Department of Psychology, in response to outcomes assessment and after a review of psychology majors at other research institutions, has decided to revise the requirements for the BA and BS. The curriculum was last revised ten years ago and the field now has a stronger emphasis in the biology of psychology and requires more rigorous computational skills. The proposal includes the addition of an introductory, required psychology course focusing on biological psychology, replacing the optional Biology of the Brain course. An additional advanced statistics course or a lower-level computer science cognate also will be required for BA students. The “teen” level prerequisites will be limited to three out four courses rather than the previous four out of five. The BS and the BA will require the same research methodology course and will have more cross-choices for the required statistics course, allowing movement between the programs and better utilization of resources. EPC encouraged the department to speak with the Departments of Statistics and Actuarial Science and Computer Science in more detail before deciding on particular cognates. There was also some discussion concerning prerequisites and course order. EPC will continue its discussion at its next meeting.

Respectfully submitted,
Mark Reagan
EPC Secretary