The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

EDUCATIONAL POLICY COMMITTEE
Minutes
April 10, 2008

Attending: S. Birrell, H. Dettmer, M. Gilbert, K. Hall (committee staff), R. Honey, R. Ketterer, Philip Kutzko, J. Menninger, D. Redlawsk, and A. Segre

Excused Absence: J. Kimberley, M. Niño-Murcia

1. The minutes from April 3 were approved with minor corrections.
2. The Educational Policy Committee reviewed the General Education Curriculum Committee’s recommendation to grant GE status to 030:043 Introduction to Politics in the Muslim World and to 13E:080 King Arthur through the Ages. M. Gilbert, liaison to GECC, explained the General Education Curriculum Committee’s careful deliberation and rationale for recommending approval of these courses. The EPC approved the recommendations.
3. After a report from M. Gilbert, EPC approved the General Education Curriculum Committee’s recommendations concerning the five-year review of GE offerings in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and in the Department of Integrative Physiology. During the discussion, EPC stressed the problems inherent in teaching large lecture courses. One member pointed out that the use of adjuncts to solve these problems causes a weakening of the academic institution and of students’ education. Instead, more tenure-track faculty should be hired. EPC agreed. As the discussion ended, EPC praised the work of the General Education Curriculum Committee. GECC’s meetings with departments have illuminated the GE criteria and approaches to teaching in a variety of creative ways. EPC suggested that GECC might want to consider if and when to follow up on such conversations. M. Gilbert will raise the question with GECC.
4. EPC discussed possible nominations for UI honorary degrees, advising the College to ask the Writers’ Workshop, the Department of Art and Art History, the Department of Religious Studies, and the Department of Physics and Astronomy for the names of influential alumni. EPC also suggested Jane Smiley, a Pulitzer Prize winning-novelist with a MFA from the Writers’ Workshop. Names mentioned from outside of The University of Iowa included Václav Havel, a playwright and first president of the Czech Republic, and Peter Ware Higgs, a British physicist.
5. EPC discussed the issue of student absences from class when an exam or quiz is involved. EPC noted that faculty are not responsible for student dishonesty but must discourage it in ways that protect the integrity of the course. Methods for doing so were discussed with no consensus reached. A more flexible university policy that lightens the burden of administering make-up exams might be possible, and H. Dettmer will raise this issue with the Associate Deans and Directors. EPC also emphasized that faculty may and should ask for proof that a student’s absence is legitimate before providing a make-up exam. This policy should be stated clearly on the syllabus and reviewed during class. EPC will return to the topic of student absences at a future meeting.

Respectfully submitted,
EPC Secretary
Robert Ketterer