EDUCATIONAL POLICY COMMITTEE
Minutes
January 31, 2008

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

Excused Absence: Philip Kutzko, John Menninger

Guests: Professor Richard Hurtig, Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology
Professor Jon Wilcox, DEO, Department of English

1. Philip Kutzko and David Redlawsk will replace Mark Reagan and Jeff Cox for the spring semester.
2. The minutes from December 6, 2007 were approved with a minor correction.
3. R. Ketterer volunteered as secretary for the spring semester.
4. Guest Professor Richard Hurtig presented a proposal from the American Sign Language Program to offer a minor in American Sign Language. He reviewed the history of ASL at Iowa, noting that the American Sign Language Program has grown from offering one section of ASL per semester to offering fourteen per semester with waiting lists. The Program also consistently offers enough advanced courses in ASL and Deaf Studies needed for a minor. Students taking the ASL sequence were surveyed and their responses overwhelmingly indicated interest in a minor. The minor is an important opportunity for students studying Speech and Hearing Science who want to work in the Deaf community or attend graduate school in Deaf Cultural Studies. Students in Special Education will also find the minor relevant. The minor additionally will help prepare students for certification in ASL interpretation. A need in this field exists since certification will soon require a bachelor’s degree rather than an associate degree, and a shortage of interpreters might occur. The minor will prepare students to enter such a program elsewhere. R. Hurtig confirmed that the Regents would like the three Regents’ universities to offer Deaf Cultural Studies and more ASL courses, but funds are not available for the additional faculty and staff. The courses for the minor will continue to be taught by the current faculty and instructors who are highly trained and who receive strong reviews; the minor will require no additional resources. In discussion, EPC suggested that The University of Iowa should consider taking a leadership role in Deaf Cultural Studies and in the certification for interpreters, especially if the latter requires a more advanced degree. The College should explore this possibility. EPC unanimously approved the ASL minor; the proposal will move to the Faculty Assembly, the final step in the approval process.
5. Guest Professor Jon Wilcox presented the second draft of the Department of English proposal for a creative writing track with selective admission and limited enrollment, thus continuing the discussion from the Fall 2007 EPC meeting. J. Wilcox reported that candidates were being interviewed for the program coordinator position and that the Provost supported the track as did the Writers’ Workshop. At this point, the Department has proposed flexible criteria for admission with students (including transfer students) able to petition if not meeting all criteria. Details of the program and of the selective admission apparatus will be left to the discretion of the coordinator with enrollment limited to seats available in key courses. H. Dettmer clarified for EPC that the approval of a track generally ends with the EPC review except for tracks with proposed selective admission or limited enrollment status; these proposals must also be approved by Faculty Assembly. The Educational Policy Committee unanimously approved the creative writing track, noting the importance of maintaining and enhancing Iowa as “the Writing University.”

Respectfully submitted,
EPC Secretary
Robert Ketterer