Curriculum and Educational Policies Committee

Annual Report 05-06
Submitted by Jill Dietz

Members of CEPC for 2005-2006:

Carolyn Anderson (SS)
Tyler Hauger (Student)
Jo Beld (ARP), ex-officio
Mary Sue Lovett (Library), ex-officio
Mary Cisar (Registrar), ex-officio
Corliss Swain (HUM)
Jill Dietz (NSM), chair
Kathy Thomforde (IGS)
Alice Hanson (FA)

The Curriculum and Educational Policies Committee had a full and successful year. Our work fell into four general categories: curriculum issues, educational policy issues, governance issues, and Registrar’s business.

Curriculum issues:

  • General Education revisions: CEPC continued the work begun in 04-05 to revise five General Education requirements (BTS-T, MAR, MCS-D and -G, NST, and PHA) identified by the Dean’s GE Taskforce as being in particular need of some overhaul. Aided by conversations and reports from four different working groups, CEPC presented to the faculty revisions to PHA (renamed SPM), BTS-T, MAR (renamed AQR), and NST in Green Sheets CEPC 05-06 -2, -4, -7, and -11 (respectively). All four green sheets – each of which included 1) a description of the GE requirement, 2) guidelines for implementing the requirement, 3) intended learning outcomes, and 4) rationale for the requirement – were passed by the faculty. CEPC plans to present revisions to the MCS requirement during the 06-07 academic year. Lastly, in CEPC 05-06 -6, the committee recommended and the faculty passed a description, guidelines, learning outcomes, and rationale for the BTS-B requirement.
  • New courses: On the recommendation of the New Course Subcommittee, CEPC recommended 17 new courses to the faculty (in Green Sheets CEPC 05-06 -1, -3, -5, -8, and –12), all of which were adopted.
  • Interim and Summer courses: On the recommendation of the Special Studies Subcommittee, CEPC approved 15 new on-campus Interim and Summer courses.

Educational policy issues:

  • Selective admissions: In CEPC 05-06 -10, the committee recommended instituting a policy for selectively admitting students to upper-level courses. The Green Sheet did notpass the full faculty. The committee believes this is an important educational policy issue and will make revisions to the document based on comments made at the Faculty Meeting and further committee discussions.
  • Grading policies: An 04-05 report by Lynn Steen suggested that St. Olaf might be experiencing “grade inflation.” CEPC talked about this issue several times and committee members participated in a discussion of the issue sponsored by CILA. We will return to the issue next academic year.
  • Latin honors: In recognition of the grade inflation issue, the committee recommended, and the faculty approved, revisions to the awarding of Latin honors at graduation (cum laude, magna cum laude, and summa cum laude) in CEPC 05-06 -9. Beginning with the class of 2010, each of the three Latin honor categories will require a higher minimum GPA.

Governance issues: With the approval of the faculty, the Review and Planning Committee began exploring revisions to the committee structure at the college. In response, CEPC had several conversations about how our work can be done more efficiently, and how we can assist RPC in making the transition to a new committee structure. CEPC met jointly with the General Education Committee to discuss governance issues (among other things). Dietz called a meeting of the Curriculum Coordinating Committee that brought together the chairs of CEPC, GEC, and IDOCS, along with the chair of RPC and the Director of IOS to begin talking about the best way to get our work done under a new, more streamlined committee structure. The CCC agreed to meet periodically during the 06-07 academic year to continue making plans for the committee restructuring.

Registrar’s business: Mary Cisar, the College Registrar, regularly brought business before CEPC. The two most time-consuming topics this academic year were:

  • Calendars: The Registrar developed and CEPC approved the academic calendars for the years 07-08 and 08-09.
  • Petition deadlines: Anticipating the publication of the new catalog for 2006-2008, the Registrar sought clarity from CEPC on some confusing language concerning deadlines for students to file petitions.

Other business:

  • Honorary degrees: On the recommendation of the Honorary Degree Subcommittee, CEPC recommended and the faculty approved that two Turkish scholars receive honorary degrees in a spring ceremony.
  • Teacher education representative: Committee member Carolyn Anderson served as the CEPC representative to the Teacher Education Committee chaired by Mark Schelske.
  • Foreign language petitions: CEPC approved the recommendations of the Foreign Language Subcommittee concerning three student petitions.
  • Academic Research and Planning: Jo Beld, Director of ARP, regularly gave reports to and sought advice from CEPC concerning ongoing assessment initiatives at the college.
  • Inquiry in Support of Student Learning: This workgroup led by Jo Beld and supported by CEPC worked to fine-tune the intended learning outcomes for several GE requirements, and help garner support for the Collegiate Learning Assessment.

New business:
In no particular order, CEPC hopes to attend to the following business in 06-07.

  • Curriculum issues
    • New course recommendations, and approvals
    • Revision to the MCS requirement
    • Learning outcomes for GE requirements
    • Review of other GE requirements
    • Overall health of the GE curriculum
  • Educational policy issues
    • Selective admissions to courses
    • Exam policy
    • Grading practices
    • Distinction in the major
  • Governance issues
    • Committee restructuring
  • Registrar's business
    • Transfer credit
    • Petition deadlines
    • Academic regulations in the Catalog
    • 09-10 calendar
    • 5 day exam period
  • Other business
    • Community time and the daily schedule

Acknowledgements: Dozens of faculty and staff members devoted their time, energy, expertise, and wisdom to CEPC subcommittees and working groups. CEPC would like to thank the following colleagues for their invaluable help.

  • New Course Subcommittee: Laurel Carrington, Mark Pernecky, Corliss Swain (chair), Amelia Taylor, and Nancy Thompson
  • Special Studies Subcommittee: Brian Borovsky, Alice Hanson (chair), Tim Howe, Rika Ito, Bill Poehlmann, and Paula Stowe
  • Honorary Degree Subcommittee: Karen Cherewatuk, Chuck Huff, and Kathy Thomforde (chair)
  • Foreign Language Subcommittee: Gwen Barnes-Karol, Ruth Bolstad, Chris Brunelle, Mary Cisar (chair), Irina Walter
  • Inquiry in Support of Student Learning: Jo Beld (chair), Linda Berger, John Campion, Susan Canon, Angelique Dietz, Rachel Erickson, Jim Farrell, Rita Glazebrook, Caleb Goltz, Kathy Granquist, Tim Isom, Paul Jackson, Linne Jensen, Diane LeBlanc, Kris MacPherson, Bob McClure, Nick Neeb, Sherry Saterstrom, Pat Smith, and Kurt Stimeling
  • PHA Working Group: Mark Allister, Cindy Book, Heather Klopchin, and Steve McKelvey
  • BTS-T Working Group: Carolyn Brostrom ’05, L. DeAne Lagerquist, Phyllis Larson, Doug Schuurman, and Paul Zorn
  • MAR & NST Working Group: Jeanine Grenberg, Dana Gross, Chuck Huff, Robert Jacobel, Rebecca Judge, Todd Nichol, Wes Pearson, Mary Walczak, Anne Walter, David Van Wylen, and Paul Zorn
  • MCS Working Group: Chris Chiappari, Robert Entenman, Steve Hahn, Maria Kelly, and Naurine Lennox

In closing, I would personally like to thank the other members of CEPC for their tireless work week-after-week. I was priviledged to chair such a fine group of faculty. I would also like to take this opportunity to inform the administration that the members of CEPC served the college in a myriad of ways. Carolyn Anderson chaired her department's Tenure-track Hiring Committee and served on the Library Committee. Alice Hanson was a member of four departmental committees: Hiring, Nominating, Catalogue and Curriculum, and Library. Corliss Swain is chair of the Department of Philosophy. Jo Beld and Mary Cisar serve on so many committees that they cannot remember all of them. As for myself, I lead the Curriculum Coordinating Committee by default, and within my department I chaired both the Tenure-track Hiring Committee and the Intellectual Vitality Committee.

Jill Dietz
Associate Professor of Mathematics
Chair, CEPC