Core Education Committee

Oregon State University Faculty Senate

Meeting of the Core Education Committee
January 31, 2025
11:30-1:30 p.m.
Zoom

MINUTES

 

Committee members present: Kelsey Emard (Co-chair), Daniel Faltesek (Co-chair), Andrea Allan, Vipin Arora, Aidas Banaitis, Abigail Crowell, Liz Delf, Matthew Kennedy, Lori McGraw, Brian Mills, Holly Mitchell, Kari-Lyn Sakuma, Dave Stemper, Paula Weiss
Committee members absent: Liz Delf
Ex-officio members present: Stephanie Baugh (Curriculum Management), Kali Furman (Difference, Power & Oppression), Heath Henry (General Education Assessment), McKenzie Huber (Core Education), Karen Watte (Ecampus)
Visitors and staff present: Caitlin Calascibetta (Faculty Senate Office), Andrew Valls (Executive Committee Liaison), Troy Hall, Michael Jefferis, Caryn Stoess

New Business & Informational Items

The co-chairs called the meeting to order and opened with a discussion around a Transitions pre-requisite update – no independent accreditation issue for any organization that can be found saying that you have any passing grade in any transitions course that should count. Does the committee need a policy, or can the registrar’s office handle it in transit? The College of Engineering (COE) has a policy that they don’t accept less than a C- but they had a petition process that allowed for 1 exception. They are changing their college policy to allow the exception for transition which does allow for students to pass with a D-, which is considered passing. Documentation will be provided on the Core Education (Core Ed) website and a list of affected courses with the C- typo will be forwarded to Course Management to update them. No policy was determined to be needed.

The co-chairs and Core Ed Director met with Kristin Benson to discuss developing guidelines for advisors on making decisions for what transfer courses meet Core Ed requirements. Prioritizing student agency, course availability and course applicability. Advisors being prepped on how to advertise the Core Ed to new students.

ENGR 333 has had its number changed and is being held in stasis and will likely stay that way indefinitely while college processes and human resources is involved. Questions of the authority of the Difference, Power & Oppression (DPO) director are still under question currently. A new ENGR course will come from Engineering.

Course Reviews

The committee reviewed and discussed the following Core Education proposals.

• BA 100  Transitions - Specialized proposal – Transitions
  • No major issues but one of the major assignments seems largely discipline specific to Business majors. However, it could be surface level enough to be accessible to other majors. Academic Assessment agrees that the course is suitable for the category.

Action: Motion to approve BA 100 and BA 300; seconded. The motion passed with 12 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition, and 0 abstentions.

• BA 300  Transitions - Specialized proposal – Transitions
  • Voted on with BA 100.

• ENGR 110 Transitions - Specialized proposal – Transitions
  • Deferred until next week.

• ENGR 310 Transitions - Specialized proposal – Transitions
  • Deferred until next week.

• BI 344    DNA, Identities, and Societies (3rd review) – Difference, Power & Oppression – Advanced
  • Made all requested revisions.

Action: Motion to approve; seconded. The motion passed with 12 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition, and 0 abstentions.

• PSY 488 Psychology of Trauma, Oppression, and Resilience (2nd review) – Difference, Power & Oppression – Advanced
  • Made all requested revisions. They don’t necessarily need an Ecampus redevelopment proposal, but it could use some minor revisions for Ecampus.

Action: Motion to conditionally approve pending an Ecampus redevelopment proposal; seconded. 12, 0, 0.

• PSY 462 Psychology of Disability (2nd review) – Difference, Power & Oppression – Advanced  
  • All issues have been addressed but needs an Ecampus redevelopment proposal.

Action: Motion to conditionally approve pending an Ecampus redevelopment proposal; seconded. The motion passed with 11 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition, and 0 abstentions.

• PSY 427 Psychology of Race and Racism (2nd review) – Difference, Power & Oppression – Advanced
  • All issues have been addressed but needs an Ecampus redevelopment proposal.

Action: Motion to conditionally approve pending an Ecampus redevelopment proposal; seconded. The motion passed with 11 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition, and 0 abstentions.

• PPOL 460 Power, Inequality, and Public Policy (2nd review) – Difference, Power & Oppression – Advanced
  • A lot of progress has been made and much more detail has been added to CIM.

Action: Motion to approve; seconded. The motion passed with 11 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition, and 0 abstentions.

• GER 430 Discourses of Otherness – Difference, Power & Oppression – Advanced
  • LO3 has a great breakdown of items that students deliver for the project but it’s unclear what the assignment is about. It is very Germany focused – DPO-A courses are meant to be focused on the United States. The liaison comment made it sound like some kind of exception was being made, but it was unclear what the exception was for. The niche specific content area does make it more difficult to keep it US-focused, but it is discipline specific and has a special relation with DPO-A. The DPO office believes it meets the spirit of the category. The committee would still like some ties to the United States and believe the course could include that. Academic Assessment is noting that there are examples of US inclusion in the proposal, but the committee noted that if it is there, it could be more explicit.

Action: Motion to roll back and ask for some additional examples of how the course relates systems of oppression in the United States; seconded. The motion passed with 11 votes in favor, 1 vote in opposition, and 0 abstentions.

• FW 340 Power and Justice in U.S Natural Resources – Difference, Power & Oppression – Advanced      
  • No issues.

Action: Motion to approve; seconded. The motion passed with 12 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition, and 0 abstentions.

• MB 330 Disease and Society – Difference, Power & Oppression – Advanced    
  • Has some minor grammatical issues and there is a suggestion to put a note to move comments about intersectionality from the CIM proposal to the syllabus. There is some outdated language about gender and sexuality that could be updated.

Action: Motion to approve with recommendation to take DPO directors advice regarding language, change DPO II to DPO-A, and a note to copy details about intersectionality from CIM to the syllabus; seconded. The motion passed with 12 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition, and 0 abstentions.

• PH 301  Embracing Uncertainty in Physics – Difference, Power & Oppression – Advanced
  • Description of essential assignments for Learning Outcome (LO) 1 and 2, they list it as a collection, the second component is a group discussion. It is unclear how that will be accounted for in the collection. Minor spelling issues found in the syllabus.

Action: Motion to approve with a request for clarification the essential assignments and fixing of minor misspellings; seconded. The motion passed with 12 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition, and 0 abstentions.

• FE 101   Introduction to Forest Engineering (3rd review) – Beyond I
  • Added a singular sentence about the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) competencies. Some changes in CIM but no changes to the syllabus. No other changes made. The co-chairs are sending this proposal back and are asking the Forestry representative on the committee to speak with the originator about implementing the changes.

Action: Motion to send back to make the previously requested changes and have the Forestry representative contact the originator; seconded. The motion passed with 12 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition, and 0 abstentions.

• ENG 304 Career Pathways for English and Writing Majors – Beyond I & II
  • No issues from one reviewer. The other reviewer had one concern about an interview assignment. It was unclear what students are submitting and how students are evaluated on this assignment. It is not one of the essential assignments, so the committee opted not request more detail.

Action: Motion to approve; seconded. The motion passed with 12 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition, and 0 abstentions.

• GER 320 German for the Professions – Beyond I & II
  • A liaison comment noted that SLO1 had verbiage that was not measurable. The Corvallis and Ecampus syllabi are the exact same. They do not explain how they’re applying anything that they’re learning. It does not seem like they are

Action: Motion to roll back for not meeting SLO 1 for the Beyond 1 category; seconded. The motion passed with 13 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition, and 0 abstentions.

• REL 247 Religious Experiences of Psychological Flourishing – Arts & Humanities – Global
  • No issues. Exemplary

Action: Motion to approve; seconded. The motion passed with 13 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition, and 0 abstentions.

• ART 208 Intro to Asian Art – Arts & Humanities – Global 
  • No issues. Exemplary but needs an Ecampus redevelopment proposal.

Action: Motion to conditionally approve; seconded. The motion passed with 13 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition, and 0 abstentions.

• ENG 212 Literatures of the World: Latin America & Caribbean – Arts & Humanities – Global
  • No issues but needs an Ecampus redevelopment proposal.

Action: Motion to approve; seconded. The motion passed with 13 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition, and 0 abstentions.

• PHL 477 Psychedelics, Spirituality, and Healing (2nd review) – Seeking Solutions
  • Deferred until next meeting.

• CH 121  General Chemistry (2nd review) – Scientific Inquiry
  • Made some changes to the syllabus and meets the minimum requirements for the category. Still some concerns around LO2 but Academic Assessment is fine with change.

Action: Motion to approve; seconded. The motion passed with 12 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition, and 1 abstention1.

• GEO 203 Evolution of Planet Earth (2nd review) – Scientific Inquiry
  • Changes have been made.

Action: Motion to approve; seconded. The motion passed with 13 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition, and 0 abstentions.

• HDFS 240 Human Sexuality (3rd review) – Social Science
  • Many revisions have been made and LO3 has a new assignment with the option of an alternative assignment.

Action: Motion to approve; seconded. The motion passed with 12 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition, and 1 abstention1.

Adjournment

With no further discussion or business before the committee, the co-chairs adjourned the meeting.