April 3, 2017-Agenda & Minutes

Time: 10:30am
Location: Exploratory Hall, Room 3301
Items to be considered on this agenda are due by 3/20/2017

When available, the meeting minutes will be indicated within bold brackets [ ] and are in draft form until they are approved by the committee.

*items added after the agenda announcement

I. Call to Order [10:35 AM]

II. Approval of the March 2017 meeting minutes [Approved]

III. Announcements/Discussion

IV. Old Business

V. New Business – Undergraduate

New Courses

• ASTR 480 The Interstellar Medium [Approved with the friendly amendment to add boiler plate information and delete ASTR 680 on the syllabus. Add a line which states that while this class meets with ASTR 680, a different grading rubric will be applied for graduate students.]
• CONS 480 Primate Behavior, Ecology and Conservation [Approved with the recommendation to add 2.25 GPA for undergraduates and 3.0 GPA for the graduate students as a recommended pre-requisite. The committee also suggested that they create a 500 level equivalent course for cross listing in order to accommodate graduate students. Once this new course form is ready, it will be emailed to the committee for quick review and will likely pass.]
  • During this discussion, the question of how many contact hours should be applied per credit hour came up, the following guidance was provided (see page 19-22): http://registrar.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/SchedCoordHandbook.pdf

Modified Courses

• ASTR 328 Stars and Interstellar Medium [Approved]
• ASTR 403 Planetary Sciences [Approved]
• EVPP 451 Fungi and Ecosystems [Approved]
• EVPP 490 Special Topics in Environmental Science and Policy [Approved]
• GGS 310 Introduction to Digital Cartography [Approved]
• PHYS 303 Classical Mechanics [Approved, pending MATH’s approval]
• PHYS 305 Electromagnetic Theory [Approved, pending MATH’s approval]
• PHYS 416 Special Topics in Modern Physics [Approved]

Modified Degrees

• Astronomy, BS [Approved, pending MATH’s approval of the courses above]
• Astronomy Minor* [Approved, pending MATH’s approval of the courses above]
• Geography, BS  [Approved]
• Geographic Information Systems Minor  [Approved]

VI. New Business – Graduate

Modified Courses

• ASTR 603 Planetary Sciences  [Approved]

VII. Adjournment [11:30 AM]