News Category: ‘2006’

Members Present: Peter Becker, Geoffrey Birchard, Estela Blaisten (chair), Tim Born, Dan Cox, Rick Diecchio, Robert Ellsworth, Dimitri Klimov, Barry Kronenfeld
Members Absent: Sheryl Beach, Rebecca Goldin, Barry Klinger
Guests Present: Richard Gomez (ESGS), Tim Sauer (Mathematics), David Walnut (Mathematics), Jennifer Weller (Bioinformatics), Ed Zolnik (Geography)

Call to order. Meeting was called to order at 11:04 am

1. Approval of minutes:
   • Revision of the minutes from the 11/30 meeting were approved.
2. Announcements and comments:
   • Committee members should be aware of the submissions coming from their department.
   • Starting next semester, visitors will not be allowed at curriculum committee meetings for presenting course proposals. Each department should have their own curriculum committee, inform their curriculum representative of concerns of other departments submissions, and/or and analyze all issues that could arise on proposals prior to their submission to this college curriculum committee.
   • In the event tat a representative is not available to attend a meeting, then a substitute may come to the meeting to represent the views of the department, provided that a note is sent a few days prior to the meeting to let committee members know that there will be a substitute. The substitute will not have voting rights, however in absentia votes can be submitted to the chair prior to the curriculum committee meeting.
   • Curriculum committee website. The site was originally made to be password protected but it was decided to let it be an open site.
   • Graduate Council update by Dr. Becker: BINF 650 was approved. All modified courses approved as well and all programs and certificates
3. Old Business
   • Review of new graduate courses
     • **GEOG 505-Approved contingent to format revisions in the proposal.
       An attempt to table the course until department reorganization was done but it was decided to base the decisions on merit and move forward.
     • **GEOG 645-Postponed until proposal is revised with collaborative input with ESGS.
   • Review of new undergraduate courses
     • **CDS 101-[Approved] with revisions
       Fix the non-repeatable portion of the cover sheet. Suggestion from the committee was that the course should have the same prerequisite as Math 113. This was adopted as well.
     • **CDS 301-[Approved]Question about software usage came from several members. The course was approved as submitted.
     • **CDS 302-[Approved]Question about whether STAT 352 or 354 were correct prerequisites. It was clarified that STAT 354 is correct, a typo was accordingly corrected in the proposal.
     • **CDS 401-[Approved]The proposal cover pages with appropriate signatures were not collected at the meeting. These need to be submitted to Assad when ready.
     • **CDS 410/411-[Postopned]
     • **CDS 421-[Approved]Question about whether the course is repeatable and how proficiency is assessed in a computer language.
     • **CDS 461-[Approved]IT was suggested that John Wallin may be able to scale this course down.
     • **CDS 487-[Postponed]There may be an overlap with PHYS 512.
4. New Business
   • a. Review of undergraduate modifications
     • **PHYS 103 and 104-[Approved]
     • **BIOL 104-[Approved]
     • **BIOL 485-[Approved]
     • **BINF minor-[Approved]
   • b. Review of graduate modifications
     • **BIOL MS program modification-[Approved]
     • **BIOL Ph.D. modification-[Approved]
     • **NANO block of courses (500, 510, 520, 530, 610)-[Approved]
     • **PHYS 780 modification-[Approved]
     • **BINF block of courses (637, 704, 998)-[Approved]
     • **BINF name modification-[Approved]
     • **MATH block of courses (551, 554, 555/556, 653, 654, 655)-[Approved]
   • c. Review of new undergraduate courses
     • **ASTR 703-[Approved] contingent to revisions
     • **ASTR 704-[Approved] contingent to revisions
     • **MATH 624-[Postponed]

Download original PDF documents:
Agenda: December 2006
Minutes: December 2006

Members Present: Sheryl Beach, Peter Becker, Geoffrey Birchard, Estela Blaisten (chair), Tim Born, Dan Cox, Rick Diecchio (last hour only), Robert Ellsworth, Rebecca Goldin, Barry Klinger, Dimitri Klimov, Barry Kronenfeld
Members Absent: None
Guests Present: Ed Zolnik (Geography)

Call to order. Meeting was called to order at 11:02 am

1. Approval of amended minutes:
   • Amended minutes from the 10/26/06 meeting were approved.
2. Approval of minutes:
   • Minutes from the 11/9/06 meeting were approved.
3. Announcements and comments:
   • **Spring 2007 Curriculum Committee schedule.
     • It was decided that the time for meetings will be kept from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM and the dates are:
       • Thursday, January 18
       • Wednesday, February 14
       • Thursday, March 22
       • Thursday, April 19
       • Wednesday, May 16
     • Meetings will be held in Research I Room 281.
   • **Graduate Council update from Dr. Becker.
     • The following COS courses are on the agenda for the 12/13 meeting:
       • New course: BINF 650
       • Modified courses: BINF 704, BIOS 703, 898 and 899, CLIM 752, EOS 754
       • Modified programs: MS in Bioinformatics and Ph.D. in Bioinformatics
       • Modified certificates: Bioinformatics
   • **Status of the BS in Global and Environmental Change, update from Dr. Blaisten in absence of Dr. Diecchio.
     • The pre-ESGS department submitted the BS in Global Change proposal, containing a set of courses, to the COS ad-hoc curriculum committee formed by the deans in December 2005. This ad-hoc committee approved the proposal by end of January 2006. Subsequently, between January and May 2006, different levels of administration introduced changes such that the BS title was changed and the proposal became a joint degree between ESGS and ESP. These changes were probably triggered by a proposal for a BS in ESP that was not approved by SCHEV.
     • In May the BOV approved the joint BS. Dr. Diecchio submitted the package of courses of the approved BS in Global and Environmental Change to this committee as an informational issue adding that the degree proposal is jet to be submitted to SCHEV.
4. Old Business
   • a. Review of new course
     • **CSI 747-Approved Not cross-listed with math at this time. Possibly later.
   • b. Review of course deletions
     • **BIOS 711, 713, 715, 721, 723, 787 and 788-Deleted. Issues with Physics department were resolved.
5. New Business
   • Review of undergraduate existing courses for Gen. Ed.
     • **Math 447-Approved. This course is rather specialized for mathematics and science majors, therefore the course will cater mostly to students in these fields.
   • Review of new undergraduate courses
     • **BINF 401, 402, 403, 404, 491 and 492-All Approved. These courses are the core of the BINF Minor that will be reviewed at the December meeting
     • **EOS 121&122-Postponed until SCHEV consideration of the degree. Consideration of these courses to satisfy the general education requirement for lab science was postponed. A major point of discussion was the overlap existing with other GEOG general education courses.
     • **CDS 101, 301, 302, 401, 410, 411, 421, 461, 487 courses-Postponed next meeting.
   • Review of undergraduate course deletions
     • **BIO 492-Approved contingent to program requirements change. Report of program change needs to be brought to the committee when it happens.
   • Review of undergraduate course modifications
     • **Postponed to next meeting
   • Review of new graduate courses
     • **GEOG 505 and 645-Postponed. A discussion was initiated for these courses, same that had to be stopped because of time constrains and because the meeting room was needed for another meeting.
6. 6. The following postings not covered during the meeting were moved forward to the next meeting:
   • # BIOL MS program modification (Submitted 11/13/06)
   • # BIOS PhD program modification (Submitted 11/13/06
   • # NANO 500 modification (CDS submitted 11/16/06)
   • # NANO 510 modification (CDS submitted 11/16/06)
   • # NANO 520 modification (CDS submitted 11/16/06)
   • # NANO 530 modification (CDS submitted 11/16/06)
   • # NANO 610 modification (CDS submitted 11/16/06)
   • # NANO 620 modification (CDS submitted 11/16/06)
   • # PHYS 103 modification (Physics Dep. submitted 11/11/06)
   • # PHYS 104 modification (Physics Dep. submitted 11/11/06)
   • # BIOL 104 modification (submitted 11/13/06)
   • # BIOL 485 modification (submitted 11/13/06)
   • # BIOL 492 deletion (submitted 11/13/06)

Download original PDF documents:
Agenda: November 30, 2006
Minutes: November 30, 2006

Members Present: Sheryl Beach, Peter Becker, Estela Blaisten (chair), Tim Born, Rick Diecchio, Robert Ellsworth, Rebecca Goldin, Barry Klinger, Dimitri Klimov
Members Absent: Geoffrey Birchard, Dan Cox, Barry Kronenfeld,
Guests Present: John Kopecky (Bioinformatics), Glenda Wilson (Bioinformatics)

Call to order. Meeting was called to order at 11:00am

1. Approval of minutes:
   • The minutes from the 10/26 meeting were approved.
2. Announcements and comments:
   • Course and program proposals should be submitted by either the department chair or the committee member representing that department. Submissions from other individuals will not be accepted. All materials should be sent to Assad (akhanf@gmu.edu) and only copy Drs. Becker and Diecchio.
   • Procedures for new course proposals, modifications and deletions are now online on the current curriculum committee website, http://nano.gmu.edu/curriculum.html.
   • An email address for the curriculum committee and a website will be set up with the help of the COS Director of Information Technology. The website will be password protected. Committee members and academic deans Becker and Diecchio will have access to the site.
   • Clarification on course deletions. There are two types of deletions: one from the catalog and one from the database. Attention should be paid to not reusing the course numbers deleted from the database for (presumably) five years.
   • Clarification on modification: course number change is a modification.
3. Review of course modifications
   • **EOS 670 Approved (Change in title to reflect course content).
   • **EOS 754 Approved (Change in title to reflect course content).
   • **EOS 854 Approved (Change in number and title to reflect course content)
   • **BIOS 703 Approved (Change in grading).
   • **BIOS 898 Approved
   • **BIOS 899 Approved.
   • **CLIM 752-Approved.
4. Review of new courses
   • **BINF 650 Approved. Was approved contingent to checking with ITE if the database approach put forward in the course is not available in any other course.
5. Presentation of a new master’s program
   • **MS in Bioinformatics Management-Approved with revisions.
     Questions/Issues raised
     • Overlap with existing Bioinformatics Certificate were discussed. Some clarification will be incorporated in the proposal, as well as minor corrections and format details.
6. Review of course deletions: Delayed until the November 30th meeting.
   • ** BIOS 711 deletion (MBB Dep) Postponed
   • ** BIOS 713 deletion (MBB Dep) Postponed
   • ** BIOS 715 deletion (MBB Dep) Postponed
   • ** BIOS 721 deletion (MBB Dep) Postponed
   • ** BIOS 723 deletion (MBB Dep) Postponed
   • ** BIOS 787 deletion (MBB Dep) Postponed
   • ** BIOS 788 deletion (MBB Dep) Postponed
7. The next meeting date was set for November 30, 2006.
8. Everything not covered in this meeting was moved forward to the November 9th meeting as follows:
   1. **CSI 747 new course (CDS Dep)

Download original PDF documents:
Agenda: November 9, 2006
Minutes: November 9, 2006

Members Present: Sheryl Beach, Peter Becker, Geoffrey Birchard, Estela Blaisten (chair), Tim Born, Rick Diecchio, Robert Ellsworth, Rebecca Goldin, Barry Klinger, Dimitri Klimov, Barry Kronenfeld,
Members Absent: Dan Cox
Guests Present: Dimitrios Papaconstantopoulos (CDS Chair)

Call to order. Meeting was called to order at 11:00am

1. Approval of minutes.
   • Minutes from 10/12 meeting were approved.
2. Announcements
   • Bob Ellsworth replaced Merav Opher as the Physics and Astronomy Department’s curriculum committee representative.
   • Assad Khan (akhanf@gmu.edu) will act as administrative secretary of the committee, with the task of producing the minutes, collecting the submissions, and posting electronically such submissions.
3. Review of courses that need immediate attention by General Education committee.
   • **BIOL 301-Approved
     Questions posed:
• Should topics within an existing course be brought to the curriculum committee?
• The committee agreed that this was a singular course designed around topics, and that it was not needed to bring individual topics to the committee.
• **GEOL 420-Approved with one revision to cover page (new course)
  Questions posed:
• – A lot of required readings. How will this be provided? The committee agreed that the instructor will need to address these issues, including the copyrights.
• – Should the presentation at end of semester be called “final presentation?” The committee decided that the language used was fine.
4. Review of new degree proposals
   • **BS in Computational and Data Sciences-Approved
     • Dr. Papaconstantopoulos presented a report of the modifications included in the version under review. These modifications were result of discussions with the Computer Science Department. Among others, it was important to note that more credits were added for ITE courses with provisions included. For example, CS 261 will also have a FORTRAN section taught in addition to the current JAVA offering. MATLAB, Mathematica hasn’t been addressed yet in detail, but it is the desire of the department that these symbolic languages be included in a special section of the CS courses as well.
     • Questions/issues raised:
       • Biology track is all molecular. Nothing with organisms or geological has been attempted for being conversing with all the parts of biology.
       • Concerns from the math faculty:
         1. Potential overlap of faculty resources
         2. CDS and Math recruiting the same faculty
         3. Duplication of courses. Some could be taught in math.
         4. Viability of this program. Very intense program, little flexibility.
       • Concerns from the physics faculty:
         1. The major in physics may shrink because of some students migrating to the new degree
         2. The degree is a couple of courses short from the BS in Physics
5. Review of course modifications
   • **ASTR 111-Approved
   • **ASTR 112-Approved
   • **ASTR 113-Approved
   • **ASTR 114-Approved
6. The next meeting date was set for November 9, 2006.
7. Everything not covered in this meeting was moved forward to the November 9th meeting as follows:
   • # BINF 650 new course (Bioinformatics Dep)
   • # EOS 670 modification (ESGS Dep)
   • # EOS 754 modification (ESGS Dep)
   • # EOS 854 modification (ESGS Dep)
   • # BIOS 703 modification (MBB Dep)
   • # BIOS 898 modification (MBB Dep)
   • # BIOS 899 modification (MBB Dep)
   • # BIOS 711 deletion (MBB Dep)
   • # BIOS 713 deletion (MBB Dep)
   • # BIOS 715 deletion (MBB Dep)
   • # BIOS 721 deletion (MBB Dep)
   • # BIOS 723 deletion (MBB Dep)
   • # BIOS 787 deletion (MBB Dep)
   • # BIOS 788 deletion (MBB Dep)

Download original PDF documents:
Agenda: October 26, 2006
Minutes: October 26, 2006

Attendees: Peter Becker, Rick Diecchio, Sherly Beach, Geoffrey Birchard, Estela Blaisten, Tim Born, Dan Cox, Rebecca Goldin, Dimitri Klimov, Barry Klinger, Barry Kronenfeld, Merav Opher.
Guests: Dimitris Papaconstantopoulos, John Wallin

1. Introductions
2. Dr. Becker brought the meeting to order and read from the bylaws parts pertaining to the
3. standing Curriculum committee of COS.
4. The future operation procedures of the committee were discussed and the following was
5. agreed:
   1. All proposal submittals will be posted on electronic format either through an electronic bulletin board, docushare, or a website.
   2. All proposals should be sent to Assad Khan (akhanf@gmu.edu) who will then make them available to the committee through the electronic board. An exception will be made for the postings of the next meeting, which will still be distributed by email.
   3. Proposals will be considered by the Curriculum Committee a minimum of 2 weeks after they are posted.
   4. The forms for submissions were revised, and agreement established that the undergraduate course proposal will be accompanied by a signature page containing the signatures of eventual other departments where overlap might occur.
6. Dr. Diecchio mentioned that synthesis course proposals will be a big push for this semester. Hopefully the committee will get them considered and approved with the purpose of sending them to the Provost’s office by November 1.
7. Nominations were taken for Chair of the Curriculum Committee. Dr. Estela Blaisten volunteered. She was nominated, seconded, and approved by unanimous vote.
8. The amount of lead time between meetings and when the paperwork should get to the committee members were discussed. Since this meeting took place a little later in the semester than planned, discussions on whether one or two weeks was appropriate. It was agreed then that the first two or three meetings will be spaced by two weeks, and thereafter a monthly meeting seemed to be accepted by everybody.
9. A department chair’s sign-off, indicating departmental approval, was reinforced to be necessary on course and program proposals, both graduate and undergraduate.
10. The committee discussed on how to handle course or degree proposals if a given proposal conflicted with another course or program and agreed that the department originating the proposal should make sure that the course/program proposed is not a duplicate of something that is already offered, and should confer with departments that offer a similar course. The committee would then require a signature from the related department.
11. Course/program approval procedures:
    • Undergraduate courses: COS Curriculum Committee is final approval
    • Graduate courses: after Curriculum Committee, goes to Graduate Council
    • Degree proposal: after Curriculum Committee, goes to Deans and Directors
12. Departments proposing courses or programs should do their homework prior to bringing the proposals to the committee (i.e. make certain new courses/programs do not duplicate or conflict with any that are currently offered at the university.) As a courtesy to the committee, it is recommended to provide lists of departments/programs that have been contacted about courses/degree programs that may duplicate or conflict. If there are any concerns about a course/degree proposal, the proposing department should inform the Curriculum Committee and should address the issues as best they can.
13. Protocols for graduate and undergraduate proposals and degrees:
    1. Signatures required from department who generated proposal before it comes to curriculum committee.
    2. Show proof of contacting related departments, either by a signature, or an explanation if signature is lacking.
14. Once a proposal is finalized and sent to Assad Khan, it will be posted and thereby made available to all COS departments. In committee, according to COS bylaws, any member has veto power. Best thing is to compromise and reach an agreement. It was reminded to everybody that the members of the committee are the representatives of a full department. Therefore, the vote should be consistent with the previous department decisions. Situations where the full committee cannot reach consensus, will be referred to the COS Executive Committee, and will require additional time for approval.
15. Timeline for Curriculum Committee:
    1. Proposals to SCHEV March 2007
       • Nothing will go to SCHEV without the approval of new courses related to the proposal.
    2. Proposals to BOV in December 2006 must first be approved by the committee
16. Voting Procedures:
    The Committee has the following choices when voting on a proposal
    • Approve
    • Reject
    • Postpone
17. The next meeting date was fixed for October 26 and the meeting was adjourned.

Download original PDF documents:
Minutes: October 12, 2006