Andy Methven, biological sciences professor, will be the new chair of the Council on Academic Affairs starting fall semester.

At Thursday’s CAA meeting, Methven was elected chair and Doug Bock, speech communication professor, was elected to continue his current position as vice chair.

The CAA also approved the addition of Introduction to African American Studies (1000G) and African American Experience (2000G) to the general education core requirements.

Jeffrey Lynch, associate dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, and Onaiwu Ogbomo, coordinator of African-American studies, were on hand to answer questions concerning the new

courses.

“The 1000 level course deals with the experience of blacks all over the world and the 2000 level course deals specifically with the African-American experience in the United States,” Ogbomo said.

CAA Chair Ron Wohlstein, sociology/anthropology professor, suggested the two courses be put in the in the humanities’ section of the general education core requirements.

“I feel they’ll have a better chance of becoming transferable credits in that area,” Wohlstein said.

CAA also approved the revision of the Art History Option.

Overall, the changes resulted in a reduction of three required credit hours. Previously the option required 20 to 28 credit hours and now 17 to 25 credit hours will be required.

In addition, two western civilization courses were added

to the requirements while two historical foundations courses were dropped. The three-credit reduction comes from dropping one 3000 level requirement.

Wohlstein said the CAA may be meeting several times over the summer to conduct business, but this will be the last meeting of this semester.