The Council on Academic Affairs will vote one several program changes during its meeting Thursday at 2 p.m. The meeting will be held virtually.

The Nutrition and Dietetics Program is one that could potentially see changes.

With program change, the CAA is being asked to add Personal Nutrition, Honors (NTR 2190) as an option for Personal Nutrition, add Research Methods (NTR 2600) and Motivational Interviewing (PUBH 2500) as required courses, remove Community Health Behavior Methods (PUBH 3700) as a required course and the revision of Nutrition Assessment and Counseling (NTR 2750).

The rationale for the changes is “The addition of NTR 2600 will provide a foundation for NTR students to understand, review, and critique nutrition information from scientific literature and other resources. The addition of PUBH 2500 will provide the opportunity for NTR students to more extensively study the methods related to motivational interviewing. The essential health behavior theories from PUBH 3700 will be covered in the revised NTR 2750 course.”

If approved the change would make the credit hour requirement increase from 70 to 71.

The Communication Studies Program is also up for revisions.

The CAA is being asked to include a new course, Capstone in Communication Studies (CMN 4680), in the core courses for the majority of options in the program. They are also being asked to replace a course in the Corporate Communication option.

The rationale for the changes is “Over the past year, the Division of Communication Studies has performed a complete overhaul of assessment practices, which involved revising program goals, and mapping curriculum to see how well it meets those goals. We found that in order to refine our assessment, and to keep our program in line with overall disciplinary goals as set out by the National Communication Association, it is necessary to institute a senior capstone course. A capstone course will add rigor to our students’ final year, allow them to demonstrate disciplinary knowledge, and help us to better assess our core curriculum. The addition of this course will increase the major requirement by three credits. In addition to this proposal cleaning up some minor catalog language, we are also replacing one course in the Corporate Communication option area. We have deleted CMN 3300: Interviewing as a required course, and replaced it with CMN 3710: Intercultural Communication. This change fills a gap in coursework that specifically addresses difference.”

The Electrical Engineering Program is seeking to add Logic Design (PHY 1100) to required courses for the major as it is now a requirement for some upper level electrical engineering courses. The program is also asking the CAA to approve the addition of Introduction to Plasma Physics (EEN 4780) to electives for the program.

The rationale for these changes are “The Logic Design course is instituted in the program to engage students in the subject of Electrical Engineering in their Freshman year as opposed to their Sophomore year when they take their first EEN course according to the current catalog. This course also will serve to better prepare the students for the upper level courses. Plasma physics is fundamental to controlled nuclear fusion and other fields in engineering. It will serve our Electrical Engineers well in their career.”

The change would change the required minimum credit hours for the major from 76-79 to 79-81.

The Geography Program is also seeking changes after not having been revised in six years.

The program is seeking to:

· Increase the difficulty of Introduction to Cartography (GEO 3800) by replacing it with Cartography and Visualization (GEO 4810)

· If Cartography and Visualization (GEO 4810) is approved, Introduction to Cartography (GEO 3800) will be removed from each program and the Course Catalog

· Pending approval of Cartography and Visualization (GEO 4810) it will need to be added to the electives of the Techniques section of the options for the undergraduate geography degree

· Move Introduction to GIS (GEO 3810) to the required courses from the Techniques category to replace Introduction to Cartography (GEO 3800)

· Move Lidar (GEO 3825) to the list of Techniques electives

· Update to course number for Planetary Geology (GEO 3275)

· Pending the approval of Cartography and Visualization (GEO 4810), Advanced Cartography (GEO 3865) will need to be removed from all programs and deleted from the Course Catalog because it will be obsolete

The CAA is also being asked to remove the Adult Education Minor.

With that they are being asked to delete the following courses:

· Introduction to Adult and Community Education (ACE 2000)

· Learning Principles in Adult and Community Education (ACE 2200)

· Instructional Technology in Adult and Community Education (ACE 2400)

· Instructional Strategies in Adult and Community Education (ACE 3000)

· Curriculum and Program Design in Adult and Community Education (ACE 3200)

· Assessment of Learning in Adult and Community Education (ACE 3400)

· Practicum in Adult and Community Education (ACE 3600)

· Organization and Leadership in Adult and Community Education (ACE 4000)

· Needs Assessment, Grant Writing, and Program Evaluation in Adult and Community Education (ACE 4200)

· Internship in Adults and Community Education I (ACE 4400)

· Internship in Adults and Community Education II (ACE 4450)

The rationale for the proposal is “The Adult and Community Education Major has been removed from the catalog and not supported in any fashion by the university. There are no students pursuing this minor; most of the courses have not been offered for over three years, and there are not faculty with workloads available to teach the courses. Removal would preclude any students that would look at the catalog and ask to pursue the listed minor.”

The council will also vote on a new course, Economics of Crime (ECN 3520).

According to the proposal, “An introduction into the study of crime and crime-control policies using standard economic techniques. The focus is on rational decision-making and incentives and how these may be changed by policy. Topics covered include the costs of crime to society, drug control, gun control, punishment, incarceration, and deterrence.”

The CAA will vote on the revising of Methods of Teaching Bus Ed (CTE 3405).

Corryn Brock can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].