2005-2006 FACULTY SENATE
California State University, Sacramento

AGENDA
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Forest Suite, University Union
3:00 - 5:00 p.m.
NOTE ROOM CHANGE!!

CONSENT CALENDAR

CONSENT ACTION

Athletic Advisory Board
Gloria Solomon, H&HS, 2006
Michael Wright, H&HS, 2006

Campus Safety Advisory Committee
Yvette Farmer, H&HS, 2008

Grade Appeal Procedural Appeals Board
William Dillon, SS&IS, 2008

Instruction Related Activities Committee
Leilani Hall, Library, 2006
Myung Park, A&L, 2006

University Copyright and Patent Committee
Joe Zhou, Library, 2008

Search Committee, Associate Vice President, Facilities Management
Dick Kornweibel

Academic Policies Committee
Serge Karalli, At-large, 2006

Curriculum Policies Committee
Kathleen Gee, At-large, 2006

Research and Creative Activities Subcommittee
Mark Brown, At-large, 2008

REGULAR AGENDA

FIRST READING

Background: While discussing graduate course issues in the spring 2004, Academic Affairs decided that they would approve pairing of courses for departments making such requests and that this would help some departments that were experiencing graduate level enrollment problems. Some departments were interested in pairing courses, but didn’t know they could since there was no formal policy. CPC concluded that serious problems might arise without a policy. After researching the issue and conducting an informational hearing with graduate coordinators to receive their perspective and suggestions for developing a policy, CPC concluded that the current practice varied amongst departments and was completely unregulated since there was no policy and that the University needed one in order to insure there were adequate safeguards, standardization, and University oversight. Also, some departments believe that there may be pedagogical reasons for pairing courses that could provide a positive educational experience. Graduate coordinators have had the opportunity to review the initial Paired Courses policy and this latest version that has been placed before the Senate for consideration.

California State University is committed to providing quality undergraduate and graduate education. The University understands that graduate education requires more advanced and rigorous instruction. For pedagogical and fiscal reasons, the University permits individual departments on a voluntary basis to develop courses for undergraduate and graduate students with similar subject matter and offer such classes with a single instructor and a common meeting schedule.

This policy will be reviewed by Academic Affairs and the Curriculum Policies Committee after 2 years to assess the policy’s efficacy.

In order to ensure the integrity of the degree major and the individual courses that may be used to meet graduation requirements, approval to offer courses in a paired arrangement will be subject to the following conditions:

1. The advanced undergraduate (i.e., upper division and excluding general education) and graduate courses that are paired must cover similar subject matter. The words used in the titles and descriptions of the two courses must reflect this similarity of subject matter and the same number of units.
    
2. The Class Schedule should make clear, by means of footnotes that both courses of a pair of courses meet at the same time and location, and with the same instructor, but that the two courses have differential requirements reflecting the different course levels.
    
3. Paired offerings must be arranged through the use of regular courses which are published in the Catalog, and the course descriptions should indicate that the courses may be paired.
    
4. Paired courses may only be taken for elective credit and may not replace core graduate classes. Additionally, paired arrangements may not include thesis/culminating experience work, internship credit, or directed reading credit.
    
5. Only upper division courses (normally at the senior level) may be paired with elective graduate courses. Paired courses taken as an undergraduate may not be repeated in the graduate program.
    
6. Students shall neither be expected nor permitted to obtain a graduate degree with more than 10 units of paired courses.
    
7. Faculty teaching paired courses will receive weighted teaching unit (WTU) credit based on an agreement between the department and the College Dean.
    
8. Departments and Colleges will approve the pairing of courses for already approved courses through the University process. Only course proposals for new courses must be submitted and approved through the University process (Department, College, the Curriculum Subcommittee, and Academic Affairs). The course proposals must address the following:

1. Justification for the pairing must be attached to each of the proposals at the College level.
    
2. Course descriptions and syllabi must be explicit about how the experience of graduate and undergraduate students is to differ. The syllabi must clearly establish additional requirements for graduate students that might include (but not be limited to) significant research papers, oral presentations of research, and/or demonstration of more sophisticated laboratory or studio skills than those required of students in the paired undergraduate course.

Please see Attachment A for the letter of transmittal from Ben Amata, Chair of CPC.

WASC REPORT - MIKE LEE

CSU ACADEMIC SENATE - REPORT

SHARED GOVERNANCE - DISCUSSION

INFORMATION

1. Faculty Senate's home page:  www.csus.edu/acse, or, from the CSUS home page, click on Administration and Policy, then Administration, then Faculty Senate.
2. Chair's newsletter: http://www.csus.edu/acse/newsletter.htm
3. Status on actions taken by the Senate:  http://www.csus.edu/acse/04-05_actions.htm   

4. Upcoming Senate meetings: 

October 4, 2005 - Livingston Lecture: Alexandre Kimenyi October 13, 2005 - Senate meets October 27, 2005 - Senate meets November 10, 2005 - Senate meets November 17, 2005 - Senate meets December 1, 2005 - Senate meets December 15, 2005 - Senate meets