Senate Document Number 3599S
Date of Senate Approval 3/11/99
Statement of Faculty Senate Action:
IDC 2: REQUEST FOR AUTHORIZATION TO PLAN A NEW DEGREE PROGRAM
The University of North Carolina
May 1, 1999
Constituent Institution: University of North Carolina at Asheville
CIP Discipline Speciality Title: Interdisciplinary Studies: Individual Degree
CIP Discipline Speciality Number: 24.0101 Level: Baccalaureate
Type of Degree: B.A.Priority:
Proposed program is at a more advanced level than those previously authorized: NO
Proposed program is in a new discipline division: YES
Does this proposal constitute a substantive change as defined by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools? NO
Proposed date of establishment: May, 2000
Currently the Interdisciplinary Studies Program at UNCA offers minors including Africana Studies, International Studies, Multimedia Arts and Sciences, Religious Studies, and Women's Studies. Under the auspices of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, the Individual Degree Program is offered. The University of North Carolina at Asheville seeks authorization to establish a new interdisciplinary Bachelor of Arts degree program: B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies: Individual Degree.
Definition of the program and educational objectives of the proposed new major are outlined as follows:
B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies: Individual Degree
(CIP definition: An instructional program that describes a structured combination of the arts, biological and physical sciences, social sciences, and humanities, emphasizing breadth of study. Includes instruction in either independently designed, individualized, or regular programs.)
The major in Interdisciplinary Studies: Individual Degree, offers students the opportunity to develop an individual degree program which transcends the scope of a single traditional academic discipline or major program. The Interdisciplinary Studies major replaces the former "Individual Degree Programs" granted by traditional departments, although outside the normal list of major programs and combining features of more than one major. The Interdisciplinary Studies major will offer new flexibility and increased adaptability to a rapidly changing epistemological environment in the liberal arts.
Educational objectives:
a.) Students will develop the ability to synthesize and integrate ideas, perspectives, and alternative theories related to the challenging questions that individuals, cultures, and societies face;
b.) Students will learn to question conventional explanations and to search out and make explicit the assumptions of disciplinary and interdisciplinary theories and practices;
c.) Students will explore diverse, pluralistic approaches to critical and analytical thinking, while developing breadth and depth in their individually designed program;
d.) Students will engage in interdisciplinary participatory and interactive learning and research by designing their own undergraduate program;
e.) Both students and the university will be able to exploit new opportunities for flexibility and to develop adaptability in dealing with rapid institutional, societal, and epistemological change;
f.) Students in programs including, but not limited to Honors, Undergraduate Research, and Teaching Fellows will enhance individualization of their programs within an interdisciplinary perspective.
Consistency with UNCA's mission as UNC's Public Liberal Arts University
The proposed new major in Interdisciplinary Studies: Individual Degree is particularly consistent with the University's mission and with its traditional strengths and national reputation for general education programs such as the humanities, the arts, and the integrated sciences, as well as its sole graduate program, the Master of Liberal Arts. The University's mission statement articulates its role as a Public Liberal Arts University: "It promotes understanding of the connections among the traditional disciplines of the Liberal Arts through interdisciplinary studies and integrates these areas of inquiry with programs that prepare students for meaningful careers and professions."
The eve of the 2lst century has witnessed the rapid expansion of knowledge of the human condition with the proliferation of area and comparative studies and the synergisms of alternative disciplines, and new ways of organizing knowledge which often transcend traditional academic disciplines. UNCA has achieved national recognition from its interdisciplinary humanities program which enables students to bridge the traditional disciplines in the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. The major in Interdisciplinary Studies: Individual Degree, allows us to continue to develop in this integrative tradition, enabling liberal arts students to articulate and design individual programs bridging the traditional disciplines, integrating diverse domains, and addressing in an individualized manner the challenging questions people and societies face today. Indeed, the American Association of Colleges has at times, in the recent past, found it useful in its on-going studies of curricular structures, to use the term academic "domain" in lieu of "discipline." James R. Davis, in Interdisciplinary courses and Team-Teaching: New Arrangements for Learning, has suggested that the traditional disciplinary structure of a university is not always "the best way of organizing knowledge for instruction in postsecondary education," and that even professional areas of study require "new configurations of subject matter that often require interdisciplinary courses." As Davis states, an interdisciplinary course of study can sometimes "better serve the students themselves in their quest for personal growth and the development of a clearer identity."
UNCA has a solid tradition in the liberal arts of providing a "liberating education." The Individual Degree major in Interdisciplinary Studies extends that tradition and provides a distinctive path to this "liberating education" of UNCA's mission statement. In making explicit disciplinary and interdisciplinary theories and practices, the Individual Degree major integrates studies beyond disciplinary bounds and questions conventional assumptions and explanations. The major prepares the liberal arts graduate to explore and analyze diverse approaches to critical thinking and to participatory and interactive learning, preparing the graduate for active participation in solving the plethora of problems that contemporary society faces.
2. Other North Carolina institutions operating similar programs
Only three of the other fifteen UNC institutions offer similar programs in interdisciplinary studies at the undergraduate level: Chapel Hill offers the A.B. in General Liberal Arts and Sciences; UNCG, the B.A. and B.S. in Special Programs in Liberal Studies; and N.C. State, the B.A. and B.S. in Multidisciplinary Studies. UNCG's Special Programs in Liberal Studies more closely fit the description of area studies such as African American Studies, Archaeology, Study in Christianity, Gerontology, History and Philosophy of Science, International Studies, Linguistics, Russian Studies and Women's Studies, and are not comparable to the Individual Degree major. Both N.C. State's B.A. and B.S. in Multidisciplinary Studies and Chapel Hill's B.A. with a major in Interdisciplinary Studies correspond closely with the proposed new major. However, because each program is individually designed, by its inherently unique nature, each degree necessarily differs significantly from another.
3. Current and projected demand for graduates
The projected degree replaces the former Individual Degree Program which, according to data gathered by the Office of Institutional Research, has produced an average of five to six graduates per year since 1992. Some students in programs like, but not limited to, the Honors Program, Undergraduate Research, and the Teaching Fellows Program will be drawn to an individually designed program giving them more flexibility and allowing them to pursue more effectively their individual programs of scholarly research in preparation for careers or for graduate study.
Majors in the Individual Degree Program will have an integrative view of the world appropriate to a graduate of a public liberal arts institution and will have the flexibility to cross disciplinary boundaries and to synthesize and analyze alternative disciplinary perspectives necessary in increasing numbers of professional areas. These graduates will have the skills and perspectives appropriate for employment in public services, the social services, and non-profit agencies and organizations. Students designing their own interdisciplinary individual degrees will be prepared for further study in graduate programs of law, general and liberal studies, and interdisciplinary graduate programs, or in more traditional academic disciplines in the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences. The 1998 Long-Range Planning document of the University of North Carolina (1998-2003) indicates that from 1986-96 in the UNC System, the number of students enrolled in Interdisciplinary Studies has nearly tripled at the undergraduate level and has more than tripled on the graduate level. Interdisciplinary Studies has the fourth highest number of Baccalaureate programs approved by the University of North Carolina since 1972, following the areas of Education, the Health Professions, and Public Affairs and Services. This indicates the increasing appropriateness and usefulness of the undergraduate interdisciplinary studies major.
4. Procedures used to plan the proposed new degree program
The Interdisciplinary Studies: Individual Degree program is being designed by a committee of faculty, in consultation with the Office of Academic Affairs and the Office of Institutional Research. Committee members include:
Sandy Malicote, Foreign Language, Director, IST; Chair
Shirley Browning, Economics, Associate VCAA
Peter Caulfield, Chair, Literature; Chair, University Planning Council
Archer Gravely, Director, Office of Institutional Research
Jeff Konz, Economics, Chair of Planning Committee for proposed degree in Ethics and Social Institutions
Bill Sabo, Political Science; Chair, Academic Policies Comm.
September-November, 1998: Committee meets to formulate the definitions and goals and objectives of the proposed major and to prepare to draft a request for authorization to plan a new degree program
December, 1998: Committee meets to review and revise the draft of the request for authorization to plan
January, 1999: Committee submits the request for authorization to plan to the University Planning Council for review
January-April, 1999: Review and approval by the University Planning Council, followed by submission of the request to plan to the Faculty Senate for review and approval
April, 1999: Review and approval by the Faculty Senate, followed by submission of the request to plan to General Administration in Chapel Hill
May-December, 1999: Review and approval by UNC GA and Board of Governors in Chapel Hill, followed by completion of the request for authorization to establish a new degree program at UNCA
January, 2000: Submission of request for authorization to establish a new degree program to UNC General Administration for review and approval
May, 2000: Following review and approval by UNC GA and the Board of Governors, the Individual Degree Program will be established.
The Individual Degree Program presents few resource needs, since it is a reconfiguration of existing structures and courses, under the direction of one faculty member, with no reassigned time. A modest operating budget, limited and perhaps shared secretarial support, along with office equipment will be required.
6. Estimated number of students enrolled in the program during the first and third years of operation
First year: Full-Time 6 Part-Time 1 SCHs 156
Third year: Full-Time l0 Part-Time 2 SCHs 264
Chancellor:_______________________________
The University of North Carolina
May 1, 1999
Constituent Institution: University of North Carolina at Asheville
CIP Discipline Speciality Title: Ethics and Social Institutions
CIP Discipline Speciality Number: 24.0199 Level: Baccalaureate
Type of Degree: B.A.
Priority:
Substantive Change Questions
Proposed program is at a more advanced level than those previously authorized: NO
Proposed program is in a new discipline division: YES
Does this proposal constitute a substantive change as defined by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools? NO
Proposed date of establishment: May, 2000
1. Description of the proposed new degree program:
The Interdisciplinary Studies Program at UNCA currently offers five minors (Africana Studies, International Studies, Multimedia Arts and Sciences, Religious Studies, and Women's Studies) and no majors. The University of North Carolina at Asheville seeks authorization to establish a new interdisciplinary Bachelor of Arts degree program in Ethics and Social Institutions. Definition of the proposed new program and its educational objectives are outlined as follows.
(CIP definition: Any instructional program in liberal arts and sciences, general studies, and humanities)
The major in Ethics and Social Institutions is designed to enable students to examine and evaluate social issues from interdisciplinary perspectives. The major draws courses from many disciplines, including but not limited to Economics, Philosophy, Political Science, and Sociology.
Educational Objectives:
a.) Students will become aware of economic, political, and cultural institutions, including markets, governments, and community organizations and their interrelationships;
b.) Students will become familiar with how institutions and individuals influence each other;
c.) Students will learn about the processes which result in social choice;
d.) Students will determine the ethical implications of the processes and outcomes of social choice;
e.) Students will analyze contemporary social issues from an interdisciplinary perspective;
f.) Students will choose and follow a course of study consistent with their educational and career goals.
Consistency with UNCA's mission as UNC's Public Liberal Arts University
The proposed new major in Ethics and Social Institutions is particularly consistent with the University's commitment to "a liberating education emphasizing the central role of humane values in thought and action, the free and vigorous pursuit of truth, and a respect for differing points of view and heritage" and with the University's aim to "develop men and women of broad perspective who think critically and creatively and who communicate effectively."
The major in Ethics and Social Institutions is designed to fulfill the objectives of the University's mission through a broad interdisciplinary study of social institutions which incorporates a philosophical and ethical component, a combination that is relatively unique in undergraduate education and is of increasing social interest. While all students majoring in Ethics and Social Institutions will be required to take a core of courses, the bulk of their academic program will be individually designed, following a thematic concentration which best meets each student's educational career objectives.
The new major fulfills the University's "ultimate aim...to provide students the best possible opportunity to acquire the skills, knowledge and understanding necessary to pursue their goals, to find meaning in their lives, and to take their places as contributing citizens of a changing society." The major in Ethics and Social Institutions will allow both students and the university community as a whole to take full advantage of the opportunity for flexibility and adaptability in the face of this ever-rapidly increasing change. The major will offer an attractive option for liberal arts students in programs such as, but not limited to, the Honors Program, the Teaching Fellows Program, and the Undergraduate Research Program to individualize their major and to enhance the integrative and synthesizing aspect of their program while preparing them for meaningful careers and graduate study.
2. Other North Carolina institutions operating similar programs
There are two degree programs in North Carolina, only one of which is found at one of the fifteen UNC institutions, which have a similar intent and disciplinary mix as the major in Ethics and Social Institutions: Duke University's Public Policy Studies and Chapel Hill's Public Policy Analysis. However, these programs differ from the proposed program in that they have a much stronger focus on policy analysis than Ethics and Social Institutions. Furthermore, the proposed new major more strongly emphasizes the ethical consideration of institutional decision-making and outcomes.
3. Current and projected demand for graduates
Graduates who major in Ethics and Social Institutions will have a broad set of skills and perspectives which will be attractive to local, state, and national governments, non-profit organizations, and private sector employers. Students who choose the internship option will be particularly attractive for immediate employment. Furthermore, ESI graduates will be well-prepared for post-baccalaureate study in professional programs, especially in law, traditional academic disciplines such as economics, political science, or philosophy, and interdisciplinary graduate programs in fields such as public administration or public policy analysis. Since students have discretion over their elective concentrations, there will be a wide variety of post-graduate experiences among students majoring in Ethics and Social Institutions.
4. Procedures used to plan the proposed new degree program
The major in Ethics and Social Institutions is being designed by a committee of faculty in consultation with the Director of Interdisciplinary Studies. The composition of the committee is as follows:
Jeff Konz, Economics, Chair
Chris Bell, Economics
Melissa Burchard, Philosophy
Linda Cornett, Political Science
Mark Gibney, Belk Professor of Humanities and Political Science
Bruce Larson, Chair, Economics
Leah Greden Matthews, Economics
Bill Sabo, Political Science, Chair, Academic Policies Comm.
Gordon Wilson, Chair, Philosophy
Sandy Malicote, Foreign Language, Director, IST, Chair
Shirley Browning, Economics, Associate VCAA
Peter Caulfield, Chair, Literature; Chair, University Planning Council
Archer Gravely, Director, Office of Institutional Research.
The timetable for planning procedures is as follows:
September-November, 1998: Committees meet to formulate the definitions and goald and objectives of the proposed new major and to prepare to draft a request for authorization to plan a new degree program
December, 1998: Committees meet to review and revise the draft of the request for authorization to plan
January, 1999: The Committees submit the request for authorization to plan to the University Planning Council for review
January-April, 1999: Review and approval by the University Planning Council, followed by submission of the request to plan to the Faculty Senate for review and approval
April, 1999: Review and approval by the Faculty Senate, followed by submission of the request to plan to General Administration in Chapel Hill
May-December, 1999: Review and approval by UNC GA and Board of Governors in Chapel Hill, followed by completion of the request for authorization to establish a new degree program at UNCA
January, 2000: Submission of request for authorization to establish a new degree program to UNC General Administration for review and approval
May, 2000: Following review and approval by UNC GA and the Board of Governors, the Ethics and Social Institutions major will be established.
5. Method of financing the new degree program
The Ethics and Social Institutions major presents minimal resource needs:
TEACHING: There will be 1-2 sections of an introductory course (ESI 101) and one seminar (ESI 490) offered each year. Faculty who teach these courses will be teaching fewer courses in their home departments, in the same way as faculty who teach in Humanities, Women's Studies, and other interdisciplinary programs. This reduction in departmental teaching resources will need to be met either through departmental reallocation or through adjunct funding from Academic Affairs, expected to be no more than 1-2 courses per year. There will be no adjunct teaching in the ESI program, but adjuncts may be needed to replace faculty in their home departments. This will cost $2000-4000.
ADMINISTRATION: One faculty member will be named program coordinator, with no reassigned time. Secretarial support and other operating budget needs will be rather small, devoted to mailing and distribution of course and other announcements, copying and the like, and will be a portion of the operating budget for Interdisciplinary Studies.
6. Estimated number of students enrolled in the program during the first and third years of operation
In order to gauge student interest, the Office of Institutional Research conducted an e-mail survey of the students majoring in philosophy or in the social sciences, students enrolled in one of our existing interdisciplinary programs, and all undecided students. Over fifty students responded positively to the proposal, indicating either that they would choose to major in ESI if available, or that the program would be a valuable option for other students with different academic objectives. The following projections are conservative estimates based on these results:
First Year: Full-Time 5 Part-Time 1 SCHs 132
Third Year: Full-Time 10 Part-Time 2 SCHs 264
Chancellor:_____________________________________________