UNL Department of Agronomy & Horticulture

UNL Department of Agronomy & Horticulture Curriculum Coordinating Committee Minutes Dec. 15, 2011, 9 a.m., 279M PLSH

I. Call to Order  McCallister Dr. Dennis McCallister, chair, called the meeting to order at 9 a.m. Members in attendance were: Richard Ferguson, Dennis McCallister, Steve Mason, Ellen Paparozzi, Zac Reicher, Brian Waters, Martha Mamo, and Kathy Schindler, recorder.

II. New course “proposal” discussion document: Invasive Plant Science from Dr. Steve Young – McCallister – Appendix A.

Steve Young from the West Central Research & Extension Center in North Platte received funding to develop an online Invasive Plant Science course aimed at high school students or college freshmen (100-level). The course would be cross-listed between AGRO and NRES (natural resources). Dr. Young will also request an ACE 9 designation for global awareness through analysis of the issue.

Committee members reviewed the proposal and had several suggestions and questions. There was concern about whether this would meet the ACE requirement since the proposal focuses more on Nebraska and U.S. plants and species than a global perspective of plants. Other questions include whether there was a text book, how many credit hours the course will be, and where would this course fit within the present curriculum. Since most majors at UNL have been reduced to a maximum of 120 credit hours, there are fewer opportunities for students to take electives. This might reduce the number of college students who would take the course. Extended Education & Outreach (EE&O) is supporting the course as an opportunity for high school students to get college credit.

Zac Reicher said he would ask Steve to also present this proposal to the department’s Weed Science panel. Ellen Paparozzi and Dennis McCallister commended Steve for bringing the course forward to the curriculum committee at an early stage in its development.

III. What is Curriculum Committee’s Organizational Structure? Committee members were asked whether to keep the committee’s structure with 6 sub- committees and the chairs of those sub-committees attending the curriculum coordinating committee meetings. This original structure was created in 2010 by Dr. Lagrimini to be more comprehensive and proactive. Dr. McCallister said that prior to this development, the committee did a lot of ad-hoc and retroactive work. Committee members agreed that some sub-committees were functioning better than others with this structure. Discussion followed.

Ellen said her collaboration sub-committee still has work to do since they haven’t met with personnel at all the UNL colleges to discuss ways our department could collaborate with other academic units. She really appreciated the graduate and distance sub-committees’ input and found it very valuable to the development of the HORT certificates and courses.

Ellen said she would contact several other departments to see how they structure their curriculum committees and report back at the next meeting. She suggested that the subcommittee chairs report at the next meeting about how their subcommittees functioned.

VII. Late Addition to the Agenda – Food Security Course – from Martha Mamo. Dr. Mamo said she received a USDA-ISE grant with the objective to increase global awareness by offering this course. The class would be taught by eight faculty members (3 from CASNR and 5 from IANR). The course would be set up as a seminar/discussion course that will address food production, nutrition, policy/economics, drought planning, etc. The coursework would be followed by a six-week experiential learning trip to Ethiopia over the summer. Students would be paired with Ethiopian students to set up Extension-type programs there. The Food Security Course would be a 400/800 level class and would initially be offered in the spring of 2013.

Dr. Mamo said it will complement UNL’s current 100 and 200 level courses in Food, Water and Energy security. The grant will fund a trip to Ethiopia for five students each year in 2013 and 2014. The course will have an assessment component built into it. Eventually, Dr. Mamo said she would like to see it become an ACE 9 course (global awareness).

Students could take the course as seniors, graduate students, or with permission of the instructor. There is also high interest from faculty and students in the Doctor of Plant Health program. Because seniors graduate in May and might not be available for the summer trip to Ethiopia, committee members suggested that the course be made available for students who receive permission to take the class from their advisor or a professor. They recommended removing the “senior standing” portion of student requirements.

Dr. Mamo requested that the Department of Agronomy & Horticulture support the creation of this course by writing a letter of support. She also asked for suggestions on where it could be cross-listed. Committee members agreed that the course would be cross-listed with ANTHRO, NRES, NUTRI and AGRO. They also requested that it be cross-listed with Horticulture. Anthropology will be the home department; however, Agronomy faculty members will teach during weeks 2, 3, 4, 7 and 8.

Dr. Reicher asked about the lifespan of the course. Dr. Mamo said the grant will be available for 2013 and 2014. After that she will seek funds from the Study Abroad program, Water for Food program, and the CASNR Dean’s office.

Ellen Paparozzi made a motion to approve support of this course with the addition of a HORT cros-listing. Richard Ferguson seconded. Motion carried.

Kathy will send a summary of the course and committee’s comments to Dr. Roch Gaussoin, interim department head. Martha will forward the official packet when it is ready in January.

IV. What do we need to accomplish in the future? This item was tabled until the Jan. 20, 2012, meeting. i. Chem. 105 & 106 (see appendices B & C) vs. Chem. 109 & 110. This item was tabled until the January meeting. ii. Quantitative or math challenges – plan of action Dr. Paparozzi said she spoke to Walt Stroup in the Statistics Department about how they help students who experience math challenges. She said Stats students hire a tutor from the math education program. That could be an option for our department, or we could ask Diane Nolan to tutor math. Dr. Paparozzi said she spoke with Diane about this and Diane does tutor students outside of her regular job in the Goodding Lab. Committee members discussed various options. They noted that all these scenarios require students to pay someone to help them with their math and students typically don’t want to pay for assistance. It was also suggestion that this might be a good thesis opportunity for a graduate student if there were common challenges or themes.

Dr. Mamo said ideally, she would like to have an Agronomy and Horticulture student tutor our students. Any math student that was hired would need to provide assistance within the agricultural context. Dr. Mamo added that in addition to math challenges, Agronomy & Horticulture students need to have more analytical skills to figure out exactly what they are being asked in problems and questions.

Dr. Reicher said he would like to see a systematic or consistent way for the professors to teach the math (mostly algebra).

It was noted that students who have taken Chem. 109 and 110 usually do well in our department with their math and chemistry assignments.

Dr. McCallister asked how faculty members could help our students learn better in context and how would we discover from students and faculty what we need to help them learn better.

Dr. Paparozzi and Dr. Reicher will bring examples of their problems sets to the next meeting in January.

iii. Brown Bag with Dr. Lagrimini speaking on “What would a new science course for Agronomy & Horticulture undergraduates look like? Thursday, Dec. 15, noon, 280 PLSH. Dr. McCallister reminded everyone to attend this Brown Bag Session later in the day.

V. Resource Options – Don Lee (see his email from Nov. 23 – appendix D) This topic was tabled until the Jan. 20, 2012, meeting.

VI. Next semester meetings (please add to your calendars) Jan. 20, 10 a.m.-noon, 279M PLSH (Note 2 hours) April 20, 10 a.m., 279M PLSH Feb. 17, 10 a.m., 279M PLSH May 18, 10 a.m., 279M PLSH March 9, 10 a.m., 279M PLSH

VIII. Adjournment and the next meeting: The next meeting is Friday, Jan. 20, 10 a.m., 279M Plant Sciences Hall. Because there is so much information to discuss, committee members decided that this would be a two-hour meeting. Please plan to meet from 10-noon on that day. The meeting was adjourned at 10 a.m.