History & Rationale: Procedures for Listing Broadened Perspectives Courses
Bucknell Common Learning Agenda
Human Diversity and Natural and Fabricated Worlds
History: At the December 97/January 98 meeting of the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences, it was decided that an ad hoc group be formed to suggest revisions to clarify the goals and expectations of the courses meeting the Perspectives on Human Diversity requirement so that the courses listed would be more centrally focused on diversity issues. In the fall of 1998 the Curriculum Committee voted to have the Perspectives on the Natural and Fabricated Worlds courses treated in the same way for similar reasons. Earlier, the ad hoc committee had recommended that for any course to meet the Human Diversity requirement, the individual faculty member would complete a form providing some basic information as to the extent in which the course met the goals.
A few departments indicated that particular courses had content such that the course would necessarily meet the goals independent of the individual staff member. Additionally, as the list of HUMD courses is very long, it is impractical to check each course and each instructor each semester. Therefore, last fall the Curriculum Committee agreed that some courses could be listed independent of faculty member: these courses will be those that carry Catalog course descriptions that make clear the substantial focus on Perspectives on Human Diversity and also have departmental agreement (the chair should sign the form) that who ever teaches them will do so recognizing that the courses are to address the goals. Other courses will continue to be listed as meeting the requirements only when taught by the particular faculty member who submitted the form. The Curriculum Committee remains concerned that the list is so long and has directed the list to be reviewed at least every three years. The new list generated using the checklists went into effect with the 1999-2000 schedule.
Courses designed to meet the requirement for Perspectives on the Natural and Fabricated Worlds now must also have a form completed and submitted. IF the Catalog description makes clear the substantial focus on Perspectives on the Natural and Fabricated Worlds and IF the department concurs that it will do so independent of the instructor, then the chair should sign the form indicating STAFF as the instructor. If the course will do so only when taught by a particular instructor, that instructor should complete and submit the form. The form is available from the CLA homepage, address above.
Current Status: The current list of HUMD and NFBW courses for which I have completed forms is available here. There are two separate lists, a list of Permanent Courses and a list of Instructor Dependent Courses.. There are two separate lists, a list of Permanent Courses and a list of Instructor Dependent Courses.
Please review these lists. These lists are being used by the Registrar’s Office to determine which courses should carry the HUMD or the NFBW designation during the Fall 2004. If a course is not listed that should be listed, please let me know so that I can insure that the list is complete.
REVISED CHECKLISTS
The 2000 Review of the Common Learning Agenda contained the following recommendation regarding the Human Diversity and the Natural and Fabricated Worlds courses:
Recommendation 8: The Curriculum Committee is to appoint two new Ad Hoc committees to review the checklists and to recommend modifications based on additional faculty input and reflecting consideration of additional structural issues that have become apparent in this review, as specified below. These Ad Hoc committees should include members of appropriate groups on campus (e.g., the Race/Gender Resource Center and the Internationalization Task Force for the Human Diversity Ad Hoc Committee and the Environmental Studies’ Committee on Curriculum and Instruction and also the Environmental Studies’ Committee on University Coordination and Outreach for the Natural and Fabricated Worlds Ad Hoc Committee) as well as other interested Faculty. The Curriculum Committee is to seek formal approval of the new checklists at the Spring 2002 meeting of the College.
At the May 2004 meeting of the faculty of the
The lists of HUMD and NFBW courses will be recreated using the newly approved checklists prior to the Spring 2005; this means that ONLY courses for which the new checklist has been submitted will be listed as satisfying the HUMD or the NFBW requirement as applicable. The new lists will go into effect on the Spring 2004-2005. To make this possible the lists must be completed prior to the advising period in fall 2004 which starts on
The completed new forms for ALL NFBW and HUMD courses are Due
To complete and submit a new Human Diversity or a Natural and Fabricated Worlds Check List, CLICK HERE or go to the CLA Homepage. Under For Faculty select Submit Human Diversity and Natural and Fabricated Worlds Courses.
Human Diversity courses that have some other course on the list as a pre-requisite are not eligible to carry the HUMD attribute. The same rule applies to Natural and Fabricated Worlds courses.
Send all forms to Helen Morris-Keitel, h.morris-keitel@bucknell.edu, CLA Coordinator, Department of Foreign Languages
Thank you for your cooperation.
PS. Reminder: if your course is a W1 or W2 you need to inform the
