Curriculum Committee
Friday, November 15, 2024
1:00 – 2:30 p.m. on Zoom
MINUTES
Annie opened the meeting with the first item on the agenda – shifts in the ESL program. She explained that while there is nothing to review now, the plan is to realign and reconfigure the hours of coursework that ESL students are required to take. Presently, the required contact hours are unbalanced between the first and second semesters of the program. Annie is working with our ESL coordinators to streamline the process without sacrificing total class time. These measures include reducing contact hours for ESL 101/102, and creating a new course, a parallel to Eng 1050 to accompany ESL 102. Annie noted that the number of ESL students entering the college has increased dramatically in recent years, making the need for productive changes to the program more urgent than ever.
Next, the committee reviewed Pathways updates, including what is now in the pipeline: Eng 58 (Creative Writing: Nonfiction), which Eben and the Creative Writing Committee are working on; English 68 (Gothic and Horror Literature), for which Sara will reach out to Sheri, MaryLynn, and Joanna; and English 78 (Contemporary African-American Literature), which Sara is working on with input from Tisha and Elroy.
The committee then considered the title changes that we had discussed previously. After some back and forth, we landed on the following:
English 73: Themes in American Literature I: Beginnings to 1865 will be renamed “American Literature: Beginnings to Emancipation”
English 74: Themes in American Literature II: 1865 to Present will be renamed “American Literature: Reconstruction to the Present.
English 78: Contemporary African-American Literature will become “African-American Literature: Great Depression to the Present”
English 32: World Literature will become “Global Literatures”
All of these new titles are aimed to 1) more accurately reflect the contents of the course; 2) use language that is more current in the field; and 3) align more clearly with similar courses at other CUNY campuses and make transfer agreements easier to establish.
For English 31 (Classic and Biblical Literature), which isn’t Pathways certified and nor has it run in some time, the committee discussed how this course might be reconsidered altogether. It was decided that we should explore the range of classical literature courses available at Brooklyn and other CUNY colleges to develop a transferable and appealing course. The idea of a course in Classical mythology was raised, particularly in light of Percy Jackson’s popularity among students.
The final item on the agenda was the Department Retreat, which will likely take place on February 13th, from 2:00pm to 4:00pm. The Committee determined the flow of the two-hour session, which will move from an overview of the department’s offerings and enrollment in Liberal Arts flexible courses (literature and creative writing), to the considerations that go into developing new courses. Then we’ll consider areas that are ripe for development, the Pathways process, and finally, opportunities to increase student enrollment in these courses and promote our offerings.
The committee reiterated that the end goal of the retreat is to demystify the curriculum processes (including Pathways), and to collectively consider new directions for our non-required coursework in constructive and informed ways. We discussed potential activities during the retreat, such as reviewing coursework at Brooklyn College and Medgar Evers, and brainstorming ways to promote our courses (through advisement, title changes, website, Pathways certification, etc.)
Sara will reach out to set up a December meeting.
