UNIVERSITY FACULTY SENATE FORMS

 

Academic Program Approval

 

This form is a routing document for the approval of new and revised academic programs.  Proposing department should complete this form.  For more information, call the Faculty Senate Office at 831-2921.

 

 

Submitted by:  James Brophy                          phone number:  0795

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                             

 

Action:  Request for Permanent Status – Continental European Studies Program

(Example:  add major/minor/concentration, delete major/minor/concentration,  revise major/minor/concentration,  academic unit name change, request for permanent status, policy change, etc.)

 

Effective term:  06F

                                                (use format 04F, 05W)

 

Current degree: BA Major

                                    (Example:  BA, BACH, BACJ, HBA, EDD, MA, MBA, etc.)

 

Proposed change leads to the degree of:  n/a

                                                                                             (Example:  BA, BACH, BACJ, HBA, EDD, MA, MBA, etc.)

 

 

Proposed name: n/a

                                            Proposed new name for revised or new major / minor / concentration / academic unit

                                                                                (if applicable)

 

Revising or Deleting: 

 

Undergraduate major / Concentration: n/a

                                                                                    (Example:  Applied Music – Instrumental  degree BMAS)

 

Undergraduate minor: n/a

                                   (Example:  African Studies,  Business Administration,  English, Leadership, etc.)            

 

Graduate Program Policy statement change: n/a

                                                                        (Attach your Graduate Program Policy Statement)

 

            Graduate Program of Study: n/a

                                 (Example:  Animal Science: MS  Animal Science:  PHD  Economics: MA Economics: PHD)

 

 

                Graduate minor / concentration: n/a

 

 

List program changes for curriculum revisions:

                        none

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

List new courses required for the new or revised curriculum:

 (Be aware that approval of the curriculum is dependent upon these courses successfully passing through the Course Challenge list. If there are no new courses enter “None”)

            none

 

 

 

 

 

Other affected units:

(List other departments affected by this new or revised curriculum.  Attach permission from the affected units.  If no other unit is affected, enter “None”)

           

Because there is no new or revised curriculum, none is affected.

 

 

 

 

Rationale:

(Explain your reasons for creating, revising, or deleting the curriculum or program.)

 

 

Introduction

The Continental European Studies (CES) program has existed since 1999.  This area studies program integrates various disciplines and skills into one major to produce a wide-ranging knowledge of European civilization.  It offers students a comprehensive focus of a particular European country and culture (e.g., France, Germany, Italy, Spain) within a broader European context.  The major combines language training with history, politics, culture, and literature.  Elective courses can be taken in art history, philosophy, music, or any other subject that is germane to European life and letters. Students are encouraged to design a curriculum that will strengthen knowledge of both their target country and Europe as a whole. CES’s interdisciplinary curriculum accommodates a diverse range of interests and a broad sweep of time, from antiquity to the present.  In doing so, the major synthesizes core disciplines of the humanities into one innovative program.

 

CES majors are encouraged to study abroad and live in the culture of their target country. UD offers numerous programs in France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and other European countries.  This area studies program compliments well the University’s aim to internationalize its curriculum.

 

Resources

The CES program does not have its own faculty and therefore requires no additional resources.  New funds have never been allocated to this program.  Rather, Europeanists from the departments of Political Science and International Relations, Foreign Languages and Literatures, and History constitute the teaching faculty of this area studies program.  Professors from the departments of Philosophy, Art History, Geography, Music, and Anthropology offer elective courses, thus enabling this major to boast both breadth and depth of course selection. 

 

The program presently enjoys an annual rollover budget of $1500.

 

 

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Student Enrollment

In the last five years, nineteen students have enrolled as majors of this area studies program.  Of these nineteen, three students left the program, seven graduated, and nine are currently enrolled in the program.   Of the sixteen CES majors who remained with the program, seven are double majors and nine are sole CES majors.

 

Although these numbers are small, they nonetheless point to an auspicious start.  The low attrition rate suggests that students stayed with this area studies program because it met, if not exceeded, their needs.  Further, nine students chose CES as their sole major, underscoring the integrity and coherence of the CES curriculum; for these students, it was not merely the “tack-on” second subject of a double major.  Finally, these nineteen students found their way to the major with little or no active recruitment from the CES faculty. 

 

With better advertising and campus presence, the potential for growth in this program is great.  It is noteworthy that this program was bereft of an active director in the years 2000-02 and, prior to that, little time or resources were spent on recruitment.  Only through word of mouth or through the active research of students did this major grow.  In the past year, the CES faculty have taken critical steps in enhancing its presence in student culture:

  • A comprehensive website:  http://www.fllt.udel.edu/continental_european.html
  • An attractive brochure/flier for recruiting on and off campus (attached)
  • An Admissions brochure, which provides CES presence at all official UD recruiting events (attached)
  • Participation in the one-credit Area Studies Lecture Series, which will be offered for the first in the fall semester of 2005.  This series will expose many students to the program
  • The creation of an annual CES guest lecture; the program directors in the three core departments would organize the lecture on a rotational basis.  The Dept. of Foreign Languages and Literature has agreed to organize the first lecture in the Spring of 2006.

In addition, the core directors of the program have stepped up their efforts to publicize the CES program to their colleagues and students.  There is still much work to be done to make the program known to colleagues in allied departments in the College of Arts and Sciences.

 

The Future of the Program

The CES program petitions the Senate for permanent status, because it believes in its future.   Viewed in pedagogical terms, the transnational and interdisciplinary study of Europe constitutes the wave of the future.  The more Europe integrates and dismantles its cultural, political, and economic frontiers (a trend of the last half century), the greater the need to study European civilization as an integrated whole.  Because UD has an extensive research faculty devoted to European politics, history, literature, and culture, CES is an ideal vehicle to synthesize and integrate national studies into a larger interpretive framework.   In turn, this area studies program enables Europeanists to work with the growing area studies programs of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, both at this university and throughout the nation.  In short, the innovative area studies framework serves well both the research and teaching needs of Europeanists.

 

In regard to student interest, CES has attracted 3-4 students per year with little or no help from active recruitment from faculty or administration.  Hence, with the new website, new brochures, and with better stewardship, the major is poised to grow.  Above all, CES has yet to genuinely embed itself in student culture.  With greater presence, the current student satisfaction should multiply the number of majors.  CES’s enormous repertoire of courses is a feature that most area studies programs can only envy. 

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Finally, in terms of university resources, UD is fashioning an innovative major at virtually no cost.  CES draws upon the extensive faculty already residing in the College’s core departments and therefore needs no additional lines.  Thus far, the small program has not required any administrative staff.   In the future, the University may want to commit administrative resouces to the four area studies program and provide a physical site for students and faculty to convene.  In this way, UD would confer onto the area studies programs the mantle of legitimacy, which would ensure the expansion of these programs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Program Requirements: 

(Show the new or revised curriculum as it should appear in the Course Catalog.  If this is a revision, be sure to indicate the changes being made to the present curriculum.)

 

 

 

 

 

 ROUTING AND AUTHORIZATION:        (Please do not remove supporting documentation.)

 

Department Chairperson                                                                                                        Date                                       

 

Dean of College                                                                                                                       Date                                       

 

Chairperson, College Curriculum Committee___________________________________Date_____________________

 

Chairperson, Senate Com. on UG or GR Studies                                                                   Date                                       

 

Chairperson, Senate Coordinating Com.                                                                 Date                                       

 

Secretary, Faculty Senate                                                                                                       Date                                       

 

Date of Senate Resolution                                                                                                      Date to be Effective               

 

Registrar                                                                  Program Code                                         Date                                       

 

Vice Provost for Academic Programs & Planning                                                                  Date                                       

 

Provost                                                                                                                                   Date                                       

 

Board of Trustee Notification                                                                                                                Date                                       

 

Revised 11/03/04   /khs