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S.06-61

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

Senate Committee on University Priorities

Memorandum

TO:

FROM:

Certificate in Explorations, Faculty of

DATE: ?

May 2, 2006

Arts and Social Sciences (SCUP 06-20)

At its April 12, 2006 meeting, SCUP reviewed the first-year Cohort in Explorations and

approved the Certificate in Explorations in the Arts and Social Sciences.

Motion

That Senate approve and recommend to the Board of Governors, the Certificate in

Explorations in the Arts and Social Sciences at SFU Surrey, in the Faculty of Arts and

mic

Note: New courses associated with this certificate are as follows:

Global Development: Issues and Patterns

EXPL 140-3

Immigration: Identities, Histories, Voices

EXPL 150-3

Introduction to Research Approaches in the Social Sciences

EXPL 160-3

Introduction to Research and Interpretation in the Arts

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

MEMORANDUM

To: ?

Senate Committee on University Priorities

From: ?

C. MacKenzie, Chair

Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies

Subject: ?

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences -

New Cohort Certificate Program: Explorations in the Arts and Social Sciences

(SCUS Reference: SCUS 06-07)

Date: ?

April 4, 2006

Action undertaken by the Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies at its meeting on April 4,

2006 gives rise to the following motion:

Motion:

"that SCUP approve and recommend to Senate the Certificate in Explorations in the Arts and

Social Sciences."

The relevant documentation is attached for review by SCUP.

Program Proposal

Explorations in the Arts and Social Sciences

Table of Contents

I. ?

Context and Overview ....................................................................

1.1 ?

Introduction ?

................................................................................1

1.2 ?

Program Content and Structure ..........................................................2

1.3 ?

Relationship of this Proposal to the Notice of Intent ................................3

1.4 ?

Interdisciplinarity............................................................................4

1.5 ?

Faculty ?

.......................................................................................

Requirements ?

...............................................................................

2.1

Writing and Breadth Requirements

2.2

.....................................................

Certificate Requirements

..................................................................

* ?

New Course Proposals

. ?

...................................

EXPL ?

110-3 ?

Organising Society

......................................................

EXPL ?

120-3 ?

Experiencing Society

...................................................

EXPL 130-3

Global Development: Issues and Patterns

...........................

EXPL 140-3 ?

Immigration: Identities, Histories, Voices

...........................

EXPL 150-3

Introduction to Research Approaches in the Social Sciences

EXPL 160-3 ?

Introduction to Research and Interpretation in the Arts ............

EXPL 170-3 ?

Regional Cultures

.......................................................

EXPL 310-3 ?

Selected Topic I

.........................................................

EXPL 320-3 ?

Selected Topic II

........................................................

Calendar Entry for the Program

........................................................

** ?

List of Appendices ?

.........................................................................

Appendix A Library Report

A I

Appendix B Memo of Agreement for Library Costs

B I

Appendix C Overlap Consultation.- Summary and Reports

C 1

Appendix D Notice of Intent

D 1-8

Appendix E Faculty Profiles

1-5

Appendix F SFU Surrey Campus Vision

F 1

*

Detailed course proposal forms are available for review 

by

contacting 

Bobbie Grant, Senate Assistant, 604 291-3168 or email - bgrant@sfu.ca 

** Documents available for review by 

contacting Bobbie Grant, Senate 

Assistant ? 

• 1.

Context and Overview

1.1 ?

Introduction

Explorations in Arts and Social Sciences (hereafter 'Explorations') is the first

undergraduate program to be developed by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences for

SFU Surrey. It is a one-year cohort pro

ram with a target enrolment of 100 students. The

program proposal is informed by the Notice of Intent (see Appendix D) and by the Surrey

Vision Statement (see Appendix F), the University's guiding document for program

development on the new campus. The program fulfills two defining principles of the

Surrey Vision Statement, in that it is cohort-based and interdisciplinary. The

Explorations program will introduce students to scholarship and research approaches in

the Arts and Social Sciences; program content is geared to interwoven topics in society

and community.

Cohort programs are designed to offer students a strongly collaborative learning

environment and an alternative to the anomie experienced by many first-year

undergraduates. As students in a cohort program take their core courses together, such

programs also provide the opportunity for a higher degree of coordination and integration

• ?

between courses than is possible in completely individual course selection. Overall, the

Explorations Program is designed to provide a broad, coherent, and stimulating

introduction to university studies, with the benefit to students of a more personable

institutional structure. As is the aim of an undergraduate education in general, the

Explorations program will encourage students to develop communication, reasoning, and

critical thinking skills, to learn from a variety of sources as well as each other, to think

independently, and to pursue their studies with commitment.

The Explorations Program has been a high priority in the office of the Dean of Arts and

Social Sciences. The proposal before you was developed by a steering committee

consisting of the three faculty hired for the program (Sasha Colby, Jennifer Marchbank,

and Sean Markey), the new Associate Dean with responsibility for FASS programs at

Surrey (Heather Dawkins), and the designer for the initial pilot program (Sheila Roberts).

A diverse array of faculty members in the Arts and Social Sciences participated in the

curricular discussions and consultations that preceded and shaped the following proposal.

1.2 Program Content and Structure

In the cohort year, Explorations students will take the following courses:

Introduction to Research Approaches in

Introduction to Research and

Interpretation in the Arts

And one of

EXPL 130-3

Global Development: Issues and Patterns

EXPL 170-3 Regional Cultures

EXPL 140-3

Imniigration: Identities, Histories, Voices

A certificate in Explorations in Arts and Social Sciences will consist of the following:

• The required core courses in the Explorations cohort year (see above).

• A minimum of six credit hours at the 200 level, consisting of two courses:

one in arts or humanities disciplines, the other in social science disciplines.

• One Explorations capstone course:

EXPL 310-3 Selected Topic I or EXPL 3 20-3 Selected Topic II.

The following elaborates key elements in the interdisciplinary cohort structure:

In the cohort year. Social Science courses are paired with Arts courses on related topics.

In the fall semester, the complementary courses Organising Society and Experiencing

Society intersect through topic (EXPL 110-3 and EXPL 120-3, respectively). The former

examines social structures; the latter examines forms of expression that reflect on social

experience. These are accompanied by courses that extend the issues geographically and

historically. Students choose between Global Development: Issues and Patterns, and

Immigration: Identities, Histories, Voices (EXPL 130-3 and EXPL 140-3. respectively).

The choice permits students to experience smaller group learning and the opportunit

elect either a Social Science or Arts focused course.

'l.

The cohort courses in the fall semester link to those in the spring. In the spring semester,

research and academic skills are the focus of two courses, one concentrating on the Social

Sciences, and the other on the Arts; these build on concepts and material presented in

Organising Society and Experiencing Society in the fall. All fall courses will prepare the

student for Regional Cultures (EXPL

170-3)

in the spring semester.

Cohort programs with a small faculty complement provide students with continuous or at

least repeated contact with individual professors. We anticipate that this in itself will

help to achieve the pedagogical aims of the Surrey Vision Statement and the NOl in

calling for increased contact with professors and smaller classes. In regard to class size

specifically, students will choose one of two smaller-classes in their first semester. In

order to increase contact with professors, we have designed two courses for co-teaching

in the spring semester.

As will be seen in the following new course proposals (see section 3), the vector for most

courses is two lecture hours and one tutorial hour. For the co-taught courses focusing on

research, however, we propose to utilize a lecture-seminar format. (Lower division

seminars are also used in Economics and English). Two CFL faculty will share or

alternate lectures, and each one will take two groups of twenty-five students for two-hour

seminars. Introduction to Research Approaches in the Social Sciences (EXPL

150-3)

•

will be co-taught by Jeri Marchbank and Sean Markey. Introduction to Research and

Interpretation in the Arts (EXPL 160-3) will be co-taught by Sasha Colby and a new

faculty member. The lecture-seminar and co-teaching format will allow for more

interaction between students and professors and a fuller discussion of the issues of

scholarly research; the format is a considered response to the Surrey Vision Statement,

with its emphasis on smaller class sizes and increased contact with professors.

1.3 Relationship of this Proposal to the Notice of Intent

This proposal remains true to the main objective of the Notice of Intent: to develop an

interdisciplinary, thematic, cohort program with an emphasis on the community, and on

the introduction of basic research issues and skills. The current proposal departs from the

NOl in certain respects, however. These differences and the rationale for them are

outlined in Appendix D; the changes are largely a result of a realistic assessment of the

budget for Explorations and concerns about the timely completion of requirements for

entry into major programs. In addition, the curricular content of the program has been

tailored to the expertise of the new faculty members.

The NOl proposed a two-year cohort program. This document proposes a one-year

cohort. The change is significant, and the reasons for it merit explanation. Faculty

members in the Arts and Social Sciences questioned whether an Explorations student

. ?

who completed the two-year program originally proposed in the Notice of Intent would

be at a disadvantage in preparing for major programs with substantial lower division

requirements (such as Geography, French. and Contemporary Arts).

The requirements for entry into majors varies widely in the Faculty, but our study of the

practicalities of articulation between a two-year cohort and major programs indicated that

articulation would be difficult, regardless of the number of required courses. Not all

lower division courses can be offered at Surrey; students would encounter numerous

timetable and travel-time conflicts between Surrey, Burnaby, and Vancouver. This is a

compelling reason for proposing a one- y

ear cohort rather than two, as envisioned by the

NO1. In addition, we have realized that a two-year cohort could well encounter

enrolment below a viable minimum. In early December, the student advisor for

Explorations finished meeting with all pilot program students. Leonard Thong found that

the students were very appreciative of the cohort experience, the high quality of

instruction they received, and the integration of concepts and skills across courses; he

also found that all students had identified a major or an individual course of study that

they planned to pursue in their second year. As a result, we no longer plan to offer the

courses that were designated for the second year of the pilot program.

1.4 ?

Interdisciplinarity

The Surrey Vision Statement calls for interdisciplinary programs, and we would like to

remark on the modes of interdisciplinarity that have been chosen to shape the

Explorations Program. The program is interdisciplinary in content as it will introduce

students to ways of researching, thinking, and working in both the Arts and Social

Sciences, demonstrate their similarities and differences, and help students make a more

informed decision regarding majors and minors. Courses within the Explorations

Program are inter-related within any given seililester, as well as conjoined frQjQe

semester to the next; thTsIferationshould ha

a cumulative benefit and enTj1é an -

on g

oing discussion of disciplinary contrasts as well as interdisciplinary integrations.

Inter-related and conjoined courses will encourage students to build on the skills they

have acquired, and give breadth and depth to their understanding of material.

Within individual courses, interdisciplinarity has been defined in two ways. One is

problem-based interdisciplinarity, which will take the form of academic investigation

integrating selected disciplinary perspectives with a focused object of inquiry (for

example, EXPL

110-3

Organising Society or EXPL 130-3 Global Development: Issues

and Patterns). The second form of interdisciplinarity within courses is largely

pedagogical and holistic. For example, in Experiencing Society (EXPL 120-3) students

will explore individual perceptions and experience of social structures through literature,

art, music, and film. The course material will encourage students to integrate subjective

and objective perspectives of issues in their community as well as in their academic and

personal lives. This creative interdisciplinarity is intended to encourage students to

integrate various modes of being and knowing - intellectual, experiential, sensory,

personal and aesthetic - while synthesizing these forms of perception and knowledge in

their academic work.

Interdisciplinarity has thus been used to give both breadth and depth to the Explorations

cohort year. The Explorations certificate builds on this experience by adding one 200

level FASS course in the Arts and another in the Social Sciences. The inclusion of 200

level courses after the cohort year and in preparation for the 300 level capstone course is

important pedagogically: it will expose students to disciplinary approaches to knowledge

and research, and will encourage them to evaluate the merits of both interdisciplinary and

disciplinary work.

1.5 ?

Faculty

Profiles of three new faculty appointed for Explorations can be found in Appendix E.

Requirements

2.1 Writing and Breadth Requirements

After approval by FASSCC, we will seek permission from the Curriculum Initiative

. ?

Office. VP-Academic to have four courses designated for Writing and Breadth. When

Senate approves the Explorations program, the breadth and writing designations will be

ready for attachment to specific courses.

The courses intended for B-Hum,

B-Soc.

and W designations have been submitted

- for a preliminary review.

-- The courses areas

follows:

Humanities Breadth (B-Hum):

EXPL 120-3 Experiencing Society

Social Sciences Breadth (B-Soc):

EXPL 110-3 Organising Society

EXPL 150-3 Introduction to Research Approaches in the Social Sciences

Writing (W):

EXPL 160-3 Introduction to Research and Interpretation in the Arts.

2.2 Certificate Requirements

The certificate requires nine courses comprising a minimum of 27 credit hours in

. ?

required and elective courses. Note that the 300 level capstone course allows substitution

in exceptional circumstances and with the permission of the Director of Explorations.

The provision is designed to accommodate Explorations students in majors at SFU

17..

Burnaby who encounter unavoidable conflicts in scheduling or travel time. The

certificate requirements are as follows: ?

• Eighteen credits in the required core courses for the Explorations cohort year.

• A minimum of six credit hours at the 200 level, consisting of two courses:

one in arts or humanities disciplines, the other in social science disciplines.

• One Explorations capstone course:

EXPL

10-3 Selected Topic! or EXPL

320-3

Selected Topic II.

(In exceptional circumstances and with the permission of the Director, another 300 level

course in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences germane to a student's interests may be

substituted for this requirement.)

3. New Course Proposals

Nine new courses are proposed:

Global Development: Issues and Patterns

EXPL 140-3

Immigration: Identities, Histories, Voices

EXPL 150-3

Introduction to Research Approaches in the Social Sciences

EXPL 160-3

Introduction to Research and Interpretation in the Arts

Note: The sample syllabi included in the following pages represent courses that have not

yet been taught. A wide range of potential readings have been included, and these will be

adjusted as experience indicates is necessary. Syllabi for lower division courses often

need revision over time in order to tailor them to the needs and abilities of students fresh

out of high school; our sample syllabi for 100 level courses are likely no exception.

0 ?

4. Calendar Entry for the Program

Explorations in Arts and Social Sciences is an interdisciplinary program providing a

broad, coherent and stimulating introduction to university studies. Students explore a

wide range of ideas and issues in courses that are designed to introduce Arts and Social

Science perspectives to students in their first year. Students will learn to question,

research and think independently. They will also be encouraged to develop the

communication and reasoning skills required to engage in many of the central debates

that are shaping society and community.

The Explorations in Arts and Social Sciences Program is a cohort program, in which

students take core courses together. Explorations aspires to develop each student cohort

into a genuine community of learning, through which students and faculty engage in the

investigation of ideas and issues. Cohort programs are an excellent choice for many first-

year students as they make the transition from high school to the numerous options and

higher standards at university.

Core courses are offered in Fall and Spring semesters at SFU Surrey during which time

students can also take elective courses. The core courses are the foundation for a

certificate, Explorations in Arts and Social Sciences, which is awarded on completion of

the certificate requirements described below.

First Semester Core

The first semester of Explorations consists of nine credit hours of core coursevork:

EXPL

110-3

Organising Society

EXPL 120-3 Experiencing Society

And one

EXPL 130-3 Global Development: Issues and Patterns

EXPL 140-3 Immigration: Identities, Histories, Voices

Second Semester Core

The second semester of Explorations consists of nine credit hours of core coursework:

EXPL 150-3 Introduction to Research Approaches in the Social Sciences

EXPL 160-3 Introduction to Research and Interpretation in the Arts

EXPL 170-3 Regional Cultures.

Please note that a student who fails a core course must make a written request for

permission to continue in the Program.

Certificate

The certificate requires nine courses comprising a minimum of 27 credit hours in

required and elective courses.

Eighteen credit hours are earned by completing the required core courses in the

Explorations cohort program, see above.

A minimum of six credit hours must consist of two courses at the 200 level:

one in arts or humanities disciplines, the other in social science disciplines.

Three credit hours are earned by completing an Explorations capstone course:

EXPL 310-3 Selected Topic I or EXPL 320-3 Selected Topic II.

*Note: In exceptional circumstances and with the permission of the Director, another 300

level course in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences germane to a student's interests

may substitute for EXPL

310-3 or

EXPL 320-3.

General certificate regulations apply. Courses taken for this certificate may also apply

toward major or minor program requirements or toward a bachelor's degree under normal

regulations.

After the First-Year Cohort

Through core courses and electives, students in Explorations will be exposed to a wide

range of potential subjects for degree completion. Students are encouraged to look at the

program requirements for major or minor programs as soon as their interest warrants.

Programs have varying requirements in the lower division, and students can prevent

unnecessary delays in their education by planning ahead. Programs may also be subject

to enrolment limitations, with competitive entry standards based on academic

performance. Students who are unable to gain admission to such programs should consult

the program advisor with respect to other options.

5. List of Appendices

Appendix A Library Report

Appendix B Memo of Agreement for Library Costs (to follow)

Appendix C Overlap Consultations - Summary and Reports

Appendix D Notice of Intent

Appendix E Faculty Profiles

Appendix F SFU Surrey Campus Vision

/0•