Borough of ManhattanCommunity College

The CityUniversity of New York

AcademicSenate

______

Minutes

May 27, 2009

ABSENT: A. Akinlalu, A. Nkechi, J. Baugh, D. Benton, G. Brookes, L. Calson, S. Chaplin, L. Chen, Y. Chen, J. Dash, J. Dunkley, A. Friedman, H. Glaser, J. Harte, E. Henao, J. Hernandez, A. Jervis, R. John-Finn, O. Joseph, Kalogeropoulos, R. Lapides, L Simoy, A. Maldonado, H. Man, S. Morrison, R. Niyazov, G. Pang, Pemberton, C. Persaud, C. Powell, G. Smoke, Y. Tournas, C. Wei, S. Williams, G. Wong

  1. CALL TO ORDER

The meeting was called to order at 3:00 pm.

  1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF MARCH 25, 2009

The minutes for the meeting of the Academic Senate on March 25, 2009 were approved as amended. The names of absentees will be added.

  1. STANDING COMMITTEES
  1. CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
  1. The Curriculum Committee proposal for a new English course: ENG 360—Italian American Literature(See Attachment A.)was unanimously approved.
  1. The Curriculum Committee proposal for a new curriculum in TED in Secondary Education to train secondary education teachers in math and science was approved unanimously. Letters of support from Lehman and City College were provided. The creation of two new courses: EDS 201 (Adolescent Development) and EDS 202 (Special Topics in Secondary School) as part of the curriculum was also unanimously approved. (See Attachment B.)
  1. End-of-year report was submitted. (See Attachment C.)

B. FACULTY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

  1. End-of-year report was submitted. (See Attachment D.)
  2. Prof. Apfaltrer presented the committee’s wiki which houses all documents and information pertaining to the committee’s work.
  1. INSTRUCTION COMMITTEE
  1. End-of-year report was submitted. (See Attachment E.)
  1. ACADEMIC STANDING COMMITTEE
  1. End-of-year report was submitted.
  1. COMMITTEE ON STUDENT AFFAIRS
  1. End-of-year report was submitted. (See Attachment F.)
  1. ADMISSIONS COMMITTEE
  1. End-of-year report was submitted. (See Attachment G.)
  2. The Admissions Committee presented a Resolution to Investigate Retention and Admissions (Appendix H). The Resolution was approved with 38 votes in favor of the Resolution, 9 votes against, and 7 abstentions.
  1. AD HOC COMMITTEES REPORT
  1. AD HOC COMMITTEE ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM

End-of-year report was submitted. (See Attachment I.)

  1. REPORTS
  1. CHAIR’S REPORT
  1. Professor Belcastro recommended that the Academic Senate be budgeted three hours of faculty release-time to manage the Academic Senate website.
  2. Professor Belcastro recommended that the Chair of Academic Senate not be assigned a standing committee membership, and that the Academic Senate be budgeted two hours of faculty release time to prepare for, attend, and report on external, extra-college meetings relative to the charge of the Academic Senate.
  3. Professor Belcastro recommended that the Academic Senate establish an ad hoc committee to report on the need to establish the post of legal advisor (committee) to the Academic Senate.
  4. The Academic Senate’s standing committees have made two recommendations for the upcoming academic year: 1) The Instruction Committee has proposed to pilot an orientation for Academic Senate membership to be scheduled for the beginning (first session in September) of the academic year to assimilate freshman and returning members to the functions, duties and operations of the Academic Senate; and 2) Each Standing Committee should try to set up a wiki or comparable electronic platform for intra-committee communication, as a repository of documents, and the establishment of organizational history for the Committee.
  1. CUNY PROFICIENCY EXAM (CPE)

Dean Wong reported on 94.5% pass rate for BMCC students on the CPE. BMCC ranked 3rd among all CUNY colleges.

  1. TEACHINGLEARNINGCENTER (TLC)

No report was submitted.

  1. ACADEMIC SENATE WEBSITE

The AS website was reported to be online and will be updated with all minutes and other documents posted by next fall.

  1. DISCUSSION

Professor Grasso moved that BMCC Academic Senate adopt the Resolution passed by the BMCC Committee of Chairpersons in oppositionto the amendment of Article IX, section 9.1b of the Bylaws to limit department chairs to two consecutive terms.(See Attachment J.)

  1. ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 3:45 pm.

Attachment A

Academic Senate Meeting 5/27/09

Borough of Manhattan Community College

CityUniversity of New York

English Department: New Course Proposal

Course Proposal

ENG 360 Italian American Literature

Rationale:

The very location of Borough of Manhattan Community College, the CUNY college closest to Ellis Island and Little Italy, the gateways to America for Italian immigrants, makes BMCC the ideal setting for an Italian American literature course that would study the story of these immigrants and their descendants through fiction, poetry, and drama. Italian Americans number at least 2,000,000 in New York City and its inner suburbs. There are more Italian Americans in New York and the tri-state region than the population of Rome, Italy. In the 1870s and 80s, statistics show that 25% of CUNY students were Italian American. It is estimated that the percentage today is around 15% as other immigrant groups have arrived and many Italian Americans are attending colleges and universities away from New York. As an older immigrant group they have become more assimilated with the dominant American culture, and parents are more willing to send their children away to college.

Nevertheless, CityUniversity has a history of becoming increasingly sensitive to the needs of Italian Americans as one of the important immigrant groups in New York City. Italian Heritage Month is celebrated in October throughout CUNY, and at BMCC we have an elaborate program of events to mark the occasion. Today, immigration is a topic of much interest throughout the United States and in political elections. In fact, the anti-immigrant attitudes, the fear of the other, that pervades the immigration discussion today, especially in the media, is reminiscent of those fears and concerns during the period of great immigration from 1880 until 1924, when legislation was passed to control the numbers of Italians, Jews, and other Southern and Eastern European groups who, it was thought, would threaten the dominant Anglo-Saxon culture of the United States. Students need to be informed about the experience of Italian immigrants and their descendants as a way of understanding their own history and cultural dilemmas in this country, for many BMCC students come from other countries as immigrants themselves. Studying Italian American literature will enable students to see the Italian American experience as an example of the difficulties, sacrifices, and dilemmas of an older, now more established immigrant group from the first generation to the fourth generation. Using primary sources, students will have direct access to a deep understanding of immigration and its consequences as shaped into literary art. The themes of Italian American literature are similar to those of the literature of other ethnic and immigrant groups. Those themes certainly are relevant to our students’ experiences and ambitions as they settle into the American milieu but continue living a bicultural life—cultural-national identity conflict, anti-colonization by church and state, religion, gender relations, generational differences and relations, class conflict—working class vs. the bourgeois—the dilemma of cultural loss, intercultural conflict within the family and in society, oppression, social dysfunction, and assimilation.

Courses comparable to Italian American Literature are offered and are enrolling well at BMCC. These include: Latino/a Literature in the U.S. which is cross-listed as LAT 338 and ENG 338. This course is being offered in the current semester, Spring 2009, and there are two sections, with 28 and 27 students respectively. Also offered in the Spring 2009 are African American Writing from the 18thCentury to 1940, AFN 321; there is one section with 32 students. In addition, Black Literature of the Caribbean, AFN 338 is being offered; there is one section with 25 students. Although Asian American Literature, ASN 339, cross-listed with ENG 339 is not being offered in Spring 2009, it was offered in Fall 2008 with one section of 29 students. Likewise, Middle Eastern Literature, ENG 340, was not offered this semester, but one section was offered in Fall 2008 with 25 students.

College-wide the interest in Italian American and Italian culture is significant. 150 to 200 students on average attend the various Italian Heritage Month events in October, most of which focus on literary panels and films. The panels have featured such renowned scholars in Italian American studies as Anthony Julian Tamburri, the Dean of the Calandra Insitute of Italian American Studies at CUNY and Fred Gardaphe, Distinguished Professor of Italian American Studies at CUNY and Queens College’s English Department, as well as the renowned Italian American novelist, Helen Barolini, and the poet and CUNY professor, George Guida. There is also an abiding and growing interest in learning the Italian language. From teaching only one to two sections of Italian a decade ago, enrollment has now grown to the point where the Modern Languages Department offers twelve sections of Italian at BMCC and has appointed a full-time professor to teach Italian, Dr. Maria Enrico. In addition there is always a great deal of interest among students each year in applying for the Study Abroad Program in Italy which occurs in Viareggio, Tuscany, each summer, and is conducted by BMCC Professor Michael Giammarella. In that program fifteen students are chosen to have a partial scholarship and receive three elective credits in social science by studying Italian history in Tuscany. CUNY-wide interest in Italian American culture is evidenced by the John D. Calandra Institute of Italian American Studies, which offers students and faculty a wide variety of lectures and cultural exhibitions—many of which could be used to supplement a course in Italian American literature. The Calandra Insitute operates under the aegis of QueensCollege although it is located in Manhattan.

Perhaps an ancillary benefit to offering an Italian American literature course is the expansion of students’ perspectives and the diminution of the negative, media-stimulated stereotypes Italian Americans frequently experience in New York and throughout the United States. Students would also gain a richer understanding of New York City culture and experience, for it has been indelibly stamped by the presence of Italian Americans in Little Italy; the Lower East Side; Astoria; Bensonhurst; Arthur Avenue, the Bronx; Williamsburg; Carroll Gardens; Whitestone, Staten Island; and other areas throughout the five boroughs. Furthermore, such a course would also illustrate BMCC’s commitment to the concept of globalization, which has been promoted through such programs as the Salzburg Seminar, and the Study Abroad Programs BMCC offers each summer. Finally, with such a course, BMCC would join the ranks of Hunter, Lehman, Brooklyn, and Queens Colleges, all of which offer this course or similar courses and have thereby positioned themselves at the forefront of Italian American studies. BMCC would become the first community college in the CUNY system to offer a course in Italian American literature.

Prior to the 1970s the study of Italian American literature was vestigial at best. As a result of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, ethnic studies became a widely offered subject in American universities and colleges. This trend included Italian American studies. It is important to note that when the Open Admissions policy was instituted at CityUniversity in 1970, many more Latino, African American, and Italian American students were able to attend CUNY. This led to the inception and expansion of ethnic studies at CUNY colleges. For example, QueensCollege was already offering Italian American courses in the early 1970s. In the last two decades, Italian American studies, in particular, literature, have become more prominent as a topic of study in American institutions of higher education. Currently, as mentioned before, in CUNY, QueensCollege, the Calandra Institute, BrooklynCollege, LehmanCollege, and HunterCollege offer Italian American studies including literature. Please see the attachment for courses in the Italian-American Studies Program at QueensCollege including ITAST 202, The Italian-American Experience through Literature.

Another major center for Italian American studies is the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Italian American courses at Stony Brook are offered through the European Studies Program. These include HUI 236-K, The Italian American Scene, which is interdisciplinary and includes literature; HUI 237/WST 237-K, Images of Italian American Women, another interdisciplinary course which includes literature; and HUI 390-01/EGL 369, Italian American and African Women Writers, a cross-cultural literary analysis course. Please see attachment for Italian American courses at Stony Brook. In addition, RutgersUniversity offers an Italian American literature course, 01: 560:339.340, The Italian American Experience, which counts towards the major in Italian Studies (see attachment).

Other universities in the New York metropolitan area that offer the study of Italian Americana, are New YorkUniversity’s Collective of Italian American Women, FairleighDickinsonUniversity, MontclairStateUniversity, and HofstraUniversity. In addition, other noteworthy institutions of higher education which offer Italian American courses are TempleUniversity in Philadelphia, LoyolaCollege in Maryland, MiamiUniversity in Ohio, JohnCarrollUniversity in Cleveland, AlverniaUniversity in Pennsylvania, PurdueUniversity in Indiana, FloridaAtlanticUniversity, and the University of Minnesota.

There are five English Department faculty members and one Modern Languages faculty member who can teach Italian American Literature at BMCC. Indeed, any faculty member who can teach literature in English has the capability to prepare and teach Italian American Literature, contingent upon that individual’s willingness, desire, and availability to do so if the need exists.

Description:

Italian American literature surveys fiction, poetry, and drama throughout the history of Italian Americans in the United States beginning in the first half of the twentieth century and continuing into contemporary America. This literature will be considered in the context of recurring themes in the artistically framed experiences of Italian Americans beginning in the first half of the twentieth century and continuing into contemporary America: cultural-national identity conflict, anti-colonization by church and state, religion, gender relations, generational differences and relations, class conflict, for example working class vs. the bourgeois, or working class immigrant and sons and daughters vs. the dominant American culture, the problem of education in early Italian American history, the dilemma of cultural and linguistic loss, intercultural conflict, intracultural conflict, family values, oppression, social dysfunction, and assimilation.

Prerequisites:

English 101 and 201, or English 121

Required Texts:

History:

Mangione, Jerre, and Ben Morreale. La Storia: Five Centuries of the Italian American

Experience. New York: Harper Collins, 1992. (To be used all semester long.)

Prose:

Early Contact/First Stage (choose one):

d’Angelo, Pascal. Son of Italy. 1924. Toronto: Guernica Editions, 2003.

Conflict/Second Stage (choose three, possibly four if Son of Italy is not used):

Lapolla, Garibaldi M. The Grand Gennaro. 1935. New Brunswick, NJ:

Rutgers UP, 2009.

Fante, John. Wait Until Spring, Bandini. 1938. New York: Harper

Perennial, 2002.

di Donato, Pietro. Christ in Concrete. 1939. New York: New American

Library, 2004.

Mangione, Jerre. MountAllegro. 1943. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse UP, 1998.

Puzo, Mario. The Fortunate Pilgrim. 1964. New York: Random House,

2004.

Puzo, Mario. The Godfather. 1969. New York: New American Library,

2005.

Barolini, Helen. Umbertina. 1979. New York: The Feminist Press at

CUNY, 1998.

de Rosa, Tina. Paper Fish. 1980. New York: The Feminist Press at

CUNY, 2003.

Assimilation/Third Stage (choose one):

Rimanelli, Giose. Benedetta in Guysterland. Toronto: Guernica Editions,

1993.

Valerio, Anthony. Valentino and the Great Italians. New York:

Freundlich Books, 1986.

Viscusi, Robert. Astoria. Toronto: Guernica Editions, 1995.

Lentricchia, Frank. The Music of the Inferno. Albany, NY: SUNY P,

2000.

Ciresi, Rita. Sometimes I Dream in Italian. New York: Random House,

2000.

Poetry (choose two or three):

Giovannitti, Arturo. Arrows in the Gale. 1914. Florence, MA: Quale P, 2004.

Ciardi, John. The Collected Poems. Fayetteville, AR: U of Arkansas P, 1997.

Corso, Gregory. Gasoline. 1958. San Francisco: City Lights, 2001.

Ferlinghetti, Lawrence. A Coney Island of the Mind. 1958. New York: New Directions

Publishing, 1968,

di Prima, Diane. Pieces of a Song. 1990. San Francisco: City Lights, 2001.

de Vries, Rachel Guido. How to Sing to a Dago. Toronto: City Lights, 1996.

Stefanile, Felix. The Country of Absence. West Lafayette, IN: Bordighera Press, 1999.

Tusiani, Joseph. Ethnicity. West Lafayette, IN: Bordighera Press, 2000.

Gillan, Maria Mazziotti. All That Lies between Us. Toronto: Guernica Editions, 2007.

Drama (choose two or three):

Pezzulo, Ted. April Fish and The Wooing of Lady Sunday. New York: Dramatist’s Play

Service, 1975.

Innaurato, Albert. The Transfiguration of Benno Blimpie. New York: Dramatist’s Play

Service, 1976.

Innaurato, Albert. Gemini.New York: Dramatist’s Play Service, 1977.

La Russo, Louis, II. Momma’s Little Angels. Dramatist’s Play Service, 1979.

Pintauro, Joseph. Cacciatore. New York: Dramatist’s Play Service, 1980.

Other Suggested Texts:

Anthony Julian Tamburri, Paolo A. Giordano, and Fred L. Gardaphé, eds. From the

Margin: Writings in Italian Americana. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue UP, 2000. (This may be used extensively during the prose and poetry units.)

Other Resources:

Library, web resources, CD’s (featuring Italian and Italian American music), DVD’s (featuring documentaries and movies), and the many cultural offerings of the John D. Calandra Institute of Italian American Studies.

Use of Technology:

At the very least, students will be expected to word process their submitted written work. Otherwise, instructional technology remains at the discretion of the instructor.

Course Student Learning Outcomes / Measurements
1. Students will be able to apply what they learn in readings from the three genres of creative Italian American literature to questions posed in assignments. / 1. Quizzes, midterm, and final exams.
2.Students will be able to demonstrate critical thinking skills as they read. / 2.Midterm and final exams.
3. Students will be able to distinguish central themes in Italian American literature. / 3. Midterm, final exams, and two formal writing assignments.
4.Students will write critically about works from the three genres of creative Italian American literature. / 4.Two formal writing assignments.
5.Students will develop their oral communication skills as they present on questions of importance to the understanding of Italian American literature. / 5.Oral presentation.
General Education Learning Outcomes / Measurements (means of assessment for general education goals listed in first column)
/ Communication Skills- Students will be able to write, read, listen and speak critically and effectively. / Oral presentation.
/ Quantitative Reasoning- Students will be able to use quantitative skills and the concepts and methods of mathematics to solve problems.
/ Scientific Reasoning- Students will be able to apply the concepts and methods of the natural sciences.
/ Social and Behavioral Sciences- Students will be able to apply the concepts and methods of the social sciences.
/ Arts & Humanities- Students will be able to develop knowledge and understanding of the arts and literature through critiques of works of art, music, theatre or literature. / Quizzes, midterm and final exams, and formal writing assignments.
/ Information & Technology Literacy- Students will be able to collect, evaluate and interpret information and effectively use information technologies. / Two formal writing assignments. (Students will be expected to word process these assignments.)
/ Values- Students will be able to make informed choices based on an understanding of personal values, human diversity, multicultural awareness and social responsibility.

Course Requirements and Evaluation: