6

Rev. 12-12-05

University Curriculum Committee

Course Proposal Form

for Courses Numbered 0001 – 4999

(Faculty Senate Resolution #04–18, April 2004)

Note: Before completing this form, please read the accompanying instructions carefully.

1. Course Prefix and Number: 2. Date:

3. Requested Action (check only one box):

X / New Course
Revision of Active Course
Revision & Unbanking of a Banked Course
Renumbering of an Existing Course
from / # / to / #

4. Justification for new course or course revision or renumbering:

The Department of Economics wishes to institute reading course offerings to strengthen the program for our undergraduate students. A primary objective of the Department is to develop economically educated citizens, able to apply their specialized training in varied careers and across broad areas of interest. Assessment of learning outcomes has indicated a need for greater breadth of course offerings to meet this objective, and to more fully serve the special interests of our undergraduate students. Specifically, assessment of our undergraduate program and existing course offerings leads to the conclusion that offering reading courses would benefit our students in the following ways:
·  Provide a fuller range of economic topics than are contained in present course offerings.
·  Give interested students opportunity to engage in broader or deeper application of principles and models learned in regular course offerings, including organizing and conducting basic economic research.
·  Make available special topics tailored to students’ individual interests.
·  Provide students an opportunity to work in depth with individual faculty members.
·  Allow students with unusual course scheduling problems a means of completing degree requirements in a timely manner (e.g., avoid students having to take an extra semester to complete (say) one or two credits of coursework required to complete their degree).

5. Course description exactly as it should appear in the next catalog:

4522. Independent Study and Research in Economics (2) (F,S,SS) P: Consent of instructor and dept chair. Extensive or selected readings taken from modern economic research monographs or in specialized areas of economics in which student has taken one or more courses.

6. If this is a course revision, briefly describe the requested change:

7. Undergraduate Catalog Page Number from current undergraduate catalog:

8. The Writing Across the Curriculum Committee must approve Writing Intensive

(WI) credit for all courses prior to their consideration by the UCC. If WI credit is

requested, has this course been approved for Writing Intensive (WI) credit?

X

Yes No

If Yes, will all sections be Writing Intensive (yes/no)?

X

Yes No

9. The Academic Standards Committee must approve General Education Credit for all courses prior to their consideration by the UCC. If GE credit has been approved by the ASC, then check the appropriate box (check only one):

English (EN) / Science (SC)
Humanities (HU) / Social Science (SO)
Fine Arts (FA) / Mathematics (MA)
Health (HL) / Exercise (EX)

10. Course Credit:

Lecture Hours / Weekly / OR / Per Term / Credit Hours / s.h.
Lab / Weekly / OR / Per Term / Credit Hours / s.h.
Studio / Weekly / OR / Per Term / Credit Hours / s.h.
Practicum / Weekly / OR / Per Term / Credit Hours / s.h.
Internship / Weekly / OR / Per Term / Credit Hours / s.h.
Other (e.g., independent study) Please explain.
Independent study and research. / 2
Total Credit Hours / 2 / s.h.
1 - 3

11. Anticipated yearly student enrollment:

12. Affected Degrees or Academic Programs:

Degree(s)/Course(s) / Current
Catalog Page / Changes in Degree Hours
N/A

13. Overlap or Duplication with Affected Units or Programs:

X / Not Applicable
Applicable (notification and responses from affected units are attached)

14. Approval by the Council for Teacher Education (required for courses affecting

teacher education programs):

X / Not Applicable
Applicable (CTE has given its approval.)

15. Statements of Support:

X / Current staff is adequate
Additional staff is needed (describe needs in the box below):
X / Current facilities are adequate
Additional facilities are needed (describe needs in the box below):
X / Initial library resources are adequate
Initial resources are needed (in the box below, give a brief explanation and an estimate for the cost of acquisition of required initial resources):
X / Unit computer resources are adequate
Additional unit computer resources are needed (in the box below, give a brief explanation and an estimate for the cost of acquisition):
X / ITCS resources are not needed
The following ITCS resources are needed (put a check beside each need):
Mainframe computer system
Statistical services
Network connections
Computer lab for students
Remember to forward email approval from the director of ITCS to UCC.

16. Syllabus – please insert course syllabus below. You must include (a) the

name of the textbook chosen for the course, (b) the course objectives, (c) the

course content outline, and (d) the course assignments and grading plan.


Example Syllabus – 2 s.h. Independent Study and Research in Economics

TOPIC:

To be determined by student & instructor, approved by department head. Possible topics include: Antitrust policy; applied microeconomics; capital finance markets; econometrics; economic growth and development; economic history; economics of hazard mitigation; environmental and natural resource economics; experimental economics; health economics; industrial organization; international economics; labor economics; law and economics; macroeconomic policy; money & banking and monetary policy; poverty and inequality; public finance and public choice; real estate economics; regional economic analysis; risk management.

Primary reading/study resources:

Readings and other study resources will be assigned as appropriate to the specific topic and the student’s interest (e.g., relevant classic and/or current texts; relevant topical articles from selected economics and/or other appropriate journals; relevant empirical data sources).

Course objectives: the students will

1. Select a research question relevant to the specific course topic

2. Identify and review economic theories and models relevant to the research question and explain how they apply to the question

3. Identify empirical data resources relevant to the question and explain how the data would be used in the models to address the question

4. Compile relevant empirical data identified in (3), above, and demonstrate their application in the theories and models identified in (2), above

The student will submit a final paper that demonstrates achievement of the stated objectives.

Course outline:

I.  Establish course expectations

II.  Independent study and discovery in support of the topic

a.  Regular updates and interaction

III.  Produce final paper


Expectations:

The student is required to update the instructor on progress regularly via e-mail, telephone, or scheduled meetings as deemed appropriate by the instructor.

Grading:

Final grade in the class will be based on the quality of the regular updates provided by the student as well as the final paper.

Grading Scale:

=>90 A

80-89 B

70-79 C

60-69 D

<60 F