At its final meeting for this academic year, the faculty voted to approve the creation of an Environmental Fellows Program.
The motion was passed by a vote of 83-23.
"I'm just curious to know what exactly it's going to be focused on," said senior Ashley Slupski. "If it's not going to include community programs and social justice, it's missing out on a third of what we do for sustainability. We're spreading ourselves too thin, and we use should use more of the programs that we already have."
Despite the large number of votes in favor of the program, there were several issues raised by members of the faculty, including a question of how feasible it would be for a student to complete the program. Students enrolled in the Environmental Fellows Program would need to complete at least three science courses and three social science or humanities courses with an environmental focus. Some of those classes might require prerequisites, but the Committee on Academic Policy and Planning plans to take the number of required classes into consideration.
"We don't want to create a program that students can't complete," said Michele Villinski, member of the Environmental Education Committee and economics professor.
Faculty also voiced concerns about the off-campus study component of the program.
"I think that unfortunately the off-campus study is a barrier for students," said Kate Knaul, director of global opportunities and assistant dean of academic life. "I would suspect there are students that cannot participate because of financial reasons."
Both Management Fellows and Media Fellows require an off-campus, semester-long internship, as well.
In addition, the faculty also approved revisions to the majors and minors in geoscience and communication and theatre.
A major in environmental geoscience will now require 13.5 credits and the completion of the GEOS 450 Senior Seminar. Geology and earth science minors will now need to complete five required courses while environmental geosciences minors will need to complete seven required courses.
The core requirement for a major in communication or theatre will now be COMM 200. Students will also be required to complete four 300 or 400 level courses. A minor in rhetoric and interpersonal communication will now only require that one of the four courses needed be at the 300 or 400 level. Students who wish to minor in mass communication will find the name changed to media studies, as decided by the department. Four total courses are required for the minor instead of five, which was the previous requirement.
Finally, the faculty approved several new courses. They include: COMM 110: Introduction to Theater, COMM 315: Topics in Theater History and Criticism, COMM 325: Advanced Interpersonal Communication, COMM 325: Topics in Conflict Communication, CSC 360: Autonomous Robotics, and ANTH 259: The Anthropology of Death.
President Brian Casey used his time before the faculty to thank them for their commitment and to remind them about the university's goals.
"We are very much trying to tilt our admissions process toward the academic life at this institution," he said.
In order to alter this academic image, the university will be making changes to its website.
"We need our departments to shine on the Web and in our print materials," said Christopher Wells, vice president for communications and strategic initiatives.
Casey concluded by emphasizing his commitment to student life.
"I'm deeply committed to having more students going abroad and having more international students here," he said.