BSCI Curriculum Committee Minutes

[Ryan]

BSCI Bioregional Planning and Community Design MS

Curriculum Committee

Minutes By Agenda Topic

April 24, 2009 – 7:30 AM to approximately 9:30 AM

(Notes by Sandra Pinel, Chair and Michele Vachon, BSCI Coordinator)

1. Distribute materials/ Phone hookup and introductions – Boise

Attending: Wendy Secrist, Sherry McKibben, Tammi Laninga, Phil
Watson, Mike Lowry, Rula Awaad-Rafferty, Sandra Pinel, Manoj Shreshra,
Micheal Kyte, Ray Dezzani, and Ryan Urie (SPPUD).

2. Review outcomes from retreat and recent meetings of committee
and BSCI related to course selection and sequence



Sandra passed out the fall course list and revised Handbook
section of courses and sequence for discussion.

3. Handbook review – course selection and sequence section
revisions

Discussion proceeded on those sections of the Handbook that
dealt with courses and course sequence, (Sandra has to finish up the
learning outcomes sheet and other Handbook edits for fall printing and
will run these by Tammi and Steve). She again raised the question of
how many methods classes students would take in GIS and research/
forecasting and whether or not these would be listed within
concentrations for double counting. She recommended to not include
them in the concentrations because most were general methods and not
specific to a topic, with the exception of Ag Econ Regional Economic
Methods (Watson). Phil was concerned that this had all been debated
and decided previously. Sandra reviewed some of the discussion and the
decision that either all the concentrations would include a methods
course for their third course or none would – but the Ag Econ course
was the only specialization course in the list (none for Land use, for
example). The committee decided to retain it in both the methods and
the economics list.* GIS was also discussed and Ray Dezzani clarified
that Geog 385 would be re-designed and that an intermediate GIS course
was planned to be offered for planning students by the new pending
hire. Still undecided is how to get students ready for that course so
they won’t have to take multiple GIS courses to obtain skill applied
to planning. The planned BIoP methods course will need to be team-
taught and developed by the committee in the early fall so that it can
be offered next Spring to incoming students. In the meantime, they
choose two from the methods list including one in GIS. Sandra also
reviewed the shorter lists of “bins” for restricted electives and said
more discussion was needed on the Studio Course. Steve Drown
recommended it be cross-listed with LARC and retain a design aspect.
This will also need to be discussed by September. The committee agreed
that the list of other electives should be organized by specialization
topic (just to be clear) and that each specialization would have one
or two associated faculty listed in the Handbook. We will finish the
Handbook and because there needs to be some flexibility in how
specializations are developed by students, we will indicate this in
the Handbook along with the names of faculty with whom students should
work. Students may decide to mix and match or create their own topic
like health and planning or disaster planning (an area of strength
emerging at UI).

4. Studio discussion with Boise – learning outcomes, content of 1
and 2

This was our first item discussed. Wendy and Sherry had sent
documents for their presentation in which they suggested that the MS
could be offered in Boise to both professionals and full-time students
and that one student could spend a year in Boise as part of her urban
planning studies (Carmen). The first was a list of Fall 2009 and
Spring 2010 and other courses from which students could construct a
semester or two in Boise. The second was a proposed two-year program
supplemented with BSU courses and the third was a proposed degree for
working professionals over a three-year timeframe. There was a great
deal of discussion on the nature of studio in Boise (design,
transportation, land use), the proposal and the readiness of the
program to create full Boise degree option. The potential for working
in the urban area and attracting non-traditional students was great
(McKibben, all), but the need to develop the core faculty and 25
Moscow graduates should take precedence (Kyte, Laninga, Pinel). Tammi
was concerned that she could not develop a concentrated version of her
intro course by fall 2009 and that course is supposed to proceed other
courses. Sandra was surprised this was being introduced so
comprehensively and quickly, but said she would work on teaching
theory through Blackboard with Carmen. We began discussion of other
business and planning models offered to professionals that do not
require full-time campus study (important for attracting clerks,
tribal members and others to the program). We agreed to appoint a
committee to research other examples and to develop a sequenced plan
for the extent of Boise degree study for the degree and implications
for distance learning and other tools. There was also discussion of
transportation and other things that could be studied in Boise and
whether or not there were political considerations. This group can
bring analysis and recommendations back by early fall or before with a
focus on how we reach working professionals.

The committee includes: Steve Drown, Tammi Laninga, Rula Awaad-
Rafferty (and others who want to volunteer).


5. Specializations

Although not all specializations are flushed out, we will finish
the Handbook for fall based on what we have. Because there needs to be
some flexibility in how specializations are developed by students, we
will indicate this in the Handbook along with the names of faculty
with whom students should work. Students may decide to mix and match
or create their own topic like health and planning or disaster
planning (an area of strength emerging at UI).

6. Next steps on cross-disciplinary planning education,
participation in fall classes, presentations, readings (time for
Rula?)

All felt that Micheal Kyte’s presentation on the engineer’s view
of design was very helpful and a good start in the types of sharing of
interdisciplinary concepts that we need to do for the BSCI and BioP
programs. Therefore, we should have another breakfast to continue this
practice before summer. This breakfast will focus on presenting our
views of BIOREGIONAL PLANNING (and sustainable communities). We might
also share a good article representing our disciplines’ approach to
the topic. This discussion will also lead into the fall intro classes
and our ability to build the program and define how we are the same
and different from MS in Urban and Regional Planning Programs. It was
agreed to hold this session the week after finals (May 19 -22) at ?

7. Celebrating final projects and graduation, potluck at Sandra’s
house

We have six graduates including Jessica from August 2008 and
Crystal from December 2008 plus Jon Meier, Andrew Ackerman, Hanna
Persson and Laura Lamatia. We are celebrating the graduates and having
BSCI program get together at Sandra’s house on Saturday, May 9 from
5:00 PM ….. Potluck at 683 Panorama Drive, Moscow (east of Mtn.
View).

Sandra May 8, 2009 and Michele, May 8, 2009

*We should be consistent. BSCI has also assigned the committee
(April 8) to develop the BioP methods course, which we can use to
include impact assessment, scenarios, design, qualitative or
quantitative methods – or we could actually include some of these in a
revised studio. Both studio and methods should be the topic for our
first fall meeting.

[vim]

Nice to have this posted; keeps us up-to-date
Wim