NPIC - New Programs and Innovations Committee 

Minutes - March 13, 2008, called to order: 9:45 am.
Present: Greg Cochenet (Chair), Ro Conforti, Tom Fleming, Doris Marino

I. Notification of New Special Topics Courses
Seven special topics courses were presented and logged.

Course Title                       Course Number   Semester to be taught    X taught
Figurative Sculpture                ART 298                Fall 2008                     2
Experimental Video Production COM 298               Fall 2008                     0
Jewish Economic History          ECO398/ JST 398   Fall 2008                     0
Practicum in Investing**         FIN 398                  Fall 2008                    1
Personal Financial Planning**  FIN 398                  Fall 2008                    1
Intermediate Latin, I              FLA 298                  Fall 2008                    1
Coastal Environments**         MAR 298                Fall 2008                    1
Philosophy of Time                 PHI 398                 Fall 2008                    0

** Logged pending clarification and/ or further information.

ART 298 - Figurative Sculpture
Studio coursework will explore material, formal and conceptual issues involved in developing work of figurative sculpture, emphasizing process of clay modeling and casting.

COM 298 - Experimental Video Production
The course explores video production as an experimental art form.  Student will study the history of the medium through in-class screenings and work on individual projects.

ECO 398/ JST 398 - Jewish Economic History
This course examines the evolution of Jewish civilization, thought and organization from the late Biblical period until now.  It explores the intersections among resource allocation, communal institutions, law and government.

FIN 398 - Practicum in Investing**
Special Topics Examination of developments, issues, and current ideas in the field of business administration, which are pertinent to finance.

FIN 398 - Personal Financial Planning**
Elective for business majors.

FLA 298 - Intermediate Latin, I
Completion of study of Latin forms and grammar.  Reading of simple passages in Latin.  Attention paid to Roman history and culture.

MAR 298 - Coastal Environments**
Investigation of select coastal environments, the natural processes at work that create and modify those environments, and the interactions with humans that occur in those environments.  Examples of coastal environments are beaches and dunes, cliffed coasts, glacial coasts, estuaries, coastal wetlands, deltas, and desert coasts.

PHI 398 - Philosophy of Time
An examination of the philosophical puzzles related to the concept of time and varying ideas of times as understood from ancient times to the present.  Topics include Zeno's paradoxes, puzzles of time travel, paradoxes of relativity, temporal topologies, the direction of time, the A- and B- theories of time, and the ontological status of time.

II. New Business
NPIC further discussed the issue of availing all levels of special topic shell courses to all departments throughout the University.  Taking into consideration all comments and suggestions from UCF members, we are in the process of writing new language and discussing the logistics of this idea.

Also discussed was the issue of the difference between a program modification and a program revision.  We received an answer from Jonas Zdanys of the CT Department of Higher Education. His response was, "A revision is a small change; a modification constitutes more that 18 semester credit hours of change: that is, 18 credit hours of new courses, for example."  We are still trying to get further information.

Meeting adjourned at 10:45 am.
Respectfully submitted by:
Greg Cochenet