After failing to achieve a quorum at its last meeting, the Council of Academic Affairs will vote on changing the Africana Studies Program from a Bachelor of Science to a Bachelor of Arts.

The CAA will meet at 2 p.m. Thursday in the Arcola-Tuscola Room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union. 

The vote is carried over from the Nov. 14 meeting on a request from James Ochwa-Echel, director of the Africana Studies program, to alter the degree from the Africana Studies Program from a Bachelor of Science to a Bachelor of Arts. 

According to the program revision application, “[Africana Studies] has been considered a B.S. degree because when the program was established at Eastern 40 years ago it was under the department of sociology, which is under the College of Sciences.”

The current degree awarded to students of Africana Studies is not consistent with the majority of comparable programs, and this change will bring the program at Eastern into alignment with other programs around the country.

As well as the request from the Africana Studies Program, the College of Arts and Humanities is requesting the revision of three courses within the English Department.

All three of the proposed course revisions center around adding an online section of courses already offered face-to-face. The three courses are ENG 2009G: Literature and Human Values; ENG 3001: Advanced Composition; and ENG 3010G: Literary Masterworks. 

According to the course proposals, the three courses would be offered on demand, with the first offerings happening spring 2014.

As well as the items to be acted upon, six items will require executive action through the CAA. Three are from Harold Ornes, the dean of the College of Sciences, and three are from Diane Jackman, the dean of the College of Education and Professional Studies. 

For the requests within the College of Sciences, one is to add BIO 4842: Wildlife Ecology and Management to the Biological Sciences: Environmental Biology Option major. 

The next is to revise GEG 3800: Introduction to Cartography from a (1-4-3) credit tier to a (2-2-3). 

The final request is to create three distinct lettered versions of PLS 3863: Special Topics in Political Science. 

The requests from Jackman revolve around updating the course catalog to modernize it per classes currently offered. 

As well as the items to be acted upon and executive action items, the CAA will add four items to the agenda of a future meeting. Those items include requests from the School of Family and Consumer Sciences, the English Department, and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. 

 Jack Cruikshank can be reached at 581-2812 or jdcruikshank@eiu.edu.