The Council on Academic Affairs will meet Thursday at 2 p.m. virtually to discuss seven agenda items.

A program revision for Computer and Information Technology is one item that the council will vote on.

The council will vote on adding Software Development for Technology I as an optional course to Computer Science I, Software Development for Technology II as an optional course to Object Oriented Programming, and add Cloud Services to as elective for the CIT major.

The rationale for the change is:

· “To align better with student’s success and ABET requirements, As the Computer and Information Technology major is growing, we would like to provide alternatives to the students to enhance their marketability. These alternatives are important for a variety of application design, development and testing.”

· As Computer and Information Technology program has grown, there is a need from the Industry to introduce courses such as this. The content of this course helps CIT students attain the more “in-demand” skills as well as this course will assist in meeting accreditation requirements from the Computing Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET).”

The CAA will also vote on multiple changes in the Geography Department.

One change is being made to increase the difficulty of a geography course, Introduction to Cartography. The department is seeking to replace the course with Cartography and Visualization, GEO 4810.

Th course could be used for both graduate and undergraduate students and would be put in the techniques category of both options of the undergraduate geography degree.

Pending the approval of Cartography and Visualization the Advanced Cartography course can be removed from all programs and deleted from the course catalog.

To maintain the number of core classes Introduction to GIS will be used in place of Introduction to Cartography for both undergraduate options in the geography major. Introduction to GIS will need to be moved to the techniques portion for both degrees.

The Lidar course would be moved to the list of techniques electives for both options.

For the geography minor, the department is asking for Introduction to Cartography to be removed from the course catalog and minor. Introduction to GIS will be used in place of Introduction to Cartography.

Introduction to Cartography will need to be replaced by Introduction to GIS.

Cartography and Visualization will need to be added to the “nine hours from” section.

The “six hours from” section will need updates. According to the proposal, “…GEO 3275 Planetary Geology was proposed and accepted up through CAA last year. In the GIS minor in the “6 hours from:” electives section, it states that GEO 3470 – Seminar in Geology can be taken with the footnote that it must be the Planetary Geology Seminar. As this class is now on the books with its own course number, the “6 hours from:” elective list needs to be updated with the proper course number.”

The council is also being asked to remove Advanced Cartography from the minor.

The Hospitality and Tourism department is asking the council to add a new course.

The course, Wedding Events Management, is meant to give “an overview of the wedding event industry with an emphasis on wedding events as a career option within the hospitality and tourism management industry. The focus will be on the managerial skills necessary for the design, planning, and implementation of a wedding event. The social and cultural impact of wedding ceremonies will be explored.”

The only prerequisite for the class would be The Hospitality Industry.

The rationale proposal for the course states:

“Hospitality and tourism management students have repeatedly stated in senior exit surveys that a course in wedding planning would have helped them prepare for career opportunities in wedding planning. Students enrolled in HTM 2700 Hospitality Industry continue to express an interest in pursuing planning wedding events as a career option. The on-line and hybrid format effectively allows for broad content coverage.”

The council will also be voting on revising Software Development for Technology I and Software Development for Technology II.

The rationale for both revisions is “This is part of an effort to redesign the Computer and Information Technology program such that it reflects the nature of the said program. The content of this course has been identified as a part of the core content for this undergraduate program and meets accreditation requirements from the Computing Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET).”

Corryn Brock can be reached at 581-2812 or at cebrock@eiu.edu.