By Cathy Myers and Maximus Rodriguez, April 20, 2021
Cal Poly Pomona’s Academic Senate approved in-person internships for the summer and fall 2021 semesters, discontinued two majors and unanimously approved 13 new area F courses during its April 14 meeting.
Associate Vice President for Academic Innovation Olukemi Sawyerr explained that plans for in-person internships began at the beginning of the semester. The university collaborated with the Safer Return Task Force in devising a plan that is approved by the Los Angeles County Public Health Department, the California State University Chancellor’s Office and the Academic Senate.
“These are still our students, and our students are our responsibility even when they’re not on campus,” Sawyerr said. “As long as they’re doing something that’s related to their education, they’re our responsibility.”
While internships will now be authorized to be in-person, a virtual option will remain in place for those who are not yet comfortable returning to campus.
“The number one priority of the university, of course, is the safety of our students and the safety of our faculty,” Sawyerr said.
The Academic Senate also unanimously approved the discontinuation and replacement of the Bachelor of Arts in Music Education degree with a Bachelor of Music in Pedagogy.
“A Bachelor of Music degree is considered a professional degree comparable to the way engineering degrees are much more intense and are worth more units,” said Music Department professor Janine Riveire. “Before semester conversion, we had actually wanted for about 10 years to get a Bachelor of Music degree program going in our department, and so we made that proposal in 2016.”
Riveire further explained that the new option in pedagogy is similar but stronger in several ways. It was reviewed and approved by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing for its subject matter preparation in music.
“In terms of the addition of new classes, I think that’s a good thing because students get to learn more stuff than what is already being offered,” said Jacquelyn Nguyen, a fourth-year music student. “I think the more knowledge that’s being offered, the better.”
The Senate also approved the discontinuation of the fashion retail management and fashion merchandising emphases under the Bachelor of Science in Apparel Merchandising and Management degree. These changes reflect an effort to minimize redundancies between emphases within apparel merchandising and management majors.
In other business, Sen. Saeideh Fallah Fini announced that the 2021-2022 Chair and Vice Chair of the Academic Senate will be Jocelyn Pacleb, a faculty member in the College of Education and Integrative Studies, and Nicholas Von Glahn, a faculty member in the Psychology Department. Nominations for other executive committee members will continue until the conclusion of the election, May 5.
The Senate also unanimously approved the 13 new area F courses submitted by the Ethnic Studies Faculty Implementation Committee to replace area D3, marking the biggest change in curriculum since semester conversion in 2018.
Additionally, when it came time to discuss the Resolution on Community Oversight of the University Police Department, it was postponed to the May 5 meeting due to having gone 30 minutes past the allotted meeting time. A general consensus deemed the issue at hand deserving of the entire committee present and an equal opportunity of time to be discussed at length.
If students or faculty wish to join this important discussion, information regarding the next meeting can be found here.
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