Curriculum Action Notice

From:

Academic Affairs Committee

Date:

November 18, 2005

This is a bulletin from the Academic Affairs Committee concerning proposed curricular actions. Please forward any comments or concerns in the next 10 days to the AAC chair, Jannis Floyd, Retan Center 208-D, ext. 4795, jfloyd@mansfield.edu.

Curricular Action Notice: Sociology/Anthropology/Social Work

New Course- SOC 3333 Political Sociology 3 credits

Purpose: To expose sociology/anthropology students to politics and public policy and to expose political science students to sociology.
Course Description: Covers the intersection of sociology and politics. Investigates the development of policy issues, people's reactions and responses to them, and resolution of the issues in the public arena. Focuses on the dynamics of power and influence in the social relations: who has the power, who does not and why.
Cross listed with PSC 3333

Course Changes

1. SOC 3301 Organizational Behavior 3 credits
Purpose: To provide better course descriptions in the catalog.
Old Description:
Examines the social dimensions of work organizations including formal and informal interaction patterns, leadership, and organizational culture.
New Description: Overview of the major concepts, theories, and research findings in the field of organizational behavior. Examines the sociological analysis of organizations in modern society, the social dimensions of high performance organizations, and how to direct and lead individuals, groups and organizations.

2. SOC 3308 Research Methods II: Analysis, Interpretation and Application
Purpose: To provide better course descriptions in the catalog.
Old Description: Techniques and procedures for processing social science data. Ability to develop and evaluate research reports and to judge how findings may be applied to improve social work practices are primary goals of the course. Previous training in statistics strongly recommended.
New Description: Covers how social scientists handle quantitative data. Reviews the scientific method, causality, the types of variables encountered in social research, and how data informs social theory. The focus is on learning basic techniques for describing social science data and testing for relationships between variables. Includes training in a statistical software package and student-driven applied research projects.