By Justin Muszynski
The Faculty Senate passed a resolution presented by the psychology department Monday at a Faculty Senate meeting that would demand the administration at CCSU do several things, one of which would be to stop imposing limits on internships and independent study load credits that would shape academic programs.
“We need internships and independent studies to make our program distinctive from community colleges,” said Rebecca Wood, assistant professor of psychology. “We need to showcase our talent.”
Psychology professor Carol Austad said that the psychology department is aware that there is a financial crisis going on and that each internship credit hour has to be paid for by the university and says they will work to stretch the number of credits as much as possible.
“We are willing to work with the administration in any shape or form to try and save credit hours,” said Austad.
The psychology department insists that this resolution will benefit all programs at CCSU and will allow them to keep their academic independence.
“This is not about the psychology department versus the administration, this is about academic freedom for all of us,” said Wood. “If we’re going to be told how to structure our curriculum in this way, what’s next?”
The senate debated for a predetermined 15 minutes, at the end of which motioned to debate for another 15 minutes only to motion for an additional three minutes after that before passing a resolution.
Wood says the psychology department has been asked to abide by a course-based teaching model for internships rather than the traditional faculty-student mentorship model.
“A one size fits all course model for internships is simply not appropriate across all disciplines,” said Wood.
The senate also approved several minor changes to the curriculum that included a new program, robotics and megatronics, which will replace electromechanical technology.
A new certificate program was also passed which allows students to receive a certificate in “Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.”
The Faculty Senate will meet again in Vance room 105 at 3:15 p.m. on April 11.
