Download the Synthesis Course Proposal Packet (MS Word). Paper copies are available in the Liberal Studies Office.
Please consider carefully the following documents contained in the packet:
Criteria for the Synthesis Course, as approved by the University Senate, February 1989.
“A Model for Thinking About the Nature of Synthesis,” prepared by an ad-hoc synthesis planning committee, Fall 1988.
Submitting a Synthesis Proposal
The following instructions are for faculty members who wish to submit a proposal for LBST 499 Senior Synthesis.
Preliminary Proposals
The Liberal Studies Committee (LSC) is willing to react informally to oral inquiries or to brief, one- or two-page preliminary proposals prior to your investing substantial time in preparing a full syllabus. This is not required, but it is a way to see if you are on the right track, and to receive some suggestions while you’re still getting started.
Preparing your Proposal
Look carefully at the sample proposal in this packet. It is not intended to suggest a “best” or “right” or “only” way to design a course. It is intended to define the form that the LSC asks you to follow when submitting a proposal.
When reviewing your proposal, the LSC will be equally interested in the content and the pedagogical approach. The content should be intellectually challenging and significant; the pedagogical approach should nurture synthetic thinking. The committee encourages proposals that are inventive, creative, experimental, and that show a willingness to take risks. The committee will also expect the proposal to be carefully planned and to be consistent with the Senate’s criteria.
Your attention is called especially to the criteria relating to the inclusion of women and minorities, to the use of writing, and to the selection of reading that reflects more than one discipline. The use of “conventional textbooks” is strongly discouraged.
When you have finished, please double-check your proposal against the “Ten Questions Most Frequently Asked by the Liberal Studies Committee” (found in the packet).
Prerequisites
Synthesis sections should be accessible to as many senior students as possible. Because students cannot enroll until they are in one of their last three semesters, you can assume that most, or nearly all, of their Liberal Studies knowledge area requirements are behind them.
If it is absolutely necessary for students to have chosen certain core LS courses rather than others—for instance, Chemistry as their science option or Economics as one of their social sciences—you may indicate this as a prerequisite. You should consider, however, that adding such a restriction may eliminate some students whose insights will be valuable precisely because they bring other perspectives from other LS courses or from their majors.
As the Senate’s criteria put it: “Keep course prerequisites to a minimum.” You are strongly advised against listing any upper-level courses as prerequisites.
Publicity Sheet
Information about synthesis sections will appear in the Undergraduate Course Schedule on a semester-by-semester basis. This is your opportunity to present your topic as attractively and as accurately as possible to students who are choosing sections. You should avoid the use of jargon and obscure, technical language.
Students will find it helpful to read your own explanation of the topic (how broadly or narrowly you define it, which disciplinary perspectives you will emphasize, and how you expect to approach it); they will also be interested in the types of assignments, classroom activities, and evaluation methods you will use.
Providing Scheduling Information
Whatever you say here is tentative and intended only to assist the director of Liberal Studies in general planning. Your semester schedule is prepared by your department chairperson in consultation with the college dean. It is helpful to note any anticipated conditions that you or your department foresee—for instance: only available in summers or alternate years or certain semesters, etc. Consult with your departmental chairperson or departmental committee as appropriate.
There is no prescribed pattern for your involvement in LBST 499. Some of you will likely choose to teach the same topic over and over; others may choose to submit new topics rather frequently. Some of you will probably teach LBST 499 fairly regularly; others will move in and out irregularly according to your other responsibilities. If you and your department desire, it is possible to schedule more than one section per semester.
Signatures
Your signature requests the LSC to verify that your topic and approach meet the Senate criteria for Senior Synthesis and to authorize your teaching the topic in this manner as part of the LBST 499 offerings. The signatures of your chairperson and dean acknowledge their awareness of your proposal and their willingness to make a good faith effort to work LBST 499 into your teaching schedule; their signatures do not, however, guarantee that they can schedule you in any given semester, because there are other equally important demands on your department’s resources (as well as on your own).
LSC approval is enabling, not coercive. To avoid misunderstandings, it is wise to keep your department, chairperson, and dean fully informed about your intentions.
Deadlines
To allow your chairperson sufficient time to include LBST 499 in your schedule, you will need to have your proposal approved during the semester one year prior to the one in which you first intend to teach the course. That is, Fall 2009 sections must be approved during Fall 2008, Spring 2010 during the Spring 2009, and so forth.
In many departments and colleges, the practice is for departmental and/or college curriculum committees to review synthesis proposals; if this is the case, you will need to allow adequate time for this to occur.
