The Arts and Sciences Council unanimously approved the establishment of a dance major at its meeting Thursday.
Council members also listened to presentations on the Air Force Reserve Officers' Training Corps program at Duke and an overview of the student-run course evaluation system established earlier this semester.
Barbara Dickinson, director of the dance program and an associate professor of the practice, explained the history of the program and the requirements of the proposed major.
The major will require 12 courses, 10 of which are academic full-credit courses and two of which are studio courses in technique and performance.
"It had strong endorsement from the curriculum committee and the executive committee," said Robert Thompson, dean of Trinity College and provost of undergraduate education. "I'm delighted. I think this is a means of providing high-quality dance instruction."
The major does not need approval from any other committees or administrators, he added.
Thompson said he hopes the change will attract students passionate about dance to the University, who would rather receive a dance major as part of a liberal arts education instead of attending a conservatory.
The dance program has offered a certificate in dance since 1992 and a dance minor since 1997.
Following the approval of the major, Lt. Col. John Wroth, commander and professor of Duke's AFROTC detachment, presented a briefing on the AFROTC program and fielded questions from faculty members.
Wroth, a member of the Arts and Sciences Council, said that after a presentation to the executive committee, members asked him to present to the council as a whole because they said faculty do not have enough knowledge about the AFROTC program.
"I think that faculty tend to lump [Army, Navy and AFROTC] all together as one ROTC model that's on campus rather than three separate ROTC units doing similar things, but that are all different," Wroth said.
Ron Grunwald, a lecturer in the biology department, asked about required AFROTC time commitment of which faculty members should be aware.
Cadets in the detachment have weekly physical training sessions and are required to take one class and go on two leadership retreats per semester, Wroth said.
He added, however, that students who wish to be competitive within the program may choose to take on additional commitments.
"We'll make an effort to be more educated, have more information and provide leadership when needed," said council chair Lee Baker, associate professor of cultural anthropology.
The council then listened to a report from junior Elliott Wolf, Duke Student Government president, about the online student course evaluations that were instated this semester.
The site, to which only students are allowed to submit rankings, has received 713 evaluations on 299 professors and 313 courses to date, Wolf said.
He added that the website is an improvement over the opt-out/opt-in system for administrative course evaluations displayed on ACES because it provides space for comments in addition to quantitative feedback.
"What we're finding is that it's not that students are slamming professors because they're hard," Wolf said. "Students are willing to explore but they want to know what they're getting into."
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