The number of seats available for first-year students in appropriate 100- and 200-level courses (S0 101, SO 201, and SO 202) and Liberal Studies courses are:

Courses for First- Fall Spring Fall Spring

Year Students 2000 2001 2001 2002

SO courses 140 110 140 110

Liberal Studies 1 36 – 18 –

Liberal Studies 2 – 56 – 28

These distributions continue the sociology program's current balance across course levels, contributions of courses for first-year students, and support of Liberal Studies.

D. Maintenance of appropriate number of courses that contribute to all-college requirements.

Sociology has long contributed significantly, indeed disproportionately, to all-college requirements and will continue to do so after reconfiguration. Here are sociology’s contributions to the current all-college requirements during the first two years following reconfiguration:

Semester/Course Seats* All-College Requirement

Fall 2000

SO 101/Sociological Perspectives 40 Society A

SO 101/Sociological Perspectives 40 Society A

SO 201/Social Issues 30 Society A

SO 202C/Individual in Society 30 Society A

SO 226/Social Research Analysis 20 Quantitative Reasoning 2

Liberal Studies 1 (2 sections) 36 Liberal Studies 1

LS 2-140/Changes in Families 28 Liberal Studies 2

Spring 2001

SO 101/Sociological Perspectives 40 Society A

SO 101/Sociological Perspectives 40 Society A

SO 201/Social Issues 30 Society A

LS 2-117/Class, Race, Labor History 28 Liberal Studies 2

LS 2-174/Society & Social Respon'ity 28 Liberal Studies 2

Fall 2001

SO 101/Sociological Perspectives 40 Society A

SO 101/Sociological Perspectives 40 Society A

SO 201/Social Issues 30 Society A

SO 202C/Individual in Society 30 Society A

SO 226/Social Research Analysis 20 Quantitative Reasoning 2

Liberal Studies 1 (2 sections) 36 Liberal Studies 1

LS 2/Changes in Families 28 Liberal Studies 2

SO 101/Sociological Perspectives 40 Society A

SO 101/Sociological Perspectives 40 Society A

SO 201/Social Issues 30 Society A

SO 226/Social Research Analysis 20 Quantitative Reasoning 2

LS 2-179/KKK in American Society 28 Liberal Studies 2

E. Maintenance of departmental contributions to interdisciplinary programs and the Honors Forum.

Sociology has contributed significantly to interdisciplinary programs and the Honors Forum, and will continue to do so after reconfiguration. Here are sociology’s contributions to non-LS interdisciplinary programs and the Honors Forum during the first two years following reconfiguration:

Semester/Course Seats Interdisciplinary Program

Fall 2000

SO 226/Social Research Analysis 20 Quantitative Reasoning

SO 2XX/Criminology 20 Law and Society

SO 3XXR/Deviance 20 Law and Society

LS 2-140/Changes in Families 28 Women's Studies

Spring 2001

SO 3XXR/Criminal Justice 20 Law and Society

SO 316/Women in Modern Society 20 Women's Studies

SO 331/Women in the Global Economy 20 Women's Studies

and International Affairs

Fall 2001

SO 226/Social Research Analysis 20 Quantitative Reasoning

SO 2XX/Criminology 20 Law and Society

SO 3XX/Deviance 20 Law and Society

LS 2-140/Changes in Families 28 Women's Studies

Spring 2002

SO 222RH/Political Sociology 20 Honors Forum

SO 2XX/Family and Gender 30 Women's Studies

SO 316/Women in Modern Society 20 Women's Studies

SO 3XXH/Student Worlds 20 Honors Forum

F. Response to request to increase average course enrollments by 3-4 students.

Sociology’s reconfigured program does not increase average enrollments in sociology courses. We currently cap sociology enrollments at 40 students in 100-level courses, at 30 students in most 200-level courses, and at 20 students in 300-level courses, SO 226/Social Research Analysis, and SO 227/Social Research Design. With extensive one-on-one student-faculty interaction, sections of SO 375/Senior Seminar in Sociology are limited to 12 students.

These caps are among the highest at the college. Increasing them is pedagogically unwise, inconsistent with Skidmore's mission and the mission of the sociology program, and inequitably burdensome on sociology. Our average class size is consistently among the highest at the college. Consider the average sizes of sociology classes compared with college-wide averages for 27 departments and programs for the past three years:

Sociology

Academic Average Class Size Class Size

Year Sociology Collegewide Rank*

1998-99 20.8 15.9 5

1997-98 21.2 16.3 3

1996-97 20.6 16.0 4

In short, sociology is maxed out, but much appreciative of our colleagues in other programs raising their class sizes toward the current and continuing levels in sociology courses.

Sociologists will, of course, conform to whatever policies on class size are adopted for Liberal Studies 1 and 2 courses and writing-intensive courses.

G. Allocating courses across all available time slots in the week.

Although we have not yet microplanned future course schedules, we assure the administration and Curriculum Committee that we will continue to be exceptionally good citizens and thus will continue to spread our courses throughout available time slots in accordance with policies of the Office of the Registrar. All sociologists at Skidmore work full five-day weeks, and we have a healthy balance of faculty who thrive in early morning, midday, and late afternoon hours. So, scheduling across time slots? No problem.

H. Projected course releases.

William Fox as department chair will teach half-time–18 credit hours over two years, with this teaching load spread as equally across semesters as combinations of 3 and 4 credit hour courses allow. This half-time teaching load is identical to the teaching load that our department chair has carried at least since 1992. Former department chairs, the current chair, and other department members regard a half-time teaching load as the maximum possible if the chair of our three-discipline, 13-member department is to carry out administrative responsibilities. The reconfiguration plan anticipates that we will continue the current practice of replacing one of the courses that the chair is unable to offer with a course taught by an adjunct faculty member. Released course time for Catherine Berheide as coordinator of LS 1 tutors depends on whether she continues in this role and how the role is configured.

The sociology reconfiguration plan builds in pretenure leaves for Rory McVeigh and David Karp. The plan assumes that they will be replaced while on leave by adjunct faculty.

I. Sociology courses added to and dropped from the curriculum.

Susan Walzer proposes a new 4 credit hour course, SO 2XX/Family and Gender, to be offered initially in Spring 2002. David Karp proposes a new 3 credit hour course, SO 3XX/Criminal Justice, to be offered initially in Fall 2000.

Reconfiguration of the sociology curriculum requires no dropping of courses. For reasons quite apart from reconfiguration, however, we propose dropping the following courses:

SO 203/Femininity and Masculinity

SO 217/The Family

SO 311/Development and Regulation of the Mass Media

SO 302/Sociology of Everyday Life

SO 318/Labeling Social Problems

SO 340/Sociology of Conflict

SO 203 and SO 217 have been combined into a proposed new course, SO 2XX/Family and Gender, and are thus no longer needed. The last four courses listed are not central to the sociology program's mission or curriculum and except for SO 311 (which serves the Law and Society program) do not serve other Skidmore programs or requirements. These four courses were taught by faculty who no longer at Skidmore College and will not be taught by current faculty.

J. Sociology courses added to the curriculum.

No new courses are required for reconfiguration, although faculty continue to add courses to the sociology curriculum for reasons other than reconfiguration. SO 2XX/Family and Gender and SO 3XX/Criminal Justice are proposed new courses.

K. Revisions of existing courses.

We are submitting proposals to increase the course credit for SO 226/Social Research Analysis and SO 375/Senior Seminar in Sociology from 3 to 4 credit hours. We are submitting proposals also to revise course descriptions, change course credit, and/or change course levels for the following eleven courses:

We will be submitting a proposal to increase SA 355/Language in Society from 3 to 4 credit hours. We may also submit revised descriptions for other sociology courses to make them more accurately descriptive of courses as they are currently taught. Details to follow.

SO 226/Social Research Analysis, reconfigured to 4 credit hours, will require an additional two hours a week in a 20-student computer cluster (e.g., 181 Dana Hall). SO 375/Senior Seminar in Sociology, reconfigured to 4 credit hours, will require an additional seminar room for an hour a week. Reconfiguration of LS 2-140/Changes in Families to 4 credit hours requires an additional 30-student classroom for an hour a week. Otherwise, reconfiguration of the sociology curriculum requires no additional classrooms.