Two government courses overlap with the core curriculum.
By Dean Contreras
sac-ranger@alamo.edu
A field of study curriculum in political science should include GOVT 2311, Mexican-American and Latinx Politics, Coordinator Christy Woodward Kaupert said Feb. 1.
The Texas Higher Education Coordi-nating Board approved a revised field of study July 26 with four courses, GOVT 2304, Introduction to Political Science; GOVT 2305, Federal Government; GOVT 2306, Texas Government; and MATH 1342, Elementary Statistical Methods.
A comment period of 30 to 90 days will allow educators across the state to comment on the revised field of study. Kaupert said she plans to make her views known.
At this college, students can take political science courses that count toward an associate degree, but there is not a specified field of study. GOVT 2305 and GOVT 2306 are part of the core curriculum.
If courses are used in the core curriculum, they can’t be used again in the field of study.
Kaupert said for this college to offer a field of study in political science, the field of study would have to include GOVT 2311, and another course to allow this college to meet the required number of courses.
“There is a limit on political science courses already and converting some to a field of study requirement makes everything more difficult,” she said.
The only other political course the Coordinating Board’s Academic Course Guide Manual allows community colleges to teach is GOVT 2107, Federal and Texas Constitutions, which is not offered at this college.
Kaupert said students should meet with their program adviser for assistance regarding their curriculum.
The purpose of the field of study courses, according to The Coordinating Board, is to be part of a wider range of transfer success initiatives.
“The FOS should focus on students who start at community colleges and want to transfer. The goal of the committee is to create a guaranteed pathway to the degree and minimize the number of excess hours that students take, Garry Tomerlin, deputy assistant commissioner of the Coordinating Board staff said, in a report from the meeting on the website.
“The committee members mostly consists of four-year universities, and they don’t accommodate for the two-year institutions’ courses on the ACGM,” Kaupert said.
Most two-year institutions have the problem of the core curriculum overlapping with the final field of study curriculum determined in the meeting.
For information about the political science program, call Kaupert at 210-486-1008 or email cwoodward-kauper@alamo.edu.
