The Faculty Senate will soon vote on the approval of one of the newest and largest curricular plans in the nation.

ISUComm, an ad hoc committee of the Faculty Senate, was created to strengthen communication abilities in undergraduate students. If the plan to increase communication skills is implemented, ISUComm will integrate more forms of communication into required courses.

“It will affect every ISU undergraduate,” said Michael Mendelson, professor of English and director of ISUComm. “It is the largest curricular initiative in recent ISU history.”

The ISUComm curricular plan proposes the integration of Written, Oral, Visual and Electronic communication — known as WOVE — into the required or foundation courses.

John Schroeter, associate professor of economics and chairman of the Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee, said the current foundation courses are English 104 and 105.

The ISUComm plan would replace the original required courses, but keep some things — such as having such classes in a sequence — the same. The two new foundation courses would continue to focus on critical thinking skills, but would incorporate civic and cultural themes into the material, said Sanjeev Agarwal, faculty senate president.

“While students are studying English, they will also be learning more,” he said.

The ISUComm curricular plan states that the first foundation course, which would be required for freshmen, would have WOVE elements like essays, interviews, learning communities and portfolios for students to reflect on their skills; the emphasis would still be on writing.

The second foundation course, which would be required for sophomores, states that the emphasis would be on integrating WOVE with PowerPoint presentations and group research on campus events.

Schroeter said a concern brought up early in the ISUComm planning process was the lack of writing skills in English 104 and 105 students. He said it has always been a concern that students will have even less practice with writing if more skills and practice with other forms of communication are forced into these courses.

ISUComm pilot tests have demonstrated, however, that students do the same number of writing assignments or more in the ISUComm foundation courses that they do now, Schroeter said.

The $105,000 budget for ISUComm is another concern for some faculty members, though, if ISUComm is recognized as an official ISU program, it would qualify for external funding.

“We are pioneers in this curricular plan,” Mendelson said. “We’ve got to start somewhere.”

ISUComm has been in the works since 1999. The faculty senate approved basic principles for ISUComm in 2001. An initial curricular plan was created in 2002, according to the ISUComm report to the faculty senate.

David Holger, associate provost for academic programs, said the ISUComm proposal will be recommended for the course catalog and full implementation by 2007 if it is approved by the faculty senate. Holger also said the program would need approval from the Board of Regents before it could be permanently implemented in ISU classrooms.