General Education Committee
Report to the Faculty Senate
27 March 2003

The General Education Committee has been meeting on Friday afternoons every 3 weeks or so since the beginning of the school year. Each division is represented on the committee. However, changes in the structure of the academic divisions of the College have resulted in a somewhat attenuated committee membership. In particular, the Business Division has not been able to participate because its reduced faculty size means that an unmanageable amount of committee service is expected of each, and they decided to forgo participation so far this year.

The Committee has not made any changes to the General Education Core. Instead, we have attended to identifying issues that the College must face concerning General Education. We have done this because "the Core," it seemed to most of us, is at least poorly understood by faculty, students, and administration if not in disarray. It requires broadly based, sustained, and considered attention by the Faculty in consultation with administration and students.

The committee found that general education as conceived in most institutions encompasses, but is not identical to, the courses identified by the SBOE in its articulation agreement. For example, most schools include courses such as the 150 series in their general education cores, even though they are not directly transferable to other schools.

The following are broadly conceived issues requiring our attention over the next 12-18 months.

• raising awareness of the significance of general education in all programs;
• developing a clear "philosophy" of general education and derivative goals;
• developing an on-going assessment program for both design and curriculum;
• establishing criteria for recognizing and/or furthering general education goals in various curricula; and,
• devising a general education curriculum to further goals not part of any particular curriculum;
• ensuring that faculty, administration, and students can articulate the role of general education.