University of Michigan - Flint

Facilitated by Donna Fry

Attendees: 3

A handout was distributed that detailed the information gathered at the faculty discussion of December 11, 2007 (General Education Forum).

Participants had questions about the structure of the recommended advisory committee:

Will the committee be responsible to handle the assessment of general education?

Will it have approval power or need to delegate to each unit?

Concerns:

· The committee being only advisory, it could create an implementation “monster” and be very difficult to move the plan along.

· There would be a considerable amount of work for the committee in reviewing courses (however it was also mentioned that maybe this would be the case initially, but eventually it would be much more manageable)

· All units have different review processes, which could delay the final approval of courses

· Composition of the committee may be too large to be effective

· It is hard for smaller schools to have two faculty on the committee as they have limited amounts of faculty

· Members should be elected not appointed

· Could the function of the committee be served in AAAC?

· Would a uniform admission requirement be instituted?

A draft proposal of the General Education Curriculum Advisory Committee has been created by Interim Provost Lotfi and forwarded to AAAC and Faculty Council for their input. Donna tried to explain, as to her best recollection, about the details of that proposal (note: steering committee members reviewed the proposal in January and provided feedback):

· The committee would serve as coordinators for general education

· They would complete the assessment piece

· They would ensure adequate offerings each semester

· They would address policy issues (transfer students)

· They would provide initial review of courses and make recommendations to the units/college

Discussion ensued regarding the pros and cons of creating a separate unit for General Education. Currently there is not a faculty body available to deal with cross-unit issues (co-taught courses).