February 19, 2008 Session Notes
General Education Focus Session
Governance of General Education
February 19, 2008
9:30 am – 10:30 am, Riverview Room, UCEN
Facilitated by Mary Jo Finney
Attendees: 7
A handout was distributed that detailed the information gathered at the faculty discussion of December 11, 2007 (General Education Forum).
Comments included:
· For the benefit of the students, GE needs to be uniform as a whole university rather than unit by unit.
· Interim Provost Lotfi is working on a budget for general education.
· The budget model is a problem; only control is within units.
· Need to bring the students back into focus; not just about faculty.
· GE is one thing that can be standardized.
Concerns:
· Without the committee having power to approve the courses, nothing will move forward.
· Units refuse to give authority to the committee.
· If a unit says no/does not approve a course, then what? (there is not a mechanism in place to handle this issue).
· If Academic Standards can be entrusted to make decisions, why can’t the same apply to the proposed governance committee?
· The scope of the work could be done in an existing committee (AAAC).
Suggestions:
· Involve the registrar’s office at the ground level when change occurs.
· A representative from the Registrar’s Office should serve in an ex-officio capacity on the committee being proposed.
· Have a uniform core of classes that all students take to ease the advising of students.
The advantages and disadvantages of adding a fifth unit to handle general education was discussed.
· Numerous budget implications.
· Faculty could cycle in and out of the unit, while having a foot in their “home” unit.