General Education Committee Minutes, 2/5/14
Members present: S. Caro, L. Calderon, A. Dresselhaus, J. Randall, K. Reiser, T. Shearer, T.
Squires, N. White
Members Absent: H. Ausland, K. Huthaily, F. Rosensweig
Ex-officio Members present: N. Hinman, B. Howard
Professor Shearer was welcomed to the committee and members introduced themselves. Several
members were missing because of the President’s mid-year update.
The minutes from 11/20/13 were approved.
Communication
o The deadline for the forms to be submitted for the rolling review is Friday February 21st.
The groups scheduled for review are Literary & Artistic Studies (46), American &
European (22), and Indigenous & Global (52). We won’t have the form counts until
after the next meeting. Members volunteered for the following groups and absent
members were assigned a group:
Literary & Artistic
Kim Reiser
James Randall
Lilian Calderon

American & European
Tucker Squires
Susan Caro
Angela Dresselhaus
Hayden Ausland
Indigenous & Global
Beth Howard
Tobin Shearer
Khaled Hutharly
Associate Provost Walker Andrews will attend the next meeting to discuss assessment of
general education.
Business Items:

The Committee discussed the pending general education requests from last semester. The
following items were approved.
Group V: Literary and Artistic Studies
ENIR / IRSH 345 Introduction to Irish Gaelic Literature New
Group VI Historical and Cultural Studies
SOCI 212
Social Issues in Southeast Asia
Remove (still retains Social
Science designation)
Group VIII: Ethics
CHMY
302E
Chemistry Literature & Scientific
Writing
renew
Group XI: Natural Science
ENSC 245 /
NRSM 210N
Introduction to Climate, Water and Soils Renew
(title change)
Additional consideration is needed for the PHL 241N and CHMY 302E. Camie will
request an additional science faculty member to review PHIL 241 History and Philosophy of
Science for the Natural Science designation. Professor Ausland has been in communication
with the Chemistry program regarding CHMY 302E Chemistry Literature & Scientific
Writing. The deletion of the Ethics designation was removed from the consent agenda at
the Faculty Senate meeting so the Committee will need to decide whether to deny the
designation given the additional communication efforts. Interim Associate Provost Hinman
expressed concern regarding the impact this decision will have on the students. The
Committee has already granted Chemistry an exception with regard to this course. It was
not submitted during the normal review cycle and there have been attempts to work with the
instructor so the course meets the criteria.
The Semester ahead:

Addressing the issues with the American & European and Global and Indigenous
designations will need to be decided this spring. Several recommendations were made in
the fall, but were tabled to take action on the language motion. The background information
including the current language, the minutes from the past meeting, and links to the MUS
core will be sent to members to consider for the next meeting.

Considering this work, the rolling review, and the need to show progress on general
education assessment for accreditation, the committee agreed to extend the meeting time
from 4:10-5:30 p.m.

Professor Ausland requested clarification regarding the committees’ vote to grant approval
for LSH 389 Placebos, The Use of Words as an Ethics course. Members who voted in favor
might consider sending a justification to Professor Ausland to share with the Ethics
Subcommittee.
The meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m.