General Education Committee Minutes, 10/2/13
Members present: L. Frey, L. Calderon, S. Caro, A. Dresselhaus, P. Frissell, K. Huthaily, J.
Randall, K. Reiser, N. White
Members Absent: H. Ausland, J. Hickman F. Rosensweig T. Squires
Ex-officio Members present: N. Hinman, B. Holzworth
Guest: S. Bradford
The minutes from 5/8/13, 9/4/13, 9/18/13 were amended and approved.
Business:

The general education form counts were provided. Subcommittee Chairs, members, and
target consent agenda dates were identified as listed below. Subcommittee Chairs should
find additional members from outside the committee to help with the review. The members
should be familiar with the general education designation. Subcommittee chairs should
contact proposers for clarity or to request revisions so that the course meets the criteria and
learning goals.
Group
American & European
Number
5
Ethics
Expressive Arts
2
3
Historical & Cultural
10
Indigenous & Global
Literary & Artistic
3
5
Mathematics
1
Natural Science
15
Social Science
Symbolic Systems
6
1
Members
Frey
Caro
Ausland
Randall
Reiser
Frey
Frissell
Huthaily
Caro
Dresselhaus
Calderon
Bradford
Rosensweig
Calderon
Tucker
Reiser
Ausland
Date
10/16
10/16
10/30
11/13
11/13
10/16
10/16
11/20
10/30
10/30

The committee agreed to meet on November 20th rather than November 27th, which is
considered a travel day for the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Committee considered the request for an exception for two history courses (HSTR 364,
Environmental History and HSTR 472, Problems of Peace and Security) to be offered one
last time as Ethics courses. Both faculty members are retiring and did not submit paperwork
for the last review cycle. The courses will be removed from History’s curriculum after this
spring. The courses have been taught as Ethics courses for the past 20 years. The
exception was granted for the courses.

The Committee discussed the difficulty with the definitions of American and European and
Indigenous and Global perspectives. Last year’s American and European workgroup
proposed three options: 1) eliminate the category, 2) fix criteria and learning goals with
minor changes to clarify criteria, 3) realign group with other groups to address overlap with
other areas and clarify alignment of groups with the MUS core, and 4) review entire General
Education Framework.
Both the American and European and Indigenous and Global Perspectives are so broad that
they are ambiguous. It is unclear whether the distinction is between geography, discipline,
or identity. Because of this a sample definition was distributed for a diversity requirement
(appended below). It seems a diversity requirement would include a comparative element.
The committee may need to reform the question.
Good and Welfare

Professor Caro had flyers for various library events.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:06 p.m.
Proposed language from Professor Caro:
Group X: Diversity
These courses present a critical introduction to antecedents, principles, institutions, cultures,
traditions, and legacies of societies. Diversity courses address the study of identities (e.g. race,
class, gender, sexual orientation, ability, etc.), societies, nations, or national languages and cultures.
Criteria
Courses focus on any area and can be comparative in content or approach. The courses are
broad in theme, or geography. They are foundational and prepare students for further study
by raising core questions of an academic discipline.
Learning Goals
Upon completion of this perspective, students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate informed and reasoned understanding of historical and contemporary
behavior, ideas, institutions, and culture.
2. Analyze and evaluate what is distinctive and significant about the experience and legacy
of different cultures.
MSU diversity
Graduates of Montana State University face an ever changing and increasingly complex world. An
understanding of and sensitivity to other cultural perspectives prepares them to function in the
global community and creates a campus climate that is conducive to academic growth for all
students. Diversity courses address the study of identities (e.g. race, class, gender, sexual
orientation, ability, etc.), societies, nations, or national languages and cultures.
Professors Frey and Ausland’s proposed language:
Group X: Global Perspectives
These courses present a critical introduction to antecedents, principles, institutions, cultures,
traditions, and legacies of societies whose origins are other than European.
Criteria
Courses focus on any area and can be comparative in content or approach. The courses are
broad in theme, geography, or chronology. They are foundational and prepare students for
further study by raising core questions of an academic discipline.
Learning Goals
Upon completion of this perspective, students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate informed and reasoned understanding of historical and contemporary
behavior, ideas, institutions, and culture of areas not formed primarily by the European
tradition.
2. Analyze and evaluate what is distinctive and significant about the experience and legacy
of areas not determined primarily by the European experience.
Current Language
Group IX: American and European Perspectives (Y)
These courses present a critical introduction to the antecedents, principles, institutions, cultures,
traditions and legacies of the United States and Europe.
Upon completion of an American and European Perspective course, students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate informed and reasoned understanding of American and/or European historical
and contemporary behavior, ideas, institutions, and culture; and
2. Analyze and evaluate what is distinctive and significant about the American and/or
European experience and legacy.
Group VI: Historical and Cultural Studies (H)
These courses present the historical or cultural contexts of ideas and institutions, and examine
cultural development or differentiation in the human past. They are foundational in that they are
wide-ranging in chronological, geographical, or topical focus, or in that they introduce students to
methods of inquiry specific to a particular discipline.
Upon completion of a Historical and Cultural Studies course, students will be able to:
1. synthesize ideas and information with a view to understanding the causes and consequences
of historical developments and events;
2. evaluate texts or artifacts within their historical and/or cultural contexts;
3. analyze human behavior, ideas, and institutions within their respective historical and/or
cultural contexts.
Group X: Indigenous and Global Perspectives (X)
This perspective instills knowledge of diverse cultures in comparative and thematic frameworks.
Students are encouraged to cultivate ways of thinking that foster an understanding of the
complexities of indigenous cultures and global issues, past and present. Students will learn how
geographically and culturally separate parts of the world are linked by various, multiple
interactions.
Indigenous studies focus upon "first peoples" and their descendants who derive their cultural
communal identities from their long-standing and/or historical habitation of particular places. These
courses foster an appreciation for indigenous peoples, their histories and cultures, and their
struggles both to maintain their ways of life and gain equal positions in world spheres of power and
change.
Global studies investigate how societies and nations interact through human endeavor and /or
natural processes. These courses encourage students to relate their knowledge of particular parts of
the world, with their individual identities, and to larger trends and issues that affect multiple
societies and environments. These include regional, national, and even transnational cultural flows,
as well as a multiplicity of environmental processes and economic relationships.
Upon completion of an Indigenous and Global Perspective course, students will be able to:
1. place human behavior and cultural ideas into a wider (global/indigenous) framework, and
enhance their understanding of the complex interdependence of nations and societies and
their physical environments;
2. demonstrate an awareness of the diverse ways humans structure their social, political, and
cultural lives; and
3. analyze and compare the rights and responsibilities of citizenship in the 21st century
including those of their own societies and cultures.