General Education Committee Minutes, 9/18/13
Members present: S. Bradford, L. Frey, L. Calderon, S. Caro, A. Dresselhaus, K. Huthaily, J.
Randall, K. Reiser, F. Rosensweig, T. Squires, N. White
Members Absent: H. Ausland, J. Hickman
Ex-officio Members present: N. Hinman, B. Holzworth
Guest: S. Bradford
Members introduced themselves and new members were welcomed.
Approval of the minutes was postponed.
Communication Item:

Chair White asked members to consider the chair elect position.

The main responsibilities of the committee are the review of new general education courses
and the rolling review of existing courses. During this process the Committee assesses the
appropriateness of criteria and learning goals of the groups as well as the general education
framework. Does the program still meet the needs of today’s students? The deadline for
submission of the general education forms to add courses to the general education groups
and any one-time-only general education courses including Global Leadership Initiative
seminars. The work will be distributed at the next meeting.

Last year the committee had issues with the definitions of the Global and Indigenous and
American and European groups. The committee will need to decide whether the groups are
serving the students or are too cumbersome. The committee should also consider how UM’s
General Education program aligns with the MUS core. One option is to eliminate both the
X and Y perspective and adopt a Cultural Diversity group. UM’s current structure is
discipline based and does not foster interdisciplinary work. The Committee could consider
simplifying the framework and focus on skills rather than disciplines which seems to be
entrenched with the notion of turf. One idea is to create stronger outcomes in fewer hours.
Many students lack reading, writing and communication skills, but there seems to be a
reluctance to require more writing or essay exams in large course sections in some
disciplines.

Another topic for discussion will be how to assess the overarching goals of general
education. Chair White has a meeting with Associate Walker Andrews in October to discuss
what is needed for accreditation.

Chair White asked whether anyone had any other items they would like the committee to
address. Professor Bradford would like the general education program to prepare students to
be engaged citizens through experience in discourse. There is currently no information on
how many courses involve students participating in discussions of conflicting issues. Chair
White is surprised by how some majors offer many of the general education courses taken
by their students rather than encouraging students to take courses outside of their major.
There has long been tension between the professional programs and the liberal arts. One
possibility would be to differentiate that students pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree are
expected to take general education courses outside of their major, but students pursuing a
professional degree may satisfy several general education courses within their major. This
is another area where data would help to determine whether this is a pervasive issue. It
should be possible to get data from the Registrar’s Office as long as the committee is very
specific about what is needed. The Committee could also consider conducting a survey.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.