May 25, 2007
To:
Members of the University-Wide Liberal Education Reform Team
From:
Richard H. Wells, Chancellor
Lane Earns, Provost and Vice Chancellor
Re:
Team Charge, Guiding Principles, and Learning Outcomes
University-Wide Initiative: Liberal Education Reform
It is our pleasure to provide confirmation of your assignment to the University-Wide Liberal
Education Reform Team. It is important to note that this is not a committee or task force. Rather, it
is a group of people selected because of their expertise and commitment to work together toward
liberal education reform goals as they hold themselves mutually accountable. All team members
will be expected to serve for a minimum of two years. The University-Wide Liberal Education
Reform Team will devise a plan to ensure a sense of ownership and participation in the planning
processes among relevant staff, student and faculty members. The members of the Team will be
charged formally on June 6, 2007 at 8:00AM.
The UW Oshkosh administrative and governance leaders are committed to making our top
educational priority the development of a university-wide liberal education reform plan. The liberal
education reform team and plan will be guided by the framework established by the Association of
American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) report College Learning for the New Global
Century, which spells out the essential aims, learning outcomes, and guiding principles for a
twenty-first-century college education. The plan will build upon UW Oshkosh’s nationally
acclaimed work joining the AAC&U’s Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) initiative
with the American Council on Education (ACE) Solutions for Our Future Campaign.
Rationale for a University-Wide Liberal Education Reform Team/Plan
The following extract titled Liberal Education and American Capability from the College Learning
for the New Global Century report (13-14) explains the importance of a broad-based liberal
education:
Reflecting the traditions of American higher education since the founding, the term “liberal
education” headlines the kinds of learning needed for a free society and for the full
development of human talent. Liberal education has always been this nation’s signature
educational tradition, and this report builds on its core values: expanding horizons, building
understanding of the wider world, honing analytical and communication skills, and fostering
responsibilities beyond self. However, in a deliberate break with the academic categories
developed in the twentieth century, the LEAP National Leadership Council disputes the idea
that liberal education is achieved only through studies in arts and sciences disciplines. It also
challenges the conventional view that liberal education is, by definition, “nonvocational.”
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The council defines liberal education for the twenty-first century as a comprehensive set of
aims and outcomes that are essential for all students because they are important to all fields
of endeavor. Today, in an economy that is dependent on innovation and global savvy, these
outcomes have become the keys to economic vitality and individual opportunity. They are
the foundations for American success in all fields—from technology and the sciences to
communications and the creative arts.
The LEAP National Leadership Council recommends, therefore, that the essential aims
and outcomes be emphasized across every field of college study, whether the field is
conventionally considered one of the arts and sciences disciplines or whether it is one of
the professional and technical fields (business, engineering, education, health, the
performing arts, etc.) in which the majority of college students currently major (emphasis
added). General education plays a role, but it is not possible to squeeze all these important
aims into the general education program alone. The majors must address them as well.
The Charge for the Team
We are charging the team to be guided by the framework established by the LEAP initiative of the
AAC&U, which represents leading-edge research and best practices in liberal education, because
we wish to jump-start our reform of liberal education. We have great respect for faculty governance
and will support the team’s recommendations, reached after careful examination and analysis of the
AAC&U’s essential aims, learning outcomes and guiding principles, to adopt or modify sections of
the report for inclusion in the liberal education reform plan on campus. The Provost and Vice
Chancellor will ensure that the team’s recommendations are moved through the appropriate
governance channels.
The team is charged with designing a liberal education reform plan that will:
1. Address the Higher Learning Commission’s concerns about our General Education program
(detailed below).
2. Support and help position the University to achieve the essential learning outcomes and the
principles of excellence found in the College Learning for the New Global Century report
(see below).
3. Help identify which of the 15 recommendations put forward in the College Learning for the
New Global Century report are relevant to developing a cross-campus distinctiveness in
liberal education at UW Oshkosh (see Appendix A).
4. Help ensure that the central responsibility for design and delivery of a liberal education
reform plan, while clearly led by faculty across all colleges, involves the campus-wide
community especially the Library and the Division of Student Affairs.
5. Help identify best practices for the University community to use to assess the essential
learning outcomes found in the College Learning for the New Global Century report.
6. Review and recommend appropriate use of the AAC&U’s “Communicating Commitment to
Liberal Education: A Self-Study Guide for Institutions” to assess broad-based, campus-wide
commitment to liberal education.
7. The team will report to the Provost and Vice Chancellor submitting annual reports in May of
the team’s progress in planning and moving forward recommended programs to reform
liberal education across campus. The Provost will distribute the report for consideration by
governance groups, vice chancellors and deans.
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Team Goals
In accomplishing the team charge, it is very important to pursue the following goals:

Maximize campus ownership of the planning process and the resulting plan;

Use AAC&U and LEAP research findings and insights to analyze existing data and
documents;

Design and merge a plan with the Academic Program and Student Outcome Assessment and
the Enrollment and Student Support operational plans;

Execute, assess and refine the plan.
Liberal Education: Conceptual Framework
We will use the concept of liberal education developed by the AAC&U.
The following “Statement on Liberal Education” (available online at
http://www.aacu.org/About/statements/liberal_learning.cfm) was adopted by the Board of Directors
of the AAC&U in October 1998:
A truly liberal education is one that prepares us to live responsible, productive, and creative
lives in a dramatically changing world. It is an education that fosters a well-grounded
intellectual resilience, a disposition toward lifelong learning, and an acceptance of
responsibility for the ethical consequences of our ideas and actions. Liberal education requires
that we understand the foundations of knowledge and inquiry about nature, culture and
society; that we master core skills of perception, analysis, and expression; that we cultivate a
respect for truth; that we recognize the importance of historical and cultural context; and that
we explore connections among formal learning, citizenship, and service to our communities.
We experience the benefits of liberal learning by pursuing intellectual work that is honest,
challenging, and significant, and by preparing ourselves to use knowledge and power in
responsible ways. Liberal learning is not confined to particular fields of study. What matters in
liberal education is substantial content, rigorous methodology and an active engagement with
the societal, ethical, and practical implications of our learning. The spirit and value of liberal
learning are equally relevant to all forms of higher education and to all students.
Because liberal learning aims to free us from the constraints of ignorance, sectarianism, and
myopia, it prizes curiosity and seeks to expand the boundaries of human knowledge. By its
nature, therefore, liberal learning is global and pluralistic. It embraces the diversity of ideas
and experiences that characterize the social, natural, and intellectual world. To acknowledge
such diversity in all its forms is both an intellectual commitment and a social responsibility,
for nothing less will equip us to understand our world and to pursue fruitful lives.
The ability to think, to learn, and to express oneself both rigorously and creatively, the
capacity to understand ideas and issues in context, the commitment to live in society, and the
yearning for truth are fundamental features of our humanity. In centering education upon these
qualities, liberal learning is society’s best investment in our shared future.
The Four sets of Essential Learning Outcomes
The following extract of “What Matters in College?” from the College Learning for the New Global
Century report (12) explains the broad-based nature of the essential learning outcomes:
The LEAP National Leadership Council calls on American society to give new priority to a
set of educational outcomes that all students need from higher learning, outcomes that are
closely calibrated with the challenges of a complex and volatile world.
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Keyed to work, life, and citizenship, the essential learning outcomes recommended in this
report are important for all students and should be fostered and developed across the entire
educational experience, and in the context of students’ major fields.
The LEAP National Leadership Council does not call for a “onesize- fits-all” curriculum.
The recommended learning outcomes can and should be achieved through many different
programs of study and in all collegiate institutions, including colleges, community colleges
and technical institutes, and universities, both public and private.
The Four sets of Essential Learning Outcomes are:
1. KNOWLEDGE OF HUMAN CULTURES AND THE PHYSICAL AND NATURAL
WORLD
 Through study in the sciences and mathematics, social sciences, humanities, histories,
languages, and the arts
Focused by engagement with big questions, both contemporary and enduring
2. INTELLECTUAL AND PRACTICAL SKILLS, INCLUDING
 Inquiry and analysis
 Critical and creative thinking
 Written and oral communication
 Quantitative literacy
 Information literacy
 Teamwork and problem solving
Practiced extensively, across the curriculum, in the context of progressively more challenging
problems, projects, and standards for performance
3. PERSONAL AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, INCLUDING

Civic knowledge and engagement--local and global

Intercultural knowledge and competence

Ethical reasoning and action

Foundations and skills for lifelong learning
Anchored through active involvement with diverse communities and real-world challenges
4. INTEGRATIVE LEARNING, INCLUDING
 Synthesis and advanced accomplishment across general and specialized studies
Demonstrated through the application of knowledge, skills, and responsibilities to new settings
and complex problems
The Seven Principles of Excellence
The following extract titled “A New Framework for Excellence” from the report, College Learning
for the new Global Century (14-15) describes the versatility of the principles of excellence:
The LEAP National Leadership Council recommends, in sum, an education that
intentionally fosters, across multiple fields of study, wide-ranging knowledge of science,
cultures, and society; high-level intellectual and practical skills; an active commitment to
personal and social responsibility; and the demonstrated ability to apply learning to complex
problems and challenges.
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The council further calls on educators to help students become “intentional learners” who
focus, across ascending levels of study and diverse academic programs, on achieving the
essential learning outcomes. But to help students do this, educational communities will also
have to become far more intentional themselves—both about
the kinds of learning students need, and about effective educational practices that help
students learn to integrate and apply their learning.
In a society as diverse as the United States, there can be no “onesize-fits-all” design for
learning that serves all students and all areas of study. The diversity that characterizes
American higher education remains a source of vitality and strength.
Yet all educational institutions and all fields of study also share in a common obligation to
prepare their graduates as fully as possible for the real-world demands of work, citizenship,
and life in a complex and fast-changing society. In this context, there is great value in a
broadly defined educational framework that provides both a shared sense of the aims of
education and strong emphasis on effective practices that
help students achieve these aims.
To highlight these shared responsibilities, the council urges a new compact, between educators
and American society, to adopt and achieve new Principles of Excellence (see p. 26).
Informed by a generation of innovation and by scholarly research on effective practices in
teaching, learning, and curriculum, the Principles of Excellence offer both challenging
standards and flexible guidance for an era of educational reform and renewal.
Taken together, the Principles of Excellence underscore the need to teach students how to
integrate and apply their learning—across multiple levels of schooling and across disparate
fields of study. The principles call for a far-reaching shift in the focus of schooling from
accumulating course credits to building real-world capabilities.
The Seven Principles of Excellence are:
1. Aim High—and Make Excellence Inclusive
Make the Essential Learning Outcomes a Framework for the Entire Educational Experience,
Connecting School, College, Work, and Life
2. Give Students a Compass
Focus Each Student’s Plan of Study on Achieving the Essential Learning Outcomes—and
Assess Progress
3. Teach the Arts of Inquiry and Innovation
Immerse All Students in Analysis, Discovery, Problem Solving, and Communication, Beginning
in School and Advancing in College
4. Engage the Big Questions
Teach through the Curriculum to Far-Reaching Issues—Contemporary and Enduring—in
Science and Society, Cultures and Values, Global Interdependence, the Changing Economy, and
Human Dignity and Freedom
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5. Connect Knowledge with Choices and Action
Prepare Students for Citizenship and Work through Engaged and Guided Learning on “RealWorld” Problems
6. Foster Civic, Intercultural, and Ethical Learning
Emphasize Personal and Social Responsibility, in Every Field of Study
7. Assess Students’ Ability to Apply Learning to Complex Problems
Use Assessment to Deepen Learning and to Establish a Culture of Shared Purpose and
Continuous Improvement
Ongoing Partnerships and UW System liberal education initiative

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In 2005, the University of Wisconsin System entered a partnership with the Association of
American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) to promote the importance of liberal education
for students in Wisconsin.
This national partnership is part of an ongoing UW System initiative, The Currency of the
Liberal Arts and Sciences: Rethinking Liberal Education in Wisconsin.
As a partner with AAC&U, Wisconsin is the first state to pilot activities as part of a national
advocacy initiative, Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP): Excellence for Everyone
as a Nation Goes to College.
The LEAP National Leadership Council comprises educational, business, community, and
policy leaders who are strong advocates for educational excellence and change in higher
education. As a member of the Council, Wisconsin Lt. Governor Barbara Lawton made a
presentation to the Board of Regents on LEAP’s Liberal Education initiative.
UW Oshkosh is a recognized leader within the UW System for having featured “Liberal
Education and America’s Promise” in the Spring and Fall 2006 and Spring 2007 issues of the
UW Oshkosh Magazine.
Definitions


Liberal Education “usually includes a general education curriculum that provides broad
exposure to multiple disciplines and ways of knowing, along with more in-depth study in at
least one field or area of concentration. By its nature, liberal education is global and pluralistic.
It embraces the diversity of ideas and experiences that characterize the social, natural, and
intellectual world.”
General Education is “the part of a liberal education curriculum shared by all students. It
provides broad exposure to multiple disciplines and forms the basis for developing important
intellectual and civic capacities.”
(source http://www.aacu.org/advocacy/What_is_liberal_education.cfm)
Higher Learning Commission’s Concerns regarding our General Education program:
1. The last three Higher Learning Commission’s site evaluation teams expressed concerns about
the University’s General Education program. The need to improve our General Education
program is a persistent challenge.
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2. There is currently no review process in place to assure that general education courses continue
to meet the goals of the general education program.
3. The means for classifying a course as general education, and in particular as one that fits into
one of the nine areas, is not currently defined or documented.
4. The Faulty Senate has directed the APGES subcommittee to develop area definitions but the
APGES subcommittee has no clear sense of the purpose for which the definitions will be used.
5. The number of general education courses was increased when all natural science and social
science courses were made general education courses in spite of recommendations for a
reduction by two prior site visit re-accreditation teams.
6. While individual departments assess their general education courses, there are few assessment
strategies in place to provide university-wide perspective on whether goals and objectives of the
general education program can occur or how the collected information will be shared and used.
7. The General Education Program’s documents including the program’s goals are not visible or
well known among members of the campus community.
The Promise to Support the Team
We are asking team members to take on very challenging tasks and to provide leadership in the
development and execution of a University-wide liberal education reform plan. Assistance exists in
the following forms:


Support of professional development of team members through participation in workshops on
liberal education and general education sponsored by AAC&U, LEAP, and UW System.
Support for achieving the following 7 University Action Initiatives (source “What Individual
Colleges, Community Colleges, and Universities Can Do” in College Learning for the New
Global Century report (51):
1. Vision
The institution—through dialogue with the wider community—articulates a vision for student
accomplishment that addresses the essential learning outcomes and the Principles of Excellence
in ways appropriate to mission, students, and educational programs.
2. Resources
Campus leaders—including presidents, trustees, and senior leaders—advance this vision
through their strategic planning, fundraising, resource allocation, and staffing.
3. Integrative Learning
The institution creates an intellectual commons where faculty and staff work together to connect
the essential outcomes with the content and practices of their educational programs, including
general education, departmental majors, the co-curriculum, and assessments.
4. Intentional Students
The institution teaches students how to integrate the essential learning outcomes within a
purposeful, coherent, and carefully sequenced plan of study.
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5. Accomplishment
Faculty and staff work to develop student knowledge and capabilities cumulatively and
sequentially, drawing on all types of courses—from general education and the majors to
electives—as well as non-course experiences.
6. Evidence
Faculty and staff members work together—across courses and programs—to assess students’
cumulative progress, to audit the connections between intended learning and student
accomplishment, to share findings about effective educational practices, and to advance needed
change.
7. Recognition
Faculty and staff reward systems are organized to support collaborative work—“our work”—as
well as individual excellence, and to foster a culture of shared focus and collaborative inquiry
about students’ progress and cumulative learning across the multiple parts of the college
experience.
Timetable for the Development of the University-wide Liberal Education Reform Plan and
Implementation of Action Initiatives
Overall Goals for Year one (June 2007-2008)

Set the context for university-wide discussion, development and adoption of essential learning
outcomes and principles of excellence,

Recommend a framework for holding ourselves accountable for the assessment of desired
learning outcomes for a liberally educated person,

Conduct an institutional self assessment based on Communicating Commitment to Liberal
Education: A Self-Study Guide for Institutions (part of AAC&U’s Education and America's
Promise series) to establish a base line of UW Oshkosh’s commitment to liberal education, and

Recommend organizational and resource support structures to ensure success of the Liberal
Education initiative by aligning programs and practices with professed goals for liberal
education learning outcomes.
Year two (June 2008-2009)

Assist in refinement and campus-wide acceptance of the tools for the assessment of liberal
education outcomes, and

Assist in the establishment and adoption of a framework to guide the development of a new
General Education program to help ensure our students meet the desired liberal education
learning outcomes.
Years three and four (June 2009-2011)

Implement General Education changes and a small number of other highly prioritized Liberal
Education action initiatives, including General Education.
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Appendix A
Recommendations
The following 15 Recommendations were put forward by the National Leadership council of LEAP
in the College Learning for the New Global Century report are the following:
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