Report of the General Education Committee
2004 - 05

Membership :

Lori Allen (co-Chair), Erika Behling, Dennis Butzen (student, as of 11/19), Patrick Goldsmith, Gerald Greenfield, Susan Haller (Director of General Education), Frances Kavenik (co-chair), Farida Khan, Susan Norton, Manninder Parma (student), Carmel Ruffolo, Geoffrey Skoll, Evelyn Zepp. (Oliver Hayward, due to other commitments, relinquished his seat--which was filled by Jamie Cheatham.)

Meetings :

The committee met Sept. 10, 22, Oct. 15, 22, 29, Nov. 5, 19, Dec. 3, 2004; Jan. 19, 26, Feb. 2, 9, 16, 23, Mar. 2, 9, 23, 30, Apr. 13, 20 and May 4, 2005.

Actions of the Committee :

The major business of the year was the review of courses submitted for the new General Education Distribution list, along with their syllabi and assessment rubrics. Preliminary to and accompanying this process were meetings between departments/programs and members of the Committee. As of Fall 2005, those courses appeared on the web and on the new "lime-green sheet" to be used by entering Freshmen and some transfer students. Further additions of courses to the list would be effective as of Fall 2006.

To effect these operations, fourteen General Education course and assessment design projects were funded by the Director during summer 2004, and a day long conference on assessment was held July 8th, 2004, attended by 30 participants. Other assessment workshops were held in October and December of 2004, and a team (Allen, Kavenik, Behling) was sent to the AAC&U conference in February entitled "General Education and Assessment."

Based on another 2004 summer project ( E. Zepp), the committee approved a new General Education brochure, printed and distributed to new students during the Fall 2005 orientation. The brochure contained General Education and Liberal Arts education goals, and was intended to help students and advisers start the conversation about how General Education is a core of their course of study rather than an obstacle to overcome.

Other actions during the year included changing the General Education "diversity" goal to "social equality" to avoid confusion about the UW System-mandated diversity requirement, and offering departments/programs an extra General Education distribution course if that course fulfilled DV requirements and was offered regularly, including during non-traditional times. The Committee continued to work closely with special needs programs, such as Nursing and Teacher Education, to serve their students. The Committee also recognized, and encouraged participation by, Advising, Ethnic Studies, and the First-Year Experience (co-chair added as a permanent member).

For the coming year 2005-6, the Committee determined to focus on pilot assessment of one goal in each category, specifically Literacy, Critical Thinking, and Teamwork. Each sub-committee would begin work during the summer and continue through the academic year. Preliminary to the work beginning, the Committee stressed again to the university community that such assessment would not be comparative, nor focused on individual courses, instructors, or departments/programs, but an assessment of student capability and need across the curriculum. These groups received some summer funding from the Director.

Prepared by E. Zepp; submitted by co-Chairs L. Allen and F. Kavenik