Minutes of the General Education Committee
for April 16, 2007

The General Education Committee met on Monday, April 16, 2007; attending were Bob Canary, Erika Behling, Frances Kavenik, Lori Allen, Dean Yohnk, Theresa Castor, Don Cress, Helen Rosenberg, James Robinson, and guest Matt Jensen.

The minutes from March 19 were accepted, with the following correction/addition to the sentence: "She has asked the administration to get someone to fill the position by fall if possible" adding "so that there can be a 6 month to one year overlap with her."

We began with the Director of Admissions, Matt Jensen, who talked about the revamping of the UWP website to make it more attractive and navigable for students, and all agreed that was a noble goal. As to the general education information, at present students are directed to the catalog, which is of limited interest and value to them. Some discussion ensued, the conclusion to which seemed to be that the Program needs a home page which would begin with the brochure, including "what consistitues a liberal education" and incorporates goals, information about transferability of courses, and a version of the "lime green sheet." Matt pointed out that such a website would need to be monitored and updated.
Lori will follow up with Beth McGee and her area.

The Director handed out copies of the position description, and we discussed the feasibility of marrying the two functions of general education director and FYE co-director. It was moved, seconded, and unanimously approved that the administration should rethink this melding of two separate jobs into one, that it is simply too much for one person unless it be an assistant dean-level position. If, however, the position remains as defined, it was then moved, seconded, and unanimously approved that a bullet point should be added to the FYE co-director section as
follows: "the Co-director shall have an equal role in the distribution of FYE funds."

Lori then distributed an assessment plan from UW-Oshkosh which purports to assess levels of student learning and skills, with regard to literacy and critical thinking, among other areas. We noted that UWO is going to be visited next year by the North Central accreditors, and that this might have influenced their push for assessment. We also noted that we ourselves will be visited by them in the foreseeable future.

Lori is also looking at data regarding the entering class of 2002, which should in the normal order of things be graduating or have graduated by now. She will be sharing that information with relevant parties.

The subcommittes reported on their successful dissemination of what they were doing at OPID and at several Teaching Center Brown Bags within the last month or so. These sessions were fairly well attended, and the problem then becomes how to maintain momentum over the summer and into the fall. Lori suggested that there were modest sums available to be disbursed for gened purposes, and some suggestions were advanced to involve chairs in setting some goals and establishing both rubrics (for Critical Thinking) and models (for Teamwork) as it is done in their departments.

Dean Cress distributed a "tentative list of the problem-solving aspects of critical thinking" for us to think about for future reference, perhaps in an effort to come up with a meta-rubric for Critical Thinking.

Literacy has several interventions planned for fall, particularly in POLS 100 and in PSYC 101. Information Literacy will be ready to start up again in the fall after he Library hires a couple of staff members and a new director. Erika suggested we should probably target a couple of departments for test cases.

In her role as FYE co-director, Lori was asked for a first-year assessment of "what works." She identified success and potential success with Learning Communities, the Common Read, Conditional Admits, and potential connections with Teacher Education as positives.

After several members admitted they would not be able to attend another meeting, we decided to report out (or vote) via email on any matters that come up between now and the end of the semester.

The meeting adjourned at 3:40 p.m.

--FMK