The General Education Council met on Friday, May 2, 2008 at 11:30 am in room 1118 of Old Belk Library. Members present were: Dr. Mike Mayfield, Ms. Carter Hammett-McGarry, Dr. Pat Beaver, Dr. Rick Klima, Ms. Teresa Lee, Dr. Paulette Marty, Dr. Tom McLaughlin, Dr. Georgia Rhoades, Dr. Lynn Moss Sanders, Dr. Tim Silver, Dr. Neva Specht, and Dr. Johnny Waters, Ms. Lynne Waugh, and Dr. Pete Wachs. Members excused were: Ms. Kelly McBride and Dr. Terri Mitchell.
Dr. Mayfield called the meeting to order at 11:35 am. He welcomed the council members and had everyone introduce themselves. He encouraged the members to check out the AsuLearn forums to see the ongoing conversations about general education. During the current period, the discussion on the forums is about where there may be gaps in the proposed themes. Specific questions for faculty to focus on when considering the proposed themes are: 1. Are these themes broad enough?; 2. Are the themes narrow enough to be clearly defined?; 3. Can you see yourself and your departmental colleagues participating in one or more of these themes?; 4. If not, what theme or themes would you recommend?; 5. Do you foresee adequate enrollment in these themes?; and 6. Do you foresee any logistical problems with the implementation of the theme?
The representative from each perspective presented the proposed themes for that perspective.
Science Inquiry
Dr. Johnny Waters spoke about the Science Inquiry perspective. The Science Inquiry committee has met a few times already. The themes proposed were either submitted to the committee or proposed during the evening workshop. By the fall deadline, there may be some reorganization to come up with the final list of themes. The Science Inquiry perspective is the only perspective in which students may complete the perspective by taking a sequence of classes in a single department.
Proposed Themes:
Science and Society
Global Change
Science in Modern Society
Evolution of Life on Earth
The Blue Planet
The Restless Planet: Earth, Environment, and Evolution
Chemistry sequence
Physics sequence
Astronomy sequence
Dr. Waters said they had asked departments to provide any additional themes or modifications to proposed themes, along with justifications, to the committee by September 15th. They are asking departments proposing themes to also propose the courses to put into the themes and give an indication of the number of seats. Although there is a limited number of themes, we still need to meet the demand for science seats. Proposed themes will need to have a three-year commitment.
Neva Specht asked if the Science Inquiry committee had any interest in having a course outside the sciences in one of these themes, i.e. history of science. Dr. Waters said that his understanding was that this perspective was about doing science. Pat Beaver asked if a lab component is required. Dr. Waters explained that a lab was not specifically required by the guidelines, but that it is an 8-hour requirement. Most science classes are 4-hour classes, including the lab.
Dr. Mayfield asked for all the faculty coordinating committees to put together a one paragraph description of each of the proposed themes. He asked the council if there was any concern about gaps or overlap in the Science Inquiry proposed themes.
Teresa Lee asked if the study of the human body is a part of any of the proposed themes. Dr. Waters said that courses from Biology are divided into from the cell to the individual and from the individual to the ecosystem. There are many places where a course addressing the individual and the ecosystem would fit in.
Pete Wachs asked if there has been any interest from the Psychology department. Dr. Waters said that one of the faculty members on the coordinating committee is from Psychology, but none of the themes proposed so far has included Psychology.
VOTE 1: The proposed themes for the Science Inquiry perspective were approved.
Yes 12 No 0 Abstain 0
Aesthetic Perspective
Dr. Paulette Marty spoke about the Aesthetic perspective. The committee took the complete list of suggested themes and grouped them by commonalities. They determined what the proposed themes in each group had in common and came up with a list of 7 themes. They talked about where there might be holes and where themes might be too broad or too focused. In selecting the themes, the committee tried to balance methodology and content. They feel this list covered the vast majority of the ideas for themes articulated in their workshops. In the departments the committee expects to propose courses in this perspective, the large survey courses offered appear to fit into at least two of the proposed themes.
Dr. Marty said there had been no input so far from the Art department, but the committee thinks there are many places for Art courses to fit. The chair of the Art department realizes they are a bit behind and they will be considering these things over the summer.
Proposed Themes:
Expressions of Belief
Style & Form
Community & Culture
The Body: Expression, Presentation, and Representation
Analyzing Aesthetics
How We Tell Stories
Shaping the Human Environment
One challenge the committee foresees is overlap between themes. For example, the existing course THR 2011, Introduction to Theatre, could fit into Style & Form, Community & Culture, and Body: Expression, Presentation, and Representation. We will need to decide how to limit a course to a particular theme when it could fit in multiple themes.
Teresa Lee said she noticed a lack of the word “creative” in the proposed themes. Dr. Marty said that creativity is pervasive throughout the themes, but the word is not used in the titles of the themes.
Dr. Mayfield said a lot of people have been asking about creating sub-themes. One issue with sub-themes is that they are difficult to track. Another is that we need to make sure there is integration between all courses in a theme, not just between the courses in a sub-theme. To those issues Dr. Marty added that sub-themes would lead to confusion on the part of students and they would be hard to administer. She said once the program gets established and the logistics are worked out, we may be able to expand the number of themes and maybe have a smaller number of courses in each theme.
Dr. Mayfield said that the faculty coordinating committees have to make sure that departments know that all sections of all courses proposed for a theme will need to meet the outcomes of the perspective. Courses and themes will be assessed on if the outcomes have been met; if they have not, the theme will not be renewed.
Tim Silver said that as people begin to think creatively about how their courses can fit in, the issue of sub-themes may go away.
Dr. Mayfield spoke briefly about the number of courses in each theme. Having too many courses in each theme will lead to another menu-driven approach. We are looking to have 5-6 courses per theme, but it is up to each individual faculty coordinating committee to decide. Paulette Marty commented that faculty who have taught in a learning community know how difficult it can be to integrate with one other person. If there are too many courses, there can be no realistic integration.
Dr. Mayfield reminded the council members that the committees need to be ready to turn people down or tell them to develop their proposal further and re-apply the next year.
Neva Specht said that the sooner there are guidelines about integration, assessment, and outcomes, faculty will be able to begin planning for their participation in general education.
Dr. Dave Haney reminded the program that they need to tell Academic Affairs what resources are needed to ensure integration.
VOTE 2: The proposed themes for the Aesthetic perspective were approved.
Yes 12 No 0 Abstain 0
Dr. Haney also reminded the council that the Academic Policies and Procedures committee may not approve all the themes, so there need to be enough proposed to meet the enrollment demands of students.
Historical and Social Perspective
Dr. Tim Silver spoke about the Historical and Social perspective. At that time, the committee had met three times and had good discussions. They had received a lot of faculty input. They held a workshop in March to discuss potential themes. The committee does not want faculty to be bound by courses already offered, so they are encouraging people to think about new courses or modifying existing courses. The proposed themes are broad and will allow the inclusion of many departments.
Proposed Themes:
This American Life
Religion, Myth, and Society
Revolutions and Social Movements
Cultural Diversity
Individuals and Society
Appalachia
Ancient Worlds
Empire and Colonialism
Tom McLaughlin expressed concern about where British literature will fit in.
VOTE 3: Delete Empire and Colonialism from the proposed list of themes for the Historical and Social perspective.
Yes 10 No 0 Abstain 0
VOTE 4: The remaining proposed themes for the Historical and Social perspective were approved.
Yes 10 No 0 Abstain 0
Local to Global Perspective
Dr. Pat Beaver spoke about the Local to Global perspective. An initial list of themes was generated from a workshop. The committee took that very large list and distilled it down to a manageable number of themes. The committee could not think of any department that would be excluded by this set of themes.
Proposed Themes:
Origins and Migrations
Have and Have Not
Water
Food
Identity, Culture, and Media
Regions in Global Contexts
Empire, Colonialism, and Globalization
Lynne Waugh suggested that the General Education website should have links to detailed information about what the options are for fulfilling each component of the General Education program. Statistics from the use of sites associated with the Phase I Orientation registration form show that this year’s freshman class has been taking advantage of provided links to find more information.
VOTE 5: The proposed themes for the Local to Global perspective were approved.
Yes 10 No 0 Abstain 0
Rick Klima said that the committee for Quantitative Literacy hopes to explore the possibility of having two separate courses apply part of their hours toward the 4-hour quantitative literacy requirement. Dr. Mayfield expressed concern that it would become a hidden course requirement.
Teresa Lee told the committee that the Fine Arts designation committee wants to put the amount of 75% of content addressing fine arts into the criteria for that designation.
The meeting adjourned at 1:10 pm.