General Education Review Committee
Minutes of September 17, 1997 Meeting
Curtis Wood handed out copies of some responses he has received already to the Fundamental Principles. He mentioned that the University General Education Committee (which is a committee of the Council on Instruction and Curriculum of the Faculty Senate) is certainly interested in the work of our committee. The General Education Committee has been maintaining the status quo in the current general education program while we conduct our review. Curtis will attend the General Education meeting this Friday to inform them of our forum plans and to ask their reactions to the Fundamental Principles. There are five individuals who overlap the two committees (Nory Prochaska, Patti Cutspec, Chris Tuten, Brian Railsback and Leroy Kauffman). Fred Hinson, who is the Director of General Education, has been asked to speak on behalf of the General Education program at the Forum on October 1. He will also be able to address questions about the present program, and shed light on the justification for some of the aspects of the program with which faculty have expressed dissatisfaction.
Curtis has arranged for sound recording of the forum, but note takers will still be needed for the small group discussions. Refreshments will be served at an appropriate breakpoint. We should think about what kind of seating arrangement we would like; Curtis would like the committee at the front or one end of the room with him.
It has been suggested that undergraduates, graduate students, and part-time faculty be invited to the Forum. LeVon Wilson will contact student groups and ask representatives to attend the Forum. These invitations will be made clear in future advertising of the forum. Committee members are reminded to invite part time faculty to participate in the discussion. We should consider other opportunities for student discussion after this forum.
The committee discussed the possibility and advisability of circulating the article from Change magazine that was distributed at the last meeting. While the article is an excellent summary of the issues in the process of general education reform, there was concern with copyright issues in copying the article for the whole faculty and with asking the faculty to read another lengthy document. A brief, catchy flier of "pithy quotes and attention-getters" was suggested instead, but that has the drawback that it would be authored by the committee and does not demonstrate the fact that we are following national trends and that we are not imposing our ideas on the faculty. There will be a mailing next week of the agenda for the forum. Any additional information to be included in the mailing will need to be decided on by then.
The purpose of the forum is to introduce the idea that change is possible and to invite the faculty to be involved in the change process. We should be cautious of having too many expectations about input from the faculty as they have not had our opportunity to read, think and discuss the issues in general education reform. What is important is that we invited everyone's involvement, suggestions and input. Curtis suggested a number of questions for discussion, from which the committee decided on the following: (1) Do you see these principles as a foundation for general education at WCU? (2) What principles essential to a strong GE program are missing or overstated? (3) How does the adoption of the principles reflect on the current general education program?
The question came up of whether the Principles document is still open for editorial and substantive changes, and it was agreed that it is still open to modifications. Does it have a life beyond the forum? Since general education is tied to the University's mission and resources, having a statement of principles on which to base the general education program is important. Our principles statement is, in some ways, more specific than the mission statement.
Respectfully submitted,
Nory Prochaska, recording secretary