General Education Committee
Notes from the meeting of November 28, 2001
Noon, Badlands Room, Memorial Union

Members present: Ann Burnett, Bob Harrold, Kate Haugen, Phil McClean, Char Myhre, Steven O’Rourke, Larry Peterson, Amy Richter, Orven Swenson, Justin Wageman.

The meeting was called to order at noon by Larry Peterson, Chair. He volunteered to serve as recorder for this meeting. A motion was approved (Burnett/Richter) to approve the minutes of November 7 as distributed via email with the correct the spelling of ALFI.

Peterson distributed a memo on General Education Committee’s plans for immediate future that he provided to the University Senate Executive Committee on Monday, November 26.

Burnett moved and Richter seconded a motion to approve the new schedule language for embedded laboratory courses suggested by D. Sellnow: "A one-credit laboratory course must be taken as a co-requisite with one of the general education science and technology courses unless the course includes an embedded laboratory experience equivalent to a one-credit course. " The motion passed.

The Humanities and Fine Arts and Communication Subcommittee had no report because they have not met yet.

Peterson presented the report of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, Quantitative Reasoning, and Wellness Subcommittee. They recommended approval of the following courses in

Category B: Social and Behavioral Sciences:
CDFS 135: Family Science (Outcomes 3 & 4);
AGEC/ECON 201: Principles of Microeconomics (Category G also) (Outcomes 3 & 6) (delete
Outcome 2);
AGEC/ECON 202: Principles of Macroeconomics (Category G also) (Outcomes 3 & 6) (delete
Outcome 4);
ENGR 312: Impact of Technology on Society II (Category G also) (Outcomes 3 & 6);
PSYC 211: Introduction to Behavior Modification (Outcomes 2, 4, & 6) (delete Outcome 1);
PSCY 270: Abnormal Psychology (Outcomes 4 & 5) (delete Outcome 3).
The committee approved a motion (Harrold/Burnett) to accept these recommendations and forward them to the University Senate for action.

The Social and Behavioral Sciences, Quantitative Reasoning, and Wellness Subcommittee also recommended approval of the following courses in
Category W: Wellness
F&N 250: Principles of Nutrition (Outcomes 2, 5, & 6) (delete Outcomes 4 & 7);
F&N 319: Consumer Issues in Food and Nutrition (Outcomes 2, & 7) (delete Outcome 4).
The committee approved a motion (Burnett/Harrold) to accept these recommendations and forward them to the University Senate for action.

The Social and Behavioral Sciences, Quantitative Reasoning, and Wellness Subcommittee reported that they had asked the departments for resubmission or more information about the following courses:
Category B: Social and Behavioral Sciences
H&CE 341: Leadership and Presentation Techniques
PSYC 210: Human Sexuality
SOC 412: Sociology of Sex Roles

Category R: Quantitative Reasoning
CSI 122: Beginning BASIC/Visual BASIC
CSI 126: Beginning COBOL
CSI 162: Intense FORTRAN

Category W: Wellness
F&N 111: Wellness
HPER 100: Concepts of Fitness and Wellness
HPER 217: Personal and Community Health

Harrold presented the report of the Science and Technology Subcommittee. They recommended approval of the following course:
Category S: Technology
SOIL 217: Introduction to Meteorology and Climatology (Outcomes 5 and 6).
The committee approved a motion (Harrold/Burnett) to accept this recommendation and forward it to the University Senate for action.

The Science and Technology Subcommittee reported that they had asked the departments for resubmission or more information about the following courses:
Category S: Natural Science
BIOL/ZOO 126 [115]: Human Biology
BIOL 150: General Biology
BIOL 150L: General Biology Laboratory
BIOL 151: General Biology II (replaces BOT 170 and ZOO 170)
BIOL 151L: General Biology II Laboratory
HORT 210: General Horticulture
HORT 211: General Horticulture Laboratory

Category S: Physical Science
PHYS 212 [123]: College Physics II
PHYS 212L [124]: College Physics II Laboratory
SOIL 210:Introduction to Soil Science

Category A: Humanities and Fine Arts
ARCH 322: History of Architecture II

After discussing the major revision of the General Biology courses, the committee agreed that BIOL 150 and BIOL 150L should be considered as previously approved courses needing a five-year review, but that BIOL 151 and 151L should be submitted as new courses for approval.

The committee then turned to five petitions from students. First, the committee approved a motion (Burnett/O’Rourke) to grant the request from a student for a cultural diversity waiver for study abroad in Finland. Second, the committee approved a motion (McClean/Burnett) to grant the request from a student for a cultural diversity waiver for study abroad in England and Spain. Third, the committee approved a motion (Burnett/Wageman) for a cultural diversity waiver from a student for American Indian Studies courses completed at SDSU. Fourth, the committee approved a motion (Wageman/O’Rourke) to grant the request from a student for a global perspectives waiver for study abroad in Norway. Fifth, after much discussion, the committee approved a motion (O’Rourke /McClean) to grant the request from a student to count Engl 194: Grant Writing as completing the communication requirement. The material submitted by Student Academic Affairs with the student’s request included possible policies from another university bulletin for instances in which equivalent general education courses transferred from other institutions do not have the same number of credits.
Committee members wondered if we needed a similar policy in our bulletin or if such cases could be handled by drafting a memorandum of understanding between the General Education Committee and the Registrar’s Office. Committee members also wondered if there were similar difficulties for transfer students in other areas besides communication.

Peterson reported that the following new courses had been received:

ENGL 343: 20th Century American Short Story (Category D)

HIST 271: Introduction to Latin American History (Categories A & D, Outcomes 3 & 6)

POLS 225: Introduction to Comparative Politics (Categories B & G, Outcomes 1-7)

This committee will meet at noon on December 12 in the Meadowlark Room. Peterson asked committee members to bring their spring semester schedules at that time.

The meeting adjourned at 1:00 p.m.