General Education Committee
Meeting Minutes
February 18, 2003

In attendance: L. Peterson (chair), R. Harrold, K. Haugen, C. Myhre, V. Clark Johnson, S. O’Rourke, O. Swenson, R. Ingalls, and K. Wold-McCormick

Minutes from the January 21 and December 5 meetings were approved with two name spelling corrections: Grant Striemer and Doug Rymph.

Courses for which paperwork has not yet been received for five-year reviews include: MUSC 103, BIOL 202/L, GEOL 304, UNIV 403, and ME 189. A question arose regarding the single outcome for GEOL 304.

Peterson, Harrold, Wold-McCormick and others are serving on the NCA Self-Study General Education Focus Group. Peterson welcomed feedback and ideas as this project progresses.

Student Appeals:

• A student asked for the cultural diversity requirement to be met with past residence in Latin America and for taking college-level Spanish. Motion (Prafcke/Harrold) to approve based on receipt of documentation to substantiate his having lived abroad. Motion carried.
• A student is seeking Science/Tech credit for a science course he/she plans to take it abroad in Australia. Motion (Haugen/Harrold) to approve. Discussion was held on if study abroad credits are typically reviewed for general education equivalents like other transfer credits. They typically are not.
• A student seeks to use EDUC 389 for cultural diversity credit. Concern was expressed that since this is required for all education majors, it may open the floodgate for similar appeals, although the committee has approved this request in the past. Also, this is a professional course that is not available to all students. Motion (Harrold/Haugen) to table this appeal until we receive more communication from the student regarding graduation date, etc.

Subcommittee Reports:

Humanities, Fine Arts and Communication (Prafcke) – No Report.

Social & Behavioral Sciences, Quantitative Reasoning, and Wellness (Peterson) – Peterson and Wageman met to evaluate materials submitted for Five-Year Reviews.

AGEC 220 in Categories B and D, with Outcomes 1, 2 and 3.
CDFS 186 in Category B, with Outcomes 2 and 3.
CDFS 242 in Category B, with Outcomes 3 and 7 (awaiting reply from instructor).
CDFS 468 (title change to Work and Family) in Category B, with Outcomes 2 and 3.
POLS 120 in Categories B and D, with Outcomes 3 and 6.
POLS 215 in Category B, with Outcomes 3 and 6.
POLS 442 in Categories B and D, with Outcomes 2 and 3.

It was moved (Harrold/Prafcke) to approve all of the above courses for the next five years with the noted categories and outcomes. Motion carried.

Science and Technology (Harrold) – The subcommittee met to evaluate materials submitted for Five-Year Reviews as well as New Course Submissions. The courses and the recommendations for approval by the subcommittee are as follows.

Five-Year Reviews:

PLSC 111 - approve with Outcomes 5 and 6.
BIOL/BOT/PLSC/ZOO 315/315L – approve with Outcomes 5 and 6 (it was recommended to use this course’s 5-year submission as a model for future submissions).
CHEM 117/117L – resubmit materials with more focus on documentation of the outcomes to be requested.

New Course Submissions:

PLSC 211 - approve as a new Gen Ed course with Outcomes 5 and 6.
PLSC 210 – resubmit materials with more conclusive demonstration that the elements incorporated into Outcomes 5 and 6 are satisfied.

It was moved (Harrold/Prafcke) to accept the subcommittee’s recommendations for the above Five-Year Reviews and New Course Submissions. Motion carried.

New Course Submission for CDFS 230 was distributed for review.

Harrold distributed the ‘Policy Framework for the Proposed Criteria for Accreditation’ being used by the NCA Self-Study Committee. The General Education focus group is looking at each criterion to see where General Education fits and what kind of evidence exists to support its claims.

Discussion was briefly held on the types of strategic plan documents used at NDSU. Clark Johnson recommended the state’s round-table guidelines.

Wold-McCormick sought feedback on proposed changes to the Course Proposal and Change Form used by the Academic Affairs Committee. These include adding check-boxes for new and existing Gen Ed courses so that changes to courses may be noted immediately and their impact on GE outcomes and goals assessed.

Respectfully Submitted,
Kristi Wold-McCormick, Ph.D.