General Education Committee

Minutes of General Education Committee Meeting
Thursday, September 23, 8:00 a.m., Meadowlark Room, Memorial Union

Present: Virginia Clark Johnson, Michael Christoffers, Robert Harrold, Ranelle Ingalls, Sudhir Mehta, Larry Peterson, Josh Swanson, Orven Swenson, Kevin Teigen, Cindy Urness, Robyne Williams

Larry Peterson volunteered to be the recorder for today's meeting.

The minutes of the September 16, 2004 meeting were approved.

Committee members welcomed our new student body representatives: Joshua Swanson (History and Political Science) and Kevin Teigen (Agricultural Economics).

The Committee resumed discussion of the proposal from the English Department to modify the existing written Communication requirement. In the discussion a number of questions were raised such as: "Who will teach these courses?" "Is it the responsibility of the General Education Committee to solicit and judge these new writing courses?" "Will there be enough writing for those students who lack sufficient writing skills when they enter NDSU and actually need more practice in writing?" "Should there be an 'exit' requirement in which all students must have at least 6 credits in writing courses, including one of the advanced level courses?" "Would more effective integration of writing within the majors be the best answer to this problem?"

Swenson/Williams moved to recommend the creation of General Education Writing Advisory Committee as a standing committee of the University Senate. After discussion on the possible connection to and overlap with the new advisory committee for the Writing Center, the motion was tabled. The Committee directed Larry to invite Richard Shaw from the Center for Writers and Dale Sullivan from English to a subsequent meeting to discuss this matter. The Committee also decided to postpone revising the General Education Communication copy for the schedule and next bulletin until implementation details were clearer. The Committee also concluded that recommendations for the Guidelines for Writing Intensive General Education Communication Courses should come from the new Advisory Committee and then be approved by the General Education Committee.

Swenson/Mehta moved final approval of the revised rubrics for General Education Outcomes 2, 3, 4, and 5. The motion passed. Swenson/Swanson moved approval of Outcome 7 without the prefatory notes. The motion passed. Larry will draft a prefatory statement for the Outcome rubrics for the next meeting.

The Committee decided to solicit advice on Outcome 1 (Communication) from Dale Sullivan (English), Richard Shaw (Center for Writers), and Paul Nelson (Communication). The Committee agreed with Orv's suggestion that we examine language about integration from other general education programs to help us with Outcome 6.

The meeting ended at 9:35 with the loss of a quorum.

Orv Swenson volunteered to serve as recorder for the next meeting.