General Education Committee Meeting Minutes
Thursday, December 9, 2004
8:30 – 9:50 a.m.
Meadow Lark Rooms, Memorial Union

Present: Virginia Clark Johnson, Michael Christoffers, Robert Harrold, Sudhir Mehta, Char Myhre, Larry Peterson, Orven Swenson, Kevin Teigen, Cindy Urness, Robyne Williams.

The meeting was called to order at 8:36 by Larry Peterson. Karen Bjellum served as recorder for the meeting.

A Motion (Harrold/Myhre) to approve the minutes for the December 2, 2004, as distributed, was approved.

Student Petitions

Student #1 – Petitioned to have the Geology lab accepted as a co-requisite. A motion (Williams/Teigen) was made to discuss the petition. Williams suggested that the committee remain consistent with their current and future decisions when deciding whether or not accept substitutes to the Geology Lab course. Peterson suggested that the requirement should be made clearer in the bulletin. Peterson offered to contact Alan White and Ken Grafton (college department heads/chairs) to see what their view was. The committee voted - three members approved, and four opposed.

Student #2 – Petitioned to have a Sociolinguistics/ Media Literacy to replace a Fine Arts or Music requirement. The petition was unclear to the committee members. The committee agreed that student might be confused with the college of Arts, Humanities, and Social Science requirements and the General Education requirements . Peterson suggested tabling the petition until it is clear what the student was requesting. A motion was made (Swenson/Williams) to deny the petition until the student clarifies what he/she wants. Peterson offered to contact the student via email. Motion carried.

Student #3 – Petitioned to have Biology 221 and Biology 221 Lab honored in place of the general education requirement Biology 220 and Biology 220 Lab. Based on the fact that the course was a higher level, was instructed by the same professor, and used the same book. A Motion (Teigen/Williams) was made to accept the petition. All were in favor, and the motion carried.

Old Business

Review Outcomes for Formative Assessment

Outcome 2 – A Motion (Harrold/Urness) was made to approve the Formative Assessment Questions document as distributed, with corrections. Motion carried.

Outcome 1 – A Motion (Peterson/Teigen) was made to approve the Formative Assessment Questions document as distributed, with revisions. Motion carried.

Outcome 5 – A Motion (Peterson/Williams) was made to approve the Formative Assessment Questions document as submitted with revisions. Motion carried. Peterson asked Harrold and Mehta to send the electronic copy of Outcomes 2 & 5.

Outcome 3 – A Motion (Peterson/Urness) was made to approve the Formative Assessment Questions document as distributed. Motion carried.

Outcome 4 – A Motion (Peterson/Williams) was made to approve the Formative Assessment Questions document as distributed, with revisions. Motion carried.

Outcome 6 – A Motion (Peterson/Teigen) was made to approve the Formative Assessment Questions document as submitted with revisions. Motion carried.

Outcome 7– A Motion (Peterson/Harrold) was made to approve the Formative Assessment Questions document as submitted with revisions. Motion carried.

Subcommittee Reports

Humanities, Fine Arts, and Communication: No report.

Science & Technology: No report.

Social and Behavioral Sciences, Quantitative Reasoning, and Wellness: No report.

University 189 Committee : No report.

Urness thanked Mehta (from the Physics department) for the quick response in regard to the lack of availability of the PHYS labs.

New Business

Teigen asked for the next semester's meeting dates. Peterson will get the schedule out as soon as possible.

Mehta distributed handouts for a Professional Development Conference – “Assessment: Informing Teaching, Learning, & Institutional Change”. If anyone is interested in attending the conference, please notify Sudhir Mehta by January 15, 2005. Please submit a short note explaining how you will benefit from the conference. Based on available funding, they may be able to send six to eight people to the conference. Harrold offered to send the handout to members of the University Assessment Committee.

A Motion (Teigen/Harrold) was made to reconsider student #1's petition.
Teigen suggested that instead of denying the petition, just table the petition until a committee member contacts with the student requesting more information. Peterson offered to contact the student for: clarification of what he/she is requesting, a copy of their graduation audit, a letter of support from their advisor or department chair, and a signature from the Registration & Records liaison.

There was no further business to conduct and the meeting was adjourned at 9:40 a.m.

Respectfully submitted, Kären Bjellum, Recorder

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