General Education Committee
Meeting Minutes for March 2, 2005
269 EML; Noon – 1:00 p.m.

Present: Michael Christoffers, Kimberly Vess Halbur, Robert Harrold, RaNelle Ingalls, Sudhir Mehta, Char Myhre, Larry Peterson, Doug Rymph, Orven Swenson, Cindy Urness, Kristi Wold-McCormick.

Larry Peterson called the meeting to order at 12:03 p.m.

A motion (Harrold/Ingalls) was made to approve the minutes from the February 9, 2005, and February 16, 2005 meetings. Motion carried.

Student Petitions

Student #1 – The student transferred from MSUM. The student took Biology 102 and Biology 104 in Moorhead. He has had Biology 150L here at NDSU and wants the Biology courses accepted as general education courses and the lab completed here to count as the lab co-requirement. Ingalls checked on the Biology 102 course, it is a general education course at MSUM. A motion (Mehta/Rymph) was made to approve the petition. Motion carried.

Student #2 – The student has petitioned to have University 189 waived. The student started college before the course was offered. A motion (Mehta/Rymph) was made to approve the waiver. Motion carried.

The student also petitioned to have his POLS 141 course (currently POLS 120) accepted for the Cultural Diversity requirement because he already had another global perspectives course and because he had entered NDSU in 1992, before the current general education program was approved. A motion (Rymph/ Christoffers) was made to accept the course. Motioned carried.

Subcommittee Reports

Humanities and Fine Arts

Modern Languages

• The Modern Languages department has decided to leave the Spanish 101 course on the General Education list, and to change the second year language courses from Global Perspectives to Cultural Diversity. The subcommittee now recommends that the following courses (FREN 101, 102, and 201; GERM 101, 102, 201; SPAN 101, 102, and 201) be approved as having successfully met their five year reviews – but notes the following Modern Language courses need to submit minor syllabus revisions: German 101, 102, 201, Spanish 201, and French 201. The instructors have been contacted. A motion (Peterson/Christoffers) was made to approve the courses. Motion carried.

English

• The subcommittee recommends that the following English courses be approved as having successfully met their five year reviews: ENGL 220, ENGL 251, ENGL 252 ENGL 261, ENGL 262, ENGL 220, and ENGL 335. They make note that ENGL 252 needs to either omit Outcome One or include the required revision of student writing assignments. The subcommittee also noted that the following English courses need to submit minor syllabus revisions: ENGL 252, ENGL 262, ENGL 330, and ENGL 335. The instructors have been contacted. A motion (Peterson/Harrold) was made to approve the courses listed above.

Communication
A discussion of the online version of COMM 110: Fundamentals of Public Speaking took place. The committee members felt it was important to have broader campus input and guidance on approving the online version of this course for general education. A motion (Rymph/Urness) was made to take the issue to the University Senate. Motion carried.

•  Science and Technology

No report.

•  Social and Behavioral Sciences, Wellness, and Quantitative Reasoning

No report.

•  UNIV 189:

The subcommittee is working on developing a questionnaire for students which will be done through the Group Decision Center. Harrold has reports for two different sections of AGR 189.

AAC&U Conference
Michael Christoffers attended the conference in Atlanta.

He said that the main topic was assessment, which is being driven by reaccredidation. It was suggested that the term “assessment” be changed to something such as “student learning”, since the term assessment tends to get a negative reaction from faculty.

Another major topic was the integration of writing into all courses.

Sudhir Mehta invited the committee members to attend a Pedagogical Luncheon on March 10, 2005. The topic is “Making Assessment Simple and Effective.” Please register using an easy online tool at http://www.ndsu.edu/peer/registration by noon on Friday, March 4, 2005. Please note that this is a new registration system and you will get an automatic e-mail confirmation.

The members of the General Education Committee expressed their gratitude to Michael Christoffers for representing the committee by attending the AAC&U Conference in Atlanta.

The next meeting will be Wednesday, March 23, 2005, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. in EML 269 (Dean's Conference Room).

The meeting was adjourned at 12:45.

Recorder: Karen Bjellum