General Education Committee
Meeting Minutes for March 23, 2005
269 EML; Noon – 1:00 p.m.

Present: Michael Christoffers, Virginia Clark Johnson, Robert Harrold, RaNelle Ingalls, Char Myhre, Larry Peterson, Orven Swenson, Cindy Urness, Robyne Williams, Kristi Wold-McCormick.

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

A motion (Harrold/Christoffers) was made to approve the minutes, as distributed, from the March 23, 2005, meeting. Motion carried.

Student Petitions

Student #1 – The student, a University Studies major, is requesting a waiver of ENGLISH 110, ENGLISH 120, CICS 122, or CICS 125. The student feels that her/his life experiences have made up for those courses. Dr. Carolyn Schnell did not support the student. She feels that the student should take the above mentioned courses. Petition was denied. A motion (Wold-McCormick/Haugen) was made to deny the petition, and the student will be advised to challenge the course. Motion carried.

Student #2 – The student has petitioned to have HNES 355 – International Health as a substitute for the Global Perspectives requirement. A motion (Williams/Christoffers) was made to accept the petition because of the strong letters of support and to substitute the HNES 355 – International Health instead of the Global Perspectives. A motion (Williams/Christoffers) was made to amend the motion to state the committee accepts the petition to waive requirements for Global Perspectives rather than substitute in order to avoid setting a precedent. Motion carried.

University Senate

COMM 110 – Fundamentals of Public Speaking was approved by the University Senate for general education as an online offering.

The Vertical Writing Revision was NOT revised by the University Senate.

Subcommittee Reports

Humanities and Fine Arts and Communication

The subcommittee recommends the following course be approved as having successfully met their five year reviews:

ADFH 310 – History of Fashion, ADFH 315 – History of Interiors I, ADFH 316 – History of Interiors II, ADFH 410 – Dress in World Cultures, HIST 101 Western Civilization I, HIST 102 – Western Civilization II, HIST 103 – U.S. to 1877, HIST 104 – U.S. Since 1877, HIST 381 – Australia and New Zealand. However, make note of the following: HIST 103, ADFH 310, 315,316 and 410 must either omit Outcome One or include the required revision of student writing assignments. We believe the instructors will be omitting Outcome One. The subcommittee also noted that the following courses need to submit syllabus revisions: ADFH 310, 315, 316, and HIST 102, 103,104, AND 381. The instructors have been contacted.

The department withdrew ADFH 411: Food and World Cultures from consideration for five-year review. It was just approved in May 2003 and they do not have a permanent instructor because of faculty turnover.

The subcommittee was very impressed by the assessment of General Education Outcomes in ADFH and would like the Committee to consider posting one of them on our homepage as an example of good practice.

A motion (Peterson/Williams) was made to approve the courses, listed above, with proper revisions. Motion carried.

Social and Behavioral Sciences, Wellness, and Quantitative Reasoning

The subcommittee recommends the following five-year renewals with provisions:

ADFH 486 – Dress and Human Behavior – Instructor Ann Braaten provided a comprehensive overview of each outcome (4, 5, and 6) complete with examples of how the methods used in class help to determine if students are meeting these outcomes. Examples of class methods included: assignments, class discussion, and exams. The rubrics for each outcome was completed which assisted the committee in locating the evidence used in class to assess student learning and demonstrated ability.

COMM 212 – Interpersonal Communication – with the addition of the general education statement added to the course syllabus. A comprehensive overview of each outcome was detailed on the rubrics complete with examples of how students are able to demonstrate their learning in the outcome areas. Examples included case studies, short assignments, additional written assignments, and exams.

COMM 216 – renewal with the addition of the general education statement added to the course syllabus. The instructor used the appropriate rubrics (1 & 3) to provide a comprehensive outline of the course and explained how students were able to demonstrate their learning in the outcome areas.

A motion (Ingalls/Peterson) was made to approve the courses, listed above, with proper revisions. Motion carried.

Science and Technology

GEOL 105 – Physical Geology, GEOL 105L – Physical Geology Laboratory, GEOL 106 – and GEOL 106L.

The subcommittee will request that all four courses complete the rubrics and resubmit for the five-year renewal.

UNIV 189

The subcommittee is working on developing a questionnaire for students which will be done through the Group Decision Center. Discussion took place on the format, word choice, and length of the questionnaire. The subcommittee will take the suggestions into consideration and resubmit the draft to the committee.

The next meeting will be Wednesday, April 20, 2005, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. in EML 269 (Dean's Conference Room).

Old Business

The committee discussed the draft of the five-year review reminder for overdue reports . In the first sentence, delete the word “gentle” reminder. Delete the word “ unfortunately ”, from the first paragraph, 5th sentence.

•  Harrold reminded the committee members that a new chair will have to be identified soon.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:05 p.m.

Recorder: Kären Bjellum