1998 Faculty Council Resolutions on Gen Ed

FACULTY COUNCIL RECOMMENDATIONS ON GENERAL EDUCATION

The Faculty Council approved the following recommendations from the General Education committee in the Spring of 1998

With the approval of the General Education proposal by the UTC faculty, the General Education Committee hopes that we can come together as a university community to implement the proposal. We want to thank all who debated the many issues, and it is our hope that now we can all work to make the goals of general education a reality, and to make certain the University recognizes and rewards everyone who strives toward this end. The General Education Committee, therefore, recommends that the Faculty Council adopt the following resolutions.

Resolved:

That the 5-Year Plan be modified to include the faculty lines necessary to implement the General Education Program;
That the University's Mission Statement include the general education philosophy and state clearly the central role played by general education in achieving the university’s mission;
That administrators and appropriate faculty members strive to include the implementation of general education goals and objectives in their EDO documents;
That administrators and rank and tenure committees recognize and substantively reward contributions in developing, teaching, administering, and publishing in general education;
That the credit hours accrued in each general education course be applied to the department of the faculty member teaching the course; in the case of team taught courses, proportional credit be assigned appropriately to the departments of participating faculty;
That each department consider developing a senior level capstone course as part of the requirements for its majors;
That academic units assess their degree programs in light of the goals of general education, including the development of a global perspective on human experience, and of the students' abilities to think analytically and reflectively, to intelligently process and apply information using modern methods, and to communicate and collaborate effectively;
That new student and faculty orientations stress the importance of general education;
That university committees with a shared interest in the development, quality, and approval of general education courses, including the General Education Committee, the Curriculum Committee, the Instructional Excellence Committee, and the Instructional Technology Committee, collaborate on common issues related to the implementation of the new General Education requirements;
That the General Education Program be evaluated regularly, for the purpose of judging and improving the program, using multiple evaluation methods such as:
- systematic surveys of faculty, students, and alumni regarding general education;
- instruments such as the College Base senior exit exam;
- items related to the achievement of general education goals on student Rating of Instructor questionnaires; and
- summative evaluation of the curriculum every six years.

General Education Across the University

The goal stated in the philosophy of general education apply to all courses at the university, not just the courses specifically designated for the general education curriculum. The following recommendations may help to ensure that this purpose is achieved. The university level Curriculum Committee should develop guidelines for the inclusion of these goals in every course. Each department should assess all of its courses in light of these goals. Each major should include a senior level capstone course as part of its requirements. The General Education Committee should reconsider rules for certification, procedures for submitting courses for certification and monitoring courses, and methods of handling transfer courses; the committee needs to improve communication with department heads regarding the basis for granting or denying general education credit; the importance of basing decisions on category guidelines rather than course equivalency needs to be stressed.