September 13, 2004

TO:                  Emily Johnson, Director

                        General Education

FROM:            Bruce Riley, Chair

                        Faculty Senate

RE:                  Committee Charge for 2004-2005 Academic Year

This memo is intended to serve as the initial charge letter to the General Education Committee for the 2004-05 academic year.  As the Chair and Convener of the Committee, it is your responsibility to arrange, as soon as feasible, an organizational meeting, which by now I know you have already done.

Each faculty committee is expected to promptly provide the Senate office (5-8018) the results of the election of officers and any changes in committee membership.  Regarding the latter item, the committee chairperson should carefully review the policies on committee attendance and the role of alternates on pgs. 10-11, of the 8-27-01 Articles & By-laws materials distributed by Jennifer Wilson's office.  Following recent practice, we are asking that the committee secretaries e-mail the meeting minutes to Sibbie Weathers, ( weathers.sylv@uwlax.edu) so that the minutes can be quickly posted at the Senate Web site.  At the end of the academic year, the committee chair should submit a report on the activities of the General Education Committee for that year.

As a result of discussions between yourself and the Senate Executive Committee, I would ask the committee to consider the following special charges.

• Charge academic departments to review their current general education courses relative to the “proposed” students learning outcomes. Use the results of the review to revise the learning outcomes as necessary and in the committee’s work on developing a structure for a general education program (this could consist of modifications to the current program).  Report to the senate on the results.

If you have questions or concerns regarding the charges, please contact me at any time during the year.  Instead of target dates for receipt of reports, I propose to ask each chair to talk with me in order to schedule dates for the Senate to review the results of the charges.

Finally, if the Senate Executive Committee or I can assist your committee in any way during the year, please do not hesitate to ask.

saw