General Education Committee Minutes

May 2, 2005

325 Graff Main Hall

 

Members Present:  Mary Leonard Anderson, Sandy Grunwald, Jess Hollenback, Emily Johnson (Chair), Eric Kraemer, Cris Prucha, Bruce Riley, Brian Udermann, Mike Winfrey

Consultants Present:  Chris Bakkum, Terry Beck, Keith Beyer, Bruce May

Guests Present:  Deb Hoskins, Melissa Schultz, Katie Lindemann

 

I.        M/S/P to approve the minutes of 4/18/05.

 

II.     Old Business

  1. Discussion:  University Honors – Deb Hoskins and Chris Bakkum led a follow-up discussion from the last meeting about the Honors Program and about how it fits or might fit into GE.  They hope to to revise the current program with the goal of moving away from the “smorgasbord” kind of program to one that is, in practice, more integrated.  M/S/P encouraging those involved with the Honors Program to continue developing a revised program.  Discussion afterward focused on some concerns/questions about the potential revisions (the new direction may move the program away from what a “traditional” honors program looks like, the revision does not match the current information in the catalog and online, and is the current program even “broken”?) and some benefits of the potential revisions (recruitment tool, could give identity to the program, benefits associated with moving away from narrow, discipline-based courses to more integrated ones).
  2. Ad hoc Committee on outcome revisions – The New Draft Revision of Student Learning Outcomes contained changes in the Effective Communication and Ethics and Responsibility categories as well as the addition of an Information and Technological Literacy category.  The content and wording of general categories and the bulleted points (along with the handout distributed by Emily with her suggestions) were discussed in detail.  Because an additional 10 minutes of discussion proved not to be enough time and because this was the last meeting of the year, it was recommended that the ad hoc committee meet again with Emily, make some decisions, and then send out additional revisions to the rest of the GEC.  That meeting will take place Monday, May 9 at

3:30 pm, and anyone who would like to be part of the discussion is invited to attend.

  1. Summer Activities

1)      Design Team (Structure subcommittee) – Emily distributed a handout of the structure subcommittee’s work on criteria, priorities, and possibilities of people who might be on the team.  They would like to have a facilitator and representation from across campus and Emily needs to know ASAP who to invite.  Recommended additions made by committee members were Chris Bakkum, Deb Hoskins, Don Sloan, and Don La Coss.  Jess Hollenback and Mary Leonard Anderson removed themselves, and Brian Udermann agreed to be on the team.

III.   New Business

  1. Goals for 2005-2006 - Emily will send out a list of goals taken from where we are in relation to what we thought we’d accomplish this year and would like committee members to provide her with comments.  The goals will likely incorporate the following:  recommendations to Faculty Senate for improvement which are likely to include 2-3 models; recommendation for a FYE; certification of new courses and re-certification of old ones; assessment plan; investigation of efficiency/efficacy of going to ePortfolios; and discussion of role of GEC in baccalaureate degree.
  2. Start-up meetings/retreat for fall – Emily would like to have a retreat in August and will send out possible dates via email.
  3. Statement on GE for freshmen registration – Emily would like to have something on GE in the freshmen registration folder and distributed a draft document.  After making some minor wording changes, the committee agreed to include this in the folder.
  4. Advocacy for the Liberal Arts (SAGLA) – Emily will send out an announcement with some information.  SAGLA is a group working with AAC&U to advocate for the liberal arts and to increase understanding of what a liberal arts education is.
  5. Provost Retreat:  Agenda items – The retreat will take place in early August and Emily asked if there were GE items anybody wanted discussed.  No suggestions were made.

 

IV.  Brief Committee Reports

  1. Assessment –

1)      Assessment will continue in the summer.  The team will consist of Sandy Grunwald, Eric Kraemer, Gwen Achenreiner, Mike Abler, Bruce Riley, and possibly Brad Seebach.

2)      The assessment committee will meet on May 13 at 8:30 a.m.

 

V.     Announcements

  1. GEC 2005-2006

1)      Emily thanked Jess Hollenback, Mike Winfrey, and Mary Leonard Anderson for being on the committee for 5 (plus!) years.  They will be missed and are welcome any time.

2)      The following faculty will be added as approved by Faculty Senate:

·        Stephen McDougal (CLS)

·        Soojin Ritterling (CLS)

·        Robert Ragan (SAH)

·        Michael Devine (CBA)

  1. Psychology Chair – Emily has been voted in as Chair of the Psychology Department.  She is suggesting a 50% psychology/50% GE appointment and is in the process of trying to negotiate for some clerical support.
  2. Transfer Success Class – Emily is working with WWTC on trying to develop a Transfer Success Class that will be a combination of WWTC’s student success course and UWL 100.  The course will be aimed at WWTC students interested in transferring to UW-L or another 4-year institution.  Emily and LeeAnn Fatura are working on a grant to cover the cost of UW-L’s instructor.  If successful, the course could be a model for the state.

 

VI.  Other

  1. The GEC got the SENCER grant and will be taking a team to the conference with the intent of learning more about the development of learning communities.

 

Meeting Adjourned at 5:30 pm.

 

First “regular meeting” for fall will be September 19, 2005.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Katie Lindemann