General Education Implementation Plan Committee (GEIPC) Informational Update

given at the March 31, 2008 University Senate meeting

submitted by Deborah Vess

The General Education Implementation Plan Committee reports directly to the president and has been charged to develop an implementation plan.  The charge and the committee work products can be reviewed through the Gen Ed web site.  Last year, the committee focused on developing outcomes for the GCSU core proposal, as well as on structural guidelines for the first and second year seminars.  At the request of the president, the committee began this academic year by drafting a rationale for the new core. We continued our work this year by fine-tuning the details of the first year clusters.  The role of speech in the proposed ENGL 1101 for the new core was a very difficult issue; rhetoric faculty did not want to see speech as an add-on, while English faculty were not comfortable teaching speech.  Currently, we are proposing that the clusters be composed of an ENGL 1101 course that will develop writing, and a RHET 1101 course that will develop speaking ability. These two courses will be clustered using a common theme.  A one- hour lab will be linked to the RHET 1101 course.  We have worked with University Registrar, Kay Anderson, to resolve issues related to registration, drop, advising, and AP credit for students in the clusters. 

Our progress has been temporarily halted by the beginning of the USG core curriculum revision initiative.  Two preliminary models for the USG core were developed in February and are available for review on the Strong Foundations website.  GCSU’s core proposal has a number of features that will make the transition to the new USG core much easier for us than for other institutions. The USG core models feature threads that are designed to connect the curriculum. GCSU’s proposal features several areas of emphasis that effectively function as connective threads.  The USG models are centered around a global theme.  GCSU’s core proposal has a global/diversity area of emphasis,  and the first and second year seminars may also feature a global theme.  Consequently, we will be able to adapt our proposal to support the USG themes.  

We (GEIPC) plan to begin our meetings again following the next USG core curriculum meeting in late April 2008.