• Faculty And College Responsibility For General Education
• Teaching Assignments in General Education Courses
• Role Of The Educational Policy Committee
• Role Of The General Education Curriculum Committee
• Proposing a Course for General Education Status
• Five-Year Review Procedures

Faculty And College Responsibility For General Education

The General Education Program has a special place in the College’s educational mission in that every student must complete the program to receive a degree from the College. Courses approved in the various General Education areas have a role that is, therefore, different from other courses in departments or programs. Responsibility for these courses extends beyond the departments and programs in which they are taught. The College’s regular reviews of departments and programs include attention to participation in the General Education Program. In determining departmental budgets, the Dean pays special attention to the needs of courses approved for General Education.

Teaching Assignments in General Education Courses

Professors in charge of General Education courses must be our best teachers, imbued with talent and zeal for the service. Such faculty should be active participants whether lecturing to large classes, teaching small classes or sections, or training and supervising teaching assistants. Departments offering General Education courses are encouraged to observe the following guidelines for teaching assignments in General Education courses.

• General Education courses should be taught by the most qualified members of the faculty.
• Appropriate consideration should be given to the teaching of large enrollment General Education courses when determining faculty members' teaching assignments.
• The training and supervision of teaching assistants may be considered part of the teaching load of the faculty member assigned those responsibilities.
• Appropriate methods of student evaluation must be used in all General Education courses.

It is often appropriate for departments to assign teaching assistants to courses approved for General Education. Teaching assistants may be used to provide additional office hours for students, to help with grading, to lead discussion or lab sections of a course or, in some cases, to teach independent sections of a multi-section course. Ordinarily, teaching assistants are assigned to teach independent sections of introductory courses when it is not only desirable but necessary to keep the class size small—for instance, in elementary language instruction classes, in courses approved in the Interpretation of Literature area, and in rhetoric classes. The preparation and oversight of teaching assistants in such courses must be thorough, comprehensive, and on-going, for example as has been the case in the Department of English's preparation of students to teach 08G:001 Interpretation of Literature. The GECC and EPC will review the training of teaching assistants at the time of course approval and review.

Departments should not ordinarily assign teaching assistants to upper-level courses; if it is necessary to assign a graduate student to teach an upper-level course, special arrangements for the supervision of grading of any graduate students in the course must be made. Departments select teaching assistants for General Education courses from among those candidates who are suitable by virtue of the kind of studies they have pursued, the level of success they have attained in graduate work, and their potential for, or demonstrated excellence in, teaching.

When teaching assistants are used in General Education courses, the department has a special responsibility to ensure comparability of goals, substance, quality, and grading in all sections of the course. While creativity should be encouraged, the efforts of all instructors in multiple-section General Education courses must be coordinated by the faculty in charge.

(revised March 2005)

Role Of The Educational Policy Committee

The Educational Policy Committee provides primary oversight for the General Education Program, as specified in the College’s Manual of Procedure, Article VI. The Educational Policy Committee has responsibility for the following tasks.

• Appointment of members of the General Education Curriculum Committee (with the advice of the Dean)
• Development of policies and procedures governing the General Education Program.
• Consideration of major changes to the program and preparation of recommendations of changes to the faculty of the college.
• Work with the GECC committee to create procedures for the approval and review of General Education courses.
• Development of policies governing courses approved in more than one area of General Education and periodic review of the list of courses approved in more than one area.
• Final action on recommendations from the General Education Curriculum Committee.

Role Of The General Education Curriculum Committee

Members of the General Education Curriculum Committee are appointed by the Educational Policy Committee with the advice of the Dean and serve in an advisory capacity to that committee and the Dean. The committee has six faculty members, two appointed from each of the College’s three voting divisions. The term of appointment is for three years and these terms are adjusted so that two members are newly appointed every year. The committee includes a student member who has completed his/her General Education Program requirements. The term of the student member is one year, but may be renewed.

The General Education Curriculum Committee has as its principal duties the following:

• To review requests from departments or programs for approval of courses for General Education credit.
• To review periodically each course approved for General Education credit.
• To make recommendations to the Educational Policy Committee of courses that should be approved for General Education credit, following review of newly proposed courses and of previously approved courses.
• To encourage instructors of each course approved for General Education credit to give special attention to the development of students’ oral and written language skills.
• To develop, review periodically, and when necessary suggest modification in the criteria statements and the guidelines that define the standards for courses to be approved in each area of General Education.
• To develop, review periodically, and when necessary suggest modification of the procedures for approval and review of courses.
• To undertake special review tasks as requested by the Educational Policy Committee.
• To advise the Educational Policy Committee on possible improvements to the General Education Program and to prepare an annual report on its work for the Educational Policy Committee.