11:00-12:30 425 Stillman Hall
Present: Ryden, Andereck, Mercerhill, Ausich, Parson, Gerlach, Long, Van Woerkom,
Guest: Ed Adelson
i. Proposal to provide more flexibility
ii. Andereck proposal = add back 2 within the Breadth category, but not in the major
iii. Idea for departments to determine minors that might count discussed but determined to be unmanageable
iv. Allowing upper-level non-GEC courses in add back option proposed – question of whether this holds true to the GEC concept
1. committee wonders if it would be possible to accept upper-level courses that have a GEC as pre-requisite – noted that there are a number of Humanities and SBS courses that do not have any pre-requisites
v. Historical Study (formerly survey) is now it’s own category and would therefore be immunity from proposal
vi. B.S. degrees separate from this proposal
vii. Question of how broad a GEC has to be
1. currently petitions that make a good case for a narrowly focused upper-division course will likely be approved
2. Noted that a physics student would benefit greatly from an in-depth study of a topic such as the Vietnam War
viii. McHale report debate seems to focus on breadth vs. depth
ix. Option for minors/2nd majors could be beneficial if overlap with GEC and may help students to feel GEC is leading toward something tangible
1. Interdisciplinary aspect is a big focus of faculty, so why not make it so for students?
2. Minors should be ASC approved in substitution option
3. Noted that the Childs plan restricts minors to ASC minors
x. Committee questions:
1. Do you require “add back” to be in at least 2 areas?
2. Do you restrict which subcategories these come from to those outside Breadth area related to the major?
a. MAPS students couldn’t take natural Sciences or nor more than 1 in Natural Science
3. Concern regarding student desire to take Natural Science courses – can MAPS courses be made desirable enough to attract students?
xi. Suggestion to make proposal that one course must be outside of own Breadth area and/or that no course may come from major
xii. Summary: 3 add back courses, at least one outside of own Breadth area, none may come from major’s department
xiii. Proposal to reduces hours to graduation
1. committee not in favor of reducing elective hours
2. no real support for reduction from 191
xiv. Concept of base-line GEC
1. Question – should Professional Colleges chose whether or not to “add back” courses?
2. Provides consistency across campus and allows Professional Colleges to decide what else students need
xv. Upper division course substitution
1. committee preference is that these courses simply be approved for GEC status
2. CCI will need to provide new guidelines for these
3. Suggestion that students be allowed to add back any course in “Arts or Humanities” above 100 level
a. Question of how you handle non-ASC courses since some GEC courses are outside ASC
b. Question of how many petitions already accomplish this – USAS beginning to gather data