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Minutes of the General Education Committee –January 24, 2011

Present: Ted Adler, Ikram Ahmed, Stephen Brady, Jeffrey Hershfield, Cathy Moore-Jansen, Paul Rillema

The meeting was called to order at 12:30 pm by the Chair, Paul Rillema. Committee members were comfortable with the 12:30 – 2:00 meeting time on Mondays for the spring semester.

Action Items:

1. The committee would like the opportunity to discuss any proposed changes by the Ad Hoc Committee in the General Education Program since it would be required to implement them.
2. Paul Rillema will request representatives to the standing General Education Committee from the Deans of the Colleges of Business and Education.
3. Return the curriculum change proposal labeled LAS 5691seeking general education further study approval to the English Department for modification. A further studies course requires an introductory course as a prerequisite. The one listed as a prerequisite in the course description is a basic skills course, not an introductory course.
4. The curriculum change proposal labeled LAS 5659 is approved pending addition of one of the following introductory Philosophy courses, PHIL 100, PHIL 125, or PHIL 144, as a prerequisite in the course description.
5. The curriculum change proposal labeled LAS 5684 was approved.
6. Edit the General Education Curriculum Change Form to indicate which introductory general education course(s) is the prerequisite to a proposed further studies course.
7. The requirement of BASIC SKILLS courses as prerequisites to introductory courses was discussed briefly. There was concern about implementation of this requirement.
8. The following procedure was decided for Evaluation of Transfer Courses for General Education:
a. The course must be from a regionally or nationally accredited institution.
b. BASIC SKILLS courses will always be referred to the appropriate department.
c. If a course would not count as a General Education course if given at WSU (like Spanish I and II, for example), it will not be given General Education credit.
d. Courses may be counted as General Education courses if they meet the following criteria:
i. They are at least 3 credit hours;
ii. Their title is similar to one of WSU's General Education courses identified on the attached list.
iii. The course is similar in title and content to one or more that have been previously been evaluated by academic departments.
e. Courses that do not meet the above criteria will be referred to the appropriate department for evaluation along with an appropriate syllabus.