Present: Gary Brey, Janice Chernekoff, Robert Flatley, Linda Goldberg, Kimberly Johnston, Debra Lynch, Rolf Mayrhofer, Kevin McCloskey, William Mowder, Randy Schaeffer, Brian Wlazelek.

Absent: Paul Sable.

1. Review of Spring 2003

• Committee members reviewed both the positive points and the challenges that occurred during the Spring 2003 semester relative to the general education restructuring process.
  • Positive points include the committee’s agreement that new interdisciplinary courses are needed and that the committee’s consensus as to what general education should be is consistent with the national level.
  • Challenges include acceptance by the faculty that our current general education program needs to be changed, the governance issue relative to the referendum, and emphasis on the fact that KU needs to develop a general education model that is best for our students.
  • It was noted that the committee needs to work on a strategy for promoting a new general education program.

2. Statistics

• Dr. Goldberg provided statistics as to why the university needs to change its current general education program. Some of the major reasons for change include:
  • employer survey responses indicate that many KU graduates cannot properly read, write, speak and do basic math problems;
  • transferability of courses when a student changes majors;
  • the number of waivers and substitutions that need to be done each semester;
  • current model is very confusing and complex;
  • undeclared students are not sure which general education courses to take;
  • increase in the number of general education courses being offered but students not being able to count them;
  • problems with course sequencing;
  • half of the students who failed the Praxis test failed in basic writing and math;
  • many of the approved general education substitutions deal with math;
  • the second science lab requirement is a real issue with many students.

3. Timeline

• Dr. Lynch indicated that the committee has informed Dr. Cevallos that it will be unable to meet the original deadline for completion of the general education restructuring process.
• The committee established the following tentative timeline for its work during the Fall semester:
  • September - finalize goals; speaker
  • September & October - meetings with colleges
  • October - outline of a model
  • November - completion of a model

4. Meetings with Colleges

• It was decided that the committee will hold college meetings in September and October relative to the revised mission statement, goals, rationale for change, and to review various general education models along with a fact sheet as to why our program needs to be changed.
• It was noted that it needs to be relayed to our faculty that Middle States indicates that our present model does not have an outcomes assessment component built into it.

5. Potential Speakers

• Dr. Goldberg suggested inviting Jerry Gaff from the Association of American Colleges to speak relative to the step process involved in building a new general education program. Dr. Goldberg will contact him relative to the possibility of visiting our campus in September.

6. Meetings for Fall

• It was decided that the committee will meet on Wednesdays at 12:00 during the Fall Semester. Donna will check into room availability and advise committee members of exact location.

7. Other

• It was noted that faculty members need to be advised about the revised timeline and that there is a revised mission statement online. Dr. Lynch will send out a letter to all faculty once classes begin.
• It was further noted that the committee will need to address in the future how a new model will address the problems with reading, speaking, writing, and doing simple math problems.

The next meeting of the General Education Restructuring Team will be held on September 3 at 12:00.

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