On April 17, 2012, the UMKC Faculty Senate voted to approve the following motion:
That the Faculty Senate endorse and adopt the model proposed by the General Education Oversight Committee, which incorporates a 30-hour block of classes and various details as outlined in the documents “General Education Model 2” and addendum.
On May 1, 2012 the Faculty Senate discussed the next steps in general education revision, and passed two motions on implementation of the general education model and curriculum. The first motion was to create an ad hoc committee to implement the new general education model; the second motion was to empower a standing committee to oversee the university-wide general education curriculum. These two committees will be composed of elected faculty members from all academic units that have undergraduate programs, a representative from the university libraries, elected members from the Faculty Senate, a liaison from the University Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, and two members from the Provost’s office (including the chief assessment officer). In addition, the Provost will select two to four faculty members from the General Education Oversight Committee to serve on the ad hoc implementation team in order to facilitate continuity of purpose during the implementation phase, and the registrar will serve as a non-voting member of the University General Education Committee. The complete texts of the two motions are as follows:
Motion #1
It is moved that the Faculty Senate shall create an ad hoc committee, the “Faculty Senate General Education Implementation Committee,” that will, in coordination with and with support from the Provost’s Office, implement the general education model as adopted by the Faculty Senate. This committee will consist of the following members:
a) one elected faculty member from each of the schools with an undergraduate program, and one faculty member from each of the three divisions in the College (Humanities, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences), and one representative from the University Libraries;
b) two members elected from the Faculty Senate;
c) two to four faculty members, selected by the Provost, from the current General Education Oversight Committee, in order to facilitate continuity of purpose during implementation;
d) one liaison from the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, who may be appointed from that committee;
e) two Provost-designated representatives from the Provost’s Office, including the chief assessment officer, as non-voting members;
This ad hoc committee shall exist for no more than six months or until such time as, having met its responsibilities, the Faculty Senate and Provost move to dissolve it. The Faculty Senate and Provost may, if needed, agree to extend the term of this committee.
Motion #2
It is moved that the Faculty Senate empower a standing committee, the University General Education Committee, to establish procedures for and to oversee the approval of new courses for the university-wide General Education Curriculum. This committee shall consist of:
a) one faculty member from each of the three divisions of the College (Humanities, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences), one elected member from each of the schools with an undergraduate program (including the School of medicine), and one representative from the University Libraries;
b) two members elected from the Faculty Senate;
c) one liaison from the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee;
d) two Provost-designated members from the Provost’s office, including the chief assessment officer, as non-voting members;
e) the Registrar or his/her designee, as a non-voting member.
This committee will additionally work with the Provost’s office to develop and review assessment criteria for the University Wide General Education Program and courses, in coordination with the existing Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. During the implementation period, the committee will also coordinate with the Faculty Senate General Education Implementation Committee and report regularly to the full Faculty Senate.
-submitted by Lynda Plamann, co-chair of GEOC and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the School of Biological Sciences
