In hopes of sparking a discussion among faculty and students, the General Education Requirement Task Force is presenting a revised General Education Program proposal today in Stewart Theatre.The GEP is the revised version of the GER — the minimum nonmajor course load required for graduation.
The faculty rejected many aspects of the initial proposal, prompting the task force to go back to the drawing board and devise a new GER, according to one of the organizers of today’s event, Janet Hudson, an English lecturer.
Hudson said the biggest change between the GER, which is in place for students, and the GEP is the number of hours one has to pass.
The current GER requires 53 hours, whereas the GEP requires only 39. This decrease in hours primarily comes from a loss of seven mathematics and natural science classes and nine humanities and social science classes.
The proposal also includes a GER capstone class, which will serve as an introduction into the education requirements, and should give students a better understanding as to why they are taking the classes, according to the proposal.
Then-Provost James Oblinger instituted the task force and asked them to put together the proposal.
“The task force was created to determine what was of value for students to learn at the University,” Hudson said. “The faculty didn’t respond positively, so the task force revised the proposal.”
Today’s forum is meant to create discussion between the task force, faculty and students.
According to Hudson, the provost will ultimately sign off on the final GEP. But Hudson said students and faculty will have input today at the forum.
At the meeting, John Ambrose, chair of the task force, will make a presentation on what changes have been made and the motivation behind those changes. A short question-and-answer section will follow Ambrose’s presentation and an overall discussion will conclude the forum, according to Hudson.
Oblinger created the task force in 2004, as the GER had never been fully reviewed since its creation in 1994.
