On moratorium while MUS reconsiders the MUS common core.

Past Members

Isho Tama-sweet, Accounting & Finance, Faculty Senator (Co-Chair)
Coreen Duffy, Music, Gen Ed Chair
Keith Graham, Journalism/CAM, past Gen Ed Co-chair
James Randall, Music, former Gen Ed Chair: Core Pilot Program
Greg Peters MC Applied Arts & Sci, past  Gen Ed member
Kelly Webster, Administration, SPCC, Past Writing Center Director 
Scott Arcenas History/WLC, current ASCRC member
Hilary Martens, Geosciences, UDT, DHC 
Lauren Fern, MC Applied Arts & Sci, Faculty Senate Chair-elect
Jean Loftus, GLI Director (ex-Officio)
Kimber McKay, Public Health, ECOS, FS Chair
Libby Metcalf, Forestry, UDT, Past Gen Ed Co-Chair 
Coreen Duffy, Music, Gen Ed Chair
Paul Muench (Philosophy/H&S, past Gen Ed member)
Steve Schwartz (Communication Studies, former Gen Ed member, APASP) 
Linda EagleHeart-Thomas (Missoula College - retired)
Ethan Hanley (ASUM, UDT, Gen Ed) 
Nicholas Ververis (ASUM Student)

Charge

The University of Montana is committed to providing a broad-based Liberal Arts education.  The General Education Committee is a subcommittee that reports directly to ASCRC. The purpose of this committee is “ongoing evaluation and assessment of the appropriateness and effectiveness of the general education requirements and criteria. The subcommittee shall advocate for general education, propose revisions to the requirements and criteria, review proposals, and ensure that all general education requirements are feasible within campus, Board of Regents and legislative constraints.”

The General Education Ad Hoc Committee (GEAHC), originally created by the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate (ECOS), is charged by the Academic Standards and Curriculum Committee  (ASCRC) with developing and proposing a re-envisioned general education curriculum at UM. To ensure consistency with ECOS procedures, the GEAHC will report to ASCRC in consultation with the General Education Committee. Faculty, students, and the larger campus community should be consulted and given the opportunity to help shape this project. GEAHC will review and incorporate findings from the AY 2018-19 Core Pilot program developed by the General Education Committee, the University Design Team report, and the work of the Academic Planning Group. The GEAHC has three principal tasks for AY22: 

• Develop guiding principles for the general education program at UM;
• Develop a General Education structure that improves the student experience;
• Develop a curriculum pathway structure within the General Education program 

The GEAHC will help guide the implementation effort in AY22 and further lead this effort in AY23 and AY24 in the following manner: 

• Based on the structure and principles, create a detailed general education curriculum
• Create an implementation project plan and timeline
• Work with campus stakeholders, faculty leadership, and UM administration to execute the implementation plan

Timeline

Guiding Principles

As part of the design of a new General Education program, the General Education Ad Hoc Committee will be guided by the following principles:

• Ensure that the General Education program plays a critical and central role in the education of every UM student.
• Recognize that with respect to curricular matters, the General Education program is the prerogative of the entire faculty of UM; general education curriculum is not solely the prerogative of individual faculty members, departments, or college/schools.
• Recognize that with respect to fiscal and budgetary matters, the General Education program is the prerogative of the administration of UM (President, Provost, Deans, Chairs); fiscal and budgetary matters fall outside the scope of what can be addressed by the General Education Ad Hoc Committee.
• Incorporate strategic planning recommendations that have been developed by the University Design Team (UDT) and the Academic Planning Group (APG), with attention to UM’s Communities of Excellence (CoEx).
• Recognize that there inevitably will have to be trade-offs with respect to the breadth of topics/categories that can be included in the General Education program, the amount of student choice within those topics/categories, and the extent of the program’s alignment with the MUS transfer core.

Background Information

UM General Education Comparison (comparison of current  Gen Ed Program, MUS Core, & 2018-2019 draft UM Core model)
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