General Education Council
Minutes
3.22.04 

Council present:
S. Ogletree-Liberal Arts
R. Northcutt-Science
T. Hindson-Liberal Arts
D. Flaherty-Business Administration
M. Bell-Student Rep.
C. McCall-Education
M. Hennessy-Liberal Arts
B. Melzer-Health Professions
R. Stein-Fine Arts and Communication
V. Sriraman-Science
K. Knox-Health Professions
L. Thomas-Health Professions
Council absent:
D. Glassman-Chair Rep.
J. Crawford-Chair Rep.
B. Stone-Applied Arts
D. Perkins-Applied Arts
D. Showalter-Business Administration
D. Wiley-Education
T. Mottet-Fine Arts and Communication
C. Friedrich-Student Rep.
Guests:
B. Augustin
R. Earl 

Meeting convened at 3:33 p.m. 

R. Brown sent the “Draft Report” to Dr. Gratz and Micky Henry.  R. Brown will meet with Dr. Cheatham, Dr. Passty, and Dr. Gratz to clarify and bring into compliance the non-compliant (humanities, natural science and math) sections before it is sent out further to the other offices. 

Handout Discussion:
-Email – Dance core curriculum courses-how they count for credit (Dance or PFW or both?)-R. Brown will meet with Dr. Cheatham about the dance classes—the classes are listed as both PFW and DAN, but there is no paperwork from Dr. Hays 

-Email and Core Draft from Angelo State University and the Guaranteed Admission Program (GAP)-“draft” of comparison of core curricula between ASU and Texas State—Students apply to Texas State-go to ASU for 2 years then they can get into Texas State automatically as long as they meet the minimum requirements of 2.25 GPA for Transfers—will convey concerns about ASU students taking courses outside GE 

Proposals for addition to Core Curriculum
1-Criminal Justice-CJ 1310-addition to Social Science
2-Geography-GEO 2410-addition to Natural Science
--subcommittees will bring recommendations to the April 26 mtg. 

Subcommittees:
Natural Science-Chair-R. Northcutt, R. Stein, T. Hindson and J. Crawford
Social Science-Chair-S. Ogletree, M. Bell, K. Knox and D. Glassman 

B. Augustin:
-talked to the Council about advising students
-the misconception between cultural and physical geographers
-talked about his experience as a geographer
-talked about other Texas State natural science core curriculum lab science courses
-feels that the Geography department looked at what was missing for the last report (ex: data collection and the lab now has lots of data collections) and fixed what needed to be fixed  

T. Hindson wanted to know how many universities across the US consider geography as a hard science? R. Earl said 6 in Texas and 25-33% in the US.  More Meteorologists in the Federal Gov. got degrees in Geography than Physics, Engineering or other sciences.  UT teaches GEO 2410 as a science. 

Geology was moved from a social science to natural science.  Geology was first housed in Physics, but now is housed in Biology. 

D. Flaherty has seen geography as both natural science and social science.   

Social science-world geography and cultural 

Do your Geography major students take classes for other disciplines for their core curriculum requirements or do they take them from your major.  They are advised to take a core curriculum social science outside their field.  The BA requires a third science and GEO 2410 is considered as the third science. 

Geography wants the subcommittee to look at their strong teachers and what they are publishing.  They feel that their faculty is strongly science based. 

Factor into account the different requirements at other universities if you are using them as examples of universities that have Geography as a natural science. 

BS-requires a science minor 

The guests were asked who they saw as additional students besides their own taking the course?  They said College of Education students because they think people are more effective citizens after they take this course. 

The guests were told that the College of Education already has the interdisciplinary degree defined with Physics, Biology and General Science course requirements. 

B. Augustin thanked the Council for their patience and for their suggestions to make the course better.   

Council discussion:
-students have a common experience within certain boundaries of institution choice-some feel we have too much already
-allow for continuing review of GE with voting student member that gives a voice to those who are taking courses
-because it is a working council it reviews existing as well as new courses-very important
-Notion about core curriculum-academic tradeoff and no cohesiveness-what is better? 

Have the THECB Report completed and the subcommittee recommendations by the April 26 meeting. 

Issues:
-any changes from legislation?
-new responsibilities on advisors and students
-mandated standardized testing
-course based assessment with good statistics (knowledge based opposed to skills) 

Meeting adjourned at 4:52 p.m.