GENERAL FACULTY MEETING

WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY

Friday, March 12, 1999

Hubbard Hall, room 208

3:30 p.m.

AGENDA

I. Call the Meeting to Order

II. Election of a Secretary

III. Approval of the Minutes

(Attached: September 30,1998)

IV. Proposal from the General Education Committee: Russell Widener, Director of General Education

A. Guidelines for Further Studies Courses

(green attachment)

V. State of the Senate - Elmer Hoyer, President

VI. As May Arise

TO: W. S. U. Faculty

FROM: Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate

DATE: March 2, 1999

RE: General Faculty Meeting, March 12, 1999

Addition to Agenda

The highlighted item 2(c) was tentatively passed by the Faculty Senate pending the development of the guidelines mentioned. These guidelines were developed and accepted by the Faculty Senate, February 8, 1999, and are attached to the General Faculty Meeting Agenda for March 12, 1999. Item 2(c) is on the March 8, 1999, Agenda of the Faculty Senate and , if passed, will also be on the Agenda for the General Faculty Meeting, March 12, 1999.

Item 2 of the charge to the General Education Committee is given below with the proposed (c) highlighted:

C. Charge:

2. Enforce the provisions of the General Education Program approved by the faculty, including:

a. Determining the number of core courses offered by departments;

b. Regarding Issues and Perspectives course:

i. Refine and develop the concept of Issues

and Perspectives courses according to the

guidelines approved by the faculty,

ii. Develop guidelines and actively solicit

proposals for Issues and Perspectives

courses;

iii. Approve proposed Issues and Perspectives

courses;

c. Develop guidelines for selection of Further Studies courses, subject to Senate approval, and approve courses for Further Studies credit

GUIDELINES FOR FURTHER STUDIES COURSES

The primary basis for designating a course as a "Further Studies Course" is that it serves the goals and objectives of the General Education Program.

Prerequisites for Further Studies courses should not include courses outside the General Education Program

For each Further Studies course, departments must specify the Introductory course or courses that it follows.

All Further Studies courses must earn at least 3 hours of credit.

Designated Further Studies courses must be offered at least once every three years.

Departments should make every effort to make the scheduling of Further Studies courses predictable. The Schedule of Courses will indicate the next semester in which Further Studies courses will be offered to assist students and advisors in planning a course of studies.

NOTES:

Guideline 1: While every upper division course offers greater depth in a field than introductory courses, not every one of them is suitable for "general " studies. Departments need to identify the courses that will best meet the goals of General Education in their application.

Guideline 2: The program design is based on the relationship between Introductory and Further Studies courses. The relationship should be clear. The committee will begin publishing information that the departments have provided regarding these connections in order to aid students and advisors in building coherent plans of study.

Guideline 4: Some designated Further Studies courses have "hidden" prerequisites - students enrolling learn only when class begins that if they lack certain courses they should drop. In the first place, this poses a "truth in advertising" problem, and for General Education purposes, it is not appropriate that a student need course work outside the general education curriculum to complete work in that curriculum.

Guidelines 5 & 6: Since the program requires students to take certain sequences of courses (Introductory/Further Studies) it must offer the courses it requires. Students should know when they take an Introductory course that they can complete the sequence they have begun within a reasonable time. Students and advisors need good information if they are to plan a coherent course of study. The availability of General Education courses should be regular and predictable. When departments cannot make this level of commitment to offering a course, they are really saying that it is primarily an elective course, not a required one. That decision is the department's business, but the availability of courses required by the General Education program is not only the department's business. Quite simply, courses that cannot be offered regularly should not be designated as Further Studies courses, whatever their theoretical merits for fulfilling that role. Departments have the right to change their Further Studies offerings over time.