Policy

General Education Core Committee

General Education Core Committee - Bylaws

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Date Originally Approved: 09/17/2013
Revised: 08/29/2019

 

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Description

 

            The General Education Core Committee is a standing committee that serves to provide continuity in the direction and assessment of the General Education Core (GEC) curriculum. It is not the role of this committee to dictate GEC content, but rather to assess the quality, effectiveness, relevance and richness of the GEC curriculum and work with the faculty to make any needed improvements. Furthermore, this committee endeavors to facilitate a GEC curriculum that provides the appropriate breadth and depth of education in the liberal arts to ensure that graduates leave CU with a general knowledge base beyond their content area that is highly relevant and marketable.

 

By-Laws

 

1.         Committee Composition

 

1.1       The General Education Core Committee will consist of members that include representation from each of the academic areas represented in the GEC (i.e. English, Social Science, History, Math, Speech, Fine Arts, and Science), one representative from each academic School of the University not represented by the preceding, and the Executive Director of Academic Support serving as Chair.

 

1.2       Each school representative on the GEC Committee will be recommended by the Dean of the respective school and appointed by the Executive Director of Academic Support at the conclusion of each previous representative’s term of service when there is a vacancy. 

 

1.3       All members except the chair of the GEC Committee have a term of service of four years and are limited to two consecutive terms.  The Chair has a term of service of four years and has no term limits. Representatives from Science and English will roll off in Fall 2020, Social Science and History in Fall 2021, Math and Nursing in Fall 2022, Speech and Fine Arts in Fall 2023, Science and English in Fall 2024, Social Science and History in Fall 2025, Math and Nursing in Fall 2026, and Speech and Fine Arts in Fall 2027.

 

1.4       The GEC Committee will operate with the Executive Director as Chair.

 

1.4a1  It is the role of the Committee Chair to communicate weekly with and take in advisement tasks recommended by the School Deans.

 

1.4a2   It is the role of the Committee Chair to communicate monthly with the Cumberland University President to present policies and recommendations made by the GEC Committee.

1.4a3   It is the role of the Committee Chair to guide the operations of the GEC Committee.

 

1.4a4   It is the role of the Committee Chair to ensure that proceedings of this committee’s works are appropriately communicated to the faculty.

 

1.4b     A committee member will be appointed at each meeting to record, maintain, and appropriately post minutes for Committee meetings.  Minutes for Committee meetings will be presented to the GEC Committee membership and approved prior to posting for Faculty of the University.

 

1.5       The GEC Committee will meet twice per semester and when circumstances create necessity.

 

2.         Role of Committee

 

2.1       The Committee is responsible for the assessment of the GEC.

 

2.1a. This assessment includes evaluating the degree to which graduates have attained the GEC competencies, the effectiveness of the curriculum (with regards to the employment market and integrity of a liberal arts education), and curriculum relevance.

 

2.1b. The Committee is responsible for selecting appropriate measurement tools for the assessment of the GEC in conjunction with the appropriate content area faculty.

 

2.1c. The Committee is responsible for making recommendations in conjunction with appropriate faculty for action plans to improve student learning of GEC based on assessment data and will monitor the status of the action plans and their effect on student learning.

 

2.1d. The Committee is responsible for communicating GEC assessment results to the Director of Insitutional Effectiveness and the University.

 

2.2       The Committee is responsible for leading a faculty-wide evaluation of the GEC, including peer comparisons of Liberal Arts GEC curriculum, every four years, documenting trends in GEC curriculum and reporting on the relevance of CU’s GEC curriculum. The next evaluations will be in the Spring semester of 2021, 2025, and 2029.

 

2.3       The Committee will take into consideration any proposal submitted from outside the GEC Committee to change the GEC curriculum and make recommendations that will be submitted to the University Curriculum Committee (UCC).

 

2.4       This committee plays a supervisory role to facilitate a GEC curriculum that provides the appropriate breadth and depth of education in the liberal arts to ensure that graduates leave CU with a general knowledge base beyond their content area that is highly relevant and marketable.

 

3          Committee Guidelines and Bylaw Interpretation

 

3.1       All decisions made by the GEC Committee will be made by a simple majority vote of the members, as long as a quorum of voting members exists.  A quorum exists when a simple majority of voting members participating in the decision is present at a meeting.

 

3.2       Within the constraints of the constitutional authority of the Board of Trustees, the GEC Committee shall be the final authority with regard to the interpretation of these bylaws, except in cases where there is a conflict with the Board of Trust bylaws.

 

3.3       Upon a majority vote by the GEC Committee membership, amendment(s) may be made to the GEC Committee bylaws.