General education committee given OK to draft guidelines for certain classes

By Amy Geiszler-Jones

In its last meeting of the fall semester, Faculty Senate agreed to allow the general education committee to draft guidelines that could lead to a review process of further studies courses.

Further studies classes have ballooned out of proportion to the basic skills, introductory, and issues and perspectives courses offered in the general education curriculum. Approximately 300 courses are labeled further studies classes, having been declared such by the departments offering them.

“There’s not a month that goes by that there aren’t additions,” said Delores Craig-Moreland, a criminal justice associate professor who chairs the general education committee. The morning of the Faculty Senate meeting Dec. 12, she had received seven additional listings.

Sen. A.J. Mandt pointed out that while further studies courses are supposed to correlate with introductory courses, that’s not the case with the current offerings. In some cases there are no introductory classes for further studies classes and vice versa.

Once the general education committee has drafted guidelines for further studies courses, the guidelines will be presented to the Faculty Senate for discussion.

The next Faculty Senate meeting is at 3:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 25, in 107 Clinton Hall. Items on the agenda include a visit from new WSU President Donald Beggs, an update from faculty members on the ad hoc parking committee and the university’s exclusive beverage agreement.