AA/PPS 01.02.33 - General Education Council

POLICY STATEMENT

Texas State University is committed to maintaining a general education council to ensure mandate compliance.

1. SCOPE

   1. This policy and procedure statement establishes the General Education Council (GEC), outlines the GEC’s charge, and outlines the procedures for membership and meetings.

   2. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) mandates that universities will provide a general education program of at least 30 hours for baccalaureate degrees. The state of Texas has assigned the oversight responsibility of the Texas General Education Core Curriculum to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). In guidelines adopted in 1998 and 1999, and revised for fall 2014, the THECB developed the broad categories for the General Education Core Curriculum and established a core curriculum of 42 semester credit hours. Within these broad parameters, each institution of higher education is charged with developing an institutionally appropriate General Education Core Curriculum. At Texas State University, development of recommendations for the institutional General Education Core Curriculum is the responsibility of the GEC, which represents the faculty, departmental or school administrators, and students. The core curriculum should be dynamic, reflecting changes in thinking and society while still honoring the tradition of a liberal education. The core curriculum at Texas State helps students develop principles and habits of social and personal responsibility for living in a diverse world, gain knowledge of human cultures and the natural world, and advance competencies for learning and citizenship, including critical and creative thinking, communication, quantitative reasoning, and teamwork. The GEC is tasked with assessing the content and policies of instruction university-wide in order to ensure that Texas State students achieve the intellectual skills and knowledge that will prepare them for private, public, and professional lives.

   3. The GEC, in cooperation with the associate vice president for Academic Success (AVPAS) and dean of University College, will consider curriculum and policy recommendations (e.g., changes in the structure or definitions of the primary components of Texas State’s General Education Core Curriculum).

   4. The GEC will forward its recommendations, along with a written statement of the AVPAS and dean of University Colleges’ evaluation, to the provost and vice president for Academic Affairs (VPAA). Within 60 days, the provost and VPAA will take appropriate action and communicate such to the GEC via the AVPAS and dean of University College.

   5. The GEC will be listed in the Roster of Councils, Committees, and Teams.

2. STRUCTURE

   1. The GEC will consist of representatives from the following areas:

      1. two appointed faculty from the colleges of Applied Arts, McCoy College of Business Administration, Education, Fine Arts and Communication, Health Professions, Liberal Arts, and Science and Engineering;

      2. one appointed faculty representative from the University College and the Honors College;

      3. two department chairs or school directors;

      4. two undergraduate students;

      5. an ex-officio, non-voting academic advisor; and

      6. the ex-officio, non-voting chair of the University Curriculum Committee (UCC), when this faculty member is not a GEC member.

      The GEC will consist of 21-22 members, 20 of who will vote. The AVPAS and Dean of University College will be a non-voting chair of the GEC.

3. PROCEDURES FOR TERMS OF OFFICE

   1. The college and department chair or school director representatives will serve staggered, three-year terms.

   2. The student representatives, the ex-officio, a non-voting academic advisor, and the non-elected chair of the UCC will serve one-year terms.

4. PROCEDURES FOR SELECTION OF MEMBERS

   1. Faculty representatives will be tenured, voting faculty, as defined in the Faculty Constitution (excluding chairs or directors), or senior lecturers who have been appointed by the college deans in consultation with their department chairs and school directors. Each college will select two representatives and two alternates (with the exception of the Honors College and the University College, who will select one representative and one alternate). In order to ensure the broadest faculty representation, only one faculty representative will come from any one department or school. The alternates are exempted from this restriction. No faculty member can be selected from a department or school with a chair or director representative.

   2. Each spring, the AVPAS and dean of University College will notify each college dean about GEC vacancies for the next academic year. The appropriate college deans and their chairs or directors will appoint or re-appoint representatives to replace faculty representatives whose terms expire. Each college will convey the results of its selection to the faculty member and the AVPAS and dean of University College. The AVPAS and dean of University College will report the changes to the committee membership for inclusion in the Roster of Councils, Committees, and Teams.

   3. The two chair or director representatives will be selected in a process administered by the chair of the Council of Chairs. No chair or director can be selected if the academic department already has a faculty representative on the GEC.

   4. The vice president for Student Success, with the advice of the president of Student Government, will select the undergraduate student representatives, and the AVPAS and dean of the University College will select the ex-officio, non-voting academic advisor from the undergraduate advisors.

   5. If the chair of the UCC is not an elected member of the GEC, this faculty member will serve as an ex-officio, non-voting member, acting as a liaison between the GEC and the UCC.

5. GENERAL PROCEDURES

   1. The GEC will regularly meet each long semester on Monday afternoons from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. An agenda will be prepared and published by the AVPAS and dean of University College. Formal recommendations will be circulated to the GEC at least one week prior to the scheduled meeting.

   2. Standard parliamentary procedures will be honored. The GEC must have a quorum of ten voting members to conduct business. A simple majority will carry an issue.

   3. Regular attendance is expected of all representatives, or their designated alternates. If a representative or alternate is unable to attend, a proxy may be designated by the representative in consultation with the appropriate dean or the chair of the Council of Chairs. The AVPAS and dean of University College will be notified that a proxy will attend. The proxy will be furnished with appropriate materials for the meeting and will be a voting member for that meeting.

   4. All meetings, except those dealing with personnel issues, will be open.

   5. Departments and schools must prepare a formal request using the Course Inventory Management (CIM) system via the CatsWeb Faculty & Staff menu, including appropriate GEC documentation, in order for the GEC to consider an existing or a new course for inclusion in the General Education Core Curriculum. If a new course is not recommended for inclusion in the General Education Core Curriculum, the department or school may still propose the course to the UCC, but the course will not be approved for the General Education Core Curriculum without recommendation by the GEC.

   6. The GEC has responsibility for the review and audit of all courses identified as part of the General Education Core Curriculum. The GEC may require that departments and schools discuss the results of assessment, and the GEC may recommend that a course be removed from the General Education Core Curriculum. The AVPAS and dean of University College will communicate the results of the review and audit process to the appropriate departments and schools.

6. REVIEWERS OF THIS PPS

   1. Reviewer of this PPS includes the following:

      Position	Date
      Associate Vice President for Academic Success and Dean of University College	February 1 E3Y

7. CERTIFICATION STATEMENT

   This PPS has been approved by the following individuals in their official capacities and represents Texas State Academic Affairs policy and procedure from the date of this document until superceded.

   Associate Vice President for Academic Success and Dean of University College; senior reviewer of this PPS

   Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs