Dear Faculty and Staff:
We write on behalf of the General Education Implementation Task Force (or GE Task Force) with an update about our work and a call for new courses. The new GE program does not have an official name yet, and we are calling it “GE 5” until it does.
First, we would like to state the obvious and acknowledge that now is not a good time to implement a new GE program. This summer the campus is switching from Blackboard to Brightspace, and many faculty are moving to temporary offices during construction work in JFT. The ongoing pandemic and conflict across the globe have worn us down yet continue to alarm. Unfortunately, SUNY has decided that we must have our new GE program in place for first-time students enrolling in fall 2023, and we must act fast to make sure there are enough GE courses for them.
The GE Task Force has been working to make the transition as efficient, smooth, and easy as possible. Because the student learning outcomes (SLOs) in The Arts, Mathematics (and Quantitative Reasoning), Natural Sciences (and Scientific Reasoning), Social Sciences, and World Languages change so little from GE 4 to GE 5, we have created a process of recertification that departments can use to have their GE 4 courses in these areas approved for the same areas in GE 5. (See our all-fs email of March 14 for more details.) The deadline for submissions for recertification is May 1. This will allow relevant offices to begin GE 5 administrative work during the summer. Some departments have already submitted their courses for recertification. Thank you!
The other five GE 5 Knowledge and Skills areas are Communication - Written and Oral; Diversity: Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice; Humanities; US History and Civic Engagement; and World History and Global Awareness. The SLOs for these categories differ to some extent from the SLOs for the same or similar areas in GE 4 (bearing in mind that the GE 5 World History area replaces Western Civilization and World Civilizations). Courses in these GE 4 areas will need to show that they meet the revised SLOs to be approved for GE 5. We will use a streamlined major course revision process for these courses. More information about that is coming on or about April 1.
We will also provide guidance for adapting GE 4 courses to the revised GE 5 SLOs in these areas. We believe that many GE 4 courses already satisfy the GE 5 SLOs or need minor changes only. To ensure that we have courses in these areas for students entering fall 2023, we will request that departments submit their GE 5 major course revisions by September 1, 2022.
Departments may want to shift some of their GE 4 courses to different GE 5 areas. They may also want to propose existing non-GE courses for inclusion in GE 5. Such changes will require major course revisions. More information about these proposals is coming on or about April 1.
Last, GE 5 includes two Core Competencies, Critical Thinking and Reasoning, and Information Literacy. As with GE 4, the SLOs of these competencies will be satisfied by courses in major programs. We will issue guidance in the near future about how this part of GE will be handled.
Call for new course proposals
Establishing a new GE program offers an opportunity to examine your courses and your department’s curriculum. Though we expect that most GE 5 offerings in fall 2023 will be revised GE 4 courses, we also encourage you to look at the SLOs for the Knowledge and Skills areas relevant to your program and consider whether they spark ideas for new courses.
- Given the SLOs in a specific Knowledge and Skills area, what course could I design to meet them?
- Would this course allow me to engage first-year students and others in new ways?
- Would this course fill a gap in my department’s curriculum?
New courses take time to create. If you already have ideas for a new GE 5 course, take the time you need to develop your proposal, then follow the established process. The new course proposal form is available on the Curriculum Committee’s website, and a GE 5 Narrative Supplement will be published there soon.
Students take general education courses to satisfy requirements, but sometimes these courses unexpectedly give them experiences that change their view of themselves and the world and set them on new paths they did not envision before college. They are an opportunity to showcase the value of your academic field and reach students who might otherwise never think about the ideas and problems that inspire you. If you think you could accomplish these things in a new course that would be appropriate for GE 5, we hope you will develop and propose it.
Thank you.
Laurel M. Garrick Duhaney
Associate Provost & Co-chair of the GE Implementation Task Force
Bruce Milem
Associate Professor of Philosophy & Co-chair of the GE Implementation Task Force
