2008 Woodie Awards
SectionsGEP course could soon be left off requirements
Sarah Khan
Issue date: 11/9/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
Students may find one less general education requirement on their transcript in the near future. The committee on General Education and Intercollegiate Programs has proposed that the GEP 397 capstone course requirement be dropped from the general education curriculum.
There are still a few more steps in the process before students can remove it from their future class schedule John Catau, a member of the Committee on General Education, said.
"Even though our committee voted as a whole to delete the course from the required curriculum, it still has to be approved by the Faculty Senate in December as well as Dr. Nietzel and Dr. McCarthy," Catau said.
According to Pauline Nugent, chair-elect of the faculty senate, there were complications with carrying on the GEP course.
"It has been very difficult to get faculty to teach the course," Nugent said.
Even students that are currently enrolled will be released from taking the course.
"Assuming all is approved, the students will have the choice of either taking the course or not to graduate," Catau said.
There is some concern about dropping the requirement considering the GEP 397 course was designed to incorporate the public affairs mission into the student curriculum.
"Public affairs are part of the fabric of this university," Thomas Kane, faculty senate chairman, said. "The faculty realizes that if the course is dropped we will need to find a new way to embrace public affairs in our required curriculum. Finding a way to properly replace it is currently a part of our discussions before it is brought up for debate at a faculty senate meeting."
According to Nugent, some alterations to the currently required IDS 110 class are being discussed to replace what was intended to be fulfilled by GEP 397.
"I am hoping we can do some special things with the IDS course to save what was very good about the GEP course," Nugent said.
Nugent also said that the importance of the public affairs mission is not being forgotten with this change in curriculum.
"Students still need to be aware of how important it is to be involved public citizens," Nugent said. "It's something that is extremely important for every student regardless of the career they may be going into in the future."
The faculty senate will announce their decision on the future of the capstone course after their Dec. 6 meeting. The meetings are open to the student body.
There are still a few more steps in the process before students can remove it from their future class schedule John Catau, a member of the Committee on General Education, said.
"Even though our committee voted as a whole to delete the course from the required curriculum, it still has to be approved by the Faculty Senate in December as well as Dr. Nietzel and Dr. McCarthy," Catau said.
According to Pauline Nugent, chair-elect of the faculty senate, there were complications with carrying on the GEP course.
"It has been very difficult to get faculty to teach the course," Nugent said.
Even students that are currently enrolled will be released from taking the course.
"Assuming all is approved, the students will have the choice of either taking the course or not to graduate," Catau said.
There is some concern about dropping the requirement considering the GEP 397 course was designed to incorporate the public affairs mission into the student curriculum.
"Public affairs are part of the fabric of this university," Thomas Kane, faculty senate chairman, said. "The faculty realizes that if the course is dropped we will need to find a new way to embrace public affairs in our required curriculum. Finding a way to properly replace it is currently a part of our discussions before it is brought up for debate at a faculty senate meeting."
According to Nugent, some alterations to the currently required IDS 110 class are being discussed to replace what was intended to be fulfilled by GEP 397.
"I am hoping we can do some special things with the IDS course to save what was very good about the GEP course," Nugent said.
Nugent also said that the importance of the public affairs mission is not being forgotten with this change in curriculum.
"Students still need to be aware of how important it is to be involved public citizens," Nugent said. "It's something that is extremely important for every student regardless of the career they may be going into in the future."
The faculty senate will announce their decision on the future of the capstone course after their Dec. 6 meeting. The meetings are open to the student body.
Viewing Comments 1 - 6 of 7
Jeremiah Sherrill
posted 11/09/07 @ 11:07 AM CST
So students will have the choice to not take the class, but according to Catau, if we don't take the class we can't graduate?
"Assuming all is approved, the students will have the choice of either taking the course or not to graduate,"
Melissa Davis
posted 11/09/07 @ 12:58 PM CST
Jeremiah, I believe your problem is merely a problem in syntax.
I think he meant "students will have the choice to take the course or not in order to graduate. (Continued…)
madmax
posted 11/09/07 @ 1:35 PM CST
Oops. I opened the comment before Melissa replied, but didn't get a chance to finish it until after she replied.
Brandon Davis
posted 11/09/07 @ 3:43 PM CST
Maybe I'm missing something, but what the heck does "Public Affairs" mean in this context, anyway? I've already taken my GEP397 class and let's just say that it was a joke. (Continued…)
Samuel M Holliday
posted 11/11/07 @ 4:36 PM CST
I am very impressed they are finally getting around to dropping this joke of a class. I tooka course titled Sophmore Seminar at OTC for my AA degree and it fulfilled the same purpose. (Continued…)
jheet25
Joshua Heeter
posted 11/11/07 @ 4:44 PM CST
I'm a big fan of the idea of the capstone course. However, I do feel it needs to be reexamined by the faculty and changed to fulfill its original purpose: to educate students in matters of public affairs. (Continued…)
Post a Comment