To: WSU Student Body

From: Tom Tripp, Chair of General Education Committee

Mary Wack, Vice-Provost of Undergraduate Education
Re: UCORE: Proposed Revision of General Education Requirements
Date: March 25th, 2011

This memorandum describes the revisions we have made to background of the UCORE
proposal (University COmmon REquirements). On the “Revising General Education”
website, you will find the version that was passed by AAC on March 23rd. It
incorporates feedback we received on the March 9th draft passed by the General
Education Committee and sent to faculty. Per fall 2010 discussion in the Senate
regarding proposed learning goals, the revised goals have been included with the new
requirements.

Background of the 3-23-11 Revision

We posted the 3-9-11 draft on the General Education website, and requested feedback
from WSU faculty, staff and students via a messages sent on e-mail and reported in
WSU Today and WSU Announcements. Although we received only about a dozen
posts of feedback, two particular aspects of feedback stand out.

First, several people expressed strong concern that “Global Diversity” focused mainly
on cultural heterogeneity and not enough on social justice within the United States.
Also, in private messages, the Association for Faculty Diversity expressed this concern.
Thus, in the 3-23-11 draft we significantly rewrote Global Diversity to include more of a
focus on social justice within the United States.

Second, there was some confusion about what the Integrative Capstone course entails.
Thus, in the 3-23-11 draft we rewrote the course description to emphasize integration,
application, and closure.

Finally, we tweaked terminology here and there to make sure that terms were consistent
within and across the Program and Learning Goal sections of the UCORE proposal.

Background of the 3-9-11 Revision

In September 2010, the General Education Committee posted a draft of a proposed

new General Education program, dubbed “University Learning Requirements” (ULRs).
The proposed ULRs were designed to specifications found in the 2009, 51-page report
of the General Education Visioning Committee, which was tasked by the Provost to
consider new possibilities for structuring general education at WSU in light of current
national literature and models, and to conduct an internal review of issues at WSU.

After the release of both the GEVC report in spring 2010, and the draft of the ULRs in
September 2010, public forums were held throughout the university, on all campuses,
and online. At the end of October 2010, the GE committee collated all the feedback
from these forums and from counter-proposals, and analyzed the feedback, discovering
16 common themes of concerns and possible improvements. In January and February
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of 2011, the GE committee next considered alternative ULR features to address each
theme, then selected the best options in light of current and foreseeable information and
trends. These selections constitute the revision of the ULRs, now UCORE, that was
posted on March 9th.

Quick Comparison

Current  GE   9-­9-­10  ULR   3-­9-­11    UCORE  

TIER  1   No  Tiers   No  Tiers  
GenEd  110    [A]     First  Year  Seminar   Roots  of  Contemporary  Issues    
             (enrollment  
Gen  Ed  111  [A]                                                      c    ap  
           3      5)  
    (taught  by  History)  
(taught  by  any  college)  
 
Written  Comm.  [W]     Written  Communication   Written  Communication  
Science  [Q]      
Mathematics   Quantitative  Reasoning   Quantitative  Reasoning  
Proficiency  [N]  
TIER  2      
Communication     Communication  (other)   Communication  (other)  
[C  or  W]  
Physical  science  [P]   Inquiry  in  the  Natural  Sci.   Inquiry  in  the  Natural  Sciences  
Biological  science    [B]   (A  or  B)  
A   B  
—  Physical  Sci.     —  Sci  101  
—  Biological  Sci.   —  Sci  102  
—    1  lab    
 
 
Social  Science  [S]     Inquiry  in  the  Social  Sci.   Inquiry  in  the  Social  Sciences  
Arts  and  Humanities   Inquiry  in  the  Humanities   Inquiry  in  the  Humanities  
[H]  
Social  science  or  Arts   Inquiry  in  the  Creative   Inquiry  in  the  Creative  &  
and  Humanities   Arts   Professional  Arts  
 
Intercultural    [I,G,K]   Intercultural  Engagement   Global  Diversity  
American  Diversity   Civic  Engagement    
[D]  0  credits  
                                                                                                                                                 
TIER  3      
 
Tier  3  [T]   Integrative  Capstone   Integrative  Capstone  
                                                                                                                                                 
TOTAL:  40-­43  cr.   TOTAL:      34  credits   TOTAL:      11  courses  or  34  
All  outside  major   Inside  or  Outside  Major   credits  
No  more  than  3  courses  taken  
within  major  

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Changes from the Fall 2010 proposal are intended to address WSU community
feedback, especially the most common themes of:

• inadequate emphasis on scientific literacy,

• a lack of required history,
• the prohibitive resource requirements of a first year course capped at 35
students,
• lack of an integrative, “big ideas” course
• the inability of some regional campuses to offer enough fine arts courses
• the perceived implausibility of service learning
• the remote possibility of students taking most of their GE courses inside their
majors, thus minimizing the breadth of subjects they learn

Therefore, this proposal:

• adds scientific literacy to the proposed learning goals, and devotes more credits
to developing it;
• replaces the smaller First Year Seminar with the larger, history-based exploration
of big issues and big ideas;
• defines “creative arts” more broadly to include professional arts programs that
the regional campuses do have, such as Architecture and Creative Media &
Digital Culture;
• removes the “Civic Engagement” requirement which was (mis)perceived as
requiring all students to seek off-campus service-learning;
• specifies a limit on the number of courses that can be taken inside one’s major.

At the same time, the proposal keeps the widely-desired features of:

• a reduction in overall credits

• elimination of the tier system (without eliminating vertical alignment)
• an emphasis on providing both global perspectives and engagement with issues
of American diversity
• a breadth of disciplines
• an easing of the ability to change majors without having to retake GE credits
• a capstone experience

Overall, the General Education Committee believes that this set of features represents a
solid improvement over the current program that lays the groundwork for additional
improvements when budgetary circumstances allow for investment in the heart of
undergraduate education.

Assessment Plan

In order to devote sufficient time to consideration of the requirements, the Faculty

Senate leadership has requested the General Education Committee to defer
presentation of the assessment plan until the fall.
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Budgetary issues:

The GEC proceeded under provostial assurance that the resources for ongoing
teaching in the new program are those currently held within the colleges. In other
words, the proposal does not require moving resources across colleges in order to be
implemented. It should also result in a reduction of “service” teaching obligations to
non-majors, thereby freeing some resources to be reinvested in the majors.

Workshops will be held Summer and Fall 2011 on implementing the new requirements
and applying for UCORE status for courses. There will be a small competitive grants
program for course redesign.

Implementation:

If the proposal is passed by the Faculty Senate this Spring (2011), it will become
effective for the entering class of Fall 2012. It will have no impact on the transferable
associates’ degrees, but should ease transfer for students without AA and related
degrees. Note that to give the community colleges the required two-years warning,
UCORE will go into effect for all transfer students Fall 2013.

Current GER courses will need to reapply for UCORE status in the new system in Fall
2011. The standing General Education Committee, which approves GER courses
currently, will approve courses for the new system, which may require temporary
expansion of membership to meet the workload. The GEC will be renamed
appropriately.

Category designators (to replace the current “alphabet soup”) will be determined in
conjunction with the Registrar’s Office and the SIS project team.

Additional Note to Vancouver Students from Tom Tripp

If you would like to provide feedback, the Senate and General Education Committee
would like to hear your views. To voice them, just post at the Revising General
Education website at:
http://universitycollege.wsu.edu/forum/YetAnotherForum.NET/default.aspx?g=forum&c=
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