Appendix 5

General Education Task Force
Minutes
May 2, 2005

Members Present: Hadley Wood, Paul Kinsman, Sandy Foster, Pat Leslie, Bill Wood, Dale Shellhamer, Victor Labenske, Lisa Bernal, Kerry Fulcher, Bettina Pedersen

Members Not Able to Attend: Patrick Allen, Keith Bell (consultant), Kim Schaeffer, Herb Prince, Caye Smith

1. Prayer
Hadley Wood

2. Minutes from April 18, 2005

Overwhelmingly approved.

3. Core Values—Results of faculty form
After utilizing various methods of evaluating the faculty survey, it is clear that the following are, in order, considered to be the most important aspects of general education: 1) Critical Thinking (the overwhelming first choice); 2) Span of General Human Experience; 3) Key aspects of Christianity; 4) Disciplinary Ways of Knowing; 5) What one Believes Spiritually.

After these five, there is a significant drop to the next most important aspects, such as: 6) Aspects of the Self; 7) Racial and Gender Diversity; 8) Information and Technology Literacy; 9) Personally Experience Teamwork; 10) Importance of Service; 11) Mathematical Problem-Solving.

The desires of the faculty are clear in terms of what they value in a general education experience. The fact that there was such a significant drop between the first five and the last six is significant and somewhat relieving. The directions to be pursued by the General Education Task Force in the future are made much clearer as a result of this survey.

4. Additional GE features for consideration
A summation of potential future directions was reviewed by the committee. It included the Desires we have for our students, the Goals (Student Outcomes) we have for them, and the Guidelines for the general education program which will direct future efforts of the task force.

5. FYE Agendas—Psychology and Writing
There are a great deal of shared ideas between psychology and writing courses in the general education program, such as: 1) Concern with the other; 2) Ability to listen; 3) Disciplined work habits; 4) Critical thinking skills. It is clear that the goals of each also share significant common ground. Faculty in the two departments are going to continue to explore ways in which the two departments could develop a shared general education course.

6. Year’s Summary
The committee reviewed a summary of work accomplished in 2004-05. Work included significant assessment activities, development of core values for general education, brainstorming ideas for a new general education program, and various points of ongoing business.