From: "Maureen Sevigny" (sevignym@oit.edu)
Subject: Meeting on Gen Ed Oct 19th

The Interinstitutional Faculty Senate (IFS) and the OIT Faculty Senate urge all faculty and other interested parties to attend a meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 19th during College Hour (2PM) at PV 206 to discuss statewide proposals regarding a general education transfer module.

The IFS is holding similar meetings on all OUS campuses during October to solicit faculty input and concerns. IFS President Peter Gilkey (Professor, U of O) will be attending all the campus meetings. A report from these meetings will be presented to the State Board of Higher Education on November 5th during the regular Board meeting. We hope it will also form the basis for a final proposal that can be taken back to the Faculty Senates at each campus for review (and approval) during Winter term.

The basic idea of a transfer module is to make it easier for students to transfer between Oregon public institutions, both 2-year and 4-year. It is intended to be a component of each institution's general education requirements but NOT replace it with a common core.

The current proposal can be found at http://www.ous.edu/aca/GENEDT_9_15_04.pdf . It is a modification of the proposal OIT faculty presented in June and is similar to the model used in Ohio since 1991.

Since OIT's mission is noticeably different from other OUS institutions, we need to review this proposal critically to ensure it would work for us and our students.

There is a concern brewing that the legislature may mandate general education requirements (including a common core, common course numbering, and common outcomes) unless we can come up with a viable alternative. Clearly it's better for faculty to determine curriculum than to have it handed down to us.

Please plan to attend this meeting to learn more about the proposal and provide your questions and comments. If we are to have a credible voice in this statewide process it is critically important that we have a strong showing of faculty at this meeting. Please urge all of your colleagues to attend.

Thank you.
Maureen Sevigny
IFS Senator