From: "Carson, Mina" (mcarson@oregonstate.edu)

As an OSU Senator to the Inter-Institutional Faculty Senate, I join Robert Iltis in urging interested faculty members to attend the meeting at 3 pm Thursday, October 21 (Prof. Iltis says 4 pm, but I believe the official meeting time is 3-5) in ALS 4000. Dan Edge, Kelvin Koong (now retired from IFS to fulfill his new responsibilities) and I have been involved in the IFS discussions about the proposed General Education Transfer Module, and any one of us would welcome the opportunity to talk with any of you in greater depth about the educational and political ramifications of these discussions. The new Board of Higher Education has taken as one of its core missions to smooth the transfer process among Oregon institutions. In addition, (state of) Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney told our IFS meeting that several Oregon legislators are ready to introduce bills in the coming session that would mandate some form of common higher ed core. You see that this is a hot topic right now. Please attend this meeting if you possibly can. Be sure to sign in when you come. The more faculty interest we can demonstrate, the greater the faculty input on any new transfer packages. Thanks, all. Mina Carson IFS Senator (Dept. of History, CLA) mobile ph 541-760-0182

I am one of the Faculty Senators for CLA. This morning I received the notice youÕll find below of a proposal to introduce a Common Core Curriculum that would be easily transferred among the community colleges and universities in the state. Because of the potential impact of such legislation on students, faculty and institutions, I encourage you to read the various attachments, to attend the ÒTown HallÓ meeting (4:00 p.m., 10-21 in ALS 4000) and to share your views with the Faculty Senate Executive Committee, or the Senate President, or your CLA Senators.

Thanks for considering this material.

Robert Iltis Robert S. Iltis, Ph.D. Chair, Department of Speech Communication Oregon State University 541-737-2461 541-737-4443 (fax)

Senators are urged share the below information with colleagues and all are welcome to attend the following meeting.

Common Core Legislation in 2005 Legislative Session

Discussions around the Oct 7 and 8 OUS Board meeting included two proposed sources of a common core curriculum for Oregon's 17 community colleges and 7 public universities. A few legislators appear to be drafting such legislation and the Joint Boards of Accreditation Committee has submitted a specific General Education Transfer Module (http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~ifs/dir04/GENEDT_9_15_04.pdf).

On Oct 21 from 3:00 to 5:00 in ALS 4000, OSUs Faculty Senate Executive Committee and IFS will sponsor a town hall meeting to solicit faculty input and reaction to these proposals. A panel of representatives from the OSU Faculty Senate, IFS and community colleges will describe the proposals and receive the responses of OSU's faculty. Other details on the proposals and process can be obtained at http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~ifs/dir04/dirMBF/MBF.html, starting with item 18. Examples or observations from other states are available at http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~ifs/dir04/dirTGEC/TGEC.html

Faculty concerned with the structure of a common core and with the methods by which curricular change occurs should be interested in this town hall, and are encouraged to attend.

By the end of October each OUS campus will have held a meeting on this issue. The outcomes of these meetings will be communicated as soon as possible to all faculty senate presidents and reported by IFS at its December meeting.

W. Daniel Edge OSU IFS Senator Head, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Oregon State University, 104 Nash Corvallis, OR 97331-3803 (541) 737-2910 Fax (541) 737-3590 daniel.edge@oregonstate.edu http://fw.oregonstate.edu/