News

GEs to have minor affect on current students

by Amy Borer
Editorial Director
and
Martha I. Fernandez
Features Editor

With the closing of the school year, preparations and adjustments for imple­mentation of the new General Education requirements have begun.

The new requirements, which will be in effect for incoming freshmen to fulfill, will also affect the existing student body.

“I think they will have minimal impact on current students,” said Dr. John Gingrich, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “The only possible impact is that some of the courses that were four-hour courses before will now be three-hour courses.”

Some students have expressed con­cern over the conversion of some courses into three units instead of four.

According to Debi Stanley, director of academic advising, seniors who are affected by the change and need the extra unit to graduate are being advised to find a one-unit course or take an inde­pendent study.

“I try to warn them in advance to be careful and look at the unit value and make sure that you’ve planned ahead,” said Stanley. “The number of units [required to graduate) hasn’t changed, just the configuration.”

While most of the new GEs fulfill similar requirements as the old ones, two new areas are still on the drawing table, waiting for implementation. The service learning and international/inter­cultural courses in the new curriculum are yet to be prepared.

The service learning project requires 30 hours of community service in a tutoring environment, homeless shelter or food programs.

“We’re hoping that the experiences students will have will expose them to some of the problems and solutions in dealing with some of the problems we have today,” said Dr. Gingrich.

The one-unit course will be offered in a University 100 format, where students will be active in service organizations and reflect on their experience. Students will be expected lo take this course in their sophomore year.

“We’re oping that this will carry over into their personal lives,” said Dr. Gingrich.

According to Stanley, this course is expected to be piloted by about 20 students who have expressed interest and will take it as an elective.

Likewise, the international/intercul­tural courses, along with some of the interdisciplinary courses, have not been created. These courses will be upper­ division and are expected to be complet­ed by students during their last two years at the University.

Dr. Gingrich said spreading GE courses across all four years of college is a recommendation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), ULV’s accrediting body.

“It takes a certain amount of maturity by the students to integrate various dis­ciplines,” said Dr. Gingrich.

However, transfer students coming to the University next year will enter under the current GE requirements.

“To add a whole bunch of new requirements before we even have all of the courses for them just isn’t right,” said Dr. Gingrich.

The University has also created a GE coordinator position, whose duties will include finding agencies and placing for the service learning course, working on the international/ intercultural compo­nent and assessing the program.

A search committee for the position has been formed, consisting of Kamal Bhate, VISTA volunteer for service learning; sophomore Stephanie Carson; Dr. Peggy Redman, assistant professor of education; Catherine Henley Erickson, professor of English; and Dr. Aghop Der-Karabetian, assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Academic advisers will be undergo­ing training during the summer months to learn more about the new requirements. Incoming freshmen will begin registration on June 20.

Amy Borer, Features Editor
Amy Borer
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Martha I. Fernandez, Features Editor
Martha I. Fernandez
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