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Office of General Education

Student communication shared concerning changes to Writing in the Major Proficiency and Experience

The following communication was sent to all undergraduate students on the Common Curriculum from the Office of General Education.

Subject: Changes to your Writing in the Major Proficiency and Experience

November 10, 2022

Dear SMU Common Curriculum Students:

We are writing to you with important information about changes to the Writing in the Major (WiM) Proficiency of the Common Curriculum (CC) that were made to make it easier to administer and fulfill.

  1. We will be tracking student completion of the WiM Proficiency through program assessment, rather than through Degree Progress Report (DPR) tracking.
  2. This change will go into effect tomorrow, November 11.
  3. This change will make it easier for departments to administer and assess this Proficiency and for you (students) to fulfill it.

On September 9, 2022, the Council on General Education approved a proposal to change how the Common Curriculum’s  Writing in the Major Proficiency and Experience is tracked on your Degree Progress Report and replace it with program-level Writing in the Major student learning outcome.

What does this mean for you? Ultimately, this Common Curriculum change merely moves tracking from the student level (e.g., on the DPR) to the program level (e.g., program evaluation process). Therefore, you will notice the WiM Proficiency and Experience will no longer appear on your DPR.

Writing in your academic discipline remains important to your undergraduate education at SMU. The knowledge, skills, and abilities SMU expects of our graduates will remain the same, without students having to worry about finding a particular course tagged for the WiM graduation requirement. These learning outcomes will be achieved across one or several of your major-required courses.

Questions related to this change can be directed to your academic advisor, faculty advisor, or the Office of General Education at theccmail@smu.edu.

Sincerely,

Dustin Grabsch 

Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Education & Academic Success

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