Categories
Office of General Education

Common Curriculum Course Search updated

The Office of General Education updated the Common Curriculum course search with added breadth and graduation requirement tags to the catalog.

The February 27, 2023 update reflects the following tag additions and removals:

Added:

  • ANTH 3314- Social & Behavioral Sciences (SBS); Global Perspectives (GPS)
  • ARHS 3333- Oral Communication (OC)
  • ARHS 3373- Creativity & Aesthetics (CA)
  • CCPA 3309- Historical Contexts (HC)
  • CEE 1326- Global Perspectives (GPS)
  • GEOL 2308-Exploring Science (ES)
  • HIST 2314- Historical Contexts (HC)
  • HIST 3336- Historical Contexts (HC)
  • RELI 3365- Philosophical, Religious and Ethical Inquiry (PREI)
  • WGST 3340- Literary Analysis and Interpretation (LAI); Human Diversity (HD); Writing (W)
  • WL 3326- Writing (W)
  • WL 3336- Literary Analysis and Interpretation (LAI); Human Diversity (HD); Writing (W)

Removed:

  • PLSC 1360- Philosophical, Religious and Ethical Inquiry (PREI)
  • RELI 3348-Philosophical, Religious and Ethical Inquiry (PREI); Human Diversity (HD)
  • WL 3309- Writing (W)

In addition to the above, SMU Intercessions and SMU Abroad regularly-offered courses (e.g., offered consistently for over three years) were added to encourage students to consider these academic opportunities.

Questions or concerns about the course search update can be directed to theccmail@smu.edu.

Categories
University Testing Center

University Testing Center closed for Spring Break

Following the undergraduate academic calendar, the University Testing Center (UTC) will be closed from March 13 through the 17th. The week after, March 20-24, will have adjusted hours from 8:30am to 4:00pm.

Reach out to universitytestingcenter@smu.edu or 214-768-6064 for any questions!

Categories
Office of Engaged Learning Office of Engaged Learning – Research

Summer Research at SMU

The Office of Engaged Learning is looking forward to a busy summer. Read about OEL’s opportunities and activities below.

Summer Research Intensive

This program provides match funding to faculty members hiring Undergraduate Research Assistants during the summer. The student work closely with faculty mentors (up to 30 hours per week), and attend weekly professional development workshops. This culminates in a research presentation competition.

Faculty applications are OPEN through March 10, 2023.

Summer Research Symposium

This weekly lunch series features research presentations by SMU faculty and guests. Students in our programs attend, and everyone is welcome. Tentatively scheduled for Wednesdays at noon.

Research Experiences for Undergraduates

These programs are funded by the National Science Foundation and allow students from SMU and around the country to have an immersive research experience and mentorship from our faculty. The two programs this summer are Data Science for Social Good (applications closed) and Modeling and Computations for Complex Systems (applications due March 27).

Engaged Learning Starter Award

This $500 award goes to first-years who identify as a first-generation or underrepresented minority student. The funding allows students to pursue a research or creative project. Students will have coaching sessions with faculty members and Office of Engaged Learning staff through the process. They will present their work on the Fall Research Symposium. Applications are due April 15.

Categories
SMU in Four

Adding Degree Planner to-do item on the my.SMU Student Dashboard

SMU in Four added a to-do item on the my.SMU student dashboard to improve the adoption of the academic planning tool Degree Planner. SMU in Four aspires to have all Common Curriculum undergraduates, approximately 5,200 students, have a complete degree plan on file.

Below is a message sent to all declared and pre-major Common Curriculum students with incomplete degree plans. The message was sent in Message Center within the my.SMU platform.

The Complete Degree Planner button will take students to their to-do items via a deep link. The to-do item text varies slightly based on a student being a declared or pre-major student.

An example of a declared major’s to-do item is below:

An example of a pre-major student’s to-do item is below:

The SMU in Four team will manually update individual students’ to-do item statuses every Monday. Once complete, the to-do item will disappear from the student dashboard.

The status field will not be automatic or instantaneous, and we expect this might cause some student and advisor concerns. If a to-do item remains after the subsequent Monday night, please reach out for assistance.

For questions related to Degree Planner, please visit smu.edu/degreeplanner or email smuinfour@smu.edu.

Categories
Office of General Education

Student emails sent regarding one-time exception to two Common Curriculum Proficiencies & Experiences for COVID-19 cohorts

The following student email communications were sent to affected students on Monday, February 20, related to a previously announced one-time exception to two Common Curriculum Proficiencies & Experiences for COVID-19 cohorts.

In total, 2,493 and 2,143 Common Curriculum students were sent emails confirming a waived graduation requirement for Community Engagement (CE) and Civics & Individual Ethics (CIE), respectively.

Copies of the email communications are below.

To: CE Waived Students (n = 2,493)

From: Office of General Education (gened@smu.edu) 

Title: Your Common Curriculum Community Engagement graduation requirement has been waived

February 20, 2023

Dear Student –

The Office of General Education wants to inform you that your Community Engagement (CE) Proficiency & Experience graduation requirement has been waived.

Recognizing the COVID global pandemic’s impact on students at SMU, the Council on General Education approved a one-time exception for students admitted between Fall 2020 and Spring 2022 under the Common Curriculum. Students within the identified admit cohorts will not be required to complete the Community Engagement and/or Civics & Individual Ethics (CIE) graduation requirements.

As of February 16, your Degree Progress Report (DPR) indicated you would not complete CE via course or individual activity by the conclusion of Spring 2023. Therefore, CE will now appear waived for graduation on your DPR. Learn more about this one-time exception.

Should you have an issue with your DPR, please contact your academic advisor, who may submit a DPR Issue request on your behalf.

We hope this waived expectation reduces stress, recognizes our understanding that doing college during the height of COVID was difficult – which you persisted in, and strengthens your stride as you approach the finish line of graduation.

Sincerely,

Dustin K. Grabsch,  PhD
Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Education & Academic Success

——–

To: CIE Waived Students (n = 2,143)

From: Office of General Education (gened@smu.edu)

Title: Your Common Curriculum Civics & Individual Ethics graduation requirement has been waived

February 20, 2023

Dear Student –

The Office of General Education wants to inform you that your Civics & Individual Ethics (CIE) Proficiency & Experience graduation requirement has been waived.

Recognizing the COVID global pandemic’s impact on students at SMU, the Council on General Education approved a one-time exception for students admitted between Fall 2020 and Spring 2022 under the Common Curriculum. Students within the identified admit cohorts will not be required to complete the Community Engagement (CE) and/or Civics & Individual Ethics graduation requirements.

As of February 16, your Degree Progress Report (DPR) indicated you would not complete CIE via course or individual activity by the conclusion of Spring 2023. Therefore, CIE will now appear waived for graduation on your DPR. Learn more about this one-time exception.

Should you have an issue with your DPR, please contact your academic advisor, who may submit a DPR Issue request on your behalf.

We hope this waived expectation reduces stress, recognizes our understanding that doing college during the height of COVID was difficult – which you persisted in, and strengthens your stride as you approach the finish line of graduation.

Sincerely,

Dustin K. Grabsch,  PhD
Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Education & Academic Success

 

Categories
Office of Engaged Learning Office of Engaged Learning – Research

What are SMU undergraduates researching and creating?

What are SMU undergraduate students researching and creating? Find out through these recent stories on The Office of Engaged Learning’s YouTube channel and blog.

[Video] Engaged Learning Fellows spotlight – “I Want a Body of My Own” with film students Piper Hadley, Anna Butcher, and Kaytlyn Bunting

[Article] Cox Behavioral Lab Spotlight – Sexual Harassment, Vaccines, and Conspiracy Theories

[Article ] Lab Hopping Highlights

Categories
Office of General Education

Approved meeting minutes from the Council on General Education on January 27, 2023

The Council on General Education met on January 27, 2023. The meeting minutes for December 2, 2022 were approved at this meeting. Below is the agenda, and the meeting minutes have now been posted on the General Education website.  

  1. Approval of Agenda for the January 27, 2023 Council on General Education meeting.
  2. Approval of Minutes for the December 2, 2022 Council on General Education meeting.
  3. Common Curriculum Cohort Progression Presentation
  4. Common Curriculum CIE/CE Graduation Requirement Discussion
  5. Common Curriculum CIE/CE Graduation Requirement Exception Proposal for F20; SP21 Admits
  6. Common Curriculum CIE/CE Proactive Plans to Ensure Progression
    • Encourage Course Proposals for CC Tags
    • Encourage Schools/College Participation in Community Engagement
    • CoGE Member visit SMU Community Engagement Council
    • Promote Engage Dallas Awareness Around Faculty/Schools/Colleges

7. Writing Board Membership (Cox & Meadows Representatives)

    • Meeting Dates: 2/24, 3/3, 4/21

8. Office of General Education Updates

    • New Supporting Statement Templates
    • Updated Common Curriculum Petitions in Deployment with Registrar
    • Student Outreach Event Schedule (Pop Ups & CC Workshops)

Meeting and Common Curriculum proposal reminders 

The Council on General Education invites course and approved activity proposals for Common Curriculum general education and graduation requirements 

The proposal deadline is March 22 (for review on 3/31). Literary Analysis and Interpretation (LAI) and Civics & Individual Ethics (CIE) are particularly interesting. Accepted proposals will be tagged at the course level and go into effect for summer 2023. 

Please contact the Office of General Education for questions or proposal development support. 

Categories
Office of General Education Student Academic Engagement & Success

A one-time exception to two Common Curriculum Proficiencies & Experiences for COVID-19 cohorts

The post below was updated on March 3, 2023, to reflect new inclusion criteria for students who started classes in the summer before the Fall of 2022.

The Council on General Education reviewed a report on undergraduate student progress by admit cohort related to each Common Curriculum requirement. The report showed students are progressing well through general education requirements (Foundations and Breadths); however, the Council identified progress concerns within the Proficiency & Experience Graduation requirements.

Recognizing the COVID global pandemic’s impact on students at SMU, the Council of General Education approved a one-time exception for students admitted between Fall 2020 and Spring 2022 under the Common Curriculum. Students starting classes in the summer of 2020 were also included. Students within the identified admit cohorts will not be required to complete the Community Engagement (CE) and Civics & Individual Ethics (CIE) graduation requirements.

Students who meet these requirements via course or individual activity by the conclusion of Spring 2023 will be documented as having satisfied the condition on their Degree Progress Report (DPR). For instance, if a CE individual activity or a CE-tagged course was completed successfully, it will be reflected.

If either CE or CIE is incomplete by the end of Spring 2023, it will appear waived for graduation. A sample DPR below shows the explanatory text for the waived requirement.

These DPR updates will go live in my.SMU on Friday, February 17, 2023. Students will be notified via email on Monday, February 20, 2023.

If faculty and academic advisors discover errors with an affected student’s DPR, please submit a DPR Issues/Requests to the Office of the Registrar.

The Council on General Education does not intend to make additional exceptions to the graduation requirements for future cohorts. It is imperative subsequent student cohorts complete all requirements to qualify for graduation.

Categories
Office of General Education

Automation of AP credit to satisfy specific graduation requirements

Thanks to the Registrar’s Office, the Office of General Education has now automated Advanced Placement (AP) credit (of scores 4 or 5) to satisfy particular Proficiency and Experience graduation requirements. Specifically, AP credit will satisfy the following:

Civics and Individual Ethics (CIE)

  • AP Comparative Government and Politics
  • AP US Government and Politics

Quantitative Applications (QA)

  • AP Chemistry
  • AP Environmental Science
  • AP Macroeconomics
  • AP Microeconomics
  • AP Physics (Mechanics)
  • AP Physics (Electricity and Magnetism)

Therefore, students admitted after fall 2020 need not complete individual petitions to meet applicable graduation requirements. This credit will be reflected on their Degree Progress Report on or before March 20, 2023. Soon after, impacted students will be notified via their SMU email.

Retroactive updates will be made to affected students; future students will receive this credit automatically.

If faculty and academic advisors discover errors with an affected student’s DPR, please submit a DPR Issues/Requests to the Office of the Registrar.

Categories
Office of General Education

Revised Common Curriculum AP, IB, and Transfer Credit Policies for Fall 2023 Catalog

This post was updated on March 17 to reflect modifications to SLR rules for clarity. 

In response to an equity concern raised by the Lyle School of Engineering and supported by the Division of Enrollment Services, the Council on General Education modified Common Curriculum rules to become effective in Fall 2023.

The concern was that current rules privilege high-credit transfer students to the disadvantage of first-year and first-year transfer students. Modifications will be made in the Fall 2023 Catalog to regulations related to (a) Quantitative Reasoning, (b) Second Language, and (c) the ability to fulfill up to three Breath requirements using external credit.

In all cases where petitioning is required, no petition will be necessary if a direct equivalency has been established at SMU through the transfer process. The Council will monitor what percentage of undergraduate students use dual credit to satisfy requirements and what percentage of students satisfy requirements at SMU.

To that end, the following Common Curriculum rules will apply to the Fall 2023 Catalog and forward. These policies will be reflected on the Common Curriculum website on June 1, 2023.

  • All students are required to take one course in fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning Foundation; students may use AP, IB, dual, or transfer credit as well as SMU credit toward fulfillment of the requirement.  
    • One three-credit course is required to ensure that students possess these necessary skills. Students scoring a 4 or 5 on the Calculus AB, Calculus BC, or Statistics AP tests and those scoring 5, 6, or 7 on the IB Mathematics higher-level exam will satisfy this requirement.  
    • Students may petition to count qualifying Math or Statistics transfer or dual or concurrent enrollment courses toward this requirement. Math placement testing is also available through SMU’s Mathematics credit examinations.  
  • All students must take WRTR 1312 and WRTR 1313 (maintain current rules) 
    • FYR and FYT students must take WRTR 1312 and WRTR 1313 at SMU (current rules). 
    • TRN students may use transfer credit to satisfy these requirements (current rules). 
  • All students must demonstrate intermediate proficiency in a Second Language either by passing an approved proficiency exam or taking a course equivalent to the second-semester course at SMU.  
    • FYR, FYT, and TRN students may satisfy this requirement by with dual or concurrent credit equivalent to a 3rd (2401) or a higher-level course at SMU.  
    • FYR, FYT, and TRN students may use AP and IB credit to satisfy this requirement (with an appropriate score).
    • TRN students may satisfy the requirement by transferring two consecutive semesters for a minimum of six-credit hours of the same language taken post-high school (regardless of the transfer equivalency).
    • TRN students may satisfy this requirement with post-high school transfer credit equivalent to one of SMU’s second-semester language courses (e.g., 1402).  
  • All FYR and FYT students will be allowed to fulfill up to three Breadth requirements using external credit.  Students may use any combination of AP, IB, dual, or transfer credit courses to fulfill the Breadth requirements. Only approved AP and IB exams with appropriate scores may be used. 
  • TRN students may fulfill up to seven Breadth requirements using external credit. 
  • In all cases where petitioning is required, no petition will be necessary if a direct equivalency has been established at SMU through the transfer process. 

These new rules above replaced the Fall 2022 Catalog and earlier Common Curriculum rules, which are as follows: 

  • All students are required to take one course in fulfillment of the Quantitative Reasoning Foundation; students may use AP, IB, dual or transfer credit as well as SMU credit toward fulfillment of the requirement. 
  • All students must take WRTR 1312 and WRTR 1313.   
    • All first-year and first-year transfer students are required to take both courses at SMU. 
    • TRN students (those with 24 hours of post-high school transfer credit) may satisfy one or both courses using post-high school transfer credit.   
    • AP and IB credit may not be used to satisfy this requirement. 
    • Dual credit may not be used to satisfy this requirement. 
  • All students must demonstrate intermediate proficiency in a Second Language either by passing an approved proficiency exam or taking a course, equivalent to the second semester course at SMU, after high school graduation.   
    • TRN students (those with 24 hours of post-high school transfer credit) may satisfy this requirement with two semesters of transfer credit, or transfer of a course equivalent to 1402 (or a high-level course).   
    • AP and IB credit can be used to satisfy this requirement. 
    • Dual credit cannot be used to satisfy this requirement. 
  • All first-year and first-year transfer students may use up to 3 AP, IB or transfer credit courses toward fulfillment of the Breadth requirements.   
    • These students may not use dual credit to satisfy Breadth requirements. 
  • All TRN students may use AP, IB or transfer credit courses toward fulfillment of the Breadth requirements.  Dual-credit courses that have been accepted and processed for credit by the institution from which the student transfers can be used to satisfy these requirements.