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Office of General Education

The Office of General Education archives the University Curriculum website and petitions

The Office of General Education will archive the University Curriculum (UC) website and petitions on July 18, 2025.

The UC applies to students who entered (matriculation into) SMU between Fall 2012 through Spring 2020.

Currently, only 17 undergraduate students are active on this curriculum, with only 8 students enrolled for fall 2025.

A copy of the archived site will be available online. University Curriculum-related petitions in DocuSign may be accessed by emailing theuc@smu.edu. Please refer to the students’ catalog, the archived website, and the Office of General Education for any other assistance.

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Office of General Education

Council on General Education 2025-2026 Meetings

The Office of General Education has announced the Council on General Education’s 2025- 2026 meeting dates. Meetings will be held from 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm on the following dates:

Fall 2025

  • September 5, 2025 (in-person; Blanton 110/112)
  • September 26, 2025 (proposal meeting)
    • Submit course proposals by 9/5 
  • October 17, 2025
  • November 7, 2025 (proposal meeting)
    • Submit course proposals by 10/17
  • December 5, 2025

Spring 2026

  • January 30, 2026
  • February 20, 2026 (proposal meeting)
    • Submit course proposals by 1/30
  • March 13, 2026
  • April 10, 2026 (proposal meeting)
    • Submit course proposals by 3/20
  • May 1, 2026 (in-person; Blanton 110/112)

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

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Office of General Education

Common Curriculum Course Search updated on May 27, 2025

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

The May 27, 2025, update reflects the following tag additions and removals:

Added:

ARHS 1380 – Creativity & Aesthetics: Analysis (CAA) ARHS 3310 – Oral Communication (OC) ASAG 1310 – Creativity & Aesthetics: Creation (CAC)
BIOL 1303 – Exploring Science (ES) BIOL 4133 – Civic & Individual Ethics (CIE) BL 3335 – Civic & Individual Ethics (CIE)
CEE 4380 – Civic & Individual Ethics (CIE) ECO 4330 – Civic & Individual Ethics (CIE) ENGL 2303 – Civic & Individual Ethics (CIE)
FILM 2363 – Civic & Individual Ethics (CIE) FILM 3352 – Historical Contexts (HC) HRTS 3320 – Oral Communication (OC)
JOUR 3314 – Community Engagement (CE) JOUR 3380 – Global Perspectives (GPS) PHIL 3385 – Philosophical, Religious & Ethical Inquiry (PREI)
PSYC 2351 – Social & Behavioral Sciences (SBS) PSYC 3372 – Civic & Individual Ethics (CIE) SPAN 2421 – Global Perspectives (GPS)
SPAN 2421 – Literary Analysis & Interpretation (LAI) UNIV 1270 – Quantitative Applications (QA) UNIV 2303 – Technological Advances and Society (TAS)
WL 3308 – Civic & Individual Ethics (CIE)

Removed:

CS 5351 – Oral Communication (OC) DSIN 5303 – Community Engagement (CE) EDU 5348 – Human Diversity (HD)
FILM 2362 – Historical Contexts (HC) FILM 3304 – Oral Communication (OC) PSYC 4380 – Historical Contexts (HC)

Any questions or concerns about the Common Curriculum course search can be directed to the Office of General Education.

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Office of General Education

Approved meeting minutes from the Council on General Education on April 4, 2025

The Council on General Education met on April 4, 2025. The meeting minutes for March 14, 2025, 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 the Agenda for April 4, 2025, Council on General Education meeting.
  2. Approval of Minutes for March 14, 2025, Council on General Education meeting.
  3. Course & Experience Proposals
    1. ARHS 1380 (African American Art) – CAA
    2. ARHS 3310 / HRTS 3320 (War, Looting, and Collecting of Ancient Art) – PREX-OC
    3. UNIV 3306 (Community Partnerships) – PREX-CE
    4. Stampede Guides (Stampede Guides) – PREX-OC
    5. ENGL 2303 (Ethical Leadership and the Language of Influence) – PREX-CIE
    6. FILM 2363 (Media Production Ethics and Representation) – PREX-CIE
    7. Student Senate (Student Senate) – PREX-CIE
    8. The Common Curriculum Reading – PREX-CIE
    9. BIOL 4133 / BIOL 4133 H (Bioethics Seminar) – PREX-CIE
    10. CEE 4380 (Civil and Environmental Engineering Design I) – PREX-CIE
    11. ECON 4330 (Economics of Human Rights) – PREX-CIE
    12. PSYC 3372 (Ethics in Psychology) – PREX-CIE
    13. MNO 30XX (AI and Business Insights) – PREX-QA
    14. SPAN 2421 (Intermediate Spanish I for Heritage Speakers) – LAI and PREX-GPS
    15. UNIV 2303 (From IM to AI: How People Learn with Technology) – TAS
  4. CC Human Diversity Graduation Requirement Task Force Update
  5. TCCNS Working Group Volunteers

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

Categories
Office of General Education

Approved meeting minutes from the Council on General Education on March 14, 2025

The Council on General Education met on March 14, 2025. The meeting minutes for February 28, 2025, 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 the Agenda for March 14, 2025, Council on General Education meeting.
  2. Approval of Minutes for February 28, 2025, Council on General Education meeting.
  3. CC HD graduation requirement Task Force
    1. Overview
      1. 3 Meetings
      2. Volunteers
  4. TCCNS Working Group
    1. Volunteers
  5. General Education Office Updates (Dustin)
    1. Faculty Website Feedback Request
    2. SMU in Four CIE Course Development Update
    3. Shared Responsibility of CE Fulfillment Discussions
    4. Catalog Updates
    5. Place-Based Community Engagement Symposium

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

Categories
Office of General Education

CE/CIE seats held for select undergraduate students to assist with CC student progress this Fall

Thanks to the Department of University Foundations, the Office of General Education will be able to hold seats in UNIV 3305 courses for Fall 2025 for students who were identified as not having satisfied both Community Engagement (CE) and Civic and Individual Ethics (CIE) graduation requirements and are expected to graduate on or before May 2026.

Therefore, 163 students will be invited to enroll in UNIV 3305 to satisfy both graduation requirements and Oral Communications in a single course. The email below will be sent to students on or before March 10.

Questions or concerns can be directed to the Office of General Education at gened@smu.edu.

To: CE/CIE Students (n = 163) 

From: General Education 

Title: We’ve saved you a seat! Complete your CC Community Engagement & Civic and Individual Ethics requirements with UNIV 3305 this fall! 

March 10, 2025  

Dear Mustang –   

As of March 1, your Degree Progress Report (DPR) indicated you had not satisfied your Community Engagement (CE) and Civic and Individual Ethics (CIE) requirements. The Office of General Education wants to inform you that we have saved you a seat this Fall in a UNIV 3305 Personal Responsibility and Community course thanks to the Department of University Foundations. This course is a popular solution to fulfilling these Common Curriculum (CC) requirements.

We have held a limited number of seats in the Fall for you in UNIV 3305. The course conveys three tags: CIE, CE, and Oral Communication. Given the demand for seats in this course, these seats will only be reserved until May 15th. After May 15th, these seats will be released to other interested students.

Can’t fit in a CE and CIE course this Fall? Consider other options such as SMU Intersessions, participating in a pre-approved activity, or enrolling in a CE and CIE-tagged course this spring.

We know enrollment can be stressful, especially when managing graduation requirements. We hope this saved seat can help you as you close out your academic career at SMU.

Sincerely,    

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

 

Categories
Office of General Education

Approved meeting minutes from the Council on General Education on February 28, 2025

The Council on General Education met on February 28, 2025. The meeting minutes for January 31, 2025, 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 the Agenda for February 28, 2025, Council on General Education meeting.
  2. Approval of Minutes for January 31, 2025, Council on General Education meeting.
  3. Course & Experience Proposals
    1. Revised Proposals
      1. UNIV 1270 (Personal Finance and Branding) – PREX-QA
    2. New Proposals
      1. ASAG 1310 (Word and Image) – CAC
      2. PHIL 3385 (Lifespan Ethics) – PREI
      3. PSYC 2351 (Psychopathology) – SBS
      4. HIST 1333 (Ethical and Political Thought in Ancient China) – HC; PREX-CIE
      5. WL 3308 (Introduction to General Linguistics) – PREX-CIE
      6. JOUR 3380 (Global Media Projects) – PREX-GPS
  4. SMU Transfer Summit Recap
    1. TCCNS Working Group
    2. Student Experience Working Group
    3. Policies Working Group
  5. DOE OCR February 14 Dear Colleague Letter Discussion

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

Categories
Office of General Education

Approved meeting minutes from the Council on General Education on January 31, 2025

The Council on General Education met on January, 31, 2025. The meeting minutes for December 6, 2024, 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 the Agenda for January 31, 2025, Council on General Education meeting.
  2. Approval of Minutes for December 6, 2024, Council on General Education meeting.
  3. AMAE 3387 Final Vote (Peter)
  4. Review Fall 2024 Critical Reasoning Drop and DFW Data (Peter/Dustin)
  5. Subcommittee Review and Meeting Structure (Peter)
    1. Proposal Deadline
    2. Administrative Review
    3. Friday Subcommittee Meeting Time
    4. Box Organization
    5. Lead Responsibilities
      1. Meeting Scheduling – as necessary
      2. Facilitate Meeting
      3. Communicate Vote Decision
    6. Vote due by Wednesday EOD
  6. SMU in Four CIE Course Proposals (Dustin)
  7. CC Assessment Non-compliance List (Peter)
  8. CC Assessment Feedback and Communication (Peter)
  9. Refreshed CC Faculty Webpage (Dustin)
    1. Request for review and feedback
  10. University Curriculum Decommissioning (Dustin)
    1. Website
    2. Petitions
  11. Spring Meeting Schedule Reminder
    1. January 31, 2025
    2. February 28, 2025 (proposal meeting)
    3. March 14, 2025
    4. April 4, 2025 (proposal meeting)
    5. April 25, 2025 (in-person)

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

Categories
Hilltop Scholars Student Academic Engagement & Success

Get to Know the Hilltop Scholars Program

What Is the Hilltop Scholars Program?

The Hilltop Scholars Program (HSP) is an invitation-only first-year honors program that helps students transition to university life while setting the stage for their future success. What sets HSP apart is its holistic focus, which emphasizes leadership development, community engagement, and academics.

This program identifies students with academic promise and a strong desire to make a difference, offering them a framework to excel in and out of the classroom. HSP students often go on to become campus leaders, involved citizens, and high-achieving alumni.

Building Community

For first-year students, transitioning to university life can be a daunting process. The Hilltop Scholars Program recognizes this and intentionally fosters a strong sense of community among its participants. Through shared classes, group service projects, and social events, HSP students form lasting connections with their peers and mentors.

SAES faculty and staff can contribute to the success of HSP by creating spaces where students feel supported and encouraged. Whether it’s through advising, classroom interactions, or informal conversations, your engagement helps reinforce the program’s sense of belonging and collaboration.

Opportunities for Faculty and Staff

The success of the Hilltop Scholars Program is deeply tied to the involvement of SMU’s faculty and staff. Here are several ways you can contribute:

  • Teaching HSP Courses or Offering a Guest Lecture: Faculty have the opportunity to lead discussion-based courses that challenge students to think critically and explore interdisciplinary topics. These courses not only fulfill core requirements but also introduce students to the broader intellectual community at SMU.
  • Mentorship: Faculty and staff can serve as mentors, offering guidance and support as students navigate their first year. Your insight and encouragement can make a significant impact on their growth and confidence.
  • Service Collaboration: Staff members who oversee community engagement initiatives can partner with HSP to identify meaningful service opportunities and help students understand the impact of their contributions.
  • Leadership Development: Faculty and staff can provide workshops, lead discussions, or offer one-on-one coaching to help students refine their leadership skills.

 

What’s Next?

The Hilltop Scholars Program represents a vital part of SMU’s mission to cultivate leaders who make a difference. For SMU’s faculty and staff, supporting HSP is an opportunity to shape the next generation of leaders. By understanding the program and its goals, you can play a pivotal role in helping these students reach their full potential. Your involvement can help ensure the program continues to thrive and enrich the lives of first-year students.

Together, we can provide HSP students with the tools, mentorship, and opportunities they need to succeed—both at SMU and beyond.

Categories
Office of General Education

Approved meeting minutes from the Council on General Education on December 6, 2024

The Council on General Education met on December 6, 2024. The meeting minutes for November 8, 2024 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 the Agenda for December 6, 2024, Council on General Education meeting.
  2. Approval of Minutes for the November 8, 2024, Council on General Education meeting.
  3. Course Proposals (revisions)
    1. ANTH 3352-TAS
    2. ANTH 3343-TAS
    3. BIOL 1303-ES
  4. Literary Analysis and Interpretation (non-English) Rubric Update (Dayna)
  5. Course and Experience Proposal Review Process Discussion
    1. Sub-Committees
    2. Voting Proposals
  6. Spring Meeting Schedule
    1. January 31, 2025
    2. February 28, 2025 (proposal meeting)
    3. March 14, 2025
    4. April 4, 2025 (proposal meeting)
    5. April 25, 2025 (in-person)
  7. General Education Office Updates (Dustin)
    1. Fall 2024 Tag Removals
      1. SOCI 3370-W
      2. WL 3341/HRTS 3341-HC
      3. ENGL 1380-CA
      4. FILM 3304-OC
      5. FILM 2362-HC
    2. CIE Course Proposals (Selected 5)

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