Category: Office of General Education

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Office of General Education

Degree Progress Report changed to better align with Second Language Requirement

Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development professor, Peter Carton, lectures for his class Sports Management Practicum, Thursday, October 14, 2021 in Prothro Hall on the SMU Campus.

The Academic Records Committee made modifications to the Degree Progress Report (DPR) related to the Second Language Requirement (SLR) effective September 28, 2022.

No changes have been made to the Common Curriculum Second Language, the change relates to the manner the DPR reports a student has satisfied the requirement.

As a reminder, the SLR requires that a student complete a second language course in the second semester or higher. From Fall 2020 to Fall 2022, the DPR was set up such that students needed credit for both 1401 and 1402 for the SLR to show as complete. This setup caused many problems because most students at SMU do not take 1401. Rather, they start their language study in a course at the second semester or higher. Under this system, the Department of World Languages and Literatures had to manually award credit for 1401 to all of the students who began in 2nd semester or higher, in order to have the DPR show that the SLR was complete. As a result, many students who had satisfied the SLR had DPRs that showed the requirement as unsatisfied.

To correct this issue, we have reverted the DPR tracking of the SLR to the system that was in place from 2016-2020. Under this system, the DPR requires only the completion of a course in the 2nd semester or higher to show that the SLR is satisfied.  This will improve DPR tracking of the SLR for the overwhelming majority of SMU students.

If you have questions about how to account for the completion of 1401 for student-athletes or other populations, please contact Jay Orenduff, the Second Language Advisor at jorenduff@smu.edu.

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Office of General Education

SMU to host community engagement symposium on October 3 and 4

Join Engage Dallas for the Place-based Community Engagement Symposium on October 3 and 4 on the SMU Dallas campus. The Office of General Education is a proud partner of Engage Dallas and the symposium.

Most universities recognize they lack the strategic focus and resources to maximize and sustain their impact on communities to engage their campuses in their surrounding community. Place-based community engagement (PBCE) is an innovative tool that connects campus and community to foster positive social transformation. SMU adopted the PBCE model to launch the Engage Dallas initiative as part of the university’s approach to introducing students to place-based community engagement opportunities.

Engage Dallas and its partners will host a kickoff of the Place-based Community Engagement Symposium on October 3 in Hughes-Trigg Student Center Ballroom from 11:30-1:00 pm with a free keynote and luncheon. The keynote is headlined by Dr. Erica Yamamura and Kent Koth, authors of the book Place-Based Community Engagement in Higher Education: A Strategy to Transform Universities and Communities.

Erica K. Yamamura Ph.D. is the former Associate Professor and Program Liaison Coordinator of the Student Development Administration Program in the College of Education at Seattle University. As a faculty member, she utilized service-learning and community-based projects as part of her pedagogy at Carleton College, Texas State University, and Seattle University. Kent Koth is the founding director of the Seattle University Center for Community Engagement. In this role, Kent has overseen a rapid expansion of campus-community partnerships that have received national recognition including the 2012 President’s National Community Service Higher Education Award.

The two scholars distinguished place-based community engagement as more beneficial than traditional community engagement strategies like traditional service-learning pedagogy and anchor institutions. Learn more about PBCE and the Engage Dallas initiative at the keynote.

Additionally, a la carte sessions will also be offered at the symposium on October 4 as follow-up sessions. Sign up for additional community engagement sessions including:

  • Place-Based Community Engagement Symposium Post-Keynote Faculty Workshop: One of SMU’s strategic plans is to increase faculty and student engagement in co-curricular activities beyond traditional coursework in each Residential Commons, the university undergraduate housing system. Adaption of PBCE model for the Engage Dallas initiative has helped maintain the strategic plan in focus. This post-keynote workshop for faculty will be facilitated by the authors to: (1) reflect on key takeaways from the keynote, (2) discuss the benefits of PBCE to pursue racial equity, and (3) how to build faculty capacity for community engagement. Faculty will have the opportunity to reflect and ask questions about the PBCE model and the goal of the Engage Dallas initiative. RSVP Today; Space is Limited. Tuesday, October 4 from 9:30 – 11:45 am
  • Tagging Your Courses Workshop for the Community Engagement Proficiency: This workshop, facilitated by SMU’s Office of General Education, is designed for instructors and will cover in detail the process of tagging your courses with the Community Engagement Proficiency and Experience on the Common Curriculum. This course is ideal for instructors who have community engagement or plan to include place-based community engagement activities in their courses. RSVP Today; Space is Limited. Tuesday, October 4 from 2 – 3 pm

The university’s adoption of this strategy has seen success already as the budding initiative has led to widespread participation and enthusiasm from students, who help lead the initiative’s implementation and contribute to a Residential Commons-specific social cause in monthly service events.

Join us as we work to embed place-based community engagement into life on the Hilltop.

The event is co-sponsored by: Residence Life & Student Housing, Center for Teaching Excellence, Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute, and Office of General Education.

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Office of General Education

Student records updated to satisfy Quantitative Applications with ECO 1311

Numbers
Lyle Civil Engineering and Moody Fellow Graduate Student Michaela Eamma does research at the Gerald J. Ford Research and Innovation Building, Wednesday, November 10, 2021 on the SMU Campus. SMU students and community attend the Celebration of Lights, Monday, November 29, 2021 on the Main Quadrangle in front of Dallas Hall on the SMU Campus.

The Office of General Education, enacting the vote of the Council of General Education, has updated 920 student records who have satisfied the Quantitative Applications Proficiency & Experience via completing ECO 1311 – Principles of Microeconomics.

Effective fall 2022, ECO 1311 now satisfies the Proficiency and Experience requirement. After auditing ECO 1311 syllabi from fall 2020 to fall 2022, no substantial differences in the course design and learning outcomes were found by the Office of General Education. Therefore, student records were bulk updated to satisfy this graduation requirement – rather than requesting petitions be completed by students.

Students received the good news with a celebratory email on Thursday, September 22.

If you have any questions about this update or suggest an audit, please contact the Office of General Education at theccmail@smu.edu or call (214) 768-6168.

 

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Office of General Education

General Education reminders and updates

 

 

September 6, 2022

 

Dear SMU Community,

We hope you have had a wonderful start to Fall term.  We are writing to provide you with some additional information about the previously announced re-organization of the Office of General Education.  As you may remember in the Spring of 2022, Dayna Oscherwitz, the Assistant Provost for General Education, accepted the position of Associate Provost of Institutional Planning and Effectiveness and Peter Moore, the Associate Provost of Curricular Innovation and Policy stepped down from his role.  In considering how best to provide operational support for the Common Curriculum (CC), and for the Educational Programs Committee (EPC), in light of these changes, the Office of General Education was moved under Student Academic Engagement and Success, overseen by Associate Provost Sheri Kunovich, and EPC was moved under Institutional Planning and Effectiveness.  General Education assessment remains under the Office of Institutional Planning and Effectiveness.

The role of Assistant Provost for General Education was reimagined into the Assistant Provost of Undergraduate Education and Academic Success.  This role includes operational support of the Office of General Education (student advising, faculty and student outreach, faculty support, advisor support, website maintenance, process improvement), oversight of the University Testing Center, First-Generation Initiative, the Mustang Scholars Program, and strategic support of SMU undergraduate student success including co-directing SMU in Four.

The Council on General Education, which remains the governing body for the Common Curriculum, will, effective Fall 2022, be chaired by a tenured faculty member instead of the Assistant Provost.  We are very pleased to announce that Peter Kupfer, Associate Professor of Musicology in Meadows School of the Arts, has agreed to Chair the Council on General Education for a three-year term.  Peter previously served on the Council on General Education and the Historical Contexts and Creativity and Aesthetics curriculum committees, which wrote the outcomes and rubrics for those components.  He has also participated in the Association of American Universities’ Institute on General Education and Assessment.  Peter also served as a faculty facilitator and assessor during the CC assessment this past summer, so he has a great deal of experience and insight into the Common Curriculum.  In his role as Chair, Peter will work with the Office of General Education to organize meetings, write the agendas for meetings, Chair the meetings, and oversee the writing and posting of the minutes for meetings.

The Council on General Education will continue to make all decisions relative to course approval and fulfillment rules for the CC.  While we do not anticipate structural changes to the curriculum, should the need for those arise, they will be approved through the established process involving Council of General Education Approval, Academic Policies Committee of the Faculty Senate Approval, EPC approval, and where appropriate, full Senate approval and Board of Trustees approval, as directed by the Council on General Education bylaws.

It is our hope that these changes will improve the functionality of the Office of General Education and expand the degree of support it offers to faculty, staff, and students.  We have linked the 2022-2023 roster for the Council if you would like to know who represents your school and have provided our office contact information below.

All the Best,

Sheri Kunovich

Associate Provost for Student Academic Engagement and Success

Dayna Oscherwitz

Associate Provost for Institutional Planning and Effectiveness

 

Office of General Education Contact Information:

Office of General Education (214) 768-6168

Common Curriculum Email; for students on the CC: theccmail@smu.edu

University Curriculum Email; for students on the UC: theuc@smu.edu

Dustin Grabsch, office Blanton 100F, (214) 768-4887, dgrabsch@smu.edu

Lisa Cordoba, office Blanton 102, (214) 768-2229, lcordoba@smu.edu

 

 

 

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Office of General Education

Common Curriculum course search updated with new tags

Conference room

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

The August 29, 2022 update reflects the following tag additions by course:

  • ADV 3305- Writing in the Major (WIM)
  • ANTH 3361- Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS)
  • ARHS 3363- Creativity and Aesthetics (CA)
  • BIOL 3170- Writing in the Major (WIM)
  • BIOL 4110- Writing in the Major (WIM)
  • BIOL 4380- Writing in the Major (WIM)
  • CHEM 4110- Writing in the Major (WIM)
  • CHEM 4398- Writing in the Major (WIM)
  • ENGL 2313- Literary Analysis and Interpretation (LAI); Writing (W)
  • ENGL 3340- Literary Analysis and Interpretation (LAI)
  • ENGL 3355- Literary Analysis and Interpretation (LAI); Writing (W)
  • ENGL 3362- Literary Analysis and Interpretation (LAI)
  • ENGL 3364- Literary Analysis and Interpretation (LAI)
  • ENGL 3367- Literary Analysis and Interpretation (LAI)
  • ENGL 3379-Literary Analysis and Interpretation (LAI)
  • ENGL 3385- Literary Analysis and Interpretation (LAI)
  • WGST 3370- Historical Contexts (HC); Oral Communication (OC)

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

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Office of General Education

Updated Common Curriculum Proficiencies and Experiences requirements and rubrics available

The Office of General Education, enacting the vote of the Council of General Education, has published updated rubrics for the Common Curriculum’s Proficiencies and Experiences graduation requirements.

The Council of General Education sought to:

  • Provide consistency across the Proficiencies in terms of the number of hours required for an activity and the length and number of the required reflections
  • Create a standard prompt for each Proficiency, as students often had difficulty understanding what to put in their reflection
  • Add the option of submitting completed work that demonstrates the supporting skills (completed during the activity or course) in lieu of a reflection.

Overall, the Council noted that the inconsistencies in the requirements and the fact that they caused problems for students (and were largely arbitrary), so the Common Curriculum Proficiencies and Experiences were streamlined. The streamlined requirements and updated rubrics are now available on the Common Curriculum website.

 

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Office of General Education

Office of General Education website migration to Student Academic Engagement and Success

OGE Migration

On Monday, July 25 the Office of General Education began migrating its website and digital assets to Student Academic Engagement & Success.

Previously, the office reported to Associate Provost of Curricular Innovation and Policy and was transferred to the supervisory area of the Associate Provost for Student Academic Engagement and Success on July 1.

You may notice broken links or missing documents within the media library during this week as the transition occurs. Additionally, links from Google or other search engines may take up to two weeks to remap to the current website pages.

Please report broken links and other website issues which persist after August 1 to theccmail@smu.edu. Thank you for your support and understanding during this transition.

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Office of General Education Student Academic Engagement & Success University Testing Center

Now accepting Undergraduate Degree Counselor and student worker applications

Two new full-time staff positions titled Undergraduate Degree Counselors are live on the SMU Staff Career Portal. These positions are a collaboration between the Office of General Education and their respective school. Please consider, share with your offices, and post within your professional networks.

About the Position: The Undergraduate Degree Counselor works with declared majors, transfer students, and faculty advisors primarily within Meadows School of the Arts and Lyle School of Engineering while collaborating closely with the Provost’s Office and the Office of General Education. This collaboration advances retention efforts, implementation of the HighPoint four-year degree planner, conducting retention and enrollment data requests, analysis, and the obtainment of SMU in Four stated goals. Through academic advisement (course selection, academic progress, four-year graduation), records processing, and strategic communications (website, social media, web resources, and job aids) the Undergraduate Degree Counselor builds community capacity and understanding related to General Education requirements at SMU.

Either the Lyle or Meadows position can be preferenced by the candidate during the search process under job posting PRO00000193. Therefore, candidates will be considered for both roles with a single application.

Deadline to Apply: August 5, 2022. Priority consideration may be given to submissions received by July 29, 2022.

Additionally, student worker positions available within Undergraduate Education & Academic Success. Please share with your students and invite them to apply in Handshake:

  • Office of General Education Student Assistant: The Office of General Education at SMU serves faculty, staff, and students related to the university curriculum. The Student Assistant is responsible for completing a range of clerical tasks to uphold office operations. Their duties include taking phone calls and transferring callers to Professors or other staff, making copies for staff members or distributing mail and directing students to different offices or departments. ($10.50/hr; Job Number: 6684872)
  • Marketing & Communications Student Coordinator: The Marketing and Communications Coordinator will lead the creative development of a printed and web-based publications related to the Student Engagement & Academic Success (SAES) area within the Office of the Provost. The position aids with requests to update or redesign webpages, develop print and digital flyers, create and execute social media campaigns, and more. The coordinator also serves as an ambassador for the area at tabling and other marketing events. ($12.00/hr; Job Number: 6676534)
  • University Testing Center Testing Assistant: At SMU, the University Testing Center (UTC) provides superior service to our student clients, instructors, evaluators, and community partners within a convenient, confidential, and comfortable environment. Our dedication to providing exemplary, individualized service to every visitor of our center is paramount, in keeping with SMU’s dedication to fostering individual learning, dignity, and worth. The Testing Assistant (TA) provides standard and accommodated testing services for the administration of paper-based and computer-based academic exams at the University Testing Center.  The TA provides administrative office support to include test preparation, test proctoring, and clerical duties. ($12.00/hr; Job Number: 6684859)

Application deadlines, job descriptions, and qualifications vary. Please see Handshake for additional details and how to apply.