The Office of General Education archived the (GEC) General Education Curriculum website.
The GEC applies to students who entered (matriculation into) SMU prior to Fall 2012. Currently, only 6 undergraduate students are active on this curriculum, with only one student enrolled for spring 2024.
A copy of the archived site will be available online. The student’s catalog, archived website, and the Office of General Education are here to assist.
The Council on General Education met on December 1, 2023. The meeting minutes for November 10, 2023 were approved at this meeting. Below is the agenda, and the meeting minutes have now been posted on the General Education website.
Please contact the Office of General Education for questions or proposal development support.
The Council on General Education (CoGE) approved changes to the Common Curriculum (CC) Global Perspectives (GPS) Proficiency and Experience (P&E) rubric on November 11, 2023.
The CC Global Perspectives graduation requirement contains 5 experience criteria. Criteria three establishes how undergraduate students can achieve the graduation requirement via a co-curricular experience.
CoGE approved an update to the experience criteria to now read:
Student experiences must involve at least fourteen days of an immersive experience in a global culture or completion of an approved SMU Abroad program. An immersive context is one in which students live like members of the local population, following local customs, eating local food, taking local transportation, etc
This change was recommended since not all SMU Abroad programs are 14 days but may be shorter, ranging from 9 to 12 days. Since SMU Abroad programs have a curricular component or are SMU faculty-led, we believe the GPS student learning outcomes are being achieved via these vetted programs by the Education Abroad Council.
Students who do not enroll in a GPS-tagged course via the SMU Abroad program will be asked to complete the 1,000-word reflection as part of their re-entry experience. Therefore, these changes would permit SMU to say all SMU Abroad offerings achieve GPS. This change also enacts recommendations from the ACE Internationalization Steering Committee.
SMU Abroad and the Office of General Education are working to operationalize the collection of reflections beginning with the Spring 2024 abroad cohort during their re-entry experience. If you have questions about these changes, please contact the Office of General Education.
On Friday, December 1st, the Council on General Education approved a change in the Common Curriculum Critical Reasoning fulfillment requirement effective Spring 2024.
Since the establishment of the Common Curriculum in Fall 2020, the Critical Reasoning Foundation component required undergraduate students to (1) achieve a C- or better and (2) not drop or withdraw from a CR course. Effective Spring 2024, students can now drop or withdraw from a CR-tagged course.
This change was warranted due to the recently announced changes to the Critical Reasoning rubric and the efforts to develop courses outside of the Writing and Reasoning Program (WRTR). Beginning in Spring 2024, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs (CCPA) and Journalism (JOUR) will offer CR-tagged courses.
The Office of General Education will coordinate updates to impacted course descriptions, syllabi language, and websites with academic departments before winter break. This recent approval will be reflected in the Undergraduate Catalog for the 2024 – 2025 academic year.
Student progress through the Common Curriculum Foundation components will be monitored and enforced via the University-wide Requirements for Academic Progress articulated in the Undergraduate Catalog.
The fulfillment requirements of a C- letter grade and the inability to drop and withdraw remain in effect for the Academic Writing Foundation component.
Please direct questions to the Office of General Education at theccmail@smu.edu.
As the Peer Academic Leaders (PALs) wrap up their Fall 2023 programming, the Office of General Education is excited to announce their PAL of the month for November 2023. Meet Bonita Davis.
Bonita is a current Sophomore at SMU, who is double majoring in Computer Science and Data Science. Along with her demanding course load, Bonita is also involved in other student organizations on campus and even serves as a Rotunda Scholar Peer Counselor.
Bonita is an excellent example of a student who excels in time management and is able to contribute 100% effort to everything she does. During her time as PAL, Bonita has boosted her confidence and has quickly become an outspoken leader on the team. Bonita contributes unique and thoughtful ideas to improve the PALs program overall, and she is consistently engaged during team meetings and brainstorming sessions.
The Office of General Education is proud of the work Bonita has put forth this semester, and looks forward to seeing her strengthen her leadership skills in Spring 2024.
Staff, students, and faculty can stay updated with the PALs programming via SMU 360, Instagram, or the PALs website.
The Council on General Education met on November 10, 2023. The meeting minutes for October 20, 2023 were approved at this meeting. Below is the agenda, and the meeting minutes have now been posted on the General Education website.
Please contact the Office of General Education for questions or proposal development support.
This fall, the Peer Academic Leaders (PALs) program has been consistently offering programs to help support SMU students on their academic journey.
Their programming has covered topics such as Degree Planner, Enrollment, and effective study strategies. The PALs have also facilitated workshops and Peer Panels highlighting SMU resources, including the A-LEC, the Hegi Career Development Center, TAOS, Intersessions, and Study Abroad.
The PALs have also hosted monthly “Study Breaks” in each of their assigned Residential Commons to help students maintain a healthy academic lifestyle before major exams.
The PALs have had over 700 students attend their programs throughout the Fall 2023 semester. The PALs are proud of this achievement and have already started to plan events for the Spring 2024 semester.
The PALs will wrap up their fall programming on December 5th, where they will collaborate with Fondren Library for SMU’s first-ever Study-A-Thon. This event will take place in Fondren’s Blue Mezzanine, reserved so students can grab snacks and study for their final exams.
The Office of General Education is excited to see what the PALs can achieve in Spring 2024. Students, staff, and faculty can stay updated with the PALs programming via SMU 360, Instagram, or the PALs website.
The 2nd Annual Place-based Community Engagement Symposium was a success last week. Participants engaged around the theme of “Listening, Learning, and Leading: A Place-based Approach to Promoting Public Responsibility and Community Engagement in a COVID-impacted World.” 114 registered for the two-day symposium.
The conference planning committee chose this theme due to their observation of the challenges posed by COVID-19; our community engagement landscape has evolved significantly, from decreased volunteer participation to heightened community needs.
Conference registrants helped shape this year’s symposium. The planning committee had over 60 questions submitted for our opening session and panel discussion. Plus, questions were arranged as discussion topics at the networking event on Thursday evening.
Audryanna Reed, Associate Director for High-Impact Practices, Co-initiative Manager of Engage Dallas, and Chair of the conference planning committee, shared, “Engage Dallas is grateful for the opportunity to bring together non-profit and civic leaders in Dallas as well as staff and faculty across SMU and Dallas College. Such inspiring words, cultural context, and critical challenges posed by our keynotes Latosha Bruff and Jerry L. Hawkins, M.Ed., as well as our panelists and workshop hosts!”
A copy of the program booklet is included below.
Reed and the conference planning committee are underway with year three planning. Building off the dialogue from this year’s conference, the theme will likely incorporate the concept of “under-championed communities,” which was prevalent in this year’s sessions. Reed says to expect a save the date soon for the November 2024 symposium.
This Engage Dallas symposium collaborated with Residence Life & Student Housing, The Budd Center, The Office of General Education, the Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics & Public Responsibility, and The Center for Teaching Excellence.
With finals on the horizon and enrollment beginning, the Office of General Education is working hard to ensure that SMU’s undergraduate students feel supported while on their academic journey.
To increase knowledge of the services provided by the Office of General Education, a recent email blast has been sent out to all undergraduate students promoting drop-in advising for both in-person and virtual appointments.
Students are encouraged to attend these appointments should they have questions about Common Curriculum or University Curriculum requirements, petitions, or Degree Planner.
The email blast also invites students to book appointments with the Peer Academic Leaders (PALs) during their office hours in Laura Lee Blanton, Suite 100.
Students, faculty, and staff can refer to SMU 360 to keep up with the events and programs offered by the Office of General Education.
With the end of the Fall semester fast approaching, the Peer Academic Leaders (PALs) are wrapping up another month of programming.
The PALs have consistently offered October programming over topics such as navigating Degree Planner, effective testing strategies, and enrollment. In total, the PALs had 295 students attend their 16 events in October!
Although every PAL has played a role in making their first semester of programming successful, one PAL has impressed the Office of General Education with her time management skills, creativity, and reliability.
Meet Ruth Kinyua. Ruth is a current Sophomore at SMU pursuing degrees in Biochemistry and Spanish. Despite having a demanding course load, Ruth manages to meet all deadlines and programming requirements while maintaining a positive attitude.
Ruth even goes as far as to assist her teammates with tasks and shares her tips for staying organized. Ruth has remained consistent in her hard work and effort, and the Office of General Education is pleased to announce her as the October PAL of the month.
Learn more about the program and upcoming events at smu.edu/pals.
