Categories
Student Academic Engagement & Success

Final updates made to 46 COVID-19 cohort students for one-time exceptions for Proficiencies and Experiences

The Office of General Education communicated on Monday, February 20, to the campus community about the one-time exception to two Common Curriculum Proficiencies & Experiences for COVID-19 cohorts.

Based on feedback from School Record Offices, we completed the last of three recommended audits to ensure students who dropped classes, withdrew, or did not pass a class with an applicable tag would receive the waiver(s).

We added the final round of waivers to 46 undergraduate students on the Common Curriculum. We applied 42 Community Engagement waivers and 37 Civics and Individual Ethics waivers.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Office of General Education at gened@smu.edu.

Categories
Office of General Education

Approved meeting minutes from the Council on General Education on April 21, 2023

The Council on General Education met on April 21, 2023. The meeting minutes for March 31, 2023 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 April 21, 2023 Council on General Education meeting.
  2. Approval of Minutes for the March 31, 2023 Council on General Education meeting.
  3. Previously Reviewed Proposals
    1. ITAL 2302-Breadth/CA
    2. WL 3311-Breadth/TAS, PREX/HD, PREX/GPS
    3. RUSS 3341-PREX/CIE, PREX/HD
    4. ADV 2343-PREX/GPS, PREX/HD
    5. ANTH 3314-PREX/HD
  4. New Proposal
    1. ADV 4399-PREX/OC
    2. ADV 3303-PREX/QA
    3. FILM 3352-Breadth/HC
    4. HIST 3365- Breadth/HC
    5. HIST 4388-Breadth/HC
    6. PLSC 4340-Breadth/SBS
    7. ENGL 2315-Breadth/LAI
    8. MATH 1340-FND/QR
  5. Activity Proposal
    1. Board Fellows Program- PREX/CE
  6. Office of General Education Updates

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

Categories
Office of General Education SMU in Four Student Academic Engagement & Success

SMU in Four announces final Degree Planner raffle winners

Let’s give a big round of applause to all 758 students who completed Degree Planner before the final raffle deadline! 

For your Degree Planner to be considered complete:  

 Fifty winners were randomly selected to receive prizes courtesy of SMU in Four: 

Amazon Gift Card 

($25 value) 

Target Gift Card 

($25 value) 

Starbucks Gift Card 

($25 value) 

Visa Gift Card 

($25 value) 

SMU Flex Dollars  

($25 value)    

SMU Swag Bag 

($50 value) 

 Skyler H.  Michael G.  Breanna S.  Aaliyah A.  Grace B.  Steven B. 
Sarah B.  Spencer B.   Maya C.  Ria D.  Humberto O.  Daniele D. 
Mirana E.  Sofia G.  Jack G.   Arin J.  Eden C.  Annabelle L. 
Jack L.  Karen L.  Anna M.   Mason M.   Lily L.  Lucy M.  
Regina N.   Abby R.  Riley T.   Carina K.  Ava S.   
Alexander B.  Katie F.  Emma G.  Gracie H.   Tulsi L.   
Karis P.  Megan R.  De’Anna W.  Jaena Z.     
Oscar C.  Braden C.  Ella D.  Savannah H.     
Alexa L.  Matthew M.  Lily S.  Jess S.     
Natalya T.  Owen T.  Sydney B.  Remonda H.     

 Winners can come and pick up their prizes from the Office of General Education, Laura Lee Blanton Suite 100, from Monday, March 20th– Monday, March 27th.   

All Common Curriculum (CC) undergraduate students must complete Degree Planner by March 20.   

Visit smu.edu/degreeplanner for help getting started. 

Categories
Office of General Education

Approved meeting minutes from the Council on General Education on March 10, 2023

The Council on General Education met on March 10, 2023. The meeting minutes for January 27, 2023 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 March 10, 2023 Council on General Education meeting.
  2. Approval of Minutes for the January 27, 2023 Council on General Education meeting.
  3. Course Proposals
    1. Previously Reviewed & Revised
      1. DANC 3363-ES
    2. New Proposals
      1. ANTH 3370-ES
      2. ARHS 1305-CA
      3. ARHS 3321-CA
      4. ARHS 3347-CA
      5. ARHS 3390-CA
      6. RELI 3386-LAI
      7. ENGL 1362-LAI
      8. EMIS 2375-TAS and PREX/CIE
      9. ANTH 3314-PREX/HD
      10. FILM 3305-PREX/OC and PREX/QA
      11. RUSS 3341- PREX/CIE and PREX/HD
      12. WL 3323- PREX/HD
  1. Activity Proposals
    1. VITA-PREX/CE and PREX/HD
    2. Engage Dallas-PREX/CIE and PREX/OC (for student director and area coordinator peer leaders)
    3. Mustang PEP Talk-PREX/CIE and PREX/OC
  2. Office of General Education Updates

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

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
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 SMU in Four Student Academic Engagement & Success University Advising Center

SMU in Four announces 2nd-round winners of the Degree Planner completion raffle  

Forty winners were randomly selected from the one-hundred and eighty students who have fully completed Degree Planner.   

 In order for your Degree Planner to be considered complete, you must have:  

 2nd-Round Winners are: 

Amazon Gift Card 

($25 value) 

SMU Flex Dollars 

($25 value) 

Starbucks Gift Card 

($25 value) 

Visa Gift Card 

($25 value) 

SEAN M.  RIA D.  DEAN L.  CAROLINE S. 
EDEN C.  KAYLEE D.  HANNAH S.  TREVOR B. 
GRANT M.  JEFFREY M.  AUDREY L.  JAYDIN B. 
TAYLOR C.  MARGARET G.  CONNOR M.  TRAJAN C. 
MACKENZIE T.  GRACE P.  AMBER F.  MATTHEW B. 
LILLIAN N.  ALEXA A.  MICHAEL Z.  ANTHONY L. 
GIANCARLOS D.  ZAKIYA C.  JOHN P.  HANNAH L. 
BENJAMIN J.  SILVIA V.  TAYLOR H.  JENNIFER S. 
MAKENNA K.  BIANCA H.  CHARLES G.  CAMPBELL S. 
PIPER J.  ISAIAH B.  SOPHIE E.  ANA M. 

Winners can come and pick up their prizes from the Office of General Education, Laura Lee Blanton Suite 100, from Tuesday, February 14th – Friday, February 17th.  

Still, working on your Degree Planner? No need for FOMO! You have one more chance to win some fantastic prizes! Prizes include $25-50 Starbucks, Amazon, Uber, Target, and Visa gift cards. You can also win Flex Dollars and SMU swag, such as baseball caps, sweatshirts, hoodies, and more!  

The deadline for the final raffle is March 10th at 11:59 pm! 

All undergraduate students on the Common Curriculum (CC) are required to complete Degree Planner by March 20.   

Visit smu.edu/degreeplanner for help getting started. 

Categories
Office of General Education SMU in Four Student Academic Engagement & Success Student Academic Success Programs University Advising Center University Honors Program

Undergraduate students incentivized to complete Degree Planner

Yesterday, SMU in Four sent email communications to undergraduate students on the Common Curriculum regarding Degree Planner from smuinfour@smu.edu. Student communications were staggered – with tailored communications being sent to declared major students and pre-major students.  

Copies of the communication is below. 

January 18, 2023 

Dear Students – 

Use the new Degree Planner tool, located on your my.SMU Student Dashboard, to plan your path to graduation! This new tool will help you plan not only your upcoming semester, but all courses you will take throughout your college career.    

All undergraduate students on the Common Curriculum (CC) are required to complete Degree Planner by 03/20/2023. [Declared Majors] As a declared major you will complete your degree plan for all declared degree programs and CC requirements prior to Fall 2023 enrollment to avoid enrollment delays. [Pre-Majors] As a pre-major you will complete your degree plan for all CC requirements (Foundations, Breadths, Proficiencies & Experiences) prior to Fall 2023 enrollment to avoid enrollment delays.  

Complete it early for a chance to win some fantastic prizes! The sooner you complete your degree plan, the more raffles you are entered into. Raffle prizes include $25-50 Starbucks, Amazon, Uber, and Visa gift cards. You can also win SMU swag such as baseball caps, sweatshirts, hoodies, and more! Students who complete Degree Planner by 11:59pm on:  

  • January 27 (Friday) will be entered in three raffles.  
  • February 10 (Friday) will be entered in two raffles.  
  • March 10 (Friday) will be entered in one raffle.  

Visit smu.edu/degreeplanner for help getting started or watch the student dashboard video below

—————————————————————————————-

Faculty and staff communications regarding Degree Planner were sent on Friday, January 13th. As promised, Records Offices and advisors will receive email templates to use to encourage student completion in the following weeks. 

Faculty and staff advisors who have the most students complete Degree Planner by the priority deadline of March 20, 2023 will win a $100 Amazon gift card. 

Any questions, comments, and/or concerns can be directed to SMU in Four. 

Categories
Office of General Education

Student records updated to satisfy Quantitative Applications with ECO 1311

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.

 

Categories
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