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
