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Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to the General Education Task Force site.

We hope you will use this site as a resource, sounding board and forum as the campus explores its general education mission.

You will find relevant documents from UNR and external sources, reports and information  from this Task Force, and opportunities to take part in the digital dialogue portion of this important academic process.

Also, we hope you take an active part in discussions in your schools and colleges,  participate in surveys and, perhaps contribute to future working groups that may take this initial work forward toward completion.

We’d like to see this site become a useful tool that will help the campus reach the best possible conclusions about general education at UNR.

We welcome and encourage your involvement and contributions to the site and to the overall process.

Sincerely,

The General Education Task Force

The link below is the External Review Team Report from March 16, 2010.

Core Curriculum External Report March 2010 (MS Word)

The Institutional Strategic Plan for the University of Nevada, Reno, accepted by the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents in December, 2009 contains the following:

Planning Goals for Undergraduate Education for the Period 2009-2015:

• Core Knowledge: Offer all University of Nevada, Reno undergraduates an education which provides knowledge of, appreciation for, and experience with written and oral communication, quantitative procedures, the scientific process, ethical judgment, critical and independent thinking, problem solving, information and media literacy, and history and culture of Nevada, the United States, and the world.

The Core Curriculum has represented the approach to General Education at the University for 20 years.  The Core Curriculum was reviewed by an esteemed panel in spring, 2010 and the panel made several recommendations, including:  “we offer the suggestion that the University regard this review as a possible point of departure for a thorough reconsideration of how it exercises its commitment to general education.  All said, we believe it is time for a campus-wide discussion about the purpose and intent of the Core Curriculum Program, beginning with the question of what knowledge, literacies, and competencies should define a graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno. Discussion could identify student learning outcomes and overarching literacies across the curriculum that would characterize a UNR graduate, rather than on specific disciplines and courses.”

During 2010-2011, general education will be reviewed for the University of Nevada, Reno.  The goals of the review are well described by the external review panel:  to determine what knowledge, literacies, and competencies should define a graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno, identify related learning outcomes, and identify the alternative means by which the University can offer these learning outcomes for its bacheloriate graduates, in various four-year degree programs, in effective and efficient fashion.

A task force will propose the learning outcomes and alternative means of effective and efficient delivery.  All undergraduate academic colleges will be represented.  A report with recommendations will be submitted to the Executive Vice President and Provost by April 15, 2011.  The Office of the Provost will support the General Education Task Force.

Task Force Representatives:  CLA, COS, COB, COE, COEN, HS, JOUR, CABNR, IT-Libraries, ASUN

Download as Microsoft Word document