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Information
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Prior to implementing the General Education Requirements, UW-Madison had no common undergraduate requirements with the single exception of an Ethnic Studies requirement. Widespread opinion on campus was that students, particularly at the freshman and sophomore levels, were not being offered the amount or level of focused writing/communication/information literacy skills experience that one would expect of an undergraduate experience at UW-Madison. A lack of General Education requirements in the Quantitative Reasoning area meant that some students never took college level courses that helped to hone skills in this area. There was also wide support among the faculty for general education requirements in breadth areas of natural science, humanities/literature/art, and social studies since previous requirements varied widely across the campus.
According to the mission statement articulated by the campus-wide General Education committee, the purpose of the General Education requirements is to ensure that every graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison acquires the essential core of an undergraduate education that establishes the foundations for living a productive life, being a citizen of the world, appreciating aesthetic values, and engaging in life-long learning in a continually changing world. For this reason, these core requirements provide for breadth across the humanities and arts, social studies, biological sciences and physical sciences; competence in communication, critical thinking and analytical skills appropriate for a university-educated person; and investigation of the issues raised by living in a culturally diverse society.
In 1994, the 1993-94 Faculty Committee on Undergraduate Education submitted a report on the General Education Requirements to the Faculty Senate. The committee had found that, with the exception of the ethnic studies requirement, UW-Madison had no campus-wide requirements; further, across schools and colleges, there was considerable variation in requirements for basic instruction. As a result, it was feared that some students were graduating without competency in important skill areas. In comparison to the substantial general education requirements of peer universities, the committee considered UW-Madison's requirements "meager". A survey of faculty opinion found considerable support for general education requirements, prompting the committee to propose a number of recommendations which have since become the current UW-Madison General Education Requirements.
Per Wis. Stats. 36.09(4), "The faculty of each institution, subject to the responsibilities and powers of the board, the president and the chancellor of such institution, shall be vested with responsibility for the immediate governance of such institution and shall actively participate in institutional policy development. As such, the faculty shall have the primary responsibility for academic and educational activities and faculty personnel matters. The faculty of each institution shall have the right to determine their own faculty organizational structure and to select representatives to participate in institutional governance." As such, responsibility for creating, implementing, evaluating and revising the General Education Requirements rests upon the shoulders of the faculty, through the university's system of governance.
Administration of the General Education Requirements
At its meeting of November 21, 1996 the University Academic Planning Council (UAPC) assigned the overall academic administration of the campus-wide General Education Requirements to the College of Letters and Science to act as trustee on behalf of all schools and colleges. The College of Letters and Science formed an L&S General Education Committee to serve as an advisory body for this purpose. Dr. Nancy Westphal-Johnson (westphal@ls.admin.wisc.edu), who serves as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education and Academic Administration, coordinates General Education efforts for the campus. The College submits a yearly report to the University Academic Planning Council detailing progress on implementing the requirements and highlighting any issues of interest or concern. The University Academic Planning Council must vote on any policy issues that need to be decided.
The following General Education Requirement Annual Reports have been presented to and accepted by the UAPC:
Please note: UAPC actions on policy items have been noted in the reports posted here. Changes reported to and accepted by the UAPC have been incorporated into the materials on this site.
Approval of Courses Meeting the General Education Requirements
Communication
The criteria for courses meeting the communications requirements are available at:
Professor Sherry Reames is the Communication liaison to the University General Education Committee. She is the first point of contact regarding new courses proposed to carry Communication designations. For Comm A, an ad hoc committee may be convened to study the proposal. Professors Reames is authorized to review and approve assignment of the Comm B attribute, which may be added to existing courses or to courses at the time of creation. Comm B is the only General Education Requirement for which "section-level" approvals are allowed.
Requests to review transfer courses to meet the Communication A requirement should be directed to Ron Harris (English Department, rwharris@wisc.edu); for reviews of courses to meet the Communication B requirement and requests for extraordinary exceptions to either requirement, contact Professor Sherry Reames (slreames@wisc.edu). Please note: Since Professor Reames will be teaching abroad in Spring 2007, Ron Harris will be the interim contact person for Comm-B.
Quantititative Reasoning
The criteria for courses meeting the Quantitative Reasoning A and B are available online at http://www.ls.wisc.edu/Gened/FacStaff/QRreqs.htm .
Professor Brualdi (Mathematics) serves as the Quantitative Reasoning liaison to the University General Education Committee. Proposals for Quantitative Reasoning courses should be submitted to Professor Brualdi (brualdi@math.wisc.edu); proposals to develop new QRA courses may require consideration by an ad hoc subcommittee. Professor Brualdi also evaluates requests to grant extraordinary exceptions for students.
Ethnic Studies
The Ethnic Studies Requirement has been the subject of an extensive process of review and revision (ca 1999-2004). As a result, responsibility for evaluating courses and exceptions are - for the time being - vested in a subcommittee of the University General Education Committee. For information about the requirement and procedures for adding courses to the course array, please refer to the following documents:
Requests to have courses approved or extraordinary exceptions granted are reviewed by the Ethnic Studies Subcommittee of the University General Education Committee. Professor Mark Kenoyer (Anthropology) serves as chair of this subcommittee, and Assistant Dean Elaine M. Klein (kleine@ls.admin.wisc.edu) coordinates questions referred to the committee.
General Breadth (Humanities/Literature/Arts, Social and Natural Sciences)
Each school and college can determine, for purposes of its own degree requirements, which courses satisfy various breadth areas. In general, breadth indicators align with the Divisional Executive Committee that is responsible for approving courses in each of the four curricular areas. The L&S Curriculum Committee assigns L&S breadth and level indicators used in the Timetable; assignment of Timetable breadth indicators is conducted through the normal process for adding or changing courses, as outlined by the Office of the Secretary of the Faculty (http://www.secfac.wisc.edu/divcomm/courses/CourseProposals.htm).
University General Education Committee Membership and Business
The University General Education Committee is the campus-wide policy committee that deals with all issues related to the General Education requirements all UW-Madison undergraduates must complete. The UGEC is made up of term members and ex officio members. Members of the faculty, professional advising staff, and two students serve as the rotating members. Faculty and staff members and serve three-year terms; students have one-year appointments. The ex officio members are drawn from key areas across the university, and are selected by virtue of their programs' contributions to the General Education Curriculum. These members include the liaisons for administering the Communication and Quantitative Reasoning requirements, and Director of such entities as the Writing Center and the Writing Across the Curriculum program; the Cross-College Advising Service; Orientation and New Student Services; the Library and Information Literacy Instruction Program; the First-year Interest Group program; and UGEC Assessment. The Associate Vice Chancellor for Teaching and Learning and an assistant to the Provost also serve on the Council.
The business of the committee in recent years has included a number of topics related to the academic administratin of the requirements:
It is expected that the work outlined above will continue in the coming, although the Provost may refer new questions to the committee at any time.The University General Education Committee does not hold standing meetings, but usually meets two to three times per semester. Meetings are set in consultation with committee members about their availability.
L&S Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education and Academic Administration, Nancy Westphal-Johnson, is the committee chair; Elaine M. Klein (L&S Assistant Dean and Director of Academic Planning, Program Review and Assessment, L&S) assists the chair and serves as a consultant to the Committee. Please contact Dr. Klein (kleine@ls.admin.wisc.edu) if you have questions about this committee's work.
Policies of the UW Board of Regents
No policies of the Board of Regents address General Education Requirements, except insofar as they are affected when students transfer between UW System institutions or from the Wisconsin Technical College System. In those cases, the following policies and guidelines have formed the foundation of campus policies:
Students entering with an Associate's Degree are affected by BOR Policy 87-9, Minimum Requirements for an Associate Degree
Accreditation, Assessment and General Education
The Federal Higher Education Act requires that institutions receiving federal funding be evaluated periodically to ensure that they meet high standards of excellence in educating their students. Failure to meet these standards not only leads to the loss of federal funding, but it has an equally negative effect on institutional rankings and many certification programs. The authority to evaluate UW-Madison is delegated to the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA-HLC). At the time of the last institutional accreditation, one among many of the NCA-HLC's requirements was that the university's "undergraduate degree programs include a coherent general education requirement consistent with the institution's mission and designed to ensure breadth of knowledge and to promote intellectual inquiry" (NCA, GIR #16). In April 1999, a team of consultants visited the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus and found that these, and all other, requirements for accreditation were satisfied; the next comprehensive site visit is scheduled for 2008-9.
The General Education Committee has developed a plan for the ongoing assessment of the General Education Requirements. Various projects are undertaken each year. For more information about assessment and General Education at UW-Madison, please refer to our page on General Education Assessment.
* Questions regarding the university's accreditation may be sent to the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, 30 N. LaSalle Street, Suite 2400, Chicago, IL 60602-2504, (800) 621-7440; (312) 263-0456; Fax: (312) 263-7462.
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