Implementation: University General Education Committee (UGEC) Membership and Business
The College of Letters and Science serves as the trustee charged with overseeing the implementation and administration of the university wide General Education Requirements (GER) all UW-Madison undergraduates must complete. The University General Education Committee is an L&S committee with campus-wide membership appointed by the Dean of L&S; the committee reports to the University Academic Planning Council (UAPC), and has authority to recommend GER policy changes to the UAPC. The committee considers and advised the university concerning issues relevant to university-wide general education.
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 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 administration of the requirements:
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assessment of student learning in courses that meet the University General Education Requirements;
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improved communication strategies about the requirements among internal groups (students, faculty, staff);
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improved communication with external groups, including key transfer institutions, parents, and high school counselors;
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implementation of a new administrative structure for the Ethnic Studies Requirement; and
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discussion of the role of liberal education (as achieved divisional breadth and skill requirements) in the university, state and nation. (For more information about this national discussion, please consult the American Association of Colleges and University's site, Liberal Education: America's Promise.)
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.
Dr. Elaine M. Klein, L&S Assistant Dean of Academic Planning and Director of General Education, chairs the committee. Please contact Dr. Klein (emklein@ls.wisc.edu) if you have questions about this committee's work.