General Education Review Committee

Committee Membership (updated 11/5/21)

  • Nicholas Kirsch, CEPS
  • Ellen Fitzpatrick, COLA
  • Tim Montminy, COLSA
  • Semra Aytur, CHHS
  • Neil Niman, Paul College
  • Sarah Prescott, UNH Manchester
  • Wendy Pothier, Library
  • Amanda Lohnes, Undergraduate representative
  • SVPAA, Kate Ziemer or designee in non-voting ex officio role

Charges and Membership Parameters - Approved by the Senate on August 30, 2021

Background 

On April 19, 2021, the Faculty Senate passed Motion  # XXV-M20 to Recommit and Create a New Ad Hoc Committee to Reassess the Discovery Review Committee (DRC) recommendations. This motion instructs the Agenda Committee “to form an ad hoc committee to reassess the DRC recommendations to UNH’s general education curriculum” and to “draft the parameters for committee membership and the specific committee goals and timeline and share these with the Senate for approval.” To this end, Agenda Committee members met with administrators and faculty including Provost Wayne Jones, Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Kate Ziemer, and Discovery Committee Chair Nicoletta Gullace. 

Note that to avoid unnecessary confusion the Agenda Committee recommends that this ad hoc committee be named the General Education Review Committee (GERC).

Recommendations 

The Agenda Committee’s recommendations for the membership parameters, goals, and timeline for the new ad hoc committee are as follows. 

  1. Membership parameters. Membership of the GERC should address all of the following concerns as much as is feasible, with due recognition of the overlapping nature of such categories: 
    • Adequate representation across categories of gender, ethnicity, career stage (junior to senior), and appointment type (lecturer, TT, Clinical)    
    • Representation from across all undergraduate degree-granting colleges, as well as the Library. 
    • Inclusion of persons with relevant disciplinary and/or professional expertise as it relates to the pedagogy of general education.  
    • At least one undergraduate student.   
    • Substantial representation of Faculty Senators. 
    • Inclusion of Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Kate Ziemer or designee in a non-voting ex officio role.

The  committee should consult with any other individuals or departments that they think will be useful.  This includes the co-chairs of the Discovery Review Committee, the Discovery Committee, CEITL, as well as administrators, and departments  who may be affected or have specialized expertise.

2. Goals. The primary goal of the GERC is to reassess the 2021 DRC recommendations to UNH’s general education curriculum. The first step in this process is for the committee to assess whether a modified version of the 2021 DRC proposal should be prepared or whether a new proposal should be developed. The committee will then provide a report and recommendation to the Faculty Senate. The Faculty Senate will conduct a procedural vote on whether to endorse the report and its recommendations.

Any subsequent responsibilities for the GERC will depend on the outcome of the procedural vote on the committee’s initial report and recommendations. Following the vote, the Agenda Committee will draft, in consultation with the GERC, additional charges and membership parameters, and share these with the Senate for approval.

For the duration of its work, the committee should take into account all relevant research, documentation, and feedback previously compiled by the DRC and the Senate Agenda Committee. It should focus on the educational merits and learning outcomes of general education requirements, while making an attempt to forgo discussions of revenue generation or budget concerns.

3. Timeline. The GERC shall make their initial assessment (regarding whether to reintroduce the 2021 DRC proposal or to develop a new proposal) and report to the Senate as soon as possible. As noted above, additional charges and membership.

The GERC submitted it's report/recommendations to the Faculty Senate on Monday, February 7, 2022. 

GERC Final Report

The GERC should consult with the Agenda Committee as often as necessary for guidance and for any assistance in obtaining information or resources to conduct their work.