Timeline

The new General Education (GE) program will Soft Launch in Spring 2022, initially serving Spring matriculants only. The new program will serve all matriculants after Spring 2022. The new GE program will be accomplished through a Rolling Implementation (see the section below) rather than an immediate transition.

Instructors who are interested in teaching in the new GE program must go through one of the Quick Start programs (Quick Start Live-Online and Self-Paced Quick Start). To support this Rolling Implementation, the Office of General Education (OGE) is offering Quick Start programs for the foreseeable future. For a full list of published dates, please see the Course Submission Deadlines page on the new GE program website.

Rolling Implementation

The new GE program will be realized through a Rolling Implementation, serving Spring 2022 matriculants and then all subsequent matriculants. The Tiers program will continue to operate in parallel with the new program until phasing out. Below is a visualization of enrollment in both programs over several years (please note that the image does not represent official projections or numbers).

Who can propose a new course?

The University-wide General Education Committee (UWGEC) is currently accepting Course Proposal Forms for Fall 2022. Instructors who are considering proposing courses for Spring 2023 do not have to go through the Quick Start process in Fall 2021; however, seats are available should these instructors wish to get an early start on the Course Proposal Process.

Course proposals should be prepared and submitted by the instructor primarily responsible for teaching the course unless there are special circumstances (e.g., instructor primarily responsible for the course is retiring or on sabbatical, the course is taught by multiple instructors, or there is not a consistent instructor for the course).

For brand new courses (i.e. courses that do not yet exist in the Catalog), the course proposal window will likely open up next Summer or Fall of 2022.

The New Curriculum

The new GE curriculum emphasizes interdisciplinary thinking, perspective-taking, and reflection. Instructors can propose Exploring Perspectives and Building Connections courses. All Exploring Perspectives and Building Connections courses carry between 1 and 2 Attributes, which indicate the skills, methodologies, and/or contexts that frame the course content. Instructors can choose from four Attributes: Diversity & Equity; Quantitative Reasoning; World Cultures & Societies; and Writing.

The Five Steps

Instructors must go through five steps to complete the Course Proposal Process: Nomination; Quick Start; Submit the Course Proposal Form (CPF); University-wide General Education Committee (UWGEC) Review; and Completion.