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Guidelines for Revising and Removing General Education Courses

After approval by the Department and College faculty, proposed changes to General Education courses are submitted to the Undergraduate Council for review.

Revision Guidelines
Courses currently on one of the General Education course lists that undergo revision in content (e.g., a change in title, credit or contact hours, catalog description, or student learning outcomes) will be required to reaffirm General Education eligibility by submitting documentation to the appropriate General Education subcommittee as part of the curricular action for the revision.

Expectations for Phasing out a General Education Course

A course that is on the General Education list has the following expectations:

Any course that is to fulfill a General Education requirement must be proposed to and approved by the General Education Committee and approved by the Undergraduate Council and Faculty Senate.

Courses on the General Education list in one year will be carried over to the next year’s catalog.

Once a course is approved for a General Education requirement, it must continue to be taught following the approved General Education characteristics anytime it is offered.
If a department wishes to drop the General Education designation for a course:

  • The Coordinator of Curriculum and Catalog must be informed of the intent to drop the General Education designation by October 1.
  • There will be a 6-year phase out period all courses dropped from the General Education list.
  • If still offered during the 6-year phase out period, a course must be taught following the approved General Education characteristics.
  • The department may choose not to offer a course if it does not wish to continue teaching it as a General Education course during the 6 year phase out period.
  • The General Education designation for a dropped course will be date- ranged in the Undergraduate Catalog (both on the General Education list and in the course description), on the list maintained on the web, and on students’ DARS reports.

Courses dropped from the Undergraduate Catalog will be dropped from the General Education list.

Archived courses (i.e., not listed in the UG Catalog but not dropped) will be temporarily dropped from the General Education list but will be added back when the course is taught again. Once reinstated, the course must be taught following the originally approved General Education characteristics.

If a course is dropped from the UG Catalog but is reinstated with a new number through an equivalency table, it would need to be resubmitted to the General Education Committee for approval in order to retain the General Education designation.

If a department wants to change the General Education category(ies) for a course, the old course number must be dropped and a new course must be proposed to the UG Council and to the General Education Committee.

Undergraduate Council Minutes – Page U3695 – September 13, 2016.