OFFICIAL
 

PURPOSE

1. This Policy and Procedure Statement establishes the General Education Council and outlines the Council's charge and the procedures for membership and meetings.



 

CHARGE

 

2. The State of Texas has assigned the oversight responsibility for the Texas General Education Common Core Curriculum to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). In guidelines adopted in 1998 and 1999 the THECB developed the broad categories for the General Education Common Core Curriculum and established a minimum core curriculum of not less than 42 semester credit hours and a maximum core curriculum not to exceed 48 semester credit hours. Within these broad parameters, each institution of higher education is charged with developing an institutionally appropriate General Education Core Curriculum. At Texas State University-San Marcos, development of recommendations for the institutional General Education Core Curriculum is the responsibility of the General Education Council, which represents the faculty, departmental administrators and students. The core should be a dynamic curriculum which reflects changes in thinking and society as well as honoring the tradition of a liberating education. There should exist mechanisms for continual assessment of the content and policies for this university-wide body of instruction and how it might best help Texas State students achieve the intellectual skills and knowledge which will prepare them for private, public and professional lives.
3. The Council in cooperation with the Assistant Vice President for Academic Services will consider curriculum and/or policy recommendations, e.g., changes in the structure or definitions of the primary components of Texas State's General Education Core Curriculum.
4. All recommendations of the General Education Council shall be forwarded in writing to the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs along with written concurrence or dissent from the AVPAS. The Provost shall take appropriate action and communicate such to the Council through the AVPAS within 60 days.
5. The Council will be listed in the Roster of Councils and Committees.



 

STRUCTURE

 

6. The Council will consist of two elected faculty representatives from each academic college, two department chairs/school directors, two undergraduate students. The Council will consist of 18 members, all of whom are voting. The Dean of University College will be the non-voting chair of the Council.



 

TERMS OF OFFICE

 

7. The college and department chair/school director representatives will serve staggered three-year terms.
8. The student representatives will serve one-year terms.



 

SELECTION OF MEMBERS

 

9. The faculty representatives will be tenured voting faculty* (excluding chairs/directors), or senior lecturers who have been elected directly by voting faculty* from their colleges. Each college will elect two representatives and one alternate. In order to ensure the broadest faculty representation, only one faculty representative shall come from any one department/school (alternates are exempted from this restriction). No faculty member can be elected from a department/school with a chair/director representative. [*as defined in the Faculty Constitution]
10. Each spring the AVPAS will notify each college dean and the director of Institutional Research about impending vacancies within each college for the next academic year. Each college dean in conjunction with Institutional Research will conduct electronic elections in accordance with paragraph 9 Institutional Research will convey the results to the elected faculty member, the college dean and the AVPAS. The AVPAS will report the changes to the committee membership for inclusion in the Roster of Councils and Committees.
11. The two chair/director representatives will be elected by the chairs/director in a process administered by the chair of the Council of Chairs. No chair/director can be selected if the academic department already possesses a faculty representative on the council.
12. The Vice President for Student Affairs with the advice of the President of the Associated Student Government will select the undergraduate student representatives.



 

PROCEDURES

 

13. The Council will meet at least three times each long semester on Monday afternoons from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. An agenda will be prepared and published by the AVPAS. Formal recommendations will be circulated to the Council at least one week prior to the scheduled meeting.
14. Standard parliamentary procedures will be honored. The Council must have a quorum of nine voting members to conduct business. A simple majority will carry an issue.
15. Regular attendance is expected of all representatives or their designated alternates. In the event a representative or alternate is unable to attend, a proxy may be designated by the representative in consultation with the appropriate dean or the chair of the Council of Chairs. The AVPAS will be notified that a proxy will attend. The proxy will be furnished with appropriate materials for the meeting and will be a voting member for that meeting.
16. All meetings, except those dealing with personnel issues, will be open.
     

 

CERTIFICATION STATEMENT

 

17. This PPS has been approved by the reviewer listed below and represents Texas State's Division of Academic Affairs policy and procedure from the date of this document until superceded.

Review Cycle: ___________________     Review Date: __________
Reviewer:        ___________________     Date: _________________
Approved:       ___________________    Date: _________________
      
Gene Bourgeois     
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs     
 
Texas State University-San Marcos
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Last Updated: February 28, 2012
Send comments and questions to: tg12@txstate.edu