17 October 2022
OSU Community Members,
Last Thursday, the Faculty Senate voted to approve the new General Education Curriculum proposed by the Baccalaureate Core Reform Committee. Among other things, this action updates a 30-year-old curriculum, reducing its size and improving its legibility for all students, introducing a new course category to support students’ transition to OSU, adding a sequence of touchpoints to incorporate career-readiness, and expanding instruction fostering understanding of diversity, equity and inclusion. This curriculum both recognizes the value of aligning with the state’s Core Transfer Map—which facilitates seamless transfer among Oregon higher education institutions—and creating a distinctive and high-quality foundation for OSU’s degree offerings.
I extend my sincere thanks to the Baccalaureate Core Reform Committee, led by John Edwards and Lori Kayes, for its extensive work to steward the development of a new model and bring it forward to the Senate. Alix Gitelman and McKenzie Huber in the Office of Academic Affairs provided steady support throughout the reform effort. I also thank John Dorbolo, Mina Carson, Dwaine Plaza, Selina Heppell, Erika McCalpine, and Kate McTavish for their leadership as Senate presidents during this process. Finally, I’m grateful to the Faculty Senate for approving an excellent new model.
I’m now appointing an Implementation Steering Committee (see attached), led by Alix Gitelman, vice provost for academic affairs and senior vice provost, to guide the important work of implementing the new curriculum. Next week, Alix will share more details about implementation, and importantly, information about how you may be involved.
To learn more about the reform project, please visit the General Education Reform website.
Sincerely,
Edward Feser
Provost and Executive Vice President