The primary purpose of the General Education Council (GEC) is to receive, consider, and vote on recommendations from the Area (formerly 'Cluster') Committees regarding the program curriculum (courses, structure, outcomes). The GEC is a college-level C&I committee. It also advises the program administration on certain kinds of policy changes and on other matters pertaining to General Education: The Human Community.

Council Composition
  • The Chair (elected by the members; non-voting, except in case of a tie vote).
  • General Education Program administrators:
    • Associate Vice Provost (non-voting member)
    • Area coordinators (5 voting members)
  • Area (formerly 'Cluster') Committee Representatives, each of whom is full time faculty member elected by their respective committees (5 voting members):
    • Candidates for the positions of Area Committee Representatives and must be teaching faculty, at least 50% of whose duties are instructional, i.e., related primarily to the classroom and non-administrative functions.
  • College Representatives, each of whom is a full time faculty member elected by their respective College Faculty or College Council (7 voting members):
    • Candidates for the positions of College Representatives must be teaching faculty, at least 50% of whose duties are instructional, i.e., related primarily to the classroom and non-administrative functions.
  • University Representatives, one from each of the following areas:
    • Faculty Senate (1 voting member)
    • Libraries & Educational Technologies (1 voting member)
    • Center for Assessment and Research Studies (1 voting member)
    • Career and Academic Planning (1 voting member)
  • Two Student Representatives from the SGA (one vote).
Chair Elections
  • The whole GEC will serve as electors.
  • Candidates for Chair must be members of the Council who are teaching faculty members, at least 50% of whose duties are instructional, i.e., related primarily to the classroom and non-administrative functions, and should serve a two-year term.
  • The outgoing chair should appoint a nomination committee - three current GEC members - to solicit nominations and bring them up for election, self-nominations to be permitted.
  • The GEC position formerly held by the newly elected chair should be filled appropriately by another teaching faculty member, at least 50% of whose duties are instructional, i.e., related primarily to the classroom and non-administrative functions.
  • Subsequent election of a new chair should be held in the spring of the second year of the current chair's term.
  • The elected chair should be given some release time from teaching and/or scholarly duties and would be well advised to minimize other service commitments.
FALL 2024 GEC MEMBERS

Chair: Claire Lyons, Psychology

General Education Representatives

Associate Vice Provost: Meg Mulrooney (non-voting)
Madison Foundations Coordinator: Sarah Brooks, School of Art, Design and Art History
Arts and Humanities Coordinator: Dennis Beck, Theatre and Dance
The Natural World Coordinator: Elizabeth Brown, Mathematics and Statistics
American and Global Perspectives Coordinator: John Scherpereel, Political Science
Sociocultural and Wellness Area Coordinator: Kethera Moore, Psychology

Area Representatives

Madison Foundations: Christian Early, Ethical Reasoning in Action/Philosophy
Arts and Humanities: Bill Van Norman, History
The Natural World: Shelley Whitmeyer, Geology & Environmental Science
American and Global Perspectives: Kathryn Hobson, Communication Studies
Sociocultural and Wellness Area: Debra Sutton, Health Sciences

College Representatives 

CVPA: Pedro Rafael Aponte, Music 
CAL: Katey Castellano, English 
COE: Marcus Wolfe, MSME 
CISE: Adam Dohrenwend, Geopgraphy
CHBS: Chelsea Duncan, Kinesiology 
COB: Phil Heap, Economics
CSM: Dhanuska Bandara Wijesinghe, Geology and Environmental Science 
HONORS: Heidi Pennington, English
UNST: Johnathan Walker, Interdisciplinary Liberal Studies

University Representatives 

CARS: John Hathcoat
University Advising: Aimee Stright
Libraries: Juhong Christie Liu
Faculty Senate Liaison: Michael Hickman

Student Government Representatives

Bella Schrecengost & TBA

Meeting Schedule 2024-2025

FALL 2024
August 30
September 13
October 04
November 08
December 06

SPRING 2025
February 07
March 07
April 11
May 02


Meetings are held 2:30-4:00p in Moody Hall 113.

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