In 2021, the General Education program underwent its third regular APR. JMU’s APR process requires that the unit prepare a formal action plan, which was led by the General Education Council (Dr. Claire Lyons, chair).
As an APR recommendation and precursor to GenEd Renewal, the GEC and the five faculty governance committees already voted in 2022 to rename the five areas of the program to convey more clearly the skills and knowledge that students develop across the curriculum.
Please update your syllabi, department websites, catalog text and any other documents to remove the word ‘cluster’ and use the revised area names:
- Madison Foundations
- Arts and Humanities
- The Natural World
- American and Global Perspectives
- Sociocultural and Wellness Area
Renaming the areas is a step to refocus attention on the program’s 14 requirements as faculty consider revisions to the requirements, outcomes, or structure.
The GEC is working with the Provost’s Core Curriculum Appraisal Task Force (CCATF) to facilitate and support faculty and other stakeholder engagement with the renewal of JMU's General Education program.
The following videos from the Fall 2023 "GenEd Conversations" are useful resources:
- Sept. 27, Meg Mulrooney
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- Part 1: Origins and Evolution of JMU’s program [Intro plus 15 mins]
- Part 2: Governance and C&I processes for JMU’s program [15 mins]
- Part 3: Challenges and Opportunities from the APR [15 mins]
- Oct. 27, Stephen Biscotte
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- Full conversation: Exploring the Landscape of General Education [61 mins]
- Nov. 30, Natasha Jankowski
- Full conversation: Outcomes-based General Education
