Initial Report: How We Care for the Curriculum
On February 14, the Mellon Committee released its Initial Report, How We Care for the Curriculum at Hunter College. The report summarizes the work the committee and its subcommittees undertook to study and review the GER, and provides an initial assessment of the GER in light of Hunter's own goals, national trends, and developments within CUNY. It provides data and evidence for further analysis, resources to support further investigation, models for consideration, and a plan for community deliberation.
Summary of Key Findings
1. We need to care more for general education, including developing a caretaking structure, responding to the needs of transfer students, and encouraging students to achieve more through more advanced study.
2. We need to increase faculty participation in general education with the full-time faculty assuming greater responsibility for designing and evaluating cross-curricular initiatives, teaching general education courses, integrating research opportunities in general education, and engaging in pre-major academic advising.
3. Our general education needs to better reflect learning and achieving in the 21st century in all areas of the curriculum.
4. Our general education needs to pay focused attention to student engagement and provide for assessment of student learning.
5. We should adopt a clear, overarching model for our 21st-century general education. Four models are offered as starting points for further deliberation.