General Education Curriculum Task Force
May 2024 Open Letter from Casale & Evans
Proposed Key Pedagogies of the GE Curriculum
General Education Task Force Frequently Asked Questions Spring 2024
"Seeking General Education Faculty Fellows and Pilot Faculty 2024-2025"
Summer 2023 GETF Press Release: Transdisciplinary Teams
The new General Education Curriculum (GEC) aims to recreate general education at Kean University so that we give our students a unique inquiry- and place-based experiential learning opportunity that will launch them into their major areas of study.
During the initial meeting of May 13, 2022, David Birdsell, Ph.D., Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, shared a new vision of GEC this is both:
Distinctive
1. Intellectually Vibrant
2. Shared students should receive a similar foundational education
3. Does the lion's share of academic major preparation
4. Interdisciplinary
Legible and Linear
1. Few branches at the base; many at the top
2. Require no backtracking
3. Critical direction of student progress
The GE Taskforce was formed to explore how to apply this vision to Kean. Made of representatives from all colleges and members representing students' interests (see: Taskforce members, link), the GE Taskforce has worked collaboratively to...
- Create a genuine, shared core.
- Support graduation in four years with a major and up to two minors
- Have the general education curriculum accepted by all majors with few or minor modifications
- Craft an inquiry-based curriculum
- Build the curriculum around concrete observations that will then back into theory.
- Derive as much of the curriculum as possible from place and community
- Create multiple points of contact throughout the first year, i.e., an integrated curriculum
- Emphasize throughout the values of equity, inclusion, analytical rigor, sustainability, and mutual respect.
To advance these efforts, the GEC task force has met at least once per month since May 2022 and is now able to begin sharing their work to the Kean community (See: Link to college-wide event).
This website will continue to be updated with more information as our planning and work progress.
Thank you for your interest and engagement in this important process.