General Education, CSU, Chico

Welcome Message to Faculty

Dear Colleagues:

Welcome to the General Education home page.  General Education (GE) is the contemporary label for what has characterized higher education for decades, if not centuries: a liberal education.  While there are many approaches to understanding the role of GE in a student’s university life, virtually all thinking about the issue focuses on those values of a liberal education widely held in the academy: open inquiry, academic freedom, and providing students with an understanding of, and familiarity with, the human condition, its many manifestations and creative products, and the wonder and order of the natural world.  In addition, GE is seen as one of the primary means by which the university provides students with enduring skills they need for life-long success – as citizens and as productive members of society  – skills in quantitative reasoning, critical thinking and written and oral communications.

While there is widespread agreement on the fundamental goals of GE, how best to achieve these goals is often hotly contested terrain.  Whether focused on curriculum or pedagogy, faculty have an intense interest in how the university organizes and presents GE to students.  In addition, faculty come to GE with particular disciplinary orientations that, while indispensable as a means of organizing information and insights, can make it more difficult for individual faculty to grasp and fully contribute to the broader perspectives that shape the student’s GE experience.  Just as students explore the world through GE, faculty can use participation in GE to search for broader meanings of their own disciplines and linkages to other areas of inquiry.

CSU, Chico recognizes that the GE curriculum is a common good, the collective responsibility of the faculty.  Periodically, faculty and administration have crafted documents to guide the curricular and pedagogical direction of the GE program.  These documents exist at the CSU-system level (EO-1033) and campus level (EM 99-05 and the most recent MOU on GE).  These documents, together with the General Education Advisory Committee (GEAC), composed largely of faculty, oversee the quality and governance of GE on our campus.  Because GE is a program and not simply a collection of courses, it requires careful tending, periodic revision and assessment to ensure that its educational objectives are being met.  

As with any academic program, GE is constantly evolving to reflect new knowledge, contemporary global trends and the interests of faculty, students and others concerned with the program’s success. To be successful as a program, the GE curriculum, and the pedagogical practices that support it, must be alive, vital and responsive.  I hope this web page provides you with interesting ideas about your own participation in the community of scholars supporting GE on our campus. 

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