A decade of Gen Eds

By John Sutter, contributing writer
Posted on October 8, 2007

Everyone’s favorite classes are hitting the double digits. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the General Education Program at JMU.

In 1997, a faculty review board implemented the current General Education Program. Dean of University Studies Linda Cabe Halpern said this included the creation of easier-to-manage courses organized in packages related to different majors.

“We knew we were after a coherent experience for our students and that we really believed in the importance of a liberal arts and sciences education,” she said.

Over the past ten years, only a few major changes have taken place. Halpern said that because of the increase in the size of the freshman class and majors reorganizing their programs, the Gen Ed program had to change some of the original curricular designs. 

“Some curricular decisions of the original program, were not sustainable as the university grew,” Halpern said. 

General Education classes used to be linked into packages but now reside in clusters according to types of class and the sequence in which students should take them.

Halpern said she thinks the program will continually adapt and change to handle the increased enrollment of the freshman class. 

Although the General Education program didn’t plan any major celebration for its anniversary, outstanding student work was highlighted at the recent General Education Conference that was held during Family Weekend. The program also provided a timeline of events showing major accomplishments in the history of the General Education Program as well as a newsletter.

Jonathan Gibson, professor of music and freshman adviser, thinks the Gen Ed clusters could more clearly relate to majors.

“[There’s] always room for improvement, but it works better than any other program I’ve seen,” Gibson said.

Gibson also stated that the program is necessary and essential to a true liberal arts education. 

Junior ISS major Justin Broughman disagrees; he thinks the program is too broad.

According to Broughman, a “student’s GPA to suffer because they are forced to take a class they are not interested in.”  

Although Broughman didn’t appreciate some aspects of the program, he did realize that certain classes and things he learned did help prepare him for the rest of his college career.

Freshman Valerie Gibbs approves of the JMU program and believes it is necessary for a true liberal arts education. 

“It is good to have these classes because they go into a deeper level than in high school,” she said.

Freshman Logan Schuerman agreed.

“I think it is important to explore a variety of subjects,” he said. 

Last year JMU won the Council for Higher Education Accreditation Award for Institutional Progress in Student Learning Outcomes in the General Education Program, for the strong relationship between student learning and program assessment practices.