Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1968 [PAGE 1048]

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996

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[April 17

DISCONTINUANCE OF DIVISION OF GENERAL STUDIES AND ESTABLISHMENT OF A GENERAL C U R R I C U L U M , URBANA (10) The Urbana-Champaign Senate has approved a recommendation from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences that the administrative organization of the Division of General Studies be discontinued and that a general curriculum for freshman and sophomore students be offered. Approved by the Board of Trustees on June 8, 1939, the Division of General Studies was established to offer a group of general, "non-departmental courses, the content being determined by the nature of the field in its relation to the educational needs of the student, rather than by the boundaries of exising departments." T h e recommendation from the Senate for the establishment of the Division contained a proviso that the curriculum be considered "tentative, subject to continuous study and possible revision." Such studies and evaluation did take place in the early 1940's, the mid-^SCCs, 1961, and 1967. The most recent of these studies, undertaken by an ad hoc committee appointed by the Dean of the College of Liberal A r t s and Sciences to re-examine the position of the Division of General Studies in the College and in the University, found that the objectives for which the Division was originally established "remain important and the need to achieve them becomes more acute." The Committee found that the Division's courses had stimulated considerable interest among students both in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and in other colleges, and served an important and unique function in the science areas, but that significant problem areas, e.g., self-identity, establishment of a core of courses equal in stature but separate in orientation, and obtaining and holding qualified teaching staff, have marked its history. The Committee concluded that the primary contribution of the Division has resulted from its individual courses rather than from its distinctive program of general education or its particular type of administrative structure. At the same time, a Committee on Curricular Reclassification of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has considered the problems of uncommitted freshman and sophomore students, and has recommended development of a general curriculum which requires no commitment by such students to a specific academic or subject-matter field. Based on the reports of these two committees, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, with the endorsement of the Urbana-Champaign Senate, recommends : 1. That the courses and functions currently administered by the Division of General Studies be made a primary administrative responsibility of the Council on General Education in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (a standing committee of the faculty), with authority to appoint a Director having appropriate administrative assignments. 2. That the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offer a two-year general curriculum in which freshman and sophomore students may register at their option rather than select a departmental major. This curriculum will replace the present Curriculum in General Studies. It is not proposed to discontinue the Science and Letters Curriculum. T h e Chancellor at the Urbana-Champaign campus and the Executive VicePresident and Provost concur. I recommend approval. O n m o t i o n of M r . J o n e s , t h i s r e c o m m e n d a t i o n w a s a p p r o v e d . DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEGREE IN THE HISTORY OF ART, URBANA (11) The Graduate College and the Urbana-Champaign Senate recommend the establishment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the History of Art. A recent study prepared under a grant from the Ford Foundation indicates that course offerings in the history of art in the United States have approximately doubled every twenty years since 1900 and will probably continue to expand at the same rate in the future. During the last decade interest in this field of study at Urbana, both as a part of general education and as a clearly identified subject for specialization, has reflected this trend: for the school year 1955-56 there were 709 enrollments in courses in the history of art. For 1965-66 the number totaled 1,678.