Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1946 [PAGE 517]

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BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[June 30

ments in examining techniques and methods of teaching. Members of the committees visited other colleges and universities to examine recent developments in liberal education. Reports from educational conferences and advisory groups were studied. In the spring of 1944 the Committee organized and held a statewide conference on liberal education with speakers invited from institutions which had made significant departures from traditional practices. On June I, 1944, the Committee on Future Plans sent to members of the faculty of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences its proposals for future action as a basis for further discussion. These proposals were considered in four meetings of the general faculty and a large number of smaller group meetings. Conferences were also held with members of the staff whose work is particularly concerned with high schools and high school teaching. Several of the recommendations of the Committee on F u t u r e Plans involve no further actions than those of the faculty of the College of Liberal A r t s and Sciences. T h e major task of the Committee on Future Plans was the drafting of a revised liberal arts curriculum. This was submitted to and approved with minor changes by the College Faculty in March, 1945. It was then sent to the University Senate Committee on Educational Policy and finally to the Senate itself, which recommends the adoption of a new liberal arts curriculum to replace the present requirements for graduation in Liberal A r t s and Sciences and in the Division of General Studies. This curriculum involves the following changes in the present requirements for the degrees of Bachelor of A r t s or Bachelor of Science in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences: 1. Basic Knowledge. Students who enter the Liberal Arts Curriculum as freshmen after September 1, 1946 (or who enter other schools after that date and subsequently transfer to the College) must, in addition to the present requirements in English, Hygiene, and Foreign Language, meet new requirements of three hours in History of the United States and six hours in Mathematics (Algebra, Plane Geometry). T h e new requirements may be satisfied by courses taken in high school. 2. General Education. T h e present "group requirements" shall be replaced by the requirement of a two-semester course or sequence of courses in each of the following areas, with a minimum of eight hours credit in each: ( a ) Humanities; ( b ) Biological Science; (c) Physical Science; ( d ) Social Science. This requirement shall be satisfied only by courses certified by the College Policy Committee as suitable for that purpose. 3. Future of the Division of General Studies. T h e Division of General Studies shall be continued as a distinct unit within the Liberal A r t s and Sciences College offering a two-year program in General Education. This program shall be specifically designed to meet the needs ( a ) of students who do not expect to complete a four-year program and ( b ) of students who desire a preliminary orientation before entry into other divisions or colleges. Its courses shall also be open on the same basis as other Liberal A r t s and Sciences courses to other students in the College, and in the other Schools and Colleges of the University, who desire to include them in their program of study. T h e junior-senior program of the Division of General Studies shall be discontinued for all students who enroll in this Division after September I, 1946. It is understood that this action does not preclude the possibility of later action with respect to the Division's future, in the light of continuing studies of university organization. 4. Associate in Arts Certificate. Students in the Division of General Studies who satisfactorily complete the D.G.S. curriculum shall, upon application, be awarded the certificate of Associate in Arts. F o r students in the Division of General Studies who are candidates for the Associate in A r t s certificate, all college requirements except those in Rhetoric, Hygiene, Military, and Physical Education (which are required for all students in the University) shall be waived. Students in the Liberal Arts and specialized curricula who have satisfactorily met the "Basic Knowledge" and "General Education" requirements of the Liberal Arts curriculum and the general university requirements in Rhetoric, Hygiene, Military, and Physical Education, and have satisfactorily completed 60 hours of academic work shall, upon application, be awarded the certificate of Associate in Arts.