15 minute read
GENERAL EDUCATION
from April 9, 2021
by The Gatepost
By Ashlyn Kelly
Asst. News Editor
The Special Committee on General Education held two listening sessions to hear student and faculty opinions about the general education program on Zoom.
The first meeting focused on the mission statement April 5.
According to Amanda Simons, chair of the committee, the review of the general education program began in 2017.
This process consisted of internal reviews through surveys of faculty, staff, and students as well as an external review through the Association of American Colleges & Universities.
“The general conclusion was that our current program is adequate and adequate is not super inspiring,” said Simons.
Simons said the review process was never finished and that is the responsibility of the current committee.
“One of the comments that came up in the review from our external reviewer was that the program doesn’t have a clearly defined purpose,” said Simons. “And an even bigger concern comes from our student survey, where the students don’t know what we’re doing with the general education program, either.”
The current draft of the mission statement listed certain goals of the program, such as building knowledge across disciplines, exploring majors and minors, “investigating pressing issues,” and developing skills for employability.
English Professor Halcyon Mancuso, executive director of the Mancuso Humanities Workforce Preparation Center, said she does not think the current mission statement says how the goals will be achieved, and the document is “just way too long.
“I’m not sure that students are going to get it and read it,” she added.
English Professor Patricia Lynne said it may not make sense to call it a mission statement.
“Mission statements tend to be fairly dry and brief and this is … more in the language of advertising,” she said. “It might be better to adjust what we’re calling it as well as possibly shifting the format.”
Simons said it is OK if it is not a mission statement, but asked, “Does that mean that having a mission statement is not important?”
Lisa Eck, English department chair, said, “I think there’s a case to
be made that the breadth of gen eds needs to be promoted. We’re asking students to not just pick a major but to go outside their comfort zone for … 10 courses.”
She added the general education program should be able to answer questions such as, “Why do they [students] have to leave their comfort zone?” and “Why do they have to work across the disciplines?”
English Professor Bartholomew Brinkman asked in the chat, “How do we square the encouragement to ‘explore majors and minors’ with what often seems to be an institutional push to declare majors early?”
Marc Cote, dean of arts and humanities, said while the current twoyear window to declare a major may seem short, some departments view it as being too long.
Larry McKenna, physics and Earth science department chair, suggested a “vibrant gen ed program … would allow [students] to get a few classes done in the gen ed program while they explored the majors.”
According to Simons, many of the gen ed courses offered at FSU can count toward minors.
“Students could take a course from this domain, in that domain, and that domain and be three-fifths of the way to a minor,” she said.
The second meeting focused on the creation of a general education council April 7.
Simons said, “One of the problems that the special committee has run into is a lack of information that comes from a lack of centralized administration of the general education program.”
In order to solve this issue, the special committee is considering creating a General Education Council.
According to McKenna, the Council “would be charged with the coherent management of the gen ed program, including the reviews that we have to do every five years, but also including this sort of day-to-day management of the program so that
it runs in the way that best benefits our students, our faculty, and our University.”
Eck said many opportunities “just lay dormant because we treat [gen eds] like a checklist and students just want to ‘get through’ or ‘get past’” them.
She added in the time the special committee has spent examining the general education program, they have discovered minors that students could work toward while completing their gen eds.
“I really think just the packaging … is what this Council could address,” said Eck.
She also said the Council could address the scheduling of gen ed courses.
“We have some data that certain disciplines or certain departments lost ground in this last enrollment,” said Eck. “In this current system, we don’t know what those factors were - were they scheduling or [something else]?”
McKenna said he was “addressed by a chair two days ago who said, ‘You guys don’t have the right to decide when I offer classes’ and the chair was quite adamant about that.”
According to Susan Dargan, dean of social and behavioral sciences, the Council would not have the authority to regulate the schedule due to the Collective Bargaining Agreement, but could make recommendations.
Simons said, “I think the value would be in making sure the chairs have a way to coordinate with other chairs and know what else is out there and what’s being offered and what their courses will be competing with.”
McKenna said he hopes to get students to serve on the Council.
“I think this Gen Ed Council has to have vigorous student participation. After all, the gen ed program is to [their] benefit,” he said.
Mancuso said she believes it will be a challenge to get people to serve on the Council.
“Everyone is maxed out already with all the various departmental and University-wide committees,” she added.
Simons asked if there were a way to compensate students for being on the Council.
Chemistry and Food Science Professor Vinay Mannam proposed in the chat for students to receive professional development credit to be put on their transcripts.
Dargan said there are co-curricular transcripts available for students to order.
According to Simons, the committee is also considering creating a guide to the general education program for both faculty and students.
She said the main purpose of the guide would be “to help students find pathways through the general education program that will work for them.”
One example was if a student were interested in sustainability, the guide would list certain courses that explored the topic.
Simons added, “But this kind of advising guide would show students some ways that they could make the program work for their interests.”
Racial policy review
continued from page 1 the upcoming year.”
In the press release, FSU President F. Javier Cevallos said, “We are very grateful to the Baker Administration for awarding us funding to coordinate this institute.
“We are never going to be able to close racial opportunity gaps until we address policies that limit the self-determination of students of color,” Cevallos added.
He said the grant is a reflection of the commitment the FSU community has to engage in conversations “about anti-racism and how to become a more inclusive and open institution to everyone.”
According to the University’s website, current anti-racism initiatives include a central training focus in the fall of 2020 for employees, faculty professional development aimed at “unpacking anti-racist pedagogy and giving faculty tools to enact this in their work,” and programs hosted by The Center for Inclusive Excellence on discussions and events that “deepened understanding of race and racism.”
Additionally, the University’s commitment to being an anti-racist institution includes continual departmental conversations on anti-racism, an Anti-Racist Pedagogy Academy for faculty, and a remote workshop series focused on race.
According to the press release, a majority of the grant funds will go toward hiring educational experts.
Cabello said the University is “really looking for somebody who has familiarity with our campus, who may have worked with Framingham State in the past, who knows about our student body and some of the past work we’ve done.”
She added the educational expert hired will be “an expert in racial equity, somebody who knows higher education inside and out, and somebody who’s familiar with our campus.”
Cabello said the University has an educational expert in mind, but cannot release any names because they are not yet under contract.
According to the press release, the racial equity institute will build upon the work that began with the 2018 STEM Inclusive Excellence Grant for $1 million awarded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI).
Through this five-year grant, “15 STEM faculty participated in the FSU STEM racial equity institute under the leadership of the grant’s primary investigator, Dr. Catherine Dignam,” according to the press release.
Dignam, chair of the chemistry and food science department, said the first year of the grant was spent “building capacity and attempting to educate both faculty leaders and administrators in such a way that we could have a shared vocabulary and a shared mental model when we approached work-related equity, inclusion, and diversity.”
From there, the curriculum for the summer racial equity institute was developed.
Dignam said, “In year two [2019], we launched the STEM racial equity institute, which is a very intensive experience for some faculty.
She said faculty spent five weeks during the summer reviewing modules to develop an “anti-racist pedagogy.”
According to Dignam, the University has partnered with the UMass Donahue Institute.
She said, “They provided us with an external evaluator and he led fo-
cus groups with our participants and provided us with an overall report to give us some sort of basic information to help us improve the program and get an idea of whether it’s impactful.”
Dignam said, “President Cevallos made a bold statement that we’re going to be an anti-racism institution. Well, if folks don’t know what systemic racism is - not because they’re bad people, but because it hasn’t affected their lives - it’s really hard to be a good anti-racist institution.
“So, that’s one of the types of
things we try to deal with by studying historical examples of systemic racism, modern examples of systemic racism, thinking about what that influence will have on our perspectives as faculty in the classroom and as prospective students in the classroom,” Dignam added.
On the HEIF grant, Dignam said, “I
am very enthusiastic. It [the grant] is not going to solve all problems, but it’s a piece of the puzzle.
“I like that the idea is to focus on sharpening our racial equity,” Dignam said. “I think we’re taking other positive steps and we need to keep taking positive steps.”
Cabello said the institute will be assessed to determine whether participants understand systemic racism, what a racist policy is, and if they have a plan to move forward.
She said, “Right now, what I think
is that there’s a real desire for folks who want to do this work well. And so, we need to provide them with the tools to do that.”
According to Cabello, the rhetoric around COVID-19 has played a role in increased hate crimes and racial trauma.
“We need to really meet this moment that we’re in - kind of the intersections of what we often call a dual pandemic of ongoing racism and COVID-19,” Cabello said. “So for me, it’s about situating our work within our local context, but also the national context as well.”
Additionally, Cevallos said the pandemic had created the challenge of retention for students of color.
“The most important issue that we have right now is the disparity in graduation rates of students of color and the overall population,” Cevallos said. “We really have to understand that students come from very different places and have very different experiences. And, we have to be willing to understand that diversity of experience, as well as backgrounds, and put programs in place to make sure everybody can succeed.”
On institute outcomes, Cevallos said he hopes all campus leaders will participate in the institute and implement what they have learned in different areas within their departments.
He said, “I think it [the institute] is a wonderful way for us to show our commitment to moving forward. It’s just wonderful that the Division of Diversity, Inclusion and Community Engagement is willing to lead that effort.”
-F. Javier Cevallos, FSU President
Gatepost Archives
Constanza Cabello, vice president for diversity, inclusion, and community engagement, at a 2020 Board of Trustees meeting.
NEWS COVID-19 by the numbers April 9, 2021 positive for COVID-19. The Massachusetts Department or 0.04%, over the past week. Just under 22% of those who have The New York Times reported that cumulatively, 709,730,462 COVID-19 By Donald Halsing of Public Health estimates there are tested positive remain infected. Ap- vaccine doses have been administered Associate Editor 35,075 active cases. proximately 77% of the population has globally. There were 13,648 new infections, recovered, and 1.8% have died. By Leighah Beausoleil News Editor 9,404 new recoveries, and 170 new deaths since April 1. The number of people infected grew by 4,074, or The overall death rate from COVID-19 in the United States is 0.17%. Data sources: Framingham State University City of Framingham 0.68%, over the past week. The New York Times reported that Mass. population: U.S. Census BuBy Kathleen Moore Approximately 5.8% of those who cumulatively, 171,476,655 COVID-19 reau – QuickFacts Massachusetts Design Editor have tested positive remain infected. vaccine doses have been administered U.S. and World population: U.S. Just over 91% have recovered, and ap- in the United States. According to the Census Bureau – U.S. and World Popproximately 2.8% have died. Times, 33% of the population has re- ulation Clock
Over four million new COVID-19 The overall death rate from ceived at least one dose, and 19% has Mass. data: WCVB Channel 5 Bosinfections were reported worldwide COVID-19 in Massachusetts is 0.25%. received two doses. ton, Mass. Dept. of Public Health based on data from various sources The New York Times reported that Cumulatively, 132,934,508 people U.S. data: CDC, New York Times, taken April 7. cumulatively, 4,161,913 COVID-19 globally, 1.71%, have tested positive Worldometer
Just under 710 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered for COVID-19. World data: WHO, Johns Hopkins vaccine doses have been administered in Massachusetts. According to the Worldometer reported 23,160,128 Coronavirus Resource Center, Worlglobally. Times, 39% of the population has re- active cases around the world. dometer
Framingham State University ad- ceived at least one dose, and 22% has There were 4,158,373 new infec- Recovery data: Johns Hopkins Coroministered 911 tests within the past received two doses. tions, 2,947,096 new recoveries, and navirus Resource Center week, and 4,371 tests within the past Cumulatively, 30,920,412 United 71,429 new deaths since April 1. The Active Cases: New York Times 30 days, according to the COVID-19 States residents, 9.36%, have tested number of people infected grew by Vaccination Data: New York Times data page on the FSU website. positive for COVID-19. 1,139,848, or 0.89%, over the past *Calculations for new infections,
Nine positive tests were returned Worldometer, a data source for the week. recoveries, deaths, and infected popuwithin the past week, according to the John Hopkins Coronavirus Resources Just under 23% of the world’s popu- lation size change are made using both page. The seven-day negative test rate center, reported 6,874,353 active cases lation that has tested positive remain data from this week and last week’s was 99.01%. in the U.S. infected. Approximately 75% of the data published in The Gatepost. New
One positive case was self-report- There were 461,840 new infections, population has recovered and 2.8% has data collected Wednesday before pubed by a student within the past week. 466,965 new recoveries, and 7,067 new died. lication. Four positive cases were self-reported deaths since April 1. The number of The overall death rate from by students within the past 30 days. people infected decreased by 12,192, COVID-19 globally is 0.04%.
Seven students were isolated on campus and four individuals were isolated off campus. Four students were quarantined on campus and 19 people were quarantined off campus.
A total of 4,289 negative, and 27 positive results, were returned in the past 30 days. The 30-day negative test rate was 99.37%.
Cumulatively, 7,741 Framingham residents, 11.33%, have tested positive for COVID-19.
The City of Framingham reported 1,471 active cases.
There were 142 new infections, 178 new recoveries, and two new deaths reported since April 1. The number of people infected decreased by 38, or 0.5%, over the past week.
Approximately 19% of those who have tested positive remain infected. Just under 78% have recovered and approximately 3.1% have died.
The overall death rate from COVID-19 in Framingham is 0.35%.
Cumulatively, 611,825 Massachusetts residents, 8.88%, have tested Kathleen Moore / THE GATEPOST
Framingham
United States
World
Kathleen Moore / THE GATEPOST
Kathleen Moore / THE GATEPOST
Kathleen Moore / THE GATEPOST
