 Pressures  Considerations  Charge  Progress & Thinking So Far  Feedback

 Costs › Reduce...reduce…reduce › Allocation model  Student tuition  Universities › Question value of degree from BSU

 Improving access › Providing technology-based delivery? › Admitting all students who want to attend, even those who are less prepared? (Conditional admits at BSU hover around 20%) › Increasing diversity of student body

 Increased scrutiny › From parents › Accrediting bodies › Legislatures

 Minnesota Transfer Curriculum › Liberal education program needs to be transfer compliant › Excludes disciplines deemed more vocational in their orientation (Exclusion is unevenly applied) › Problems  No inherent unity or integration to courses  Lacks cohesive educational philosophy  Fragmented/disconnected  Students do not get why these courses are important  Students lack sense of how connects to major  Faculty often have little desire to teach

 Employers pressures toward “workforce development” › Recent AAC&U survey of employers findings  Critical thinking, communication, problem-solving skills. These are more important than the major  Need more emphasis on essential learning outcomes so that are promotable beyond entry level

Essential learning outcomes:  Knowledge of human cultures and the physical and natural world  Personal and social responsibility  Intellectual and practical skills including  Integrative and applied learning

 Key programmatic features (AAC&U) › Orientation to intellectual expectations, curricular rationale, institutional learning resources › Critical thinking and writing found across the curriculum › Learn about another culture and diversity within own culture › Integrate ideas from across disciplines (e.g., themes) › Study some subjects (GenEd) at advanced levels › Opportunity to pull learning together › Coherent course of study; more than sum of parts

 The BSU Faculty Senate charges the Liberal Education Committee with developing a distinctive, integrative Liberal Education Program based upon the principles of the American Association of Colleges and Universities’ (AAC&U) LEAP (Liberal Education and America’s Promise) initiative and High Impact Practices, and making a formal recommendation to the BSU Faculty Senate by February  Understandings: › Monthly updates will be shared with the BSU Faculty Senate and broadly disseminated for faculty input. › The new program will meet the needs of students transferring into and out of Bemidji State University and will be compliant with the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum. › An assessment plan will be a part of the formal recommendation.

 To provide a foundation that cultivates intentional learners empowered through intellectual and practical skills, informed by knowledge and prepared to meet the personal, civic, and professional challenges of a rapidly changing world. OR  To provide intentional learning environments that empower students with the knowledge, skills and habits necessary for continued personal enrichment and a life of individual, professional and civic engagement in an ever-changing world.