The General Education Curriculum (GEC) is at the core of the educational experience at SMU. The GEC emphasizes the values of what has been historically known as a liberal education, namely the abilities to read, write, and think critically along with the acquisition of a basic understanding of human society in all of its dimensions. GEC courses provide a solid and broad education that equips students to compete and adapt to the ever more rapidly changing contemporary world, and complements more focused study in the major. The curriculum comprises 41 credit hours of the typical undergraduate degree program of 122 hours. Courses are divided into five categories: (1) Fundamentals (Written English, Mathematical Sciences, Information Technology), (2) Science and Technology, (3) Perspectives, (4) Cultural Formations, and (5) Human Diversity. Together these courses are aimed at providing SMU students with the skills and breadth of knowledge necessary for success in college and life after they leave the University.
The University launched the current general education curriculum in Fall 1997. The Associate Vice Provost is in charge of overseeing the curriculum, recruiting courses, managing course development efforts, and chairing the Council on General Education, a faculty body from across the University that governs the GEC.
The University Honors Program consists of a subset of courses from the GEC. With the advent of the new curriculum, the Office of General Education increased the size of the program four times-to about 200 students per year. The 800 honors students on campus by Fall 2005 have made enormous contributions to campus life and they have become a community which should both enhance their experience and help the University to retain the very best of our students.
Since 1997, the Associate Vice Provost has spearheaded the development of recruiting strategies and materials to increase the size of the program as well as enhance its quality. Innovations have included the creation of Virginia-Snider Honors Residence Hall, the addition of an Intern/Coordinator responsible for the University Honors Program in the Office of General Education, and fostering cooperation with Student Affairs to allow teaching honors courses in the Virginia-Snider Residence Hall. Cooperation with Student Affairs has also allowed the placement of an upperclass Honors Program Assistant in the residence.
Other facets of the University Honors Program include social, cultural, political, and pre-professional activities both on and off campus. Recent additions to this programming are the Gartner Honors Lecture Series, the Richter University Honors Scholars Fellowships, and scholarships from International Programs at SMU.
The Gartner Honors Lecture Series
The Gartner Honors Lecture Series brings noted academics, business leaders, civic figures, and cultural luminaries to SMU for two days of activities with students in the University Honors Program. Modeled after the Chubb program at Yale, the Gartner Honors Lecture Series creates environments that allow honors students to interact with the Gartner Lecturers individually and in small groups. In 2002-2003, for example, the Gartner Lecture Series presented Dr. Richard Shenkman, Editor and Founder of the History News Network; who spoke on history and myth-making; Dr. Donna M Hughes of the University of Rhode Island, a specialist on the transnational trafficking of women and children; Dr. Robert Zubrin, president of the International Mars Society and author of The Case for Mars; and Joshua Greene, Emmy-nominated filmmaker and who wrote a book entitled Justice at Dachau on the American army's trials of Nazi officers and officials following the liberation of Germany. |
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Richter University Honors Scholars Fellowships |
In an effort not to leave any student behind, the Office of General Education, in partnership with the Altshuler Learning Enhancement Center (A-LEC) and Residence Life and Student Housing launched a new program in Fall 2000 aimed at creating community and enhancing academic performance among regular University students. Located in Perkins Hall, the Hilltop Scholars Program (HSP) allows two groups of students, each group co-enrolled in the same three courses to combine learning and living on campus. Some faculty members teach Perkins courses in the residence hall and the A-LEC provides tutoring and specialized study skills classes to students enrolled in the two groups of courses. Some students take their HSP classes in classrooms in the residence hall, which again enhances the feeling of community and allows the place where students live to become a place where they learn! Although this is the first year for this program at SMU, experience at other Universities large, medium-sized, and small, suggests that the learning community experience will improve academic performance as well as retention rates.
The ICE program was formally initiated as an academic program by SMU's Dedman College of Humanities and Science in the spring of 1991. The program encourages students to examine real life issues of the city in conjunction with hands-on engagement with members of the inner-city neighborhood on Garrett Park East. ICE Program courses enable SMU students to explore the sociological and historical context of urban problems. Using Dallas as a resource, these classes meet in Garrett Park East and promote social action in the community in order to enhance students' experience of urban life. Students gain further perspective by interacting with residents of the community and by tutoring children at the Munger Place United Methodist Chruch. Students who wish to develop stronger ties with neighborhood residents can live in the Habitat SMU / ICE House on Bryan Parkway. SMU ICE has been lauded in The New York Times, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and other local and national media.
In another effort to encourage success among all students at SMU, the Office of General Education also assumed responsibility for English as a Second Language courses on campus. In Spring 1998, the Associate Dean for General Education conducted a worldwide search for a Coordinator of ESL. Beginning in Fall 1998, the Office of General Education began building a coherent and high-quality repertoire of courses to improve the English skills of both international students and American students whose first language is not English.
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Instruction includes courses in ESL Communication Skills, English Communication Skills II, and Advanced Grammar for Writers.
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In Fall 2000, the Office of General Education assumed responsibility for offering ESL 6001/6002, Seminar for International Teaching Assistants in an effort to improve the English skills of graduate students who teach in SMU courses, many of which are part of the General Education Curriculum In 2001, the Office of General Education launched a year-around Intensive English Program (IEP). Divided into three sessions, the IEP is open to both prospective SMU students and the larger community.
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Responsibilities and Projects as Associate Dean |
Courses and Learning Materials
Through
the generosity of International Programs at SMU, about ten scholarships
are presented each year to students in the University Honors Program to
study abroad in one of SMU's sixteen academic Semester and summer programs
in Mexico, Europe, or Asia.
In
Summer 1999, the Office of General Education offered the first Summer
Intensive English Program, a program that doubled in size in Summer 2000.