The general education program at NIU could receive a tune-up due to a proposal to thoroughly review the program.

The proposal to the provost’s office comes from the Curricular Innovations Task Force — a part of the Strategic Planning Task Force — and the General Education Committee. Greg Long, Allied Health and Communicative Disorders professor, talked to Faculty Senate about the proposal Wednesday.

The last time the general education program at NIU was thoroughly reviewed was in 1983, Long said.

“As a faculty, we have not discussed this subject for 25 years in a meaningful way,” Long said.

The proposal would allow for a larger review of the general education program than the General Education Committee is capable of during the one hour it meets each month, Long said.

“There are lots of ways where the general education program does not work as efficiently or as effectively as possible,” Long said.

The proposal would do more than just shuffle around courses; the general education program would be updated to promote the necessary skills a contemporary student needs, Long said.

Several faculty members discussed how to define, gauge and implement the objectives of the general education program.

The university uses alumni to gauge if students were getting the same things out of the class that were intended, anthropology associate professor Kendall Thu said.

There may be nothing wrong with the objectives; the problem may lie in implementation, said Bill Tolhurst, associate professor of philosophy. It’s not reinventing the wheel, but changing the way the wheel is used, he said.

Currently, the general education program does not have a Web site, Long said. In addition, the last time the program was thoroughly reviewed was before the average student had access to a computer, he said.

One of the goals of the proposal is to work on making general education more valued at NIU because general education classes don’t have the same esteem as classes for majors, Long said.

Another goal is to streamline the submission and renewal process for faculty developed courses to count for general education credit.

Tolhurst said a class about world religions was once dropped from general education consideration solely because the renewal process was so cumbersome.

Nancy Castle, Allied Health and Communicative Disorders professor, brought up concerns with transfer students who already have general education requirements met at other colleges.

Community colleges often fear that their general education programs may not be accepted by universities, said mathematical sciences professor Linda Sons. Regardless, she thinks it’s a good idea to review the program. Sons also said she thinks the program should be unique to NIU.