In the Spring 2003 semester, President Muyskens appointed a task force charged to consider general education at Queens College: what it should be and how it might be reviewed and revised. The General Education Task Force produced a report in September 2004, proposing a new system for general education at Queens College, including recommendations for restructuring the undergraduate curriculum.

The new General Education curriculum, as articulated in the Task Force's report, identifies the following objectives:

• strengthen the Entry Experience for freshmen and transfer students,
• foment the development in students of four critical abilities, and
• diffuse general education across two levels of requirements: entry-level Perspectives on the Liberal Arts and Sciences courses targeting foundations of knowledge, and upper-division Synthesis Courses that integrate knowledge across disciplines.

The Undergraduate Curriculum Committee's General Education Reform page provides links to the proposals approved by the Academic Senate. More documents from the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee (UCC):

General Education Requirements Effective Fall 2009, as of December 11, 2008

Proposal 2: Area Requirements

Proposal for an Upper-Level Requirement in Integration and Synthesis, December 4, 2008 (also see previous version, November 13, 2008)

Perspectives Courses

Entry-level courses on Perspectives on the Liberal Arts and Sciences are taken by students before completing 60 credits. On Perspectives courses, see the following:

• an overview of Perspectives courses
• instructions for proposing a Perspectives course (there are no sample proposals available at this time)
• our online course proposal system
• the page of the General Education Advisory Committee
• a list of Perspectives courses approved by the General Education Advisory Committee through December 2008

Synthesis/Integration Courses

A pilot program for upper-division Synthesis courses was approved in April 2005. A handful of courses in that category were piloted; for information on that pilot program, please contact the UCC.

Currently the Academic Senate is considering a proposal from the UCC on an upper-level requirement. This proposal is scheduled for discussion at the February 2009 meeting of the Senate.

Please do not hesitate to contact the Center for Teaching and Learning with questions about any aspect of course planning and implementation.

We will announce upcoming forums, at Queens College and CUNY-wide, for faculty to discuss Perspectives courses and other aspects of the new curriculum, as well as to learn further about General Education.