motions for the 5/4/05 Senate meeting

Motions from the AP Committee

May 4, 2005

First motion:

Beginning with the Fall 2006 semester, HIST 120 (U.S. History) is eliminated as a stand-alone general education requirement, thereby reducing general education requirements by three credits.

Rationale:

Currently, 43 credits are needed to fulfill university general education requirements. Reducing the general education requirements by three credits will provide students with more opportunities to complete minors, concentrations, certificates, etc., and to take electives. Moreover, this change will make it possible for GMU undergraduates having extensive coursework in U.S. history in high school to avoid an undesirable redundancy. However, HIST 120 can still be used as a general education course, as the General Education Committee has accepted it for the social and behavioral sciences category.

Second motion:

Beginning with the Fall 2006 semester, expand the stand-alone general education requirement of HIST 100 (History of Western Civilization) by giving students the choice of taking either HIST 100 or HIST 125 (Introduction to World History).

Rationale:

This change broadens the category of the study of civilization for students who have previously had work on Western civilization, and provides additional historical perspectives on the Western experience.