(Re)Imagining the Future of General Education Together
Our goal is to engage the campus community in a comprehensive general education review and reform process to envision and implement a program that considers these guiding principles:
- We envision a student-centered general education program that rejuvenates and inspires students, faculty, and the entire campus community
- We believe that general education must prepare ODU graduates for academic, professional, and civic life
- We assert that everyone at ODU has a stake in general education
- We know that inclusion, collaboration, and transparency are essential to the success of the reform initiative and ultimately of the program
- We maintain that this initiative is an opportunity to celebrate what we do, be creative about what is possible, and establish a distinctive identity for general education at ODU
Additional Information
- The current general education program is a distributive model foregrounding disciplines/classes. It requires 50 credits and an upper-level Option outside the major.
- The last revisions to general education were made in 2010
- General education curriculum must meet SCHEV and SACSCOC requirements
- SCHEV: 4 Core Competencies - Critical thinking, Written communication, Quantitative reasoning, and Civic engagement, plus 2 of the institution's choice
- SACSCOC: Be based on a "coherent rationale," be "a substantial component of each undergraduate degree with min 30 credit hours," and "ensure breadth of knowledge"
- The decision to reform general education is based on:
- Assessments of student learning – General Education Assessment Committee (GEAC)
- Feedback from faculty via GEAC, Faculty Senate
- Feedback from students via Senior Student Satisfaction Survey (SSSS) and National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)
- External review – Jan-Feb. 2024
- General education is a field of study similar to other disciplines with a long historiography, best practices, and peer-reviewed scholarship
Director Of Assessment & Accreditation
Institutional Effectiveness & Assessment
Master Lecturer & Gen Ed Proc & Pol Spec
Biological Sciences
Master Lecturer & Gen Ed Reform Lead
English
Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies and Master Lecturer
College of Sciences
- Aaron Arndt (Professor of Marketing)
- Orlando Ayala (Professor of Engineering Technology)
- Brett Bebber (Associate Professor of History)
- Dooyoung Choi (Associate Professor of Fashion Merchandising)
- Matt Grau (Assistant Professor of Physics)
- Travis Jones (Undergraduate Teaching and Learning Librarian)
- Barbara Kraj (Associate Dean, Ellmer College of Health Sciences)
- Jeff LaCombe (Associate Dean, Batten College of Engineering and Technology)
- Benjamin Melusky (Associate Professor of Political Science)
- Megan Mize (Director of ePortfolio and Digital Initiatives)
- Catherine Moss (Director of Academic Initatives and Student Services, ODUGlobal)
- Reneldo Randall, (Director of Advising, Sciences)
- Lanah Stafford (Director of High Impact Learning Initiatives)
Visit the General Education Reform Sharepoint folder for more information about the reform initiative, including committee agendas, reports, and collected readings on general education.
January 2025 Events
- Student Committee Info Session: January 16, 12:30 - 1:30 p.m. via Zoom
- Reform Team Retreat: January 31, 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. Webb Center
Fall Recap & Survey
Click below to view our Fall 2024 recap PDF file. Interested in getting involved? Take our Fall 2024 Survey.