Fair offers information on new education policies
Students who think that grammar doesn't count on a science test can learn a lesson at UA's General Education Fair.
New general education policies will be explained today from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the Memorial Student Union Ballrooms.
"The critical issue is to expose students to the whole new concept of the Tier I and Tier II general education courses," said Cindy Rankin, a physiology lecturer who is a member of the university-wide General Education Committee.
Implemented this fall, the tier system alters the class structure to integrate writing, critical thinking and interaction into basic disciplines. Tier I includes three categories - individuals and societies, traditions and cultures, and natural sciences.
"We want students to become a more educated lay person and have a broader view of discipline," Rankin said, "in the long run, more roundly and broadly educated in all academics."
Rankin said Tier II courses are fundamentally the same, but offer a broader perspective. The second tier includes individual and societies, natural sciences, art and humanities.
"They (students) get the bigger picture rather than the narrow picture," Rankin said.
She offered the new interdisciplinary biology classes as an example.
"There are others areas (offered) - ecology, physiology, microchemistry (and) multiple parts of biology," Rankin said. "This way they see how these areas are related and integrated to each other in the world."
Tier II classes are more discipline specific and use the knowledge base of the Tier I classes, she said.
"This allows students to think ahead for next year," Rankin said.
Students can catch a glimpse of their future courses this afternoon and talk with faculty members before registering for classes.
"This is most beneficial to freshmen and sophomores," said Donnalee Dox, an assistant theater arts professor who is also a committee member. Although the fair is geared toward underclassmen, it also applies to juniors who haven't fulfilled all their requirements.
The event is molded after the "Meet Your Major Fair" where students will be able to pick up course descriptions and syllabi for the spring semester.
"This is a way to get up front and personal with professors and to find more about their classes," Rankin said. "Plus, it's often hard to find so many professors in one place."
The General Education Committee, the event's sponsor, is comprised of about 20 faculty members from different departments.
The committee, which has a rotating membership, reviews all syllabi for the new curriculum guidelines.
"This way all faculty make adjustments," Dox said.
The purpose of the fair is to "remind students we're here for you," Dox said.
"We want to help students realize how the faculty has worked hard on these unique things," she said.
Irene Hsiao can be reached via e-mail at Irene.Hsiao@wildcat.arizona.edu.
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