The General Education Curriculum Committee is a Faculty Assembly Standing Committee that will:

1. provide faculty-driven, holistic oversight of the General Education curriculum
   1. Review all proposed General Education courses against the established learning outcomes, and approve course request packages prior to the courses going to the ARC for approval;
   2. Establish and implement a timeline and process for the periodic review of courses for ongoing quality assurance (including their continued adherence to the established learning outcomes and their continuous improvement in light of assessment results and other established criteria); this process will include a mechanism and criteria for the resubmission, addition and removal of courses from the General Education program
2. develop and implement an ongoing General Education assessment plan on a multi-year cycle
   1. Organize systematic assessments of the established learning objectives/outcomes annually, share all assessment results with the faculty at large, and coordinate loop-closing meetings and activities reflecting assessment results with the faculty teaching the assessed General Education courses/categories
   2. Coordinate assessment (including loop-closing) of the General Education Program
3. Advocate for the General Education program:
   1. Recommend resources and articulate any overarching concerns to its Provost-appointed ex-officio member who will liaise between GECCo and the appropriate senior Administrators;
   2. Coordinate with other Programs/units as appropriate (e.g. WAC, FRC, the Library, and the Center for Reading and Writing) to attain ongoing support for teaching and learning in the General Education Program

For balance:

• each academic school shall have no fewer than two members; the Library shall have no fewer than one. If the coordinators/directors listed below do not reflect this diversity, at-large representatives shall be elected by the units in order to meet the school/Library minimums;
• each academic school shall have no more than three members amongst the coordinators.

The committee will elect a chair annually from amongst its membership.  All members are voting members except Vice Provost (or representative).

The secretary will be chosen annually from the membership.

Membership

GECCo will consist of the following members:

• Director of Critical Reading and Writing (ex-officio)
• Director of Studies in Arts and Humanities (ex-officio)
• Director of First-Year Seminar (ex-officio)
• Director of Social Science Inquiry (ex-officio)
• Coordinator for Historical Perspectives Category
• Coordinator for Quantitative Reasoning Category
• Coordinator for Scientific Reasoning Category
• Coordinator for Global Awareness Category
• Coordinator for Culture and Creativity Category
• Coordinator for Values and Ethics Category
• Coordinator for Systems, Sustainability, and Society Category
• Vice Provost (or Provost’s Office Representative determined by the Provost)
• Representative from the Library

Directors are appointed annually through an application process operating from the Provost’s Office. Coordinators will serve renewable two-year terms (for the first term, half of the members will stay on for a third year to stagger elections). Each year the potential vacancies will be announced in FA and new members will be voted onto the committee in the spring and will begin serving in the following September.

Roles of GECCo Members

Directors and Coordinators

The various directors and coordinators will:

• Review submitted course syllabi in the areas each represents, in consultation with faculty who teach in the course or category
• Coordinate assessments with other GECCo members and with the faculty teaching in the courses/categories to which the objectives under assessment have been assigned
  • The actual work of assessment should be carried out by Curriculum Assessment Teams (CATs), made up of the faculty in each course/category, coordinated by their respective Coordinators/Directors.
• Coordinate subsequent loop-closing meetings and activities reflecting assessment results
  • The determination and implementation of loop-closing measures should be carried out by the faculty in each course/category, coordinated by their respective Coordinators/Directors.
• Collaborate with appropriate academic Administrators in ensuring the ongoing quality of courses each represents (e.g., adherence to the established learning objectives/outcomes and implementation of approved measures to enhance student learning)
• Directors will also fulfill the administrative responsibilities contained in their respective job descriptions.

Chair of GECCo

The GECCo chair will ensure that:

• Regular meetings of GECCo are convened
• Sign the ARC form to indicate that the course syllabus meets the objectives and outcomes for the course or category and is recommended for inclusion
• Proposed Generation Education courses and their revisions are reviewed and approved, and submitted to ARC by established timelines;
• The General Education curriculum is periodically reviewed;
• Assessment is completed in a timely manner;
• Loop-closing activities and meetings reflecting assessment results occur;
• Assessments and other materials on GECCo’s website are posted and up-to-date;
• The committee’s activities and assessment results are discussed with the faculty at large;
• ARC is met with regularly;
• FAEC is kept informed of issues reported to Academic Administration, and of issues related to any curricular or operational aspects passed by Faculty Assembly.

The GECCo Secretary will ensure that:

• Takes meeting minutes and posts the minutes to the GECCo website;

Vice Provost (or other Provost-appointed representative)

The Vice Provost will:

• Support GECCo’s work;
• Serve as liaison between GECCo and the Academic Administration;
• Communicate resources needed by GECCo;
• Coordinate with Deans to resolve any issues related to courses housed in each’s school;
• Recommend exceptions, as necessary, to requirements of the General Education program.

GECCo Membership 2025-26

Chair – Chris Reali

Director of Critical Reading and Writing (ex-officio) – Hugh Sheehy
Director of First-Year Seminar (ex-officio) – Peter Campbell
Director of Social Science Inquiry Category (ex-officio) – Leah Warner
Director of Studies in Arts and Humanities (ex-officio) – Monika Giacoppe
Coordinator for Culture and Creativity Category – Chris Reali
Coordinator for Global Awareness Category – Atieh Babakhani
Coordinator for Historical Perspectives Category – Tae Kwak
Coordinator for Quantitative Reasoning Category – Matt Jobrek
Coordinator for Scientific Reasoning Category –  Carrie Miller
Coordinator for Systems, Sustainability, and Society Category – Emily Leskinen
Coordinator for Values and Ethics Category – Lisa Cassidy
At-large Representative (TAS) – Sarah Carberry
At-large Representative (ASB) – Desi Budeva
At-large Representative (ASB) – Tufan Ekici

At-large Representative (CA) – Rebecca Leung

Library Representative – Christina Connor
Vice Provost (ex-officio) – Joyce Shim and Michael Unger (as Provost designee)

GECCo Subcommittee on Experiential Learning (2018-2019)

Sarah Carberry, Monika Giacoppe, Yvette Kisor, Michael Unger, and Leah Warner

ASSESSMENT REPORTS REQUIRE RCNJ EMAIL TO VIEW

2023-2024 Assessment Reports

2023-2024 Assessment Reports

Assessment Reports (Fall 2018-present)

• FYS 2018
• CRWT 2018
• V&E Pilot 2018

Assessment instruments

• Oral Communication Rubric (DOC)

General Education Curriculum Documents

• Gen Ed SLOs and Curriculum Map (DOC)

Overview

In fall 2024, the Provost and Faculty Assembly President charged GECCo with reviewing and revising the RCNJ General Education program. The Faculty Assembly voted to approve this charge on December 11, 2024. GECCo’s guiding principles include having a General Education program that:

• Reflects the RCNJ Mission.
• Incorporates competencies that align with and strengthen RCNJ’s liberal arts mission. This provides students necessary knowledge and skills and opens the GE curriculum to more programs.
• It is viewed through the lens of students including four-year as well as transfers from county colleges and other institutions.
• Is inspirational, important and manageable to students, faculty and staff.
• Meets Middle States Commission on Higher Education’s (MSCHE) accreditation requirements.

FA Charge to GECCo: GECCoCharge-FA-12-11-24

Faculty Feedback Form on GE Revision

Faculty Feedback Form

General Education Revision Draft Overview

The GE Revision Draft is here

General Education Revision Interim Report (Dec. 2025)

GE Revision Interim Report December 2025 (Final)

GECCo Presentations to FA about GE Revision

GECCo FA Presentation 12_10_25

GECCo-Update-10-8-25