As an EMU undergraduate, I remember feeling slightly put upon when required to take courses outside my major or minor. I could recite the stated importance (being academically well rounded and liberally educated) behind requiring those courses, but the material covered often seemed disconnected from both my main discipline (English) and other Basic Studies’ classes. While the “big picture” came into focus at times for me, the checklist-style approach to “opening” my mind was anything but liberalizing.

By comparison, today’s EMU undergraduates are getting valet-level service when it comes to the new General Education program, which got under way in September after five years of planning. Not only do all Gen Ed courses have outcomes-based expectations built right in and stated upfront, but there are 20 percent fewer required credits. These details and others behind the changes in the undergraduate academic experience are explored in this issue’s cover story.

The investment already has paid off, at least on one level. As Exemplar was going off to the printer, we learned that the General Education program – its formal name is “Education for Participation in the Global Community” – had received national recognition for its innovativeness. The Association for General and Liberal Studies (AGLS) gave EMU its 2007 Award for Improving General Education. (AGLS is a national organization committed to quality General Education and a national leader in promoting the centrality of General Education in the liberal education of students.) Michael E. Gress, AGLS president, said the awards committee unanimously agreed that EMU’s program-review process will serve as an excellent model for other institutions.

Obviously, the award is a big deal. (EMU picks up the actual award hardware in October.) First, it acknowledges our excellence at a national level on an issue as fundamental as undergraduate learning. Second, it underscores one of the core themes of EMU’s new branding campaign, which is that our approach to student-focused learning by top-notch faculty is a strength to exploit.

Lastly, news of the award serves another purpose. It reminds everyone who cares about Eastern Michigan University that counter to all you may hear or see, we are still a fundamentally sound and progressive place at which to study.

Class dismissed.