SP 24-14 - Policy on General Education Mission Category Descriptions

Passage of this policy shall set a five-year cycle for review of all existing courses with Mission Pillar designations in accordance with the GE Assessment Policy. Faculty teaching mission pillar-designated courses should use the Canvas GE rubrics to collect assessment data for GE Area 7 SLOs in SP 24-04, reproduced below.  

Mission Category MP: Multicultural Perspectives  

The Center for Social Action (CSA) fosters a campus climate valuing and respecting all forms of diversity, both inside the classroom and in our broader communities. Currently, MP Category courses satisfy the Multicultural Graduation Requirement (SP 17-07).  

Category MP courses:   

1. Explore the interrelatedness and intersectionality of race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality and other social identities;  

2. Engage in themes of social justice, social movements, transnational, transborder, and global issues that address Indigeneity, LGBTQ+, women, gender, and sexuality, and other diverse social identities. Critically analyze circumstances, such as those experienced by migrant and diasporic communities, that impact lived experiences and realities in American society; 

3. Examine hierarchy, colonialism, imperialism, marginalization and institutions that have engaged in systems of oppression;  

4. Engage in the areas of Ethnic Studies including: Asian American Studies, Black Studies, Chicana/o Studies, and Native American Indigenous Studies.  Faculty developing MP courses are encouraged to collaborate with the Ethnic Studies Council representative on the GE Committee; 

5. Have an outcome aligned with the purpose of the Center for Social Action and the General Education Student Learning Outcome 7.1: “Integrate content, ideas, and approaches from multicultural perspectives.”  

Mission Category IP: International Perspectives 

The Center for Global Engagement (CGE) supports curriculum to internationalize students’ educational experience so that they graduate with a global perspective.   

Category IP courses:  

1. Examine causes and effects of historical and contemporary global challenges/issues/problems, within and across national boundaries;  

2. Foster understanding of how personal actions and political, social, and economic institutions affect both local and global communities and identities;  

3. Address pressing and enduring world issues collaboratively and equitably, with consideration of cultural differences and power dynamics;  

4. Engage in self-reflection and critical examination of one’s own identity in relationship to other cultural identities and global experiences; 

5. Have an outcome aligned with General Education Student Learning Outcome 7.2: “Integrate content, ideas, and approaches from national and international perspectives.”  
    

Mission Category IA: Interdisciplinary Approaches  

The Center for Integrative Studies (CIS) supports a curriculum that requires students to think across boundaries of disciplines and epistemes. To be considered an “interdisciplinary” course, the course proposal and any required supporting materials must show that the course is an “integrative course with significant content, ideas, and ways of knowing from more than one discipline,” discipline in this context being defined as particular to a programmatic department or course prefix. Each of these courses will involve the student in critical thinking and integration of ideas. Instructors are encouraged to develop courses in which students from different majors share perspectives, methodologies, and expertise. Students will begin to make connections among their majors and other disciplines and ways of knowing, increasing their knowledge, their flexibility of thought, and their ability to communicate with people across the disciplinary spectrum.  

Category IA courses:  

1. Have been developed in consultation with the Center for Integrative Studies* 

2. Emphasize interdisciplinarity by integrating content, ideas, and approaches from two or more disciplines, defined as aligned with different programmatic departments or course prefixes.  Faculty developing IA courses are encouraged to collaborate with the Center for Integrative Studies (CIS); 

3. Have an outcome aligned with General Education Student Learning Outcome 7.3: “Integrate content, ideas, and approaches from perspectives across disciplines.” 

* This is a preferred attribute. Courses will not be denied IA status on this criterion. 
 

Mission Category CE: Community Engagement  

In the case of community engagement courses at CSUCI, the CSU Chancellor’s Office has specific guidelines as to what courses can be designated as service-learning. For courses to receive the service-learning (SL) attribute, faculty shall complete the Community-Engaged Learning survey tool (CEL), provided by the Center for Community Engagement (CCE). 

Service-learning is defined by Senate Policy 21.004 as a high-impact teaching and learning strategy in which meaningful service addresses a societal and/or social justice issue and is a component of course curriculum and assessment of student learning. It is characterized by critical reflection and a collaborative partnership among faculty, students, and community, with a focus on both student learning and community impact. 

Category CE courses:  

1. Are granted the SL course attribute via the CEL survey. 

2. Engage in the following high-impact service-learning practices: 

1. Reciprocal partnerships and processes shape the community activities and course design to enhance student understanding of the importance of community learning. 

2. Activities benefit the common good & serve a genuine community need. Student community involvement has a specific benefit to the material, cultural or institutional interests that members of society have in common. This specific benefit to the common good is intentional, planned for, communicated, and assessed with community partners in mind. This may include the organizational capacity, student/client growth, social and economic benefits, etc.  

3. Activities are academically relevant. Student community involvement is relevant to and integrated with the discipline-based academic content and assignments. 

4. Includes explicit civic learning goals: Civic learning goals are articulated and develop students’ capacities to understand and address critical social issues. 

5. Promotes reflection to facilitate learning: Critical reflection/analysis activities and assignments integrate classroom and community learning. 

6. Includes integrated assessment of student learning: Student learning assessment addresses both the discipline-based and civic learning goals and includes learning from community involvement; 

3. Have an outcome aligned with General Education Student Learning Outcome 7.4: “Take individual and collective actions which can address issues of public concern.” 

Exhibits:
GE SLO Rubrics for Area 7