Instructions and Guidelines for Submitting Courses for GER Designation

 

The Barnard Committee on Instruction considers designation requests for courses. All requests must be made by Department or Program Chairs.  Students who wish to request designations for courses must submit their requests to the appropriate department.  The Department Chair will determine if the request should be pursued with the Committee on Instruction.  In preparing a request for designation, please keep in mind that not every course will be approved for a designation.

 

Instructions for Submitting Courses for GER Designation:

 

  • In addition to a brief rationale, attach a copy of the current, or most recent, syllabus.  If a course is to be considered for more than one category, please submit recent exams and/or comparable assignments as well as the syllabus.

 

á          Department Chairs should submit course designation requests for any of the GER categories to Flora Davidson in 110 Milbank.  

 

Before submitting a course(s) for GER designation, please note the following:

 

á          GER designated courses should be the Òbread and butter coursesÓ suited primarily for a general education audience, and first-year students in particular.

 

á          Most GER courses should not have a prerequisite. Graduate courses and, in most cases, upper-level courses with prerequisites are not eligible. Intermediate and upper level courses intended primarily for majors should not be submitted, unless a non-obvious category is requested, e.g  an English course for Cultures in Comparison, a Psychology course for Social Analysis, or a History course for Reason and Value. 

 

á          Be aware that not all courses offered in literature or comparative literature automatically qualify for the Literature requirement.  Eligible courses must clearly emphasize literary texts, methods, and theory.

 

á          The designation requested should reflect the primary focus of the course. The COI expects that a single course will typically fulfill one or possibly two GER categories. In exceptional cases, a course may fulfill a third category if a convincing rationale is presented to the COI.

 

á          If more than one category is being considered for a single course, please ask: if this is the only course that a student takes in this area, will the aims of the requirement be well served?

 

á          In some cases, the COI may need to request more information on the approach and methodology of a particular course before it can make a decision on designation for the GER.

 

 

Feel free to contact Flora Davidson with any questions at fdavidson@barnard.edu or X46181.

 

Revised 3/26/04