Cal State Long Beach students may be able to use courses from their chosen majors to meet part of their general education (G.E.) requirements, and the requirements might be lessened, if a proposed change in front of the Academic Senate passes.
Marilee Samuelson, director of the Academic Advising Center, told the Senate Thursday that realigning the G.E. requirements would give students flexibility to enroll in courses they typically might not consider because of time constraints or financial limitations.
Under the plan, a new category would be created as “G.E. Electives.” Two other G.E. categories would be redistributed, while one requirement in another section would be eliminated.
The reductions would be three units each in the physical universe, humanities and the arts sections. The third course requirement for social sciences would be dropped.
According to Samuelson, general education requirements would drop from 51 units to 48 units under the new arrangement.
“The important difference would be that students could take classes they normally might not contemplate,” Samuelson said.
Samuelson said students usually try to knock out their mandatory G.E. requirements before working on their chosen disciplines.
Shea McNair, a mechanical engineering major, said that while the changes wouldn’t affect him, they seem like a good idea.
“Offering students the opportunity of taking a wider breadth of G.E. classes could allow them to check out courses of greater interest to them,” McNair said.
The new elective section would let students take up to nine units of electives as general education classes, “if the courses appear on the G.E. list,” according to a draft Samuelson provided. The Senate will vote on the proposal on Thursday, May 10.
Also at Thursday’s meeting, CSULB President F. King Alexander presented Margaret Merryfield, vice president of Academic Personnel and a biochemistry professor at CSULB, with the Nicholas Perkins Hardeman Leadership Award, the university’s highest service honor.
“It’s really humbling to be part of such a prestigious group … when I first started here, the budget was bad. My department only paid two-thirds of my airfare,” Merryfield said. “Why did I come here? Because of the people.”
Merryfield is a past chair of the Academic Senate and has worked on or headed numerous committees.
