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General Education Assessment Committee (GEAC)

Overview and charge of GEAC

What is the General Education Assessment Committee?

The General Education Assessment Committee (GEAC) is chaired by an academic department chair and is comprised of faculty from departments within the General Education program as well as the Provost/VP of Academic Affairs. The Committee, as with the other two assessment committees, reports to the overarching Institutional Effectiveness Committee. It is charged with coordinating assessment for the General Education program, collecting student data from General Education courses by student learning outcome, organizing student data analysis, and writing annual reports on the state of student learning in the General Education program.

Mission

The mission of the General Education Assessment Committee at York College is to oversee a systematic and comprehensive assessment of the College’s General Education Program.

Goals

  • Systematically assess student learning outcomes in each Pathway domain
  • Effectively communicate assessment results to stakeholders
  • Foster broad and sustainable faculty participation in General Education assessment activities
  • Support department/program’s efforts to assess General Education domains
  • Support department/program’s efforts to make changes for improvement

Membership

The GEAC reports to the Institutional Effectiveness Committee, co-chaired by the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, and the Assistant Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness and Strategic Planning. The structure of the GEAC is as follows:

The structure of the GEAC is as follows:

  • Ten full-time members from the full-time faculty and staff
  • The Provost will appoint a faculty member, preferably a department chair, to serve as chair
  • A representative from the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Strategic Planning (preferably the Director of Academic Program Assessment)
  • At least one representative from the Office of Academic Affairs
  • Faculty representing each of the Pathways domains

Members will serve three years on a rotating basis to ensure continuity. Nominations for membership will be requested by the GEAC chair of the staff direct supervisor (academic department chairs, dean, provost). The GEAC Chair, Provost, and Assistant VP for Institutional Effectiveness and Strategic Planning will review and approve nominations.

Members

  • Phebe Kirkham, English; Committee Co-Chair
  • Timothy Paglione, Earth & Physical Sciences; Committee Co-Chair
  • Jacob Apkarian, Behavioral Sciences
  • Patricia Haggler, History, Philosophy, and Anthropology
  • Lori Hoeffner, Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Strategic Planning (OIESP)
  • Margaret MacNeil, Biology
  • Thomas Marion‎, Performing and Fine Arts
  • Virginia Thompson, Mathematics and Computer Science
  • George White, Academic Affairs
  • Greet Van Belle, Center for Teaching, Learning and Ed. Tech.

Activities

  • Maintain a schedule of assessment so that during an eight year period, each domain will be evaluated at least twice
  • Establish general education assessment procedures and methods of analysis for each domain and continually reassess those initiatives in an ongoing effort to develop effective and sustainable assessment practices
  • Collect, evaluate, and analyze relevant students’ work for assessment of General Education student learning outcomes
  • Assist faculty in developing initiatives to improve student success in Pathways’ domains
  • Work with programs undergoing Academic Program Review (APR) to integrate assessment findings into APR reports and collaborate on areas for improvement
  • Write annual reports on the state of student learning outcomes of general education as a whole, the assessment findings, the use of the results for improvement, and recommendations for policy/procedural change(s) indicated by the assessment results
  • Work with the Office of Institutional Effectiveness to create a body of evidence that demonstrates ongoing, systematic and comprehensive assessment with findings trended over time

Reporting and Communication

  • Communicate procedures and findings to the College community and outside accrediting agencies
  • Distribute annual reports campus-wide and post on the College’s assessment website
  • Present results and recommendations to standing committees including but not limited to the Institutional Effectiveness Committee, the Personnel and Budget Committee (P&B), the Strategic Planning Committee, Faculty Caucus, etc.

Last revised in September 2019, reviewed and approved by GEAC and IEC in November 2019