Presentation Title

Integrating Skill Development into General Education: CSU and Beyond

Presenter Information

Peter Meiksins, Cleveland State University
Mary McDonald, Cleveland State University
John P. Holcomb, Cleveland State University

Author Biography

Peter Meiksins, Cleveland State University

Peter Meiksins is Vice Provost for Academic Programs and Professor of Sociology at Cleveland State University. He previously served as Chair of the Department of Sociology and Director of the University Honors Program. He served two terms as Chair of the University Curriculum Committee as well as a term as Chair of the College of Arts and Sciences Curriculum Committee. He co-chaired the General Education Task Force (with Professor Greg Lupton) that developed the proposal resulting in the current General Education Requirement at CSU.

Mary McDonald, Cleveland State University

Mary McDonald received her Ph.D. and M.A. from Purdue University where she specialized in Rhetoric and Composition. She has directed the CSU Writing Across the Curriculum Program and Writing Center for over 15 years; she has quadrupled the number of students attending the Writing Center in these years and is currently studying the alignment of first-year services that produces high pass rates for students who test into Remedial Writing. She enjoys offering faculty and student workshops. She has written two books on the experience of insight through writing and art; she has written articles on the history of grammar instruction, teaching writing to remedial students, and on the rhetoric of Thomas Merton.

John P. Holcomb, Cleveland State University

John Holcomb grew up in rural Western New York and attended St. Bonaventure University as a mathematics major. He earned a Ph.D. in statistics in 1995 at The University at Albany. After teaching for five years at Youngstown State University, he came to Cleveland State University in 2000. He has published over 35 peer-reviewed papers in applied statistics, statistics education, and mathematics education. He was named a Carnegie Scholar in 2000 and was recipient of the American Statistical Association Waller Award for Outstanding Teaching of Introductory Statistics in 2003. In his sixth year as chair of the Department of Mathematics, he is PI on two NSF grants branded Operation STEM designed to help STEM majors complete their precalculus and calculus requirements in a timely manner.

Location

Mather Mansion

Start Date

20-4-2016 1:30 PM

End Date

20-4-2016 2:45 PM

Abstract

The American Association of Colleges and Universities recommends that skill development be incorporated into general education programs. Cleveland State University has identified six skill areas to be offered as part of the general education program presently in place. These include: writing, quantitative literacy, critical thinking, group work, oral communication and information literacy. Each of our panelists will give a brief presentation on the role of skill development in the context of general education. Presentations will be followed by discussion among attendees and then a question period.