Team co-chairs: Patti Trepkowski Jennifer Batten

Team Members

         Ann Alexander (Business) Janice Balyeat (English)   Frank Conner (Psychology) Bill Faber (SAS Dean’s Office)  Elaine Kampmueller (Physical Sciences)   Laura Kennett (Exercise Science) Mike Light (Social Sciences) Susan Mowers (English) Oscar Neal (Mathematics)  Diane Patrick (Registrar) Heather Richards (Social Sciences) Shelly Richter (Nursing) Anna Rose (ISIS) Tamara Scott (Language and Thought) Fred Zomer (Counseling and Career Center)

Purpose of Evaluation and Revision:

 to respond to end-of-year feedback provided by AGC membership  to better align GRCC graduation requirements with the new MTA requirements and the Curriculum Model  to ensure that the requirements are clear and meet the needs of all students  to evaluate the necessity and purpose of individual graduation elements

To be awarded an Associate’s degree at Grand Rapids Community College, students must:

        Have completed at least 60 credits of course work.

Have completed at least 15 credits of course work at GRCC.

Have earned a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.0 in all course work completed at GRCC.

Have earned at least one Wellness (WE) credit. A maximum of two Wellness credits may be applied towards any degree, unless they are specified as a program requirement.

Have earned credit for PS 110.

Have earned at least six credits of English composition if seeking the A.A., A.S., A.F.A., A.M., A.N., and A.G.S degrees.

Have earned credit for the appropriate general education Group Distribution Requirements or the degree they are seeking.

No courses below 100 level will be used toward graduation requirements, including the minimum number of credits that need to be completed.

Results of AGC Table Discussions

     The majority (6/8) of the tables supported removing PS 110 as a graduation requirement with some citing that other courses would better align with their curriculum needs. Two tables supported keeping the wellness requirement, while three tables suggested removing the wellness credit as a graduation requirement. For the question regarding support of the new MTA that allows a communications course to replace a second semester of English composition the results follow: 2 tables asked for benchmarking or clarification, 5 tables supported the MTA requirements (2 want business communications as an option), and 2 tables supported keeping the 2 semesters of English composition.

There were no suggestions made for additional graduation requirements.

There were many requests for benchmarking the Graduation Requirements at both peer community Colleges and at our 4-year transfer partners.

Community College Benchmarking

(based mainly on 2014/2015 catalogs) The Team complied the Graduation Requirement information for 16 Michigan Community Colleges and FSU’s AA programs  6 have wellness or PE requirements (3 require 2 credits)  6 require a government type course  3 require 1 semester of composition, 12 require 2 semesters of composition, and 2 have adopted the MTA requirements  6 require a communications course and 4 require a computer literacy course  All require 60-63 credits and a minimum GPA of 2.0

 Most have a minimal institutional credit policy, but these vary  5 have adopted the MTA requirements for social sciences, humanities, math, and natural sciences as graduation requirements

FSU

Transfer Institution Benchmarking

Institution English Comp Communications Wellness Government Comments

GVSU CMU WMU EMU MSU 6 credits 1 course 3-6 credits (test out option) 3 credits 3 credits 1 or 2 courses (students may test out of 1 st comp. course) Composition II required (students may test out of 1 st comp. course ) 4 credits required (CC sequence meets requirement) 3 credits none none none required none none Not Specified Not Specified Not Specified Not Specified Not Specified Not Specified         Advanced English or Speech required General Education requirements seem to meet MTA plus 2 higher level courses under Cultural Enrichment and Social Awareness 2 supplemental writing skills courses required Follows MTA plus one Arts Course Advanced writing courses required (total 18-21 hours) Reflects both MACRAO and MTA for transfer students Advance programmatic writing skills required General Education requirements seem to meet MTA plus 2 higher level courses   Majors have specific required writing intensive courses Basically follows MTA plus Global Awareness and US Diversity courses required   Additional upper level writing course required Basically follows MTA

Team’s Guiding Principles

GRCC’s Graduation Requirements should:  align with transfer institution requirements  align with MTA requirements  give students and programs flexibility  align with program accreditation requirements  support GRCC ILOs and Values  allow for efficiency and enhance graduation rates

GRCC Facts

    During the 2011 fall semester, 2,251 first-time, full-time, certificate or degree-seeking undergraduate students entered Grand Rapids Community College and after 3 years (as of August 31, 2014,) 13% (292) of these students had been granted a degree or certificate from our institution and 24.0% (531) had transferred to other institutions of higher education. Of all students attending GRCC in 2013/2014, 7.8% (1926) graduated.

Of all students attending GRCC in 2008/2009, 53.3% have successfully transferred or graduated.

Reverse transfer rates as of 10/17/2014 showed that 343 applications were received. Of these applications, 165 were denied with 27 missing only a Wellness class and 11 missing only PS 110. Four students were missing only EN 102. In all, 47 degrees were not conferred based on these course graduation requirements. https://www.grcc.edu/sites/default/files/docs/compliance/student_outcomes_update.pdfnt

http://cms.grcc.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/GRCC%20Indicator%20Report%20-March%202015%20DRAFT.pdf

Data Source: Student Records/Registrar Office as of 10/17/2014 –ddp

Questions to be Addressed by the Team

 Should PS 110 remain as a graduation requirement?

 Should all students be required to take a Wellness course to graduate?

 Should all students be required to take 6 credits of English composition in order to graduate?

Process Timeline

    The Team will meet during Summer 2015 and will develop a proposal.

The proposed Graduation Requirements will be presented at the September 2015 AGC meeting and feedback will be collected.

The Team will consider feedback and will adjust proposal as needed. A vote will take place at the October 2015 AGC Meeting.

If changes to the policy are proposed, then passed by AGC and accepted by the Provost, the policy updates will go into effect for the 2016/2017 catalog.

Next Steps

 Discuss the College’s Graduation Requirements with your departments.

 Please send any feedback to Patti Trepkowski ([email protected]) and Jennifer Batten ([email protected]) by May 8th.