Organized by Prof. James Highsmith (jamesh@csufresno.edu)

In fall 1995, the Academic Senate CSU began an examination of baccalaureate education in the CSU. The Cornerstones project, initiated in late spring 1996, paralleled the baccalaureate study with one of its four task force's topics being "Learning for the 21st Century." The Senate's two-year study was informed initially by the results of a CSU Academic Conference in February 1996 where campus faculty and academic administrators, together with student and alumni/ae representatives, identified key topics upon which to focus.

In fall 1996, Senate committees met in special sessions examining the effectiveness of baccalaureate education from the perspectives of students, parents, employers, alumni/ae, state policy makers, senior citizens, and the public in general. Following intense debates and a drafting process, further extensive consultation occurred with campus senates and faculty throughout the CSU, especially through special presentations and small group discussions at the February 1997 Academic Conference in Monterey attended by over 500 faculty leaders. Issues debated during the report's development included the needs of students, the changing environment of undergraduate instruction, assessment of learning, integration of technology into instruction, precollegiate instruction and remediation, and organizational changes associated with the new modes of education. The discussions of these topics informed participants in the Cornerstones project and its task forces as well.

The resulting Academic Senate report, Baccalaureate Education in the California State University, describes the Senate's vision of the baccalaureate for the graduates in the year 2005, although many aspects of the vision are already in place. The content of the report enunciates the purposes and scope of the baccalaureate degree. It is written to provide guidance to the Academic Senate, to the chancellor's staff and to campus senates and faculty as baccalaureate education evolves.

Prominent themes in the report are the importance of:

• better integration of general education and major coursework;
• working with high schools and community colleges to assure students are prepared for baccalaureate education;
• using varied methods of assessing student learning before, during, and at the end of the baccalaureate;
• effective use of new teaching approaches and of technology;
• examining systems of values and ethics relevant to a graduate's use of knowledge and skills; and
• ensuring quality and commitment to faculty who assure the diversity of CSU degree programs.

Session Schedule 8am-1130am

8:00 Marshelle Thobaben, Moderator; Panel: Jim Highsmith, Allsion Heisch, Paul Spear, Dorothy Keane

• Thobaben (5 min.) Introduction
• Highsmith (8 min.) Background and Purposes of Baccalaureate
• Heisch (12 min.) Readiness and Remediation
• Spear (12 min.) Readiness and Content
• Keane (12min.) Assessing Student Learning

• Highsmith (2 min.) Introduction
• Jim Morgan, Chico (12 min.) Multicampus project on math and English GE outcomes (Chico, San Francisco, Sacramento)
• Keith Boyum, Fullerton (8 min.) General education learning outcomes
• Paul Adalien, SLO (12 min.) Information competence and general education
• Kathleen McEnerny, DH (8 min.) Integration of breadth and depth in clinical science
• Jackie Donath, Sacramento (8 min.) learning communities
• Kris Stewart, San Diego (8 min.) Using supercomputing in undergraduate education
• Carole Holder, Pomona, ITL (12 min.) Faculty development and quality of instruction

1. Using Technology in Undergraduate Education
2. Integrating Breadth and Depth
3. Assessing Student Learning
4. Readiness and Remediation
5. General Education Outcomes

1. Adalien, Stewart
2. McEnerny, Holder
3. Keane, Donath
4. Heisch, Spear
5. Boyum, Morgan

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