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Send your $25 check for two-year membership to: CAGLS
Southeast Missouri State University
1 University Plaza,
Mail Stop 4650
Cape Girardeau, MO  63701

Welcome to CAGLS

The Council invites you to join us in working together to support administrators of general and liberal education programs throughout higher education.

What is CAGLS?

The Council was formed to provide support for the increasing number of college and university administrators that have responsibility for institutional general/liberal education programs. The Council grew out of group meetings of interested general education administrators during the annual meetings of other national higher education organizations including the Association for American Colleges and Universities, The American Association for Higher Education and the Association for General and Liberal Studies. We determined that sufficient common problems exist for us to form an organization which would provide information, support, and materials leading to solutions for general education administrators. We meet annually during the meetings of the Association for General and Liberal Studies. Dues are $25.00 per two year membership.

CAGLS initiatives

1. Creation and promulgation of a directory of members with brief summaries of their colleges/universities, their general/liberal education programs, perceived program strengths, and willingness to share information regarding program strengths. Since a significant number of institutions have revised or are presently engaged in revising their general/liberal education programs, sharing information about the revision process is one important component of success.

2. Creation of an electronic networking system enabling members to communicate via the Internet. This activity is exemplified with this Web Page.

3. Formation of a committee to pursue facilitation of articulation between four year institution, secondary schools, and community colleges. We hope to provide students with more efficient transfer of courses and ensure program integrity.

4. Formation of possible accreditation standards and guidelines for general/liberal education programs. We hope to increase the academic rigor of general/liberal education programs and provide students with more effective curricula. This important activity will require considerable long-range planning as existing accreditation mandates are complex, numerous, and often self-serving. New accreditation guidelines should be designed with considerable deliberation and caution.

5. Sharing information about faculty development activities, especially as they apply to general/liberal education programs. Many institutions have created programs that require special teaching strategies, which depend upon faculty development activities for support and guidance. Many faculty members are in need of these activities as they approach freshman seminars designed to introduce general/liberal education programs, senior capstone courses, and interdisciplinary courses, programs and initiatives.

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