General Education Oversight Committee Election Voter Guide
Fall 2019 General Education Oversight Committee Election
A special faculty election for elected membership to the General Education Oversight Committee is being held October 9-21. Electronic ballots will be sent to all members of the Voting Faculty.
The committee will be charged with overseeing assessment, examining results and proposing curricular changes for the new general education curriculum adopted by the faculty in spring semester 2019.
The General Education Oversight Committee (GEOC) will operate under the auspices of the Administrative Boards of the College of Arts and Sciences and will be supported sufficiently to allow ongoing assessment and consideration of innovations in and amendment of the curriculum. The Office of Institutional Research and Assessment will gather and provide appropriate data as needed to support the committee’s work. In the third year following implementation, the Administrative Boards of the College will review the GEOC’s composition and charge. Five elected committee members are being chosen by the faculty in this election: two members to two-year terms, two members to three-year terms and one member to a one-year term. Subsequent members will be elected in the annual faculty election process as terms end. Members may be elected to no more than two consecutive elected terms.
The committee will comprise five elected members of the voting faculty, including:
- One faculty member in a fine arts or humanities department
- One faculty member in a social sciences department
- One faculty member in a natural sciences and mathematics department
- Two additional members of the voting faculty
All members of the voting faculty vote for all positions.
Candidate Profiles
Fine Arts and Humanities
Vote for 1
Sarah E. DempseyAssociate Professor, Communication Candidate StatementI currently serve as Director of Undergraduate Studies in the communication department and have previously served as assistant chair. My commitments to faculty governance, engaged scholarship, and the liberal arts will inform my service on this committee. |
David NavalinskyAssociate Professor, Dramatic Art Candidate Statement
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Social Sciences
Vote for 1
Hanna SprintzikTeaching Associate Professor of Hebrew, Asian Studies Candidate Statement
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Geetha VaidyanathanTeaching Associate Professor, Economics Candidate StatementI am teaching faculty in the Department of Economics. During my time at UNC, I have been actively involved in University service through membership on several important committees, such as the Educational Policy Committee (2012–2017), Advisory Committee for the Undergraduate Marketing Strategy (2012-2013), Faculty Committee on Community and Diversity (2012-2015), University Insurance Committee (2011-2014), Committee on Scholarship, Awards, and Student Aid (2013-present) and on Faculty Council (2018-present). As the the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the economics department, I am the department liaison for syllabus submission for the IDEAs in Action Curriculum, and have thus become very familiar with the new curriculum. Given this background, I will be able to effectively serve on this important committee. |
Natural Sciences and Mathematics
Vote for 1
Charlotte BoettigerAssociate Professor, Psychology and Neuroscience Candidate StatementMy research uses a wide range of methods to investigate the neurobiology of addiction. My primary faculty appointment is in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, where I teach undergraduate, honors undergraduate, and graduate students. I am an active member of two centers based in the medical school: the Biomedical Research Imagining Center and the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies. I also train graduate students through the campus-wide Neuroscience Curriculum. I have served the University in a variety of different ways during my time at UNC. I have been a member of several campus committees, including: the Faculty Assembly Delegation, which also includes membership on the Faculty Council; the Provost’s Working Group on high-risk alcohol and substance use, which updated our campus alcohol policy; the Agenda Committee; and the Nominating Committee. I currently serve on the Financial Exigency and Program Change Committee and the Faculty Hearings Committee. Through this variety of experiences, I have a sense of the diversity of challenges facing faculty across campus, and of the unique expectations and cultures in different schools and centers. I would welcome the opportunity to further serve UNC as a member of the General Education Oversight Committee. |
Jason MetcalfeProfessor, Mathematics Candidate StatementIn my time at UNC, I have taught undergraduates in mathematics courses at all levels. This includes a first year seminar; Calculus II, which is the supposed “most failed course at UNC”; second year courses such as differential equations; the advanced calculus course, which has the reputation of being the hardest class that most of our majors take; and topics courses for undergraduates, such as one on Geometry and Relativity that I designed. I have also directed five honors theses, and three of these have led to publications with the students. My teaching has been recognized by my department’s inaugural Sue Goodman Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Education in 2017 and by the 2018 Board of Governors’ Award for Excellence in Teaching from the UNC System. My mentoring work was also recently recognized with the 2019 Faculty Award for Excellence in Doctoral Mentoring by the UNC Graduate School. I have experience within my department as Associate Chair and as a former member of the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. In order to be the best possible resource for our students, I have undergone Safe Zone training and, as a first generation college graduate myself, I’m proud to be a Carolina F1rsts Advocate. I believe that our undergraduates benefit from exposure to material from a breadth of fields. At the same time, I believe that it is essential to maintain rigorous coursework. I look forward to the possibility of serving on the General Education Oversight Committee and working to maximize the benefits to our students. |
Voting Faculty at-large
Vote for 2
Louise FlemingClinical Associate Professor Candidate StatementI am a Clinical Associate Professor and the incoming Assistant Dean of the Undergraduate Program and Division in the School of Nursing (SON). I have been teaching and mentoring undergraduate students in the SON in both clinical and didactic courses since 2009, and would enjoy helping oversee the curricular changes in the new IDEAS in Action general education curriculum and identify areas for continued refinement and growth to maximize the success of all of our undergraduate students. I was chair of the Baccalaureate Executive Committee in the SON over the last two years, as the School revised its undergraduate curriculum, and have been a part of the implementation team as our new curriculum launched this fall. I would welcome the opportunity to better understand how the general education curriculum intersects with our program and other undergraduate programs across our campus. Additionally, I have served on the UNC Global Guarantee Taskforce and currently serve on the UNC Global Affairs Leadership Group and Fixed-Term Faculty Committee. |
Rhonda GibsonAssociate Professor Candidate StatementSince coming to Carolina in 2001, I have been heavily involved in curriculum development and student advising/mentoring. I was part of a team that launched a new master’s degree in digital communication in 2011, and I have created five of my own new courses at UNC: three at the undergraduate level, one at the master’s level, and one at the doctoral level. I also have experience in university-wide administrative and curriculum-related roles, having served as chair of the Faculty Welfare Committee and as a member of the Sexuality Studies Advisory Board, the Graduate School Administrative Board, and the Provost’s Committee on LGBTQ Life. I have also worked as a General College advisor, representing the Hussman School of Journalism and Media. Through these university-level service activities and leadership training programs hosted by the Institute for Arts & Humanities and the Center for Faculty Excellence, I have developed an understanding of how curriculum development and oversight work and how beneficial it is for faculty from academic units across campus to collaborate to implement a rigorous, inclusive, and creative general education curriculum. |
Heidi KimAssociate Professor, English and Comparative Literature Candidate StatementI will work to ensure that the new general education curriculum is a diverse and inclusive curriculum that maintains representation and requirements in all divisions and thoughtfully incorporates our existing courses and wide range of teaching approaches. We also need clear processes for the implementation and the addition of new courses to ensure a good transition for departments and faculty and thriving, flexible curriculum for students. My commitment to undergraduate education is longstanding and has been recognized with the Sitterson Award for Freshman Teaching. |
R. Keith SawyerProfessor Candidate StatementI am a learning sciences researcher, and I look forward to learning more about our general education curriculum. I am interested in bringing together the findings of the learning sciences and the experiences and needs of our faculty and students. |
