Governance
Organizational Structure
The General Education (Gen Ed) Program at UH Mānoa is fully faculty governed by the Mānoa Faculty Senate (MFS), its General Education Committee (GEC), and the Gen Ed Faculty Boards, all supported by the faculty director and full-time staff of the General Education Office. Each party’s roles and responsibilities regarding Gen Ed are described in a recently revised Memorandum of Understanding. As a permanent committee of the Mānoa Faculty Senate, the GEC sets the policies and procedures (delineated in the handbook) associated with the governance of the Gen Ed Program as laid out in Faculty Governance of University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa General Education. Faculty members serving on the GEC or one of the Gen Ed Boards invest significant amounts of time each semester overseeing the Program. Details about the governing structure, GEC and board responsibilities, membership, and Gen Ed Program policies and procedures can be found in the handbook. Members of each of the five Boards (Foundations, Contemporary Ethical Issues, Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Issues, Oral Communication, and Writing) approve or recommend courses for Gen Ed designations, sponsor faculty development resources and workshops, and advise on articulation issues, among other responsibilities. Current membership is listed in the GEC and Board Member Rosters.
Are you interested in serving on a committee or board? Please send a statement of interest, specifying which committee or Board you would like to serve on, and a current CV to uhmfs@hawaii.edu.
About the General Education Office (GEO)
The GEO oversees the implementation of the General Education Program as an administrative office under the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (OVCAA). The GEO Faculty Director is appointed by the OVCAA and MFS Executive Committee to oversee the GEO and its staff.
Among its core responsibilities, the GEO provides logistical support to the GEC and its Boards, and works with committees and offices across campus to ensure accurate listings of Gen Ed requirements and courses at UH Mānoa. The GEO keeps abreast of national trends and current research on Gen Ed in order to inform the innovative development and implementation of the Gen Ed program; provides institutional memory for the programʻs history and policy implementation; serves as the primary point of contact for students, staff, and faculty regarding Gen Ed; communicates with advisors, departments, the OVCAA, and others. The GEO staff and its Faculty Director also guide and promote Gen Ed assessment activities in coordination with many others on campus, and coordinates periodic academic program review for the Gen Ed Program in collaboration with the GEC. Please contact us if you have questions about these or any of our other areas of responsibility, or would like to be part of our collective work on promoting, supporting, assessing, or implementing General Education.
GEC
General Education Committee
MFS
Mānoa Faculty Senate
BOR
Board of Regents