CRITERIA FOR COURSES FULFILLING THE G.R.E. REQUIREMENT

The general education program guidelines for the Gender, Race and Ethnicity requirement stipulate that students must choose a course from a list of approved courses and that "All courses in this area must cover the issues of gender, race, and ethnicity, although primary emphasis may be given to one of these areas and faculty teaching these courses are encouraged to address issues related to other dimensions of human diversity." In order for any courses to be approved as granting credit for the Gender, Race and Ethnicity Requirement, the GRE Committee needs information about the design and content of the course. Courses that partly or wholly are about gender, race, and ethnicity, are not necessarily GRE courses. GRE courses should be designed to center on work(s) and lives of the diverse groups defined by gender, race, and ethnicity as well as analyses of their works and lives by representative individuals. The courses should therefore meet the following criteria:

1. The course should have as its principal focus, some aspect of the lives, roles, contributions, perspectives, and experiences of the particular group(s) discussed whether they be women or more specific ethnic and racial groups. It should also be recognized that given the significance of ongoing globalization processes, discussion of these groups needs to be set within a broadly defined context, one that may not be limited by national boundaries.

2. Relevant scholarship on the course topic should be an important part of course readings and discussions. For example, in courses focusing on women, where traditional texts about women are used, the authors' viewpoints should be put in dialogue with contemporary feminist views. In similar fashion, appropriate dialogues regarding past and present theoretical approaches to understanding the dynamics of race and ethnicity should be incorporated into the course readings and discussions.

3. The course should incorporate viewpoints by individuals whose lives differ in terms of gender, race, class, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, since such markers of social differentiation contribute to the varied experience of subordination and agency.

4. The course should equip students to identify systems of domination and subordination and to critically analyze how cultural and societal assumptions about gender, race, class, ethnicity, and sexual orientation function in an academic discipline and in their lives.

5. The instructor, whenever it is appropriate, should attempt to use pedagogical techniques that encourage student participation, to enable them to be active learners.

6. New courses to be considered for inclusion must be approved by the respective school's curriculum committee before being considered by the GRE committee.

The instructor should submit a syllabus and any further documentation the committee would need to ascertain that the criteria are being met (e.g., the syllabus may not indicate what the course's pedagogy will include). The GRE Committee also welcomes any additional materials that may be helpful in assessing the course's suitability for inclusion in the GRE list of approved courses meeting this requirement.