A university-wide review of the undergraduate general education curriculum is under way this month. This follows Provost Barbara R. Snyder’s call for reform in her State of Academic Affairs Address to the University Senate on Jan. 13.

A committee consisting of one undergraduate student and nine faculty members was formed to determine what the arts and sciences curriculum required for graduation should be. The committee will also look at how Ohio State can provide a well rounded education for all students, Snyder said.

The staffing for undergraduate courses, the role of freshman seminars and the required amount of hours for graduation will also be reviewed, she said.

“We must increase the size of the faculty relative to the size of our undergraduate student body,” Snyder said in her speech. “Toward this end, I have set aside $3 million in continuing funds that will become available in fiscal year 2006.”

The Undergraduate Education Review Committee is headed by Brian McHale, professor of humanities . Hale said the committee is still in its early stages and will take months to finish its recommendations.

“My committee has only met for two working sessions so far, and we’re still talking in very general terms, and collecting information,” McHale said. “We have something like eight months of weekly meetings ahead of us, so there’s a long way to go.”

Although there is only one undergraduate student on the committee, McHale said the committee will include students in the process through various means.

The Undergraduate Student Government will take part by distributing surveys, in order to collect information, and the opinions of students, he said.

Aftab Pureval, USG president, wants to see changes in the General Education Curriculum requirements, and hopes to see results by the end of this academic school year.

“The current GEC requirements were established in the ’80s,” Pureval said. “Our students are getting brighter and brighter, we need to reform to better reflect the types of students at this University.”

McHale said the final decisions about undergraduate education and GEC reform will be made collectively.

“There is not one single decision maker. The Senate and colleges will also take part,” McHale said. “The committee only makes recommendations.”

McHale also said that faculty and students shouldn’t expect a report on the reform until August 2005.