With degree requirement changes for undergraduate students on the horizon at SF State, a task force charged with devising a plan to revise requirements held brainstorming workshops with faculty Monday.

The recently formed Graduation Requirements Task Force, appointed by the University’s Academic Senate, held four sessions during Monday’s Faculty and Staff Retreat at SF State’s new Westfield San Francisco Centre downtown campus.

The current General Education requirements for undergraduate students were established in 1981, and while the program was considered ahead of its time 25 years ago, it is now in need of revamping, said Susan Shimanoff, a member of the task force.

In a brainstorm of ideas, representatives of the task force heard from members of different departments.

Strengths and weaknesses of the current baccalaureate program were discussed along with goals for the future. During the day’s final session, concerns about writing skills, students’ ability to deal with unstructured situations, and the idea of cohesion of courses were bounced around.

The task force’s implementation has come after an external review committee was employed in October by the Academic Senate to come up with an assessment of the current undergraduate program. The committee included a private consultant and faculty from CSU Bakersfield and Occidental College. The published report proposed “rethinking the entire program from the ground up.”

While Shimanoff could not say with any certainty when a different set of requirements would be officially adopted, she noted that current students would not be affected. Changes to undergraduate graduation requirements will apply to students entering SF State beginning in the fall 2008 semester, according to the Academic Senate Web site.