Institutional Change as Scholarly Work: General Education Reform at Portland State University

Abstract

bers about general education signaled deeper contentions in the academy that warrant analysis. This analysis is consistent with the culture of reflective practice that has been present at Portland State since the beginning of this present reform. Throughout it has been informed by the research emerging in the 1990s on student learning, retention, and the evolving recognition of the complex interplay between learning and teaching. Neither of this article’s authors was at Portland State University when the reforms were devised and adopted. Tetreault arrived as Provost in fall 1999 and Rhodes one year later as Vice Provost for Curriculum and Undergraduate Studies. Both were drawn to the institution in part by the national reputation of University Studies. It captured their interest, as it had that of foundations and national scholars, because of its focus on students as learners and knowers, the blurring of the boundaries between the curriculum, the campus, and the city, and the substantial changes in the methods and approaches used to educate students. 2 In addition, Tetreault’s research on teaching and learning in college and university