Journal of General Education

Access current issues through Scholarly Publishing Collective, Project MUSE, or back content on JSTOR.

Journal of General Education: A Curricular Commons of the Humanities and Sciences (JGE) is devoted to the ideas and ideals of scholarship that enlighten the understanding of the general education curriculum. General education reaches across disciplinary and professional concentrations to provide an undergraduate educational commons. JGE engages academic communities and the broader public about general education experiments and innovation, including but not limited to the assessment, history, philosophy, and theoretical commitments of general education.

In short, JGE is focused not on a scholarship of general interest to those engaged in undergraduate education. Rather, JGE is a scholarly community interested in general education as a distinctive cornerstone of the arts of liberty that prepare citizens to live engaged, responsible, and meaningful lives.

We encourage you to engage the journal community online through our Twitter account: @JGenEdu.

Reviewer of the Year Award
The Journal of General Education values, champions, and rewards practicing the arts of liberty in all realms of higher education, including in the classroom and in the publishing process. To that end, JGE has established a “Reviewer of the Year” award that recognizes a reviewer who has exemplified the arts of liberty in their conduct withJGE that year. Specifically, the Award recognizes a reviewer who:

1. Provides quality feedback to the authors and editors. That is, the feedback is:

- Knowledgeable about the content
- Open and resourceful
- Collegial and kind

2. Provides feedback that has a strong, positive impact on the publication(s),

3. Completes reviews on time or early, and

4. Has completed multiple reviews for the journal (if applicable).

The Awardee is selected by the JGE Editorial Team through an internal evaluation process. The winner will receive a plaque, a small monetary reward, and recognition in the next issue of JGE. The Journal is also happy to provide letters of confirmation for tenure and promotion review packages. The recipient of our 2019 inaugural award was Dr. Vicki Reitenauer from Portland State University. Congratulations, Dr. Reitenauer!

Please direct inquiries about the Award to the Editorial Team at JGE@press.psu.edu.

Special Issue: The Journal of General Education invites submissions for a special issue scheduled for publication in early 2025: Creating the Shift: Contributions from the Field of General Education to Re-Solving Wicked Problems - See "Submissions" for details.

Editor
J.R. Estes, Portland State University

Contributing Editors
Rowanna L. Carpenter, Portland State University
Vicki L. Reitenauer, Portland State University

Advisory Board
Sean Burns, Northwestern University in Qatar
John Dedrick, Kettering Foundation
Connie Flanagan, University of Wisconsin Madison
Walter E. Fluker, Boston University
Sukhwant Jhaj, Arizona State University
Stephanie Kenen, Harvard University
John F. Kutsko, Atla
Steven Lamy, University of Southern California
Lisa Lattuca, University of Michigan
Cynthia Nearman, Guilford College
Sandra Richards, Northwestern University in Qatar

Articles published in Journal of General Education are selected for the original ideas, cogent arguments, and creative approaches they contribute to enriching the general education endeavor. Each article is assessed by the editors and reviewers for its contribution to the scholarship on general education. Articles that do not match the mission of the Journal (see Description page) will be rejected.

We encourage desk inquiries before submission. Please contact the Editorial Office at .

JGE is particularly interested in thoughtful reflections and reports from those who are currently undertaking general education reform. In addition, JGE welcomes proposals for special issues of the Journal.

All manuscripts must be submitted through our online system. Please visit this site to create an author account, view submission guidelines, and submit: http://www.editorialmanager.com/jge/.

The Journal invites submissions from 1,000-10,000 words in length, depending on the type of submission. Please refer to the submission guidelines for detailed information about the preferred types of submissions.

The Journal of General Education invites submissions for a special issue scheduled for publication in early 2025.
Creating the Shift: Contributions from the Field of General Education to Re-Solving Wicked Problems
Editor: J.R. “Jones” Estes, Portland State University
Guest Editor: Paul Hanstedt, University of Minnesota, Rochester

Over fifty years ago Rittel and Webber first articulated the concept of “wicked problems” to encapsulate both the complexity and nature of social problems as “ill-defined; and they rely upon elusive political judgment for resolution. (Not ‘solution.’ Social problems are never solved. At best they are only re-solved—over and over again)” (Policy Sciences, 4(2), p. 160).

In the decades since, the number, complexity, and social impact of wicked problems has only increased. Twenty-five years into the twenty-first century, some students in some majors learning about wicked problems is inadequate preparation for the future. Rather all students need to develop a variety of facilities, such as cooperating and communicating across disagreement; developing, implementing, and evaluating “solutions” as phases in a never-ending process; and articulating the consequences of ambivalence.

In its mandate that all students complete courses from across disciplines, general education is uniquely suited to provide the learning opportunities for students to engage with the people, research, materials, and processes that addressing wicked problems requires. But the reiterative necessity of re-solving rather than the expectation of solving is a paradigm shift that most of our institutions and systems have yet to make. This special issue seeks to highlight articles that exemplify general education efforts—whether imagined, proposed, successful, or unsuccessful—that contribute to the shifting practices required to prepare all graduates to engage ethically and effectively with wicked problems.

The context of submissions may be broad, such as across institutions or programs, to specific, such as a case study or individual practice. We encourage submissions highlighting collaborations and/or diverse voices (e.g., activists, administrators, community partners, disciplines, and students). Themes may include but are not limited to:
• Diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice
• Disciplinary cultures, institutional structures
• Curricular and co-curricular opportunities and tensions
• Deepening experiential learning and/or community engagement
• Restorative practices and pedagogies
• Utilizing assessment methods or results
• Resistance, complacency, survival
• Addressing barriers, resources, and needs
Submission formats, requirements, and instructions for the Journal of General Education can be found by clicking the submission guidelines link near the bottom of the journal website (https://www.psupress.org/journals/jnls_jge.html). Please ensure that your manuscript is formatted properly before submission.
If you would like formative and collaborative writing support prior to submission, please email us at jgeeditor@pdx.edu.
Editors request that submissions are uploaded in Editorial Manager before January 30, 2025.

Institutional Print & Online - $288.00

Institutional Print or Online - $203.00

Institutional Single Issue - $57.00

Individual Print & Online - $85.00

Individual Print or Online - $62.00

Individual Single Issue - $22.00

Outside US add Shipping & Handling - $25.00

Education Resources Information Center (ERIC)
European Reference Index for the Humanities and Social Sciences (ERIH PLUS)
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MLA International Bibliography
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