A USM-wide committee, the General Education Curriculum Planning Group, has been working on a proposal to replace the core curriculum at USM. The Planning Group is a faculty-led group formed in early 2005, comprised of roughly twenty-five faculty and staff.  It was formed by a wide invitation to all faculty members within CAS, and through outreach to other schools and to administrative functions like advising, student life, and the library.  Eighteen of its twenty-five members are full-time faculty, of whom fifteen are tenured and fifteen are in CAS.  It was charged with developing a “core replacement” pathway that will  have to be approved by the General Education Council (GEC) and the USM faculty senate.The Planning Group has continued to utilize AAC&U as a resource, particularly its national initiatives in General Education and Liberal Education.

On February 9, 2007, the Planning Group received provisional approval from the General Education Council for its curriculum proposal. According to the GEC's approval process, provisional approval provides for two years of continued planning and piloting, with full approval to be sought from the GEC and the Faculty Senate by the end of the two year provisional period.