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Faculty Report on Curriculum Review Suggests Major Changes Forthcoming

Arts & Sciences faculty leaders appear interested in more than just a few tweaks to the current undergraduate curriculum.

In an interim report on the progress of a faculty committee reviewing the curriculum, committee chair Professor Suzanne Shanahan said she's found a strong interest in making changes to the matrix-based curriculum requirements.

"It's been a phenomenal process," Shanahan told the Arts and Sciences Council at its meeting this past Thursday. "It's been inspiring the way faculty have stepped up and engaged the process."

Shanahan said there is a consensus that the new curriculum must allow students to find a path to an education that challenges them.

"We want to value student self-authorship. We want them to own their own education," said Shanahan, associate director of the Kenan Institute for Ethics.

The committee was charged this year by Trinity College Dean Laurie Patton to collect data and opinions about the curriculum, which has been in place since 1999, and offer recommendations. 

Many faculty and students say they don't understand the purpose and vision of the current curriculum, Shanahan said. The matrix is complex, and there are concerns it leads to course choices that emphasize "checking boxes" rather than intellectual pursuit, she said.

Meanwhile, the growth of interdisciplinary and innovative study programs such as Duke Immerse and Bass Connections don't easily mesh with the matrix, she added.

At the same time, Shanahan acknowledged the qualities of the current curriculum. Before it was established, more than half of all Duke students graduated without taking either foreign language or quantitative learning classes.

Discussions will continue this semester. 

As part of the committee's vision for the curriculum, Shanahan said there has been some consensus that a Duke should provide a true liberal arts education with robust disciplinary majors as a centerpiece.

In addition, a Duke education "should be an invitation to a scholarly community that excite both faculty and students,” Shanahan said. “We want students doing things they haven't tried before, but it should also have a deliberate cohesion: A little adventure and a little coherence."

She added: "A Duke education should reflect the fact that Duke is a research-based education. Duke should look different than Swarthmore.  Now, the goal here is not for faculty to just to produce 'Mini-Mes'. However, the goal is to invite students into a pursuit that we love and show them the promise of what scholarship offers."

Some new ideas under consideration focus on the first year experience, including new signature gateway courses or course clusters to engage students in "big issue" questions such as global warming. Others include tinkering with the Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory grade option to encourage students to be more adventurous and take more difficult courses outside of their comfort zones.

The committee will consider how the curriculum handles certificates, double majors and other graduation credentials. Shanahan said faculty want students to use these options to stretch themselves academically rather than build a resume; one way would be to require certificates to come in different divisions than the major.

"We also have discussed transcript portfolios," Shanahan said. "If we want students to imagine their educational experience as more than set of credentials, the transcript, as the statement of that experience, should reflect that.  In general, we want students to be more deliberative and reflective in their selections for courses and majors.”