MISSION STATEMENT

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MISSION STATEMENT

• The Academic Planning Committee has been asked
  to conduct a comprehensive review of HPUs
  academic programs. As conceptualized to date,
  this task involves asking several basic
  questions
• Does the curriculum adequately balance core,
  elective, and major courses?
• Does the curriculum address contemporary global
  ethical issues and reflect
• recent advances in knowledge and technology?
• Does the curriculum impart to students skills
  and values that are consistent
• with the University's mission and the world
  students will enter?
• Does the curriculum maximize student engagement
  and retention?
• Does the curriculum present a vision in which
  the various academic
• disciplines and programs are tied together in
  a logical, integrated, and
• cohesive way?
• Following careful deliberation in which inputs
  will be solicited from all segments of the
  Universitys academic community, the Committee
  will make recommendations designed to promote
  excellence, rigor, and thematic cohesiveness
  while allowing students greater choice in course
  selection. The Committee will periodically update
  the faculty on its progress and submit a final
  report of recommendations to the Vice President
  of Academic Affairs and the faculty for review.

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RATIONALE FOR CURRICULAR CHANGE

• The emphasis of the core on skills based
  knowledge would be a shift away from the content
  based approach of the current core. This
  approach would be much more amenable to the
  experiential learning focus of the Universitys
  QEP and would require no change in the four-year
  development of the themes of self, society, world
  and career. The Freshman year should be a time
  for exploration of different fields without the
  requirement that students cover the entire ground
  of 21st Century knowledge. Today, many of our
  students enter University with college level AP
  course work, and credits from on-line college
  courses taken in High School. These same
  students complain that our Freshmen year, with
  its lack of choice and many requirements, is just
  like another year of High School. Academic
  performance and retention would be enhanced if we
  could offer Freshman exciting self-selected
  courses from the first day of their college
  careers. The heart and spirit of a vibrant
  curriculum lies in the students being
  co-inquirers with the faculty while the faculty
  pursues real research in their fields. An
  engaged curriculum also depends on the community
  of inquiry that is established both within and
  between the faculties of different disciplines.
  Such a learning community must be inquisitive,
  cooperative, innovative, and up to date it must
  dedicated to inquiry, not the simple conveyance
  of knowledge. Faculty can model the methods and
  techniques of their discipline at an introductory
  level. The students need to be seen by the
  faculty as co-inquirers and they must see us
  model the research and activities that define our
  fields. This modeling should represent real
  inquiry or real creation not a simple recitation
  of the accepted dogma of the field that amounts
  to going through the motions. Such inquiry
  requires active discovery on the part of the
  faculty and the students. This means exploring
  the margins and the cutting edge of different
  disciplines it means being uninhibited by
  traditional disciplinary boundaries and
  definitions, and it entails pursuing questions
  where ever they may lead. The inner core would be
  a requirement for all graduates of the
  University. The Freshman and Sophomore emphasis
  of the inner core would be on analytic,
  quantitative, writing, language, and speaking
  skills while the Junior and Senior years would
  shift emphasis to affinity and maturity
  requirements. With only nine required hours in
  the Freshman year that year will be open for
  exploration through specialized electives offered
  through departments. Every department should
  offer at least one special topics course specific
  to its discipline. These courses would be
  modeled on the thematic honors courses being
  offered in the Summer program. Introductory
  survey courses in the major should be reserved by
  departments for the sophomore year To this end we
  suggest that introductory major survey courses
  should be moved to the 200 level to serve as
  introductions to the majorafter the fashion of
  Psychology 201/Sociology 201/Political Science
  201/Economics201. Elective courses offered in
  the Freshman year would provide an exciting
  entrée into discipline specific study and
  practicums, and would provide students with the
  background necessary to appreciate the broader
  issues raised by the second-year survey courses
  within the disciplines.
• Professional degrees with their increasing
  emphasis on specialization, accreditation, and
  the profession are in danger of losing sight of
  the Universitys mission there is a need to
  frame major degrees in terms of the larger goals
  of the academy and the changing nature of the
  world we live. Students should not be locked
  into their majors Sophomore year with no further
  opportunity to explore other disciplines.
• The purpose of the affinity requirement is to
  give students a deeper understanding of the areas
  most connected to their major while the purpose
  of the maturity requirement is to make sure this
  knowledge is in depth. Elective hours can be
  assigned to areas to ensure a broader coverage of
  the academy.
• The rationale for the reinstatement of
  interdisciplinary and cross disciplinary studies
  is at the heart of a liberal education. Many of
  the most interesting questions in various
  disciplines lie at the overlap of two different
  fields. The faculty and the students would all
  benefit from the study and perspective of
  disciplines outside of their own. Course design
  will have to emphasize the scope, depth, and
  interconnectedness of all fields of knowledge

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ELECTIVES
MAJOR REQUIREMENTS
YR IV
YR III
YR II
YR I
CORE REQUIREMENTS
CURRENT CONFIGURATION
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MAJOR REQUIREMENTS
YR IV
YR III
CORE REQUIREMENTS
YR II
YR I
ELECTIVES
ALTERNATIVE CONFIGURATION
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WORKING OBJECTIVES

• Spread core courses over all four years
• Decrease the number of specifically-designated
  core courses
• Orient University core courses toward the
  development of intellectual skills (analytic,
  quantitative, communicative)
• Encourage co-inquiry among students and faculty
  in all courses
• Offer more electives to freshmen
• Increase the number of electives beyond
  introductory levels
• Decrease the number of courses required for
  majors without compromising requirements related
  to professional competency and/or accreditation
• Ensure that 200-level, 300-level, and 400-level
  courses reflect progressively more advanced skill
  and knowledge components (maturity requirements)
• Expose students within majors to courses in
  allied fields
• Expand interdisciplinary studies and/or
  interdepartmental courses (both as electives and
  as Majors courses)
• Ensure that the curriculum is responsive to broad
  societal changes (e.g., globalization and
  technological change)
• Allow and selectively encourage self-designed
  majors

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ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES

• Patch Revise Minimal Change to Existing
  Curriculum
• Going Further Moderate Change to Curriculum
• Extensive Revision Incorporating Distribution
  Requirements Within the Curriculum

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PATCH AND REVISE MINIMAL CHANGE TO EXISTING
CURRICULUM

• Add May and/or January Session
• Introduce Programs to Challenge/ Engage
  First-Year Students
• Summer Reading
• Field Trips
• Orientation Around Student-Selected Activities
• Extend Summer Honors Academy Concept

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GOING FURTHER MODERATE CHANGE TO CURRICULUM

• Reduce First-Year Core Requirements
• Offer Electives During Freshman Year
• Create Thematic 100-Level Courses to Stimulate
  Excitement for Learning, Encourage Critical
  Thinking, and Introduce Fields of Study
• Move Introductory Survey Courses to 200-Level
• Make Courses 4-Credit hours rather than 3 Change
  Faculty Load to 321 or 33, etc.

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SUBSTANTIVE REVISION INCORPORATING DISTRIBUTION
REQUIREMENTS WITHIN THE CURRICULUM

• Elective Requirements
• Maturity Requirements
• Affinity Requirements

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ELECTIVE REQUIREMENTS

• Require x Number of Elective Hours throughout the
  Four Years
• Require Juniors to take x Number of GBS, IDS,
  Cultural Immersion, Language, or Study Abroad
  Courses
• Requirements to be Defined by University
• Objectives Served (1), (2), (5), (6), (7), (10),
  (11), (12)

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MATURITY REQUIREMENTS

• Require x Number of Courses at each Level (200,
  300 and 400) for Courses Outside the Core and
  Majors
• Ensure that Sophomore, Junior, and Senior Courses
  Reflect Progressively more Advanced Skill and
  Knowledge Components
• Exclude Seniors from 100-Level Courses
• Requirements to be Defined by University
• Objectives Served (3), (5), (8), (11), (12)

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AFFINITY REQUIREMENTS

• For each Major, Require Students to take x Number
  of Credit Hours in One or More Allied Fields of
  Study
• Require Students to take x Number of Hours
  Outside their Departments in an Allied Field
  (200-Level or above)
• Count IDS Courses toward Elective and Affinity
  (not Major) Requirements
• Requirements to be Defined by University
• Objectives Served (4), (7), (8), (9), (10), (11)

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MAJOR REQUIREMENTS
YR IV
Maturity Requirements 200, 300, 400 Affinity
Requirements After Major is declared 200 and
above Elective Requirements 300 and below
YR III
CORE REQUIREMENTS
YR II
YR I
ELECTIVES
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CURRICULAR STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS
Inner Core
Major Requirements
Affinity Requirements
Maturity Requirements
Elective Requirements
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STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE
Major
Inner Core
Outer Core
Affinity (Allied Electives)
Electives
Maturity (Upper Division Electives)
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REQUIREMENTS AND JURISDICTIONS
Core (Set by University)
Major (Set by Department)
Same for all degrees
Affinity (Set by University)
Maturity (Set by University)
Electives (Student-Selected within Set Parameters)
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SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION
MATURITY
AFFINITY
MAJORS
SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
CORE
ELECTIVES
SCHOOL OF ARTS SCIENCES