After much department collaboration and restructuring, EMU will be releasing an updated curriculum and schedule in the 2018 fall semester. The large restructuring is the first of its magnitude since one initiated 50 years ago, in the fall of 1968. New and returning students will see class changes, more department collaboration, and a schedule change.
The new changes come partly as an initiative to increase student flexibility and focus for careers after graduating. Academic Dean Deirdre Smeltzer hopes that the updated curriculum will be better suited to match the quickly fickle job market. “I think that higher education in general needs to … become more responsive to student interest and market demands. Academia is notoriously slowmoving,” Smeltzer said.
Aside from engaging in student interests, the recent budget cuts have also created the needs for departments to redistribute professors among classes. “I think what precipitated [the changes were] the faculty cuts from this last year,” said Associate English Professor Kevin Seidel. The university wanted to restructure the curriculum so that current and future students would still recieve a good education and faculty engagement, despite fewer professors. To redistribute students and professors more efficiently, many of the 3-credit hour classes will change to 2- and 4-credit hour classes. The increase in 4-credit hour classes will allow both students and professors to spend more time focused on a few classes. For instance, Seidel explained, rather than having professors and students divided over four 3-credit hour courses, they will be able to focus on three courses without sacrificing credits. The process came out of regular collaboration between each department. During the process, each department had representatives meet with each other on a weekly basis to discuss campus-wide curriculum changes. Some meetings were simply brainstorming, while others focused on specific questions or goals. Out of this came a lot of agreement and the potential for change and collaboration across departments.
In the coming semesters, students will see more options to study within more departments. One of these examples is the creation of Humanities (HUM) courses. The new schedule will offer a course called Foundations in Humanities which will seek to bridge VACA (Visual and Creative Arts), with the English and Bible and Religion departments. Students will learn how to “read” various things like scripture, sculpture, art, poetry, and the like.
To help meet student interests needs, EMU will begin to add concentrations to the undergraduate catalog. “A concentration would be something that each department can create on its own or in collaboration with other departments. It’s smaller than a [minor] but it gives you a specific skill,” Seidel explained. Though they would not be listed on transcripts, the university would provide students with evidence of the concentration for resumes.
Concentrations will provide the university with an easy and efficient way to make changes for the sake of the students. Smeltzer noted that making new majors and minors is a slow process, but concentrations can be created relatively easily. As more students take a career-focused outlook on their education, concentrations help students shape their education. “There are a lot of young college grads who are finding their own way … so we want to set people up to do that,” Smeltzer said.
As the academic dean, Smeltzer hopes that the major revision will be enough to keep the university actively seeking to make minor changes in academics for the sake of students. Smeltzer has teamed up with — and will continue to work with — Matt Ruth and the rest of the Admissions Office to gauge incoming students’ interests. She will also begin working with Kimberly Phillips of Career Services to add the concentrations to departments. All of them will continue to read student and prospective student interests, as well as the job market, to make future changes when necessary.
