Background
• The Academic Core Curriculum Committee (ACCC) was established in Fall 2013 and composed of 13 faculty members with a goal to change the current general education program, according Dr. Sharon Emerson-Stonnell, professor of mathematics and also served on the ACCC
• Faculty Senate passed the curriculum in their monthly meeting on Nov. 3, which was then passed by the Board of Visitors in Dec.
• Faculty Senate opted to vote via secret ballot rather than hand count, resulting in 22 approval votes, three disapproval votes and one abstention
• Along with the approval came three new courses to be added: Citizenship (CTZN) 110, Symposium on the Common Good 410 (CTZN) and English Writing and Rhetoric (ENGL) 165, according to Emerson-Stonnell
• The faculty senate unanimously approved the new policy for instruction and advising, the new policy of governance and the new policy of a Core Curriculum director in addition to the Core Curriculum
• Dr. Melissa Rhoten, professor of analytical chemistry, was named the program director for Core Curriculum on March 15
• Rhoten was selected through nominations by the Academic Chairs Council, according to Dr. Joan Neff, provost and vice president for academic affairs
• Rhoten will work with the Registrar’s office and department chairs to coordinate the scheduling of the courses for the curriculum, according to Neff
• “We are really excited to revise existing general education courses and to create new core courses that are consistent with the goals of the new program,” said Rhoten.
How it will work
• The curriculum will be composed of three levels: Foundations, Perspectives and Symposium that will replace the current 14 goal program, according to Emerson-Stonnell
• Students may opt to count up to three core curriculum courses toward each major instead of none in the past, according to Emerson-Stonnell
• CTZN 110 and ENGL 165 will both be required for students to take during their first year at Longwood
• Rather than some majors requiring three semesters of a foreign language all majors will only require two semesters
• “We have built into this program with every single course they take is either going to be speaking infused or writing infused with 10 percent to 15 percent of their grade is either going to be speaking or writing,” said Emerson-Stonnell
Who will be affected
• Fall 2017 the curriculum will go into effect with the freshman class as they may take one of the new pilot courses
• Transfer students will be allowed to choose between the two programs, according to Emerson-Stonnell
• Fall 2018, all freshmen students will be enrolled in the new Core Curriculum program
Reactions
“I am very excited about the change with the core curriculum. I think it gives us more opportunity to do more interdisciplinary work. I think it streamlines the process of a core we need to have,” Dr. Lissa Power-deFur, professor of communication sciences and disorders and also serves as a faculty representative to the Board of Visitors, told the Rotunda in Nov. 2016
“It’s an absolutely beautiful program,” Dr. Jacqueline Hall, associate professor of mathematics, and who also serves on Faculty Senate told the Rotunda in Nov 2016.
The monthly Faculty Senate voted on the new core curriculum on Wednesday, Nov. 5. The program will begin this semester with the incoming freshmen class.
