From the beginning of October to Thursday, Oct. 29, a planning team set up listening sessions to discuss possible changes to the undergraduate curriculum. The sessions featured faculty of the university, as well as students to understand their opinions about the curriculum.

The Reimagining the Undergraduate Curriculum initiative is part of the university’s strategic planning process.This initiative is led by a planning team comprised of six faculty members — who were elected to either the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, the Academic Senate, or the Faculty Affairs Committee— two academic administrators, and two students in elected positions in the SGA.

The team is co-led by Dr. Stephen Fowl, chair of the undergraduate curriculum committee and professor of theology, and Dr. Amanda Thomas, dean of Loyola College.

Dr. Wolfson, vice president for Academic Affairs, began the process this year with a paper written for the Loyola community entitled “Time and Depth for and with Loyola University Maryland: ReImagining the Undergraduate Curriculum” to which the planning team wrote a response, laying out some of the next steps.   

The question posed in each listening session was “what are the skills, habits, and dispositions you desire to see in a graduating Loyola student?” While sitting in on one of the sessions, the group consisted of employees from the Loyola Notre Dame Library, Academic Advising and the Foreign Language department. The group discussed the importance of skills like professionalism, problem-solving and the ability to write clearly and concisely. The panel also reflected on what gives them pause or concern, and some debated about the current structure of Loyola’s “core” classes.

The planning team will consider the data from the listening sessions as well as other relevant information to draft a framework for the curriculum, which will be presented to the community in March. It is the hope of the ReImagining team that the plan will be final by the end of the academic year.

More information about the Reimagining initiative can be found here:

http://www.loyola.edu/department/academicaffairs/reimagining-curriculum