2008 Woodie Awards
The Core of a Colgate Education
Chris Nickels
Issue date: 4/22/05 Section: News
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1928 was a year in which one of Colgate's foremost traditions was founded: the Core Curriculum (Core). Since then, the Core has experienced continuous change and alteration. Now, 77 years later, the Core is still evolving, faces the possibility of even more change in coming years.
The most recent changes in the curriculum have come in the form of student involvement and internal and external review. The Core has also been the subject of much discussion for faculty, students and alumni alike.
In 1999, the Student Government Association (SGA) raised concerns that many Colgate students could graduate without having confronted issues pertaining to social justice. Efforts to correct this problem led to the creation of the Student Curriculum Initiative (SCI). Members of the initiative worked with the Academic Affairs Board (AAB) and Curriculum Committee to examine the Core classes 151 and 152. The SCI published a newsletter detailing their cause.
Then-President of SGA David Mills wrote in a newsletter, "Because of the strong support shown...the Curriculum Committee of the AAB has assigned SCI a high priority. We believe that SCI is the first student-directed initiative of this type since 1969, when a similar initiative led to the creation of the [ALANA] Cultural Center."
While not quite on par with ALANA, the students managed to create the "Isms of Society" physical education course through their efforts.
Five years later, the merits of the Core were once again examined -- this time internally by staff and faculty, as well externally by several outside groups.
The internal review process was started in preparation for possible changes to the Core, when it will be revised in 2007. Many avenues were taken for assessment.
Director of University Studies and Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures Lourdes Rojas-Paiewonsky explained some ways that faculty compile information about the Core.
"We have four components of the Core," she said. "Faculty gather according to those components, and each component has what you call a university professor [UP], and we gather weekly. In other words, there are different gatherings of faculty. First, according to their components - these are called staff gatherings. Core 151 has a particular time and date when they gather regularly to discuss issues of methodology, curriculum [and] programming, the same thing for 152, Core Cultures, as well as Scientific Perspectives. Then, the UP of each component meets with me every week and they bring to the table what they have learned in their staff meetings."
The most recent changes in the curriculum have come in the form of student involvement and internal and external review. The Core has also been the subject of much discussion for faculty, students and alumni alike.
In 1999, the Student Government Association (SGA) raised concerns that many Colgate students could graduate without having confronted issues pertaining to social justice. Efforts to correct this problem led to the creation of the Student Curriculum Initiative (SCI). Members of the initiative worked with the Academic Affairs Board (AAB) and Curriculum Committee to examine the Core classes 151 and 152. The SCI published a newsletter detailing their cause.
Then-President of SGA David Mills wrote in a newsletter, "Because of the strong support shown...the Curriculum Committee of the AAB has assigned SCI a high priority. We believe that SCI is the first student-directed initiative of this type since 1969, when a similar initiative led to the creation of the [ALANA] Cultural Center."
While not quite on par with ALANA, the students managed to create the "Isms of Society" physical education course through their efforts.
Five years later, the merits of the Core were once again examined -- this time internally by staff and faculty, as well externally by several outside groups.
The internal review process was started in preparation for possible changes to the Core, when it will be revised in 2007. Many avenues were taken for assessment.
Director of University Studies and Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures Lourdes Rojas-Paiewonsky explained some ways that faculty compile information about the Core.
"We have four components of the Core," she said. "Faculty gather according to those components, and each component has what you call a university professor [UP], and we gather weekly. In other words, there are different gatherings of faculty. First, according to their components - these are called staff gatherings. Core 151 has a particular time and date when they gather regularly to discuss issues of methodology, curriculum [and] programming, the same thing for 152, Core Cultures, as well as Scientific Perspectives. Then, the UP of each component meets with me every week and they bring to the table what they have learned in their staff meetings."