The Arch Program: Notes and Clarifications

1. The Arch Program: Notes and Clarifications General Education Task Force II Faculty Assembly Presentation April 8, 2015

2. Proposed Curriculum Map

3. Conceptual Framework Ramapo, New Jersey’s Public Liberal Arts College, invites you to reimagine the world you’ve known and to prepare for the rest of your life. Here, you will be challenged by a variety of educational experiences: our school cores, minors, concentrations, study abroad, and more. You’ll pursue a major, one suited to your particular interests; you will also complete our GE Curriculum. Together, these programs ask you to become a citizen of our college community and to prepare for citizenship in new communities, wherever your passions take you. Drawing on the rich traditions of the liberal arts, Ramapo’s general education program prepares you for the specific challenges of your major and encourages you to see the connections—intellectual, social, economic, cultural, aesthetic, and empirical—we all share in our increasingly linked, global world. Today, news, ideas, and wealth circle the globe at the tap of a screen. The products in our homes, the books on our shelves and screens, the knowledge in our minds increasingly link us to hundreds of thousands of others. Seeing those connections means you can make a difference by grappling with problems of inequality and injustice. Being connected means seeing both the apparent benefits of globalization and technology and their impact on local economies and environments. A liberal arts education asks you to cherish your curiosity, embrace today’s challenges, and transform yourself and your world by pursuing a broad education, one that looks inward as well as outward. Ramapo students honor their homes and understand that no individual and no community stands alone—or stands still. The student who navigates the channels between Ramapo’s many educational experiences sees the web of ideas, histories, financial links, political bonds, natural systems, and cultural exchange that forms the modern world and links that world to civilizations past. You will need to respond quickly to political, technological, and cultural change, be ready to shift careers, or reimagine yourself in an evolving field. More than that, Ramapo students will be ready to create those new fields. A lifetime of learning is the passport to a productive, fulfilling future. The student who takes that path is ready to meet and shape tomorrow.

4. An Integrated Program • The conceptual framework and goals describe a general education program “Draw[s] on [the] liberal arts [and] encourages [students] to see the connections—intellectual, social, economic, cultural, aesthetic, and empirical—we all share in our increasingly linked, increasingly global world [ . . . ].” This integrated program (Keystone, cluster, experiences, etc.) asks students to make those connections.

5. Goals and Outcomes Explore the world: Investigate human cultures and the natural world. • Critically interpret the products of culture and creative expression. • Critically interpret history and society. • Apply methods of scientific inquiry effectively. • Apply mathematical concepts effectively. Engage the world: think critically and convey new understanding. • Demonstrate logic and reasoning skills. • Write effectively in scholarly and creative contexts. • Speak effectively in scholarly and creative contexts. • Develop the skills necessary to locate, evaluate, and employ information effectively. • Use traditional and emerging technologies appropriately and competently.

6. Goals and Outcomes, con’t Experience your world: integrate and apply your new learning. • Apply disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge and skills to address complex problems. • Practice reflective inter/intra-personal skills. • Demonstrate curiosity and initiative to independently pursue knowledge, skills, and experience. Expand our world: develop compassion and ethical understanding across cultures and become an engaged global citizen. • Engage cooperatively and compassionately with diverse communities locally, nationally and globally. • Analyze ethical implications of the global distribution of power and resources. • Question assumptions about individual and group identity. • Demonstrate skill in a language other than English, while also gaining an understanding of other cultures.

7. Keystone Courses & Clusters • Structure • 4 Credits First Year Seminar (Distinct course—revised) • 4 Credits Critical Reading and Writing (Distinct course—revised) • 4 Credits Science (category—revised) • 4 Credits Mathematical Reasoning (category—revised) • 4 Credits Readings in the Arts and Humanities (Distinct course—revised) • 4 Credits in Social Science Inquiry (Distinct course—new) • 4 Credits Language (category) • 4 Credits Historical Thought (category—revised) • 12 Credits Cluster Courses (category, allowing double counting)

8. Cluster Courses • With the Cluster requirement, we hope to accomplish: • Narrower, more coherent, closely supervised distribution categories. • Encourage students to take 3 courses with some thematic coherence (broadly conceived). • Encourage students to double count part or all of a cluster into a minor. • Allow at least one cluster course to double count into the major or school core. • Define clusters in keeping with college mission, values, pillars, and general education’s conceptual framework (i.e., international, intercultural, experiential, sustainability / citizenship).

9. Exceptions to the Cluster Requirement • Exceptions: The cluster might not be the right option for all students. Therefore, we would let any of the following fulfill the cluster requirement: • Complete a second major outside his/her home school. • Complete a minor outside his/her school. • Credit bearing certificates (like Business Essentials) • A “contract” cluster, where a student (working with faculty) puts together a cluster not currently offered (perhaps including experiential—non-course—learning).

10. Example of Cluster Sample Cluster: “Sustainability and Society.” Students: Choose 3 of the following, one from each category. [Note: specific courses below were pulled more or less randomly from current GE offerings.] A student following the above could double count two or three courses into a minor. For instance, there are two COMM courses and two ENST courses.

11. Proposed Curriculum Map

12. Task Force Members • Ed Shannon, Chair (SSHGS) • Christina Connor (LIB) • Carol Bowman (SSHS) • Jackie Skrzynski (CA) • Alex Olbrecht (ASB) • Larry D’Antonio (TAS) • Paula Straile-Costa (DAC) • Seth Cluett (GECCo) • Eric Daffron (Vice-Provost) • Thierry Rakotobe-Joel (ARC) • Bryan Potts (Student rep) • Anthony Darakjy • (Second student rep, spring 2015)

13. Next Steps • March/APRIL 2015: ARC reviews the curriculum • April/May 2015: ARC presents the curriculum to the faculty for a vote at the Faculty Assembly meeting

14. Comments? Questions? • Contact your rep! • Contact the committee chair, Ed Shannon (eshannon@ramapo.edu) • Email the Task Force: gened2@ramapo.edu We appreciate your feedback!