The Bona Venture

Issue date: 3/19/10 Section: News

COURSE(S)	PROBLEM IDENTIFIED BY CCEC
Clare 103 and Clare 105	Do not function as originally proposed to Clare College
Clare 106	Too specific, creating staffing problems
Clare 108	Has lost its original intent and lacks sufficient coherence
Clare 109	Lacks either focus or coordination
Clare 107	Not being coordinated effectively

After a semester and a half, the Clare College Evaluation Committee (CCEC) has completed its assessment, offering numerous recommendations for changes to the Clare College curriculum.

The CCEC submitted its report to the Faculty Senate's Curriculum Committee for review March 9. A general faculty meeting to discuss the CCEC's proposal is scheduled for March 24 at 4 p.m. in Murphy Auditorium, according to Richard Reilly, professor of philosophy and Faculty Senate chair. The report may return to the Senate for its April meeting, he wrote in an e-mail.

"I certainly hope they're impressed with (the proposal)," said Mike Kaplan, sophomore Student Government Association senator and CCEC member. "If not, it'll come back to us, and we will rework it."

The committee began assessing the Clare College curriculum in fall 2009, meeting weekly and communicating through e-mail, Kaplan said.

The original Clare College curriculum strived to help students deal with the world outside themselves (the first tier), inside themselves (the second tier) and "above" themselves, like God (the third tier), according to the CCEC's report.

The CCEC's plan still contrains the three tiers but also incorporates a few more options for students based on individual interests. Under the new proposal, students would take Clare 101 (Intellectual Journey) and either Clare 102 (Inquiry to the Natural World) or Art, Literature and Nature in the first tier. Students who take the latter course must take a lab science from an approved list, according to the report. The committee created this course addition for sciences majors who wouldn't need to take Clare 102 but might need another course in the arts, Kaplan said.

In the second tier, students would be introduced to the experience "inside" themselves through Clare 104: The Good Life, according to the report. In the third tier, students would take Clare 107. They would finish the curriculum as they do now: with Clare 401, as seniors, according to the report. Also, in the report, the committee mentioned it would like students to begin volunteer work earlier but was unsure of how this could be done.

Students would have approximately 15 or 16 more core credits to complete, including Clare 110 and 111: (Composition and Critical Thinking I and II), according to the report. In addition, the committee recommends students take liberal arts and sciences electives: one in humanities, one in natural sciences, one in social sciences and an additional course from one of those three areas, according to the report.

"(The additional Clare courses) would not be branded courses, but we would ask that certain (course professors) be aware of some of the requirements that we have in Clare College," said David DiMattio, dean of Clare College.

The committee also offered a few more recommendations in the report, like having all Clare courses, including Clare 110 and 111, undergo an individual review. The CCEC also suggested developing a Clare College Curriculum Council to investigate syllabi and course requirements and to help provide DiMattio with insightful information, according to the report.

It's unclear exactly what will happen and how quickly changes to the core curriculum might take place, but DiMattio said he hopes at least a large portion of the proposed changes could occur next year. However, these changes, when implemented, would not affect current students, who would finish their core curriculum courses based on the course catalog in place when they entered the university.

While the committee is currently finished with its work, DiMattio said, change and assessment are important, and he hopes faculty members and students will respond to the CCEC's proposal.

"Change is necessary in anything that we do, especially in academics," DiMattio said. "We are being responsible."

e-mail: harperra@sbu.edu

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