The College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is preparing to update its General Education curriculum — the first major overhaul since the Making Connections Curriculum was put into place in 2006 — and feedback is requested from the Carolina community and the general public.
Dean Kevin Guskiewicz has formed a Curriculum Revision Working Group chaired by Andrew Perrin, professor of sociology and special assistant to the dean, to begin the updating process. The new curriculum is expected to debut in 2019.
“I believe our job is to teach our students to think, communicate, collaborate and create,” said Guskiewicz. “Just as Carolina has been in the forefront of instructional innovation, I am confident that we will be leaders in reimagining a foundational, broad and deep liberal arts education at a leading global public research university as we prepare students for the challenges of 21st-century lives and careers.”
The Carolina community and the general public are invited to attend either of two town hall meetings to learn about the process and provide input. The first is Wednesday, Nov. 9, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at 101 Greenlaw Hall, and the second will take place Friday, Nov. 18, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Hitchcock Multipurpose Center in the Sonja Haynes Stone Center. Attendees are asked to register in advance if they would like to participate. Click here if you plan to attend the Nov. 9 town hall or here to register for the Nov. 18 town hall.
Anyone can also provide feedback about the new curriculum by emailing curriculum2019@unc.edu. Updates about the process will be posted at the website curriculum2019.web.unc.edu.
“Now is the time to be visionary,” said Perrin. “We want the new curriculum to present the very best of Carolina to undergraduate students. These town halls will focus on big-picture principles and goals. We will be expanding our working group when we move from the planning stages to start the actual process of redesigning the curriculum, which will take place over the 2017 calendar year. If all goes as planned, the curriculum will be ready for the first-year class entering in fall 2019.”
All undergraduates entering Carolina spend their first two years in the College of Arts and Sciences as they complete their General Education requirements. Some will go on to declare majors in other UNC schools, but the vast majority — 78 percent — will graduate with a degree from the College and one of its 40-plus majors.
