Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — This fall, incoming students at Westminster College will be able to choose from "vampire literature," national parks geology and almost 100 other new general education courses thanks to a face-lift of the college's core curriculum.
College and student leaders hope the updated curriculum base will give students more flexibility in pursuing multiple interests and help them understand how traditional subjects pertain to their career goals.
"Students can really make those connections between their passions in a way that makes going to a class that's required a little bit less of a chore," said sophomore Elaine Sheehan, an ambassador for prospective students at Westminster. "I think that's what we're trying to do is make sure that English majors don't fall asleep in the statistics class, that they see how relevant those things are in their everyday lives."
General education consists of course subjects that are required of all incoming students to a college or university, such as English, science and math. Students usually complete those courses prior to taking other subjects specific to a major.
Westminster has traditionally focused on giving students a liberal arts-based general education that emphasizes frequent interaction between students and faculty. Since development for the new curriculum began in 2013, the goal for administrators, faculty and student representatives is to use that interaction to portray how subjects are interrelated.
"They really want to know that their learning is going to be relevant, applicable and will help them for the future," said Darlene Dilley, director of admissions. "We want to see the connections between topics, between what they're learning, because that's what happens in the real world. You wouldn't apply English skills or math skills in isolation. They happen in conjunction with each other."
The new core curriculum, called WCore, includes three primary focus areas: social and behavioral sciences, fine arts and humanities, and science and mathematics. Many of the new courses will replace existing classes.
The program will primarily apply to students who are starting college at Westminster this fall. It won't affect the cost to students, add to their course loads or result in current students having to retake certain courses.
In fact, the minimum number of credits required to complete the core curriculum could be as low as 30 credits for some students, compared with 39 to 49 credits under the current model.
But since students are still required to earn 124 credits to graduate, college leaders hope students will use the added flexibility to choose more electives, explore new topics and pursue multiple degrees.
"For students coming out of high school where they've had really set courses and they haven't had the ability to explore a lot of the majors that we have on campus, this is going to give them the ability to do that in their first couple semesters," said Westminster Provost Lisa Gentile.
Current students will complete a degree audit that shows how the classes they've already taken fit into the new program. Those who have incomplete general education requirements will be able to choose from WCore classes to meet those requirements.
First- and second-year courses will be waived for all transfer students with an associate degree. Other transfers will be evaluated on a course-by-course basis, according to Gentile.
WCore also encourages more collaboration between faculty in order to provide interdisciplinary instruction, Gentile said.
"Faculty have the options of putting together courses in any of these areas that students might want to take," she said. "It takes some time to kind of feel that working relationship out. But from the students' perspective, one of the great things about those courses is they can see lifelong learning modeled."
Sheehan said many students are already drawn to the program's versatility and the time it gives them to seek out interests that wouldn't otherwise be covered in general education coursework.
"I have so many friends that didn't even know if they could graduate in four years, and with the WCore change, they're now able to double major and do those things that they didn't think they'd have time for," she said. "That's kind of a common trend in college. We feel like sometimes we don't have enough time to do what we really want to do. I think the WCore has created that time for us as students."
