 Next year's freshman class will have to purchase a new series of books now that the faculty has approved changes to Fordham's core curriculum. The proposed changes passed by a vote of 221 to 23.
| |
In a landslide victory last Friday, faculty in the arts and sciences disciplines approved a number of amendments to Fordham's core curriculum that they say will bring the University closer to its Catholic heritage and plans for the future.
"Part of the impetus of the new core was to see if we could ground it more completely in our Jesuit tradition," Brennan O'Donnell, dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill and a member of the Core Curriculum Development Committee (CCDC), said. "We wanted to make it more traditional in the best sense of that word, and at the same time more responsive to contemporary concerns, issues and challenges."
The vote, which occurred throughout the month of March and experienced some initial difficulties with balloting, represents the culmination of over a year's worth of dialogue between the faculty, administration and student body. Out of 328 eligible faculty members, 254 cast ballots and 74 did not. A total of 221 faculty members voted yes on the proposal, 23 voted no, and 10 abstained.
"This is a very sound endorsement of the plan," Dr. Richard Gyug, co-chair of the Core Curriculum Development Committee, said.
The committee was responsible for writing and presenting the proposal to the faculty at large. It consisted of 12 faculty members and administrators who were nominated to represent the different academic departments in drafting the proposal.
The new core, which is scheduled to be applied beginning in the fall of 2009 and then phased in over the next few years with the class of 2012, will feature several changes to the existing classes required of all undergraduate students in Fordham College and the College of Business Administration.
The size of the core is essentially unchanged, standing at 17-21 courses depending on how freshmen perform on placement tests upon being accepted to Fordham.
2008 Woodie Awards
Be the first to comment on this story