2008 Woodie Awards
Departments offer new course proposals for upcoming catalog
Emily Schettler/Staff Writer
Issue date: 4/17/08 Section: News
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Every two years the course catalog is updated with revised majors and new courses. While classes can be added or dropped by a program at any time, years with new catalogs tend to bring the most proposals.
"Every department every year considers course changes," John Bolen, registrar and associate dean, said. "Every time we have a catalog year all departments take that as an opportunity to begin looking at their curriculum and seeing if there is any way of improving it."
Bolen said there are several reasons departments may choose to change their curriculum. First could be a change in the make-up of the faculty.
"The nature of the faculty in that department may change," Bolen said. "We always want to make sure that we are offering courses that meet the expertise of the faculty."
Changes in the field can have an impact on what classes a department offers, as can routine program reviews. Every five to seven years, each department undergoes an extensive review of their curriculum including what courses are being offered and how.
"In that review they have to literally go through their entire curriculum and look at the overall field and look at other colleges of our size and like and compare ourselves with what others are doing to make sure we're providing the best possible for our students," Bolen said.
During each review, the department brings in an evaluator from another school to oversee how things run. The Communications Department underwent one such review this year. The department is working towards making some changes as a result of this review, creating a multimedia-based curriculum.
According to Brian Steffen, professor of communication studies, faculty in the department have been working on the curriculum overhaul for some time.
"The whole process of this move towards converged or multi-media curriculum probably has been in the discussion phases among us for four to five years," Steffen said. "What really accelerated things is when the administration of the college really got on board."
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