Faculty are currently in the process of making adjustments to the general education requirements at Milligan, with the hope of implementing them in fall 2024. The GER underwent a similar process in 2008, when the humanities curriculum was the main focus.
When you get to Milligan, it may seem like the humanities classes have just always been the way they are: everyone takes four semesters of the four credit-hour classes, and each semester includes three hour-long meetings and one hour-long lecture a week.
However, it has not always been like that. In fact, the humanities and composition requirements used to be combined. They were divided in 2008 as part of an adjustment to the requirements in order to help students, especially freshman, become acclimated to the program.
Here you can read about the current process of adjustment, spearheaded by the GER Phase 3 Committee, and current Academic Dean Rich Aubrey’s perspective on the need for improvement and possible adjustments.
Then, read a 2008 Stampede article that outlines the changes made that year and gives the perspective of Mark Matson, who was the academic dean at the time, and Craig Farmer, who was director of humanities at the time.
Present GER Adjustments:
The GER Phase 3 Committee, which is made up of five faculty members and four administrators, has put forth a proposal for adjustments to general education requirements. Faculty are now in the process of giving feedback for the proposal.
“We’re trying to respond to that feedback by making adjustments to our proposal,” Aubrey said. He said that some adjustments to the proposal will be small while others will be more comprehensive.
Aubrey said that, similar to the concern in 2008 about freshman “shell shock” from the humanities curriculum, one reason for making adjustments is to improve the first-year experience of students.
“We want to adjust and adapt in a way that benefits our students,” Aubrey said.
There may be changes to MLGN 100: Introduction to College and Service. Aubrey said these would be designed to help students adjust to college life, connect with their peers, and prepare for the next four years at Milligan.
Other areas of consideration include wellness and practical application to the real world.
Aubrey said that it is important to consider what comes after Milligan “as students enter the marketplace and begin affecting culture.”
“We have built into our rhythms continued self-assessment and then looking at how we can make improvements,” Aubrey said.
The process for revision to GER began in 2018, when President Greer implemented a comprehensive general education review, involving three phases, each one with a different committee. The process has taken longer than expected for several reasons.
Aubrey said that President Greer has wanted faculty to be involved in making the changes. Since 2018, Aubrey noted, Milligan has hired 38 new faculty.
Getting feedback from both newly hired and longtime faculty has extended the process longer than expected.
The process was also complicated by the added difficulties of the pandemic and the change that came with becoming a university rather than a college.
“It is significantly more complicated this time around because of Milligan’s growth,” Aubrey said. “With all these moving parts, it’s not something you can or should do every year.”
He said that at the time of the previous revisions Milligan had five areas of learning. Now Milligan has 14 areas which adds complications to the process.
“Our faculty pursue excellence, and I think this is part of that larger process,” Aubrey said. “There have been members of faculty who have invested a lot of time and effort into this process.”
Past GER Adjustments:
March 20, 2008
Humanities program prepares for revision
By Kristen Oxley
The humanities program may undergo changes after this semester. Pending approval by the entire Milligan faculty today, a new format for the program will go into effect this fall.
The humanities council unanimously approved the proposal outlining the program’s new format. On Monday they presented the proposal to the academic committee, who again passed it unanimously.
The humanities faculty first considered reworking the program after Academic Dean Mark Matson proposed adjustments to the freshman and sophomore general education requirements last fall.
“The dean wanted us to figure out ways to lessen the shell shock that first-semester freshmen are experiencing,” said Director of Humanities Craig Farmer.
The humanities council then began looking at ways to lessen the demand of humanities without losing the “academic integrity of our program,” said Farmer.
Matson said he thought something should be done to ease students into college before confronting them with such a challenging academic course, which, according to Matson, is somewhat related to Milligan’s declining retention rate over the past few years.
“Part of it is my desire to make sure we are providing the proper framework for students to learn,” said Matson. “I want students to really grow adequately in their knowledge of humanities and their appreciation of it.”
Under the proposed format, one major difference in the revised humanities program would be the separation of the classroom discussion and the writing courses.
“Writing and humanities are getting a divorce,” Farmer said, “but we still like each other.”
Students would still be required to complete two three-hour writing courses in their first two years, but they would not be in association with the humanities program. The courses would be called Comp 111: Winning Arguments and Comp 211: Inquiring Minds: Foundational Analytical Composition.
Farmer said that struggling students come into the humanities program and get knocked down by the weight of their humanities coursework.
“(The revision) allows the writing program to connect with other areas of the campus,” Farmer said.
The scheduling of the writing classes would also be changed under the plan. Instead of requiring a writing course in the first semester, students would take Comp 111 the second semester of freshman year.
The sophomore writing course would also be changed to the first semester instead of the second, bringing these intensive writing classes closer together.
To accompany the change in schedule, humanities lectures would also be moved. Currently, lectures alternate with the writing courses and constitute a three-credit-hour course. Humanities lectures would take place every semester for one credit hour.
With this new proposal, the humanities curriculum would be four credits per semester with a three hour classroom discussion and one hour worth of lecture each week. This would also make it 16 credits total instead of 18.
“For a number of students, the first semester is challenging,” Matson said. “I think by leaving writing separated and by having lecture introduced in the first semester, it helps students learn about humanities in a more manageable and more interesting way.”
In the proposal, the new spread of the lectures would enable the humanities faculty to work together on material every semester instead of only during half the semesters, which would help unify the program.
“What we have now is symmetry across the four semesters,” Farmer said. “This way we start them right away with the lectures, but just an hour. It recaptures the team spirit for 101 and 202.”
The freshman lecture time will occupy the Tuesday spot at 9:30 a.m., while sophomores will attend lecture during this hour on Thursday.
A minor part of these changes is that the humanities classes will also have course titles corresponding to the material covered in that section. For example, Humanities 101S would become Ancient and Medieval Cultures.
The qualifications for the humanities tour are also being tweaked. Instead of allowing students to be exempt from the three hours of humanities section second semester sophomore year, students would only be exempt from three out of the four credits humanities would now occupy. They would still be required to attend a certain number of lectures to earn one credit hour.
“With the new humanities program, it takes some of the pressure off your first semester at Milligan,” Farmer said. “I think it’s going to improve the quality of our program. I’m very excited about it.”
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