The Arch Program:
Notes and Clarifications
General Education Task Force II
Faculty Assembly Presentation
April 8, 2015
Proposed Curriculum Map
OUTCOMES
Critically interpret the products of culture and creative
expression.
Critically interpret history and society.
Apply methods of scientific inquiry effectively.
Apply mathematical concepts effectively.
Demonstrate logic and reasoning skills.
Write effectively in scholarly and creative contexts.
Speak effectively in scholarly and creative contexts
Develop the skills necessary to locate, evaluate, and
employ information.
Use traditional and emerging technologies
appropriately and competently.
Apply disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge and
skills to address complex problems.
Practice reflective inter/intra-personal skills.
Demonstrate curiosity and initiative to independently
pursue knowledge, skills, and experience.
Engage cooperatively and compassionately with
diverse communities locally, nationally and globally.
Produce or explore work in the creative arts.
Analyze ethical implications of the global distribution
of power and resources.
Question assumptions about individual and group
identity.
Demonstrate skill in a language other than English,
while also gaining an understanding of other cultures.
FYS
CRWT
102
RIAH
History
X
Lang
SSI
Math
Mid- Exper Cluster
Science Career
Sen.
Pres.
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Conceptual Framework
Ramapo, New Jersey’s Public Liberal Arts College, invites you to reimagine the world you’ve known and to
prepare for the rest of your life. Here, you will be challenged by a variety of educational experiences: our
school cores, minors, concentrations, study abroad, and more. You’ll pursue a major, one suited to your
particular interests; you will also complete our GE Curriculum. Together, these programs ask you to become a
citizen of our college community and to prepare for citizenship in new communities, wherever your passions
take you.
Drawing on the rich traditions of the liberal arts, Ramapo’s general education program prepares you for the
specific challenges of your major and encourages you to see the connections—intellectual, social, economic,
cultural, aesthetic, and empirical—we all share in our increasingly linked, global world. Today, news, ideas, and
wealth circle the globe at the tap of a screen. The products in our homes, the books on our shelves and screens,
the knowledge in our minds increasingly link us to hundreds of thousands of others. Seeing those connections
means you can make a difference by grappling with problems of inequality and injustice. Being connected
means seeing both the apparent benefits of globalization and technology and their impact on local economies
and environments.
A liberal arts education asks you to cherish your curiosity, embrace today’s challenges, and transform yourself
and your world by pursuing a broad education, one that looks inward as well as outward. Ramapo students
honor their homes and understand that no individual and no community stands alone—or stands still. The
student who navigates the channels between Ramapo’s many educational experiences sees the web of ideas,
histories, financial links, political bonds, natural systems, and cultural exchange that forms the modern world
and links that world to civilizations past.
You will need to respond quickly to political, technological, and cultural change, be ready to shift careers, or
reimagine yourself in an evolving field. More than that, Ramapo students will be ready to create those new
fields. A lifetime of learning is the passport to a productive, fulfilling future. The student who takes that path is
ready to meet and shape tomorrow.
An Integrated Program
• The conceptual framework and goals describe
a general education program “Draw[s] on
[the] liberal arts [and] encourages [students]
to see the connections—intellectual, social,
economic, cultural, aesthetic, and empirical—
we all share in our increasingly linked,
increasingly global world [ . . . ].” This
integrated program (Keystone, cluster,
experiences, etc.) asks students to make those
connections.
Goals and Outcomes
Explore the world: Investigate human cultures and the natural world.
•Critically interpret the products of culture and creative expression.
•Critically interpret history and society.
•Apply methods of scientific inquiry effectively.
•Apply mathematical concepts effectively.
Engage the world: think critically and convey new understanding.
•Demonstrate logic and reasoning skills.
•Write effectively in scholarly and creative contexts.
•Speak effectively in scholarly and creative contexts.
•Develop the skills necessary to locate, evaluate, and employ information effectively.
•Use traditional and emerging technologies appropriately and competently.
Goals and Outcomes, con’t
Experience your world: integrate and apply your new learning.
• Apply disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge and skills to address complex
problems.
• Practice reflective inter/intra-personal skills.
• Demonstrate curiosity and initiative to independently pursue knowledge, skills,
and experience.
Expand our world: develop compassion and ethical understanding across cultures
and become an engaged global citizen.
• Engage cooperatively and compassionately with diverse communities locally,
nationally and globally.
• Analyze ethical implications of the global distribution of power and resources.
• Question assumptions about individual and group identity.
• Demonstrate skill in a language other than English, while also gaining an
understanding of other cultures.
Keystone Courses & Clusters
• Structure
– 4 Credits First Year Seminar (Distinct course—revised)
– 4 Credits Critical Reading and Writing (Distinct course—revised)
– 4 Credits Science (category—revised)
– 4 Credits Mathematical Reasoning (category—revised)
– 4 Credits Readings in the Arts and Humanities (Distinct course—
revised)
– 4 Credits in Social Science Inquiry (Distinct course—new)
– 4 Credits Language (category)
– 4 Credits Historical Thought (category—revised)
– 12 Credits Cluster Courses (category, allowing double counting)
Cluster Courses
• With the Cluster requirement, we hope to accomplish:
– Narrower, more coherent, closely supervised distribution
categories.
– Encourage students to take 3 courses with some thematic
coherence (broadly conceived).
– Encourage students to double count part or all of a cluster
into a minor.
– Allow at least one cluster course to double count into the
major or school core.
– Define clusters in keeping with college mission, values,
pillars, and general education’s conceptual framework (i.e.,
international, intercultural, experiential, sustainability /
citizenship).
Exceptions to the Cluster Requirement
• Exceptions: The cluster might not be the right
option for all students. Therefore, we would let
any of the following fulfill the cluster
requirement:
– Complete a second major outside his/her home
school.
– Complete a minor outside his/her school.
– Credit bearing certificates (like Business Essentials)
– A “contract” cluster, where a student (working with
faculty) puts together a cluster not currently offered
(perhaps including experiential—non-course—
learning).
Example of Cluster
Sample Cluster: “Sustainability and Society.”
Students: Choose 3 of the following, one from each category.
[Note: specific courses below were pulled more or less randomly from current GE
offerings.]
Course fulfilling
International goal
• ECON 323 - Comparative
Economic Systems
• ENST 209 - World
Sustainability
• CNTP 308 - The Social
Documentary & Human
Rights Issues
• COMM 214 - Contemporary
British media
Course fulfilling
Intercultural Goal
• COMM 347 - New TV
Criticism
• ENST 312 - Ecological
Anthropology
• AMER 250 - Pursuing
The American Dream
• Intl 317 - Contemporary
Eastern Europe
• THEA 209 - British
Theater
Course fulfilling
Sustainability
/citizenship goal
• EDUC 211 - Student
Literacy Corps
• ENST 207 - Public Policy
• INTD 210 - Theory And
Practices Of Peer
Facilitation
• LAWS 224 - Constitutional
Law
• POLI 206 - Political Theory
A student following the above could double count two or three courses into a minor.
For instance, there are two COMM courses and two ENST courses.
Proposed Curriculum Map
OUTCOMES
Critically interpret the products of culture and creative
expression.
Critically interpret history and society.
Apply methods of scientific inquiry effectively.
Apply mathematical concepts effectively.
Demonstrate logic and reasoning skills.
Write effectively in scholarly and creative contexts.
Speak effectively in scholarly and creative contexts
Develop the skills necessary to locate, evaluate, and
employ information.
Use traditional and emerging technologies
appropriately and competently.
Apply disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge and
skills to address complex problems.
Practice reflective inter/intra-personal skills.
Demonstrate curiosity and initiative to independently
pursue knowledge, skills, and experience.
Engage cooperatively and compassionately with
diverse communities locally, nationally and globally.
Produce or explore work in the creative arts.
Analyze ethical implications of the global distribution
of power and resources.
Question assumptions about individual and group
identity.
Demonstrate skill in a language other than English,
while also gaining an understanding of other cultures.
FYS
CRWT
102
RIAH
History
X
Lang
SSI
Math
MidScience Career Exper Cluster
Sen.
Pres.
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Task Force Members
• Ed Shannon, Chair
•
(SSHGS)
•
• Christina Connor (LIB)
• Carol Bowman (SSHS)
•
• Jackie Skrzynski (CA)
•
• Alex Olbrecht (ASB)
•
• Larry D’Antonio (TAS)
• Paula Straile-Costa (DAC)
Seth Cluett (GECCo)
Eric Daffron (ViceProvost)
Thierry Rakotobe-Joel
(ARC)
Bryan Potts (Student rep)
Anthony Darakjy
– (Second student rep,
spring 2015)
Next Steps
• March/APRIL 2015: ARC reviews the
curriculum
• April/May 2015: ARC presents the curriculum
to the faculty for a vote at the Faculty
Assembly meeting
Comments? Questions?
• Contact your rep!
• Contact the committee chair, Ed Shannon
(eshannon@ramapo.edu)
• Email the Task Force: gened2@ramapo.edu
We appreciate your feedback!