Faculty reviewed the final proposal for Pacific University’s new core curriculum and it received a 90 percent approval. The proposal was voted on and approved on December 16 and will take into effect in
the fall 2018 semester.
Head of the core curriculum task force Michael Geraci said there were minimal changes made by the faculty after the final proposal was submitted. The only change was moving the international diverse
perspectives from the applications category, to foundations.
“The faculty felt that diversity and international perspectives was being pushed to the bottom and they didn’t want that,” Geraci said. “They felt that understanding other people and perspectives should be a foundation in our education.”
Another minor change to the new core is that there will not be any overlapping the classes among the different educational categories, which was something the task force was hoping for, but could not get worked out with the registers office.
“There won’t be any double dipping because they were unable to make it happen because it would’ve
complicated graduation requirements,” Geraci said. “Students will have to do all six and take one course for each section.”
Now that the new core is set to take into effect next fall, Geraci and the rest of the task force are currently sorting through the 1,281 classes offered at Pacific and deciding which courses meet the requirements for each section. The task force will be finished with this process before advising begins so students are able to develop a plan if they decide to switch to the new core.
According to Geraci, students on the current core can continue working toward meeting the requirements, but he suggests that freshmen and sophomores should switch to the new core, however, it
depends on how much of the current core requirements you have met
“If a current student at Pacific has their focal studies done or nearly done, than they should stay on the current core next year, because there’s no sense in switching to the new core and suddenly realizing you need more classes,” Geraci said.
If you have any questions about the new core and its requirements, you can contact or visit the advising center on campus.
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