CLA Core Curriculum Faculty Survey Core Curriculum Faculty Survey. Q1 ... Do the current course categories in the CLA Core Curriculum align with your vision ... it's a substitution

CLA Core Curriculum Faculty Survey

Q1 - Are you satisfied with the current CLA Core Curriculum?

# Answer % Count

1 Extremely satisfied 3.01% 4

2 Moderately satisfied 24.81% 33

3 Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied 30.08% 40

4 Moderately dissatisfied 27.07% 36

5 Extremely dissatisfied 15.04% 20

Total 100% 133

Q3 - Are you familiar with the requirements of the CLA Core Curriculum?

# Answer % Count

1 Extremely familiar 21.48% 29

2 Moderately familiar 54.07% 73

3 Neither familiar nor unfamiliar 11.85% 16

4 Moderately unfamiliar 10.37% 14

5 Extremely unfamiliar 2.22% 3

Total 100% 135

Q5 - Are you familiar with the requirements of the University Core Curriculum?

# Answer % Count

1 Extremely familiar 12.69% 17

2 Moderately familiar 57.46% 77

3 Neither familiar nor unfamiliar 14.93% 20

4 Moderately unfamiliar 10.45% 14

5 Extremely unfamiliar 4.48% 6

Total 100% 134

Q6 - How confident are you the courses listed on the CLA Core Curriculum fulfill the requirements of the categories under which they fall?

# Answer % Count

1 Strongly agree 10.53% 14

2 Somewhat agree 41.35% 55

3 Neither agree nor disagree 21.80% 29

4 Somewhat disagree 21.80% 29

5 Strongly disagree 4.51% 6

Total 100% 133

Q9 - Is there a transparent process for determining which courses are eligible for the CLA Core?

# Answer % Count

1 Yes 29.27% 36

2 No 70.73% 87

Total 100% 123

Q7 - Do you teach courses that are part of the CLA Core Curriculum?

# Answer % Count

1 Yes 67.16% 90

2 No 32.84% 44

Total 100% 134

Q8 - Select all categories of the CLA Core Curriculum in which you have courses

# Answer % Count

1 Written and Oral Communication 10.94% 21

2 Other Languages 6.25% 12

3 Mathematics and Statistics 2.08% 4

4 Western Heritage 13.54% 26

5 United States Tradition 4.69% 9

6 Other Cultures 10.94% 21

7 Aesthetic Awareness 8.33% 16

8 Racial and Ethnic Diversity 8.33% 16

9 Gender Issues 11.46% 22

10 Social Ethics 5.21% 10

11 Individual and Society 7.29% 14

12 Global Perspective 10.94% 21

13 Natural Sciences 0.00% 0

Total 100% 192

Q10 - In the past, have you proposed courses for inclusion on the CLA Core Curriculum?

# Answer % Count

1 Yes 39.23% 51

2 No 60.77% 79

Total 100% 130

Q11 - Why did you want your course to be included on the CLA Core Curriculum?

# Answer % Count

1 To make a contribution to the core. 25.81% 24

2 To increase class enrollment. 17.20% 16

3 To allow students to graduate faster by fulfilling major and core requirement at once. 2.15% 2

4 Other 12.90% 12

5 All of the above. 41.94% 39

Total 100% 93

Q12 - Please explain why you wanted your course to be included on the CLA Core Curriculum.

I already is included, and it has always been included. It's not a matter of me wanting or not wanting it to be included.

because it's writing course AND a gateway course to the major/minor

Fundamental questions covered

I have not proposed any courses to be included

Because the knowledge it conveyed is important for making decent human beings

I didn't

didn't -- you question doesn't allow for a no.

The course was already part of the core curriculum before I arrived at Purdue.

I didn't, but the question would let me advance unless I clicked on something. So, I chose "other."

Q13 - How strongly do you believe in the necessity of a Core Curriculum for CLA students?

# Answer % Count


2 Agree 26.19% 33




6 Disagree 3.17% 4


Total 100% 126

Q14 - Please select all that apply. Do you think the CLA Core Curriculum should:

# Answer % Count

1 remain independent from the University Core Curriculum 22.54% 32

2 model itself on the University Core Curriculum 6.34% 9

3 integrate/work with the University Core Curriculum 71.13% 101

Total 100% 142

Q15 - Please rank the following in order. Do you think that the role of the Core Curriculum is to:

# Question 1 2 3 4 Total

1 provide students' with a common experience (taking a few sets of courses together) 13.79% 16 9.48% 11 23.28% 27 53.45% 62 116

2 provide students with a set of skills, methods, and knowledges 25.86% 30 34.48% 40 25.00% 29 14.66% 17 116

3 expose students to important issues and concepts 47.41% 55 26.72% 31 18.97% 22 6.90% 8 116

4 expose students to the workings and principles of disciplines besides their major 12.93% 15 29.31% 34 32.76% 38 25.00% 29 116

Q16 - Do you think that the CLA Core Curriculum should focus on:

# Answer % Count

1 learning outcomes 39.20% 49

2 content 60.80% 76

Total 100% 125

Q17 - Do you think that the CLA Core Curriculum should:

# Answer % Count

1 only have a limited number of course offerings to reinforce students common experience 25.62% 31

2 have a large number of course offerings to increase diversity and flexibility 74.38% 90

Total 100% 121

Q18 - Do you see the distinction between courses that are or are not on the CLA Core Curriculum as:

# Answer % Count

1 welcome: it establishes a clear distinction between introductory and advanced courses 38.39% 43

2 problematic: it creates an enrollment imbalance among CLA courses 61.61% 69

Total 100% 112

Q19 - Do you feel the CLA Core Curriculum makes it too difficult to attract dual degree majors at Purdue?

# Answer % Count






Total 100% 124

Q20 - The way the CLA Core Curriculum is currently structured, it is possible for a student to fulfill most or all of their CLA Core requirements within their own major/minor. Do you feel this is a problem to be addressed in any future revisions to the core in terms of providing a broad liberal arts education?

# Answer % Count






Total 100% 124

Q21 - Thinking about the number of course options in the CLA Core Curriculum, do you feel the number of courses in the Core is currently:

# Answer % Count

1 too large, we should find a way to reduce the number of courses in each category 35.34% 41

2 about the right number of courses 40.52% 47

3 too small, we should create additional courses 24.14% 28

Total 100% 116

Q22 - I feel each department should be limited to a certain number of courses in the core.

# Answer % Count






Total 100% 40

Q23 - Do the current course categories in the CLA Core Curriculum align with your vision of a well-rounded liberal arts education at Purdue?

# Answer % Count

1 No, the categories need to be updated 55.74% 68

2 Yes, the categories are fine and should not be changed 19.67% 24

3 No Opinion 24.59% 30

Total 100% 122

Q24 - Do you feel there is adequate oversight regarding which courses are added to the core in particular categories?

# Answer % Count

1 No, there should be more oversight 35.92% 37

2 The level of oversight should not change 44.66% 46

3 No, there should be less oversight 19.42% 20

Total 100% 103

Q25 - Do you feel the CLA Core Curriculum includes categories that appeal to the interdisciplinary concerns at Purdue (e.g., "Cultural Diversity for Engineers", "History of Technology", etc.)?

# Answer % Count

1 Yes 46.96% 54

2 No 53.04% 61

Total 100% 115

Q24 - What would be the advantages and disadvantages of waiving the CLA core requirements for students whose second or third major is in CLA, provided they fulfill the college core of their first major.

The advantage would be to give them more flexibility for course electives. The disadvantage would be to oblige them to duplicate requirements already fulfilled.

MIGHT attract more double majors.

Their knowledge on Humanities would be expanded

It would make it easier for those students to double major and have the possibility of finishing in a timely manner. Encouraging double majors rather than CLA minors would allow interdisciplinary research to develop more fully and hopefully integrate social and cultural context into science and technology fields of inquiry. It would also allow CLA students to develop skills and knowledge that are in desperate need of social and cultural analysis. I would like to have a conversation though about the way that double and triple majors are counted. In an environment driven by coupling enrollments with resources, it would seem important to think about how the university accounts for majors. I think it will be a good advantage if they're waived as long as they already have taken CLA core requirements, since it'll give them opportunity to take other CLA courses to fulfill their 2nd or 3rd major within CLA.

would allow for content-motivated course selections...but might leave some politically-correct gaps.

advantage: make double and triple majors possible disadvantage: providea weaker humanistic education

It makes CLA majors more appealing because they're simpler to complete, but it dilutes the value of a Liberal Arts education, which should be broad. We would see more students who would want to pursue a double major, I believe, which would be good for the CLA overall. Right now, it is extremely difficult for students outside of the CLA to pursue a double major.

It would cut down on the breadth of the liberal education

Advantages: suddenly, the college can claim more majors. Does that = more $$? (If so, is that an ethical reason to waive the core requirements?) Disadvantages: it depends on what CLA core requirements you are waiving. Science for a science major? Those students are taking higher level science courses, so that's not a waiver; it's a substitution. Are you waiving the Racial/Ethnic Diversity requirement? Or the Social Ethics or Global Perspective requirements? How would that be a well-rounded education? And how would that student be a CLA major without the same core classes as other CLA majors? As for the question that follows THIS question, it depends on what categories you want to add. I think all of our students (not just CLA students) need a better understanding of how to communicate well and how to research and think critically.

better for the students' education

The CLA course represent the essence of intellectual/disciplinary diversity in the liberal arts degree--eliminating that for students who are outside of CLA would mean they would earn a liberal arts "dual" degree without the core element. On the other hand, eliminating that requirement would allow more students to complete a major in CLA increasing our enrollments and ensuring the relevance of our work to the university. Further, one could argue that just adding a major from CLA would add a strong liberal arts flavor to almost any degree outside of CLA, thus fulfilling that goal even without the core requirements. I am personally in favor of allowing students to complete the major in CLA without having to do the entire degree. Advantages: Students coming into CLA for a second major will likely have an array of courses completed which fulfill our requirements, making the second major more attractive to them. CLA enrollment would definitely benefit.

Disadvantages: I can't really think of any, given that they have fulfilled the core from their first major.

Higher enrollment

More double majors. At some point we have to be reasonable and trust students and our colleagues in other colleges.

Would they really be a major then?

The CLA core should be adjusted (or waived) to allow double majors. In a recent meeting of students participating in a CLA study abroad, only about 1 in 30 were CLA majors. The rest were minors. When asked specifically why they are not majors, the number one reason cited was the need to fulfill the CLA core. In short, the CLA core is preventing students from double majoring. Question not worded well - do you mean if their first major is in CLA or if their first major is not in CLA? They should have to fulfil the CLA core once if they have any one major in CLA.

core requirements are often early courses, so this seems unwise.

Less enrollment for CLA. A sense that they are not that rigorous or necessary. They woudl not fulfill the requirements of the major. This si a terrible idea.

it would remove red tape that may preventing students from pursuing a major in CLA. They should be waved.

None

Advantages: more potential majors become actual majors. Disadvantages: they are still earning a BA and should be held to the same standards as any other BA holder (re: distinctions between BS and BA, and BA and other degrees). Advantage: they could actually major. Right now, many of them have to take an overload. In general, I don't think this is good for CLA, since the majority of students at Purdue are in other colleges, and they are not going to single-major in CLA. So, either we get them as dual majors, or we don't get those people at all.

More enrollments and students would probably be exposed to major concepts in other cores.

It's a good idea, but would be better with a more liberal arts university core

This sounds like a logistical nightmare. I leave it to more patient people than I to sort out

Disadvantage: those courses in the core are the only ones students are likely to take

what is the purpose of the core -- what should the purpose be? Many questions are difficult to answer not knowing or understanding the current, intended purpose and the purpose of whatever revision is underway. What does the admin of the college and the university actually want to do ?

My key concern is that students will not be exposed to diversity and inclusion courses if they do not take the core.

From the point of view of the university administration we need more majors, it seems, more than we need more bodies in individual classes (though both would be nice!), so waiving the core requirements in those cases is reasonable

None. I don't think we should do this.

They could take more of our classes and still get their degree. It is a good idea. CLA first majors do our core but second majors if in HHS or Science etc shouldn't have to. I can imagine a HHS major also majoring soc or computer science and soc. should be able to do that. Advantage for transfer students to not have to start over. Students that change majors should be able to complete the original core they start. There is no need for a CLA core. If you want a brand distributional requirement, fine, but with the 120 credit-hour cap, adding more hoops to jump through is self-defeating. Many advantages of consolidation and streamlining, something that every institution grapples with. We stress "collaboration" yet hold tightly onto things we do not want to give up because of many factors, i.e. tradition,

consistency, control, resistance to change, etc.

It would be easier for them to pick up that double or triple major, and thus provide both an incentive and pathway to do it. *Obviously* Disadvantage -- they would have a "history degree" or "English degree" without the associated liberal arts education implied by this. Advantage -- it would help to attract majors.

Attracting more double majors outweighs any disadvantages I can think of.

I think it would help students

Advantages are that we could attract more second/third majors to make our student educational experiences more well-rounded, thus increase CLA majors, and to make on-time graduation possible, of course, provided that their first major includes similar liberal arts electives/requirements. I think we have the opportunity to show students from other colleges the value of a liberal arts approach to key questions and issues in the world. If we waived our core requirements for double majors from outside the college, we'd do them a disservice in my view. This being said, I think the best strategy to recruit double-majors is to reduce the number of requirements in the CLA core. We developed the core before there was a University Core. Now that we have a university core, I think the CLA core should stress categories that are located in CLA (no mathematics, for instance, or lab-science). +: more choices for those proactive students -: less transparency perhaps for their advisers and administrators (not really a problem) The big advantage would be: it makes it feasible for interested students to have a CLA major, which is a real benefit to them and to CLA. The fact that their "first major" college core may be light is a separate problem, and isn't a reason to discourage them from a CLA major! If we found specific gaps for these students, we could address them with revised major requirements. Disadvantage: loss of students Advantage none: But I think the CLA core and CLA courses should be modified to appear to and attract non CLA students. Whether that means include more courses, modify the current ones, create courses with a STEM content linking thread, I don't know. We need to become relevant to the other more popular Purdue disciplines. The CLA core should be half its current size or obliterated completely. If we reduced or eliminated it, students throughout the university could easily transfer into CLA and finish a degree program in 4 years. The UCC is all students need.

I think it's good to be more flexible w/ double majors so they can graduate on time.

Advantage: easier to major in 2+ colleges. Disadvantage: might reduce breadth of education, depending on the other college's core requirements.

I think it would be an advantage as long as we preserve the BA for students who complete the core.

A reduced core for dual-degree majors would have the benefit of drawing more students into CLA courses from other colleges and giving them with a more well-rounded education. Maybe the Cornerstone system could be used for this, however that shapes up.

Disadvantage - may not be getting a true liberal arts education if the core in the first major is not comprehensive

The obvious advantage is that it is less of a deterrent to becoming a major.

I think we would be much better served by streamlining the core rather than providing potential majors with a way to waive out of it. The disadvantage is that it puts into the hands of a few the consensus of the many, providing significant opportunities to undermine the core in substantial ways. Makes our major second class. Narrows the scope and understanding of their CLA major discipline in terms of content and skill set. Minors are always possible. Or maybe we need a different designation altogether for such students ("sub-major"? "secondary major"? "supporting major"?). A "major" connotes full knowledge of the field of study in its context.

Devaluing of CLA majors. The students' worth is measured by how many majors they have BEYOND CLA, and then rewarded accordingly. This can only be detrimental to the students who are invested in the Liberal Arts as opposed to those students who see the Liberal Arts as the icing on the cake. Bad idea to limit the common intellectual experience. In the reasonable attempt to diversify the intellectual heritage, the classics are trivialized. Disadvantage = not fair/equitable to other CLA students who do all of CLA core. That's a fundamental fairness and academic degree integrity issue. If there is something legitimately comparable in the student's other degree, sub it for the requirement here; otherwise, that's the cost of taking on dual/triple majors. The advantage is immeasurable in the knowledge and experience you gain, but you do have to work harder. You can't have it both ways. Assuming that the CLA core continues to have significant overlap with the University core, waiving CLA core requirements might attract more double or triple majors. This issue depends on how we renew/reform the CLA core for students whose primary major is in CLA. I think we need a more complex/nuanced way of achieving intellectual breadth and depth for students within CLA as well as other colleges at Purdue. If we cannot achieve that, I would support a greatly reduced core (e.g. 1 year language requirement instead of 2 years, and much more overlap with University Core in other categories) for students double-majoring across colleges. I also think CLA should work intensely to to try to get a 1-year language requirement into the University Core.

Easier graduation -- a key Purdue priority.

That sounds ok. It would increase 2nd/3rd majors in CLA.

They are missing the Core requirements within CLA.

Attract students interested in our majors but with limited hours to spend.

Advantages - attract majors (I see the core as a huge deterrent to students taking on a major in CLA.) Disadvantages - from the faculty who I have talked to who support the CLA core, they believe in a well-rounded liberal arts education, so if that is happening through the CLA core then waiving the requirement would limit the student's experience with this type of education. From a student perspective, I would not want to do these requirements if my interest were pursuing a major in only one of the CLA departments. College cores are not needed if there is a decent university core. the problem is the university core leaves too much in the embedded section and departments do not seem to be willing to require their students to step outside the majors. Waiving CLA core requirements would be okay if it helps students get more courses in the liberal arts major they are interested in. It would make a degree in CLA more attractive because it would be less restrIctive. However, I'm not sure how our majors would feel when they found out that the student sitting next to them is receiving a degree without taking the same kinds of required classes. The advantage would be that the CLA core would not be a disincentive to a CLA major. The disadvantage would be that it would create two types of CLA majors with one appearing less authentically liberal arts than the other.

If it increases enrollment why not

The advantage might be that such a plan would encourage students to double-major within CLA. No real disadvantages occur to me.

--

I believe that if the student is majoring in CLA, s/he should be able to estructure her/his own curriculum with at least the same number of credits as CLA core requirements, with the guidance of an advisor. I would limit, though, the number of independent studies.

Why have core courses if you don't see those courses as inherently necessary to the major, whatever the number?

Advantage: increased enrollment for more courses; Disadvantage: decreased enrollment for the current cherry-picked courses that meet CLA Core requirements

It would increase the number of majors and allow students to expand their knowledge in a way that shows to future employers/ grad schools.

Q29 - Would you like to see categories added to the CLA Core Curriculum?

# Answer % Count

1 Yes 44.34% 47

2 No 55.66% 59

Total 100% 106

Q30 - What categories would you like to see added to the CLA Core Curriculum?

What categories would you like to see added to the CLA Core Curriculum?

To reconfigure certain definitions of Wester Civilization. For example, it is surprising not to include Spain in the courses that explain Medieval or Renaissance culture

I feel more discussion is merited before I would suggest categories.

Human-Nature Relationship

medical humanities

Languages

I think the categories need to be updated to reflect topics students can relate to and can see as important in their future careers

Creative and Critical Thinking

More studio

humanities

social science

I would like to see the categories renamed so they don't just sound like "service" courses for the rest of the university

Social justice

Literary Appreciation -- a category specific to the study of literary texts

Politics, Economics, History, Aesthetics, Other cultures (but not offered by the natural homes--i.e. Politics courses not being in Poli Sci. We could help with interdisciplinarity by having someone take a politics course (e.g., on political philosophy) through the Philosophy Dept., or a course on History (e.g., The Literature and History of Colonialism) through the ENGL Dept. This would highlight interdisciplinarity, and many of our courses already move in this direction, since most of our research does.

analytics

AD119 Introduction to Digital Color Imaging

criticl thinking/media literacy

Psychology + sociology, these types of course offerings because they relate to design.

We need some way to distinguish more clearly between "other cultures" and "international" (the usage "global perspectives" is fuzzy on this count); more emphasis on "international" would be welcome

humanities of STEM, such as business cultures, history of technology, etc

I think Diversity and Inclusion should be a newly constituted category that would incorporate other categories. I also would like to see Interdisciplinary approaches to science, medicine, law, and business as a new category so that we can show students how Liberal Arts is a valuable bridge to understanding the larger world.

Changed rather than added: for example the ones mentioned in this survey "Cultural diversity for engineers"

Centers of Global Learning, with courses focusing on other centers of intellectual development over time and space. Eliminate "Western/non-Western Civilization" divisions. Too Orientalist.

communication skills

Writing intensive, reorganize current ones

It is less about adding specific categories; I think the core as a whole needs to be restructured.

I would like to see the CLA core become its own department with a separate curriculum from the silos of department politics which I see as undermining no the goals of the CLA core.

STS--Science/Technology Studies

University Core parallels

Political economy

Dialectics of culture and technologies

critical literacy

Q31 - Would you like to see categories removed from the CLA Core Curriculum?

# Answer % Count

1 Yes 48.54% 50

2 No 51.46% 53

Total 100% 103

Q32 - What categories would you like to see removed from the CLA Core Curriculum

# Answer % Count

1 Written and Oral Communication 3.01% 5

2 Other Languages 3.01% 5

3 Mathematics and Statistics 11.45% 19

4 Western Heritage 10.24% 17

5 United States Tradition 11.45% 19

6 Other Cultures 8.43% 14

7 Aesthetic Awareness 4.82% 8

8 Racial and Ethnic Diversity 4.82% 8

9 Gender Issues 6.02% 10

10 Social Ethics 6.63% 11

11 Individual and Society 12.65% 21

12 Global Perspectives 7.23% 12

13 Natural Sciences 10.24% 17

Total 100% 166

Q33 - Would you like to see any categories retitled?

# Answer % Count

1 Yes 55.56% 55

2 No 44.44% 44

Total 100% 99

Q34#1 - What would you like to change the title to

Q34#1_1_1 - Answer 1

Answer 1

written communication alone

BASIC KNOWLEDGE/SKILL

Literature and Writing

Performative and Mediated Communication

remove - in the UCC

Literacy

Answer 1

Answer 1

2nd Language Learning

just culture and language

world languages

Foreign Languages

Foreign Laguages

This, and several others, are focused on diversity. I would like to see them lumped together--not, I should add, to limit the diversity of a student's diversity requirement, so to speak, but rather to allow students to see the word "DIVERSITY" as an essential part of a liberal education. If we choose individual categories, then we are prioritizing gender and racial, as if those are the kinds of diversity that really matter. What about disability? Socio-economic (note all the chatter about Trump's appeal to the working-class), etc.

delete

Languages

Language

Answer 1

Answer 1

reduce number of required credit hours


okay

stay

remove in the UCC

Quantitative Reasoning

Quantitative reasoning

Mathematics

Answer 1

Answer 1

something similar to "The West in the World"

consider subsuming with culture

get rid of this

and how this is different from us

this sets up a 'we and they' viewpoint - maybe combine with Global Perspective and have three parts?

(s/b subsumed under global perspectives)

okay

European heritages

stay

Global Heritage

We shouldn't even have this one.

This category and Other Cultures just need to be reimagined; goes beyond title

Something other than heritage

This is a deeply problematic label.

World Heritage

Western Cultures

Answer 1

Answer 1

is this necessary?

consider further embedding

get rid of this

fold this in to Western Heritage

U.S. cultures and history

stay

culture

Something other than tradition

US Cultures

Answer 1

Answer 1

something similar to "Diversity of Human Experience"

Culture Awareness


Non-Western Cultures

change to reflect how this is different from global perspcective

Combine with Global Perspective

Culture & Heritage

Combine with Global to make it "Globalization: Cultures and Perspectives"

Asia, Africa, and Latin American Traditions

combine with global pespective

not sure, maybe "Cultural Studies" or something, but "Other Cultures" sounds outdated, as if the US culture is the norm (and is if there is just one homogenous culture here) and anything else is labeled "other"

culture

Global culture

diversity

horrid label - remove altogether

Diversity

Global diversity

Ethnic Cultures

Global Cultures

Answer 1

Answer 1

embed somewhere

?

the Arts

stay

Western heritage and Aesthetics

Aesthetic experience or arts

Aesthetic Issues

Answer 1

Answer 1

can this be combined with gender issues, and the individual and society?

...and gender

Diversity and Inclusion

Global Perspectives

Combine with Gender issues to be just "Diversity"

combine with global perspective

Social Issues


United States Tradition and Diversity

remove

Diversity

combine w/ gender issues

Racial & Ethnic Issues

Answer 1

Answer 1

...and racial


combine with individual and society

Social Issues


Individual and society (gender issues can be included here)

remove

Diversity

combine w/ racial and ethnic diversity

Answer 1

Answer 1

this seems superfluous


?

I don't even know that this means

Social Justice

stay

Social Ethics and Human Rights

Social Issues

remove

Social Issues

Answer 1

Answer 1

embed somewhere

?

not even sure what this means

How about just "History"

stay

totally meaningless - remove

Social sciences

Answer 1

Answer 1


Global Perspectives

Merge with Racial/Ethnic Diversity

stay

Global culture

International Relations?

world views

remove or keep so long as you get rid of "other cultures"

Need to decide if this is geographic only, or includes temporal dimension

World heritage

something to distinguish this from Other Cultures

Answer 1

Answer 1


fine

stay

cut -- let the purdue core handle that

Natural sciences in the humanities

remove - in the UCC

Social Sciences

Q36 - Please enter any additional comments for feelings on the CLA Core Curriculum below.

Please enter any additional comments for feelings on the CLA Core Curriculu...

I object to this questionnaire and will not be responding to it. Sorry, but I think it is not very well executed. Many of the questions are poorly designed and tendentiously phrased. The predetermined answers provided do not express what I want to say. More of a problem, some of the predetermined answers would force me to say things that I don’t want to say. Important questions and matters that should be included are not. I believe that a few of the categories of the CLA core requirements need to be retitled and/or combined, and in one case, eliminated. What is the difference between "Individual and Society" and "Social Ethics"? I think the CLA Core could have fewer requirements, not necessarily by eliminating requirements but perhaps by combining some. The survey sometimes offered yes or no choices that did not allow one to convey either support or concerns. These are all great questions. My non-responses simply indicate that I would like more information about the possible implications of each option before deciding. I hope there will be opportunities to have public discussions about the various points of view. I also would like to hear not only opinions, but also have some research-based understandings of what kind of changes would work based on college goals. I would like to see a single set of the core. However, it seems that the University core excludes many appropriate classes. For example, it seems that the Quantitative Reasoning domain excludes all quantitative classes offered in CLA; the MA offerings seem to have a lock on this domain. Therefore, if the university core is not more inclusive, I would see a continuing value for a complementary CLA core. sorry to have so little time for this, but i've been through the ritual so many times before. with other colleagues around campus, i used to become quite enthusiastic, hopeful even. no longer. discourse seems to sink to its lowest level: politics and political-correctness. let me go on to argue against the growth industry in professional infrastructure keeping students from making their own decisions, and/or from letting them come to faculty when our own guidelines seem muddled. treat students as ADULTS. if not now, when? I don't know what titles I would use for the core categories, but I think they need to be rethought and renamed. Also, certain categories seem redundant, like "United States Tradition" and "Western Heritage," or "Other cultures" and "Global Perspective."

in desperate need of updating.

If CLA drops the CLA core then CLA should make a concerted effort to add courses from the current CLA core to the university core. There are minor changes that could be made, but overall this is a solid CLA core, and we should not "water it down" by eliminating it and adopting the university core; we should be proud of the breadth and depth of education our students receive. They need to have other perspectives. It would be a disservice to them to eliminate any of the requirements that help students understand those different from themselves: other cultures, racial/ethnic diversity, gender issues, global perspectives. I've worked with students in the STEM areas, and they need these background courses desperately, but their programs don't require them so the students don't take them. Why would we remove these crucial courses from our CLA students' requirements? An aside: a current student of mine (a CS major) took COM 114, ENGL 106, and POL 101. He had an single elective left, so he signed up for my class because his CLA courses were his favorite and he hates the courses in his major. I have heard the same sentiment from students for years (and I've been here for over 20 years). Why are CLA courses so undervalued by the university when so many students thrive on the content and love the courses? Why is the CLA core so undervalued that anyone would consider eliminating the requirements that cultivate understanding? We should be holding up this core as the model for other colleges, not skimming away the courses that could actually promote critical thinking and understanding of other cultures and races.

CLA Core Curriculum should require ALL students to take 4 semesters of other languages than English. In addition and generally speaking, CLA should press the fundamental importance of taking other languages than English on all other colleges at Purdue.

I am not sure why certain courses are in bold type and others not. I couldn't see any reason listed or what it meant.

The larger problem is the university core. Somehow, many humanities and social science core courses are ceded to and then claimed within sciences and engineering programs, cutting out CLA. CLA doesn't have enough students to make much difference in enrollments when a course is designated to the CLA core. Core courses at all levels need to be fulfilled by other units than a student's major. I think the CORE in its current configuration is cumbersome--there are too many areas and some of these areas are not sufficiently distinct from one another. For example, why is there an "other cultures" and a "global perspective" requirement? Why do students need both a "social ethics" and an "individual and society" requirement? Why should there be both a "Western Tradition" and a "US" tradition? I think many of these could be eliminated, collapsed or combined in ways that would reduce the requirements for students and give them greater flexibility to shape their degrees around their own interests. I would agree with eliminating the core as long as individual units move to include some of the social, political and diversity issues in their required courses. These questions involve too many very bad forced choices. I stopped answering questions after I could not change my answer or select both options. Many of the forced choices are not actually incompatible. Not enough information or it depends or a space for a specific comment not provided. I doubt you will get information that reflects the faculty opinion using this survey. another issue- you need to provide background. I do not favor renegotiating the core if the changes proposed are aimed at making our core weaker in some areas. Who is driving this initiative? what are the reasons for redoing this now? I am suspicious of the motives of the reformers but those concerns could be allayed with some better information and introduction. I trust my colleagues in other CLA departments that their majors will already meet the vast majority of goals of the CLA Core Curriculum in the course of their major studies. I wouldn't necessarily be against a requirement that every student needed to take two or three courses in one department outside of their own, just so that another disciplinary perspective is introduced. The proposed Integrated Program seems a fine idea as well, since it would provide a common experience and touchstones to which appeal could be made in later courses. But right now I see the CLA Core doing precious little good and a lot of harm.

I just think it is a mismatch that needs updating for current skills needed by CLA students.

While I believe there are benefits to the CLA core, it severely restricts the number of double majors. This is a significant detriment to our departments and college. (Please note... the use of the term "FOREIGN" in the question is inappropriate, as a number of languages offered at Purdue are decidedly not foreign languages (e.g., ASL, Spanish, etc.) if all this boils down to jockeying for enrollments, it seems like a big waste and the UCC could do the job. If this is serious about broad liberal arts, some of those 400 level courses should be out as too advanced, possibly even some 300 level. I do like the idea that each course is reviewed every few years (5? 7?) to keep them up to date and relevant. I am torn in that I feel the CLA core complicates requirements for double majors across Colleges at Purdue at the same time I feel reducing the CLA core would be yet another step toward marginalizing the arts and humanities at this university. I wonder if there could be a stronger argument made for having only the UCC but with a much heavier weight on the humanities, respectively INTERDISCIPLINARY issues. Since interdisciplinarity seems to be something of interest to the university at large, is there an opportunity to have CLA lead in interdisciplinary inquiry? In this case in which each academic area has equal weight, rather than tailoring toward the STEM disciplines with topics such as Cultural Awareness for Engineers, Critical Thinking for Scientists, etc... I do not agree with a mandated college-level core curriculum. As the instructor of a professional degree accredited program, we have a fully packed curriculum as it is. Adding in the university core AND the CLA core makes it impossible for our students to have any electives let alone a minor and still graduate within 4 years.

I think attention should be paid to the Polytechnic Institutes and the idea of "core competencies" rather than "core

curriculum" is such a way that there are many ways to gain skills and exposure throughout the College and all should be considered.

Creative Writing is primarily critical thinking. It should explicitly be in the core.

CLA needs its own focus. Studio and practical classes are impresative from day 1. This questionnaire makes me feel like someone writing it does not really understand the foundation required to be successful in a CLA field. Do not dilute it .

The core needs to be collapsed into 5-6 categories. It is too onerous and daunting for prospective students.

The current university core is woefully insufficient. Students need a broad based liberal arts core.

There should just be ONE core for the whole university, and then your major. Multiple "cores" is way too confusing. Everyone coming in should have to take a two-semester sequence (like the proposed Cornerstone sequence) that focuses on basic liberal arts education (because, when universities FIRST STARTED, the seven liberal arts were their foundation) but this sequence, while oriented toward "western tradition" (and the origins of the university system in which we are functioning today) needs to also include texts/history/study from outside the west. THEN, everyone should have to fulfill 7 or 8 "distribution requirements." These should range from art to natural science to physical science to literature to economics....you get the gist. ALSO, there should be a requirement that AT LEAST one of your distribution requirement classes be considered in fulfillment of a "non-western" requirement--courses that meet this requirement could be designated as such (this is why, when I was in college, I took intro to Chinese Philosophy to fulfill my philosophy dist. req. It was awesome, and I probably would not have taken it had that not been a requirement). And finally--one year of a foreign language required for everybody. So, that would be the University Core requirements, and THEN, whatever your major requires. If I were running the circus, that's what i would do. I feel like I do not have enough information to answer many of the questions (and I pay attention!). I'd like to learn more about pros and cons to various approaches. I am open to changes, but want to make sure that any changes are grounded in evidence and not simply designed to serve everyone else but CLA. My other comment is that next time you do a survey, pleases have a survey researcher review it. There are plenty of such folks in the college. There are several questions and response options that made me cringe. Some of your data will be uninterpretable because of problems with the wording. I don't know if the core should be eliminated. I was working under the assumption that was not an option. I need to know more. There are WAY too many courses in the core. Every department in CLA in recent years has been guilty of gaming the system by putting more courses in the core in an attempt to increase enrollment in their courses. Often in inappropriate categories in an attempt to spread across all of the categories. We faculty need to trust each other to teach what we know best and let others teach what they know best. And put aside our ego's about how important we think the courses we teach are, they are all important. It's not a contest. Obviously (maybe not?) this attempt to game the system cannot possibly work the way people hope it will, whether it's a good idea or not to begin with. And if you look around none of us have solved the issue of dwindling class sizes by cramming more courses in the core. Leave the Core categories as is. Allow each CLA department to put 4 courses in the core. Yes some departments will argue they should have more core courses because they are larger and have more majors but if the core is actually about the education of each individual student, and not departments justifying their existence, then each department should have the same number of courses. Leave it to departments to decide which courses and in which categories. Then have a committee made up of individuals from each department review department submissions to ensure courses are placed in the proper category. Also, CLA undergrads should not be allowed to fulfill their core requirements with courses from only one or two disciplines.

The core is too large, especially considering foreign language is not counted for first three courses.

I'm not sure how helpful these questions were, to be honest (though hat tip to the committee, as it's not like I could tell you how to get at the issues with the core any other way). (Some of my answers are probably contradictory, and this is partly the reason - I wanted another choice, etc. And I'm sorry to complain about that! Thank you for all your work on this.) The problem, as I see it, is that the categories need rethinking completely; some departments have overwhelming representation, but others, very little; and the core itself represents a hurdle to any CLA student. (I

can't imagine dealing with this as a student.) Moreover, the core represents a fundamental pedagogical mistake - to focus on outcomes rather than content. It seems to me that we should get rid of the Core altogether, if that's possible. First, I had trouble with how to rank order my choices within the survey so here they are: 1. Expose students to important issues and concepts (most important) 2. Provide student with skills, knowledge, etc. 3. Provide students with broader experiences 4. Provide students with common experiences (least important) The CLA core provides students with exposure to a wealth of ideas, concepts, and theories that the university core does not necessarily provide. I have met students who before taking the classes that I teach (I give them a basic knowledge test on day one) do not know who Adam Smith is, nor have some of them heard of the following (Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Dubois, Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, to name a few). Some have written that they've heard of Mother Jones, but believe she is a fictional character. The same for Confucius. I could go on, but I'm sure you get the point. The second class that I offer is the basic introduction to rhetoric with an updated modern section on media literacy and activism where students learn how to create on-line petitions, one of the newest and fastest ways of gathering support around issues of concern. And I cover critical thinking, how are they to survive the onslaught of misleading information in both the political and commercial world without such courses. If there is a proposed plan to do away with the CLA Core then many of the classes that are not listed in the university core but are in CLA's core should be added to the university core. Can the CLA core complement the University core? I find it difficult that its an "all or nothing" proposition. I also believe the University core is too prescriptive in some areas and punishes students who wish to explore areas outside of math and science. Attracting the best and brightest students - IN ALL PURDUE PROGRAMS should be a high priority goal across the Purdue landscape. I can see the advantages of harmonizing the two cores, but I worry that the University Core is so thin that it wouldn't really result in the kind of liberals arts immersion that we would want our students to experience. I support replacing the core with a foreign language requirement and a breadth requirement that would be waived for double majors who have met the core requirements for another college. Notice that waiving the requirement for bi-college double majors would be justified because such majors will inevitably have disciplinary breadth. I'm not sure what the best structure for such a breadth requirement would be. I'd have to think more about it. One possibility off the top of my head would be to require of each CLA student that they take at least 6 CLA courses outside of their major department and that those courses span at least three different departments. Or one might require at least 8 total CLA courses outside one's major department, including at least 3 in the Humanities, 3 in the Social Sciences, and 2 in Art. Not sure what the right mix is, but a breadth requirement provides maximal flexibility for students (whose interests vary a lot!) while at the same time guaranteeing that students are exposed to the methods of inquiry of a variety of disciplines. I think CLA would do well to engage with the University Core and reduced requirements for CLA majors that are inhibiting students from majoring in CLA subjects. Please notice how demeaning and dismissive the title "Other Cultures" is--please eliminate this category if you do nothing else. As I mention in a comment above, I don't think the CLA Core should overlap with the University Core anymore--if we could concentrate on categories to which we bring unique perspective and value, then we'd be able to show students the value of Liberal Arts education. And somehow, I hope the committee will figure out a way to cut down on the number of categories/required course for the CLA Core--our list of requirements is daunting and is surely discouraging to students seeking to CODO or transfer into Purdue. Let's welcome new students and new majors, not discourage them with a long list of core requirements. The CLA curriculum - core and otherwise - needs to fit with the UCC for pragmatic reasons. But the UCC is not a core curriculum nor does it have any coherent rationale. It reduces higher education to a narrow set of "skills and competencies" and mostly reflects the results of turf battles between those who were in on the negotiation process. The shape and content of the UCC was a big mistake for the University and CLA and we shouldn't compound that mistake by pretending that it is a template for a good general education, much less a good *liberal arts* education. If we aren't somewhat coordinated within the college about general education, it will be very difficult for students to put together complementary plans of study for multiple majors and minors. As can be seen from the suggestion examples, some current categories can be incorporated into other categories. The retitling of categories should take this and also the appeal to other disciplines, into account.

The best course of action is to simply eliminate the CLA Core. This would increase enrollments and reduce CLA bureaucracy. And best of all, students from around the university could transfer into the CLA and finish their degree programs in a timely fashion. The UCC is enough. The CLA Core is leviathan and an albatross, weighing us all down. The most rational course of action we can take is to sweep it away. We just had a student leave the university to transfer elsewhere. Though the main issue was financial, the CLA/ University core combined was one reason for leaving. He wanted more classes in his area of study and was sick of taking core classes. I don't like how Core is explained on the Provost's web page. I think communication, general knowledge of a topic and issues of citizenship should all be equal parts of Core. And someone teaching should be able to speak to all of these--meaning that they must be hands on. Maybe there must be oversight of exams to make sure there's no bubble exams or an agreement to have a certain number of pages of writing handed in. I think we should align ourselves with the UCC--a "core plus." We should change the names of the categories and make sure that all departments are represented. Perhaps we should put a limit on the number of courses that can count both for the major and the core. Above all, we need to preserve the BA as ours. The EPC is one of the most dysfunctional elements of the CLA Senate. The bickering of its members and the gridlock that results is undermining our mission. This committee should be dissolved and new members should be put in place. On another note, this poll is littered with typos and nonsensical questions. It is embarrassing to know that it has widespread distribution in the College. I have very strong feelings about the CLA core. It is totally dysfunctional in its current structure and alignment with the university core. There is also a tremendous imbalance between CLA disciplines with respect to some departments loading up the core with a huge number of courses across numerous categories and others adding relatively few courses across few categories. It is also obvious that some departments are allowing people to propose courses for the core that are simply about driving up enrollment for things that faculty want to teach rather than the goal of properly providing a well rounded liberal arts education for students. A restructuring of the CLA core MUST fundamentally be about providing exposure of students to the liberal arts and not be driven by the needs/wants of individual faculty members or specific departments. A streamlined version of the CLA core can be an easy reality if the petty conflicts between departments can be worked around. However, it is not clear to me that many departments/faculty are willing to put the best interest of students before their own wants. The problems of the CLA core are only the tip of the iceberg of what is wrong with our college. They start with an unwillingness to address and assess the needs of our society for employable graduates and size ourselves accordingly. They extend to an entirely unmeasurable assertion that our responsibility is simply to produce "good citizens," rather than meet the needs of the modern workplace in a responsible manner. This philosophy has led to irresponsible accountability, a bloated infrastructure based on the politics of silo protection, ineffective global assumptions such as insisting that any student can be properly prepared to enter a particular workforce with a maximum of 45 credit hours of instruction, free electives that encourage irresponsible choices by students who have little understanding of the consequences of their decisions, all piled on top of the appearance of "free money" loans that will enslave them for most of their adult life-especially when they discover the realities of the job market in their chosen discipline. CLA need to drastically rethink its mission and its responsibilities to its students, to students outside of CLA, to our local community, to city, state and country. We can start by creating a common core that really is a core learning experience we feel any college student should have, and add to that whatever core learning experience we feel ever liberal arts major should have. We should then eliminate the core as a political tool departments use to bloat their faculty size, budgets and resources. Put the core into a separate common program that all CLA students must take with an independent, non-research oriented faculty, dedicated to teaching the common core. Reduce the size of departments accordingly to fund the common core, eliminate the 45 credit hour major restriction, insist that departments track alumni placement and long term advancement in the discipline, and increase the incentives for interdisciplinary service...#outofspa i think have separate cores for univ and cla (and whatever other colleges) just creates more barriers between areas and fields. I think a university educ should have a basic core for all students and then student 'specialize' in their major within their college. I would like to see a core that is bi-directional: STEM takes in CLA to broaden their breadth and skills and CLA takes in STEM to broaden theirs. I think it's happening, obviously, but in a trivial way. CLA should be taking computer science/programming "Coding" as a core just as STEM should be taking 'teams' and

related social and behavior science.

I think I'm more confused after this than I was before. My answers probably reflect that. I'm not convinced this discussion can profitably take place at this stage until the Provost and the Dean can clarify and communicate exactly their vision for the College. A core in a College that is focused on increasing enrollments looks different to a core in a College that is focused on increasing majors, and that core's relationship the University core is different in either context.

The Natural Science requirement should be adjusted to better align with University Core Science.

A few notes: 1) If the CLA core is eliminated entirely (except the language requirement), I think it might be worth adding another diversity awareness requirement, which most of the other colleges have, but which isn't in the core, or else advocating strongly for such a requirement to be added to the University core. This might combine (roughly) global perspectives, racial and ethnic diversity, and gender issues, but I hope would be open to a wide range of suitable courses. 2) If the CLA core is eliminated, one way to ensure that students single-majoring in CLA learn broader skills and content would be to require that single-Majors pursue at least one or two Minors outside their Major field. This would show up on their transcript and achieve some of the benefits of the current core while giving students more freedom to specialize, and making their achievements more transparent for employers and graduate school admissions. 3) I didn't suggest new names for the areas that I think need renaming because the time to do that work would be once we know what form the CLA core will or will not take. 4) I was unable to make the survey/web browser (?) rank the priorities for the Core in order. 5) A question about oversight had a typo which resulted in the options being no change or more oversight. But I didn't answer this question, because I don't think the answer is more or less oversight, exactly, but more transparency about criteria, and more openness (e.g., courses that are taught regularly rather than annually), if we do retain a CLA core at all. 6) My desire to eliminate the CLA core goes hand in hand with my suggestion about requiring Minors or double Majors for CLA students. I do think that breadth matters for a strong liberal arts education. But I don't think the current set up is working, though in my own - very interdisciplinary - program we have always used it as strategically as possible (we have courses in a large number of categories).

What is the difference between global perspective and other cultures?

Perhaps students should be asked about how they feel about the CLA core -what they see as the benefit of completing it or what is problematic about it. While not all institutional decisions should be based on students' opinions, consulting them about what they want to get out of their college learning experience may be useful in this case. I think the core could be eliminated. There is no need to require foreign language proficiency for undergrads, since English is spoken so widely and there are ALWAYS people from other countries who speak those languages plus English better than an English-speaker is likely to achieve in a couple of courses in college. Language should be taught to children rather than in college. However, some way to give people deep grounding in cultural diversity IS important. This could be a semester of study abroad (which might need language study as a prerequisite or might not), and urban semester, a deep set of skills or courses in communication or culture or another experiential educational experience. Language should not be the only way to get this, and it does NOT substitute for it. The core should not be met in one's own major. Would there be a way to "turn 'em loose"?--take 5 courses in 5 different disciplines, or something like that and a learning outcomes based assessment on diversity (gender, ethnic, etc.) I guess I think it's too rigid. Couldn't we have an integrative liberal arts that deals with beauty, diversity, power, justice, and other such things through a variety of lenses? Or a series of one-unit courses to get a taste of everything? or six themes to choose from, each of which draws from many disciplinary roots? Overall, the current CLA core doesn't look like a core at all. There are too many classes available to create a common experience among our majors. If we restricted the number of courses, students would be funneled through some basic courses and would be allowed to interact with CLA majors from other departments. Plus, we could consolidate many of these categories, perhaps boiling the core down to a handful. Again, this would ensure a common experience. The University Core is too skeletal compared to the CLA Core. The University Core also exaggerates STEM and undervalues Humanities and Social Sciences--the core of the liberal arts, if you will. The CLA Core is much too big

and is a deterrent for students in other colleges who want a CLA major. But the CLA Core also is at the heart of what we in the liberal arts do and deserves survival (but also reconfiguration). I have a problem with the very constitution of this committee. Two of the four members of the Core Curriculum Committee are from VPA -- Ebarb and Dossin. To me that tells how serious an enterprise this is if inclusion of different points of view and convergence of wisdom from all disciplines is what is sought here. Some questions appear to be double-barreled. At least one question does not have the required apostrophe... I decided to take this survey only so I could make this comment and so I have not spent much time offering thoughts to the open-ended questions. If these efforts of "consultation" are to bear fruit, they need to be inclusive. Sorry for the negative comment but you will agree this is not an unreasonable observation/criticism. In terms of oversight, I want to see a syllabus that justifies this being in the CLA Writing Core: SPAN 33000 Spanish Latin American Cinema. It was hard to answer the poll, which reflects an (understandably) restricted vision. A small core list of courses regularly taught with some sort of wording of "Or by permission of the Academic Advisor and approval of the Instructor" -- who would have to fulfill requirements for the category, share syllabus, etc. -- gives the students who want a short list and other students who want more flexibility the opportunity to do so. Part of my problem was my inability to honestly answer the preference for "learning outcome" and "contents": they are equally important. Many thanks for all you work. Please eliminate the redundancies between the UCC and CLA Core; please eliminate the CLA requirements for Natural Sciences and Math for a College of Liberal Arts (the latter falls into the first recommendation); please remove antiquated categories such as "aesthetic awareness"; please add new categories such as "visual literacy" that meet the demands of the C21 media environment;

Q26 - Do you feel the CLA Core Curriculum *should* include categories that appeal to the interdisciplinary concerns at Purdue (e.g., "Cultural Diversity for Engineers", "History of Technology", etc.)?

# Answer % Count

1 Yes 61.02% 36

2 No 38.98% 23

Total 100% 59

Q27 - What courses would you like to see included?

What courses would you like to see included?

Courses on different humanities approaches to issues outside of CLA

courses related to medical humanities

Languages and Cultures

There are simply too few in some categories (like written communication) and too many in others.

Engl 205 Engl 316/17

More WGSS courses

Soc methods classes, medical soc

Problem Solving

AD119 Introduction to Digital Color Imaging

Writing for the business world / profession and design psychology

human rights courses, medical humanities courses, global studies courses

Prefer not to answer with a derpatment

New ones to match the University Core -- get the CLA faculty thinking and re-creating.

human adaptation on the planet

Communication courses as communication is so fundamental for the success of students majoring in all disciplines

Culture and technology in the Global South; Introduction to Digital Humanities, Technology and Writing

Q35 - I support the idea of eliminating the CLA core entirely. CLA would still require proficiency thorough Level IV in one FOREIGN language [or in a language other than English]. Otherwise, CLA students would follow the university Core Curriculum and any required courses, both CLA and non-CLA, in their individual plan(s) of study.

# Answer % Count






Total 100% 119

Q2 - Please identify your CLA Academic Association(s). Please select all that apply.

# Answer % Count

1 Anthropology 4.52% 7

2 Communication 8.39% 13

3 English 16.77% 26

4 History 10.32% 16

5 Interdisciplinary Studies 17.42% 27

6 Languages and Cultures 14.84% 23

7 Philosophy 6.45% 10

8 Political Science 5.16% 8

9 Sociology 4.52% 7

10 Visual and Performing Arts 11.61% 18

Total 100% 155

Documents

CLA Core Curriculum Faculty Survey Core Curriculum Faculty Survey. Q1 ... Do the current course categories in the CLA Core Curriculum align with your vision ... it's a substitution