In an attempt to identify the weaknesses and strengths of University Studies and improve the core curriculum at Texas A&M University-Commerce, faculty have implemented the University Studies Task Force (USTF).
Composed of five faculty members, three Student Affairs representatives and one representative from the Gee Library, the organization will kick off with its first meeting Feb. 23.
“It is a committee put together under the auspices of the College of Arts and Sciences, but it will include representatives of the other colleges on campus as well as various university offices charged with direct dealing with students. Its purpose is to look at the current university Studies program and suggest measures for enriching or improving the University’s core curriculum,” Dr. Ricky Dobbs, chair of the committee said.
The typical load for a new student at A&M-Commerce is 12 to 15 hours, and with this organization, all involved hope to make new student’s workloads easier to handle with improved teaching techniques and core course content.
“It is in the best interest of the university to look carefully at what it is doing with University Studies. We need to distinguish what we are doing in the first two years of courses from the offerings of community colleges. Otherwise, we struggle at a competitive disadvantage with two-year institution, even though many faculty here think we do a better job, ” Dobbs said.
The initial tasks the USTF would like to accomplish in the near future are to review current goals for university Studies, embed skills for success in the First Year Program, incorporate the community into University Studies, learn objectives for the different areas of the program and to provide opportunities for the Honors College and liberal studies.
“It is good to look at university studies periodically for currency and to see if it is meeting the learning needs of our students. The skills learned in these courses should prepare students for upper level course work in their respective majors,” James Klein, dean of arts and sciences said.
In order to compete with surrounding community colleges, the USTF would also like to concentrate on what actually makes A&M-Commerce’s core classes different from the less expensive ones offered on those campuses.
“We need to look at what distinguishes our core from that taught at community colleges and what we can do to enhance the experience here. That will help in marketing our academic program to first time freshmen,” Klein said.
Any students wanting to get involved in the USTF should attend one of the scheduled meetings where open forums will be held with the campus community to seek input and get feedback on proposals that are developed.
“Hopefully, a revision of University Studies will build greater intellectual coherence to all our programs and enhance campus life through shared academic experiences for all students. To the extent that the university community sees general education as important and is determined to improved, the task force will success,” Dobbs said.
With all that the USTF is trying to accomplish, they believe that only time and hard work will tell how things are going to turn out in the end.
“There is a great deal of excitement among faculty and the academic administration. I feel this effort will produce good ideas,” Klein said.