Core Curriculum Review

At his first Faculty and Staff Meeting as president on September 14, 2005, Father Shanley outlined his priorities for Providence College, stressing that building upon the academic reputation of the College was second in importance only to maintaining its Catholic and Dominican identity. Two months later, he announced the formation of the Core Curriculum Review Committee (CCRC).

In charging this committee, he identified three parameters: that the Core Curriculum be mission-centered, that the Development of Western Civilization (DWC) Program remain in any revised curriculum, and that philosophy and theology be maintained as core requirements.

Father Shanley reiterated at the Spring Faculty and Staff Meeting on April 12, 2006, that Core Curriculum review must be mission-centered, echoing the themes from his Inaugural Address that “we should strive to educate our students to grasp a unified view of the whole of truth in contemplative wisdom, where faith and reason come together through a vigorous exploration of competing arguments in disputed questions.”

He again stressed the importance of the DWC Program because, he said, “A curriculum that looks to the future cannot neglect the past.” And, the interdisciplinary nature of DWC, he added, “models the kind of integrated thinking that I believe should lie at the heart of a PC education.”

Informing the curriculum review process was a collective reading by CCRC subcommittee members of Our Underachieving Colleges—A Candid Look at How Much StudentsLearn and Why They Should be Learning More by Derek Bok, Harvard University interim president and president emeritus. This reading assignment became the shared reference for more than 70 faculty and staff members—as well as students—who attended a Saturday, September 16, workshop to discuss Bok’s observations and challenges regarding liberal education goals.

The Core Curriculum review steering committee and subcommittees continue to meet regularly, with final recommendations on revisions to the Core Curriculum due in spring 2007.

New Department of Public and Community Service Studies

The country’s first interdisciplinary, undergraduate degree program in public and community service studies—established at PC in 1993—reached a new milestone this past year. After approval by the Faculty Senate last spring, Father Shanley officially elevated the Public and Community Service Studies Program to full department status as of July 1, 2006. Along with department status, the interdisciplinary program gained five specifically designated faculty members. Additional faculty members teach in the program and the teaching ranks are complemented by the unique perspectives of community advisors/co-teachers.

This new department status strengthens both the major and the Feinstein Institute for Public Service itself, enabling the College to strengthen its role as a leader in this field while helping PC to transform the surrounding community of which it is a vital part. The department also has re-established formal ties with the Campus Compact, the national organization dedicated to promoting community service, civic engagement, and service-learning in the country’s colleges and universities. This move resulted in PC’s recognition once again by U.S.  News’ America ’s BestColleges 2007 as among the top 25 schools in the country cited by college presidents, chief academic officers, and deans of admission for their service learning initiatives.