Skip to main content
Vanderbilt Background Photo
  2. Background

Background

Home | Curriculum Framework | Core Office | Implementation | Timeline | Background

RATIONALE: WHY RETHINK THE CURRICULUM?

From January 2022 through May 2023, the College of Arts and Science underwent a thorough process of reviewing its undergraduate curriculum and building a new, integrated, inspiring, and enduring program of study for Vanderbilt students. 

Our rationale for revising and renewing the curriculum was three-fold.   

First, we believe that a broad and deep education in the arts and sciences is one of the best possible training grounds not just for the pursuit of knowledge but also for lives of sustained curiosity and purpose, whether as professionals, scholars, artists, activists, or citizens. Genuine exposure to varied modes of inquiry must therefore drive our general curriculum. But we cannot assume that the power of such an education is self-evident. We knew we must ensure that our intellectual program makes a stirring appeal to an increasingly diverse and dynamic twenty-first-century student body—and that it is responsive as well to those students’ needs and aspirations. 

Second, a richly interdisciplinary education has never been more vital for our undergraduates, who face a host of complex and swiftly evolving challenges. These range from emergent technologies such as artificial intelligence, to global crises such as climate change, to urgent social and political dilemmas such as the fraying of democratic culture. We knew we must equip students with the analytical, interpretive, and critical capacities that will enable them to decipher and shape the world they will encounter as Vanderbilt graduates—a world that has vastly changed in the two decades since our general curriculum was last revised.   

Third, we identified a lack of coherence in our existing system of general education and major requirements. Several deficiencies in AXLE have consistently been voiced by students, faculty, and academic advisors alike. These include confusing and inflexible categorizations; classifications that no longer map well onto current scholarly configurations; and uneven burdens for students in different majors, prompting some to exit A&S altogether. Even more importantly, AXLE—contrary to its intention—has been susceptible to a “check-list” mentality, encouraging breadth over depth and too little true exploration. Moreover, our undergraduate program has failed to create clear pathways leading from our general education requirements to the pressing questions and areas of specialized study that our students hope to pursue. 

We knew we needed a curriculum equal to our highest ambitions for our faculty and our students. Drawing from best pedagogical practices, higher-education experts, alternative models, and the abundant wisdom of our colleagues, we are confident that we have designed an unrivaled undergraduate program at Vanderbilt that will prepare our students for the future by grounding them—broadly and deeply—in the arts and sciences.

ORIGINAL COMMITTEE

The effort to review and revamp the A&S curriculum was a wide-reaching initiative led by faculty from across the college. The faculty committees first convened in January 2022 and met through June 2023. 

  • Sarah Igo (Chair), Dean of Strategic Initiatives, College of Arts and Science; Andrew Jackson Professor of History; affiliated faculty in Law, Political Science, Sociology, Communication of Science and Technology, Medicine, Health and Society
  • Cynthia Brame, Assistant Professor of the Practice of Biological Sciences; former Associate Director, Center for Teaching
  • Amy Johnson, Assistant Provost of Immersion and Experiential Learning; Professor of the Practice in American Studies
  • Lutz Koepnick, Max Kade Foundation Chair in German Studies; Professor of Cinema and Media Arts; Chair, Department of German, Russian, and East European Studies
  • Mario Rewers (Research Associate), Senior Lecturer in American Studies
  • Daniel Coradazzi (Coordinator), A&S Dean’s Office

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

 

Return to top

SELECTED READINGS

The original faculty committee engaged deeply in research, articles, and books related to curriculum purpose and design. Below is the list of those readings.

  • Abrams, Annie. "The AP Program Is Broken. You Can Tell, Because Ron DeSantis Loves It." Slate. September 28, 2022.
  • Abrams, Annie, and Roosevelt Montás. "The Defenders of Classical Education Are Destroying It." The Atlantic. March 15, 2023.
  • llen, Danielle. Education and Equality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2016.
  • Anders, George. You Can Do Anything: The Surprising Power of a "Useless" Liberal Arts Education. New York: Hachette, 2017.
  • Barbaro, Nicole. "Let’s Subsidize Intellectual Curiosity Again." Inside Higher Ed. October 20, 2022.
  • Bandy, Joe, Brielle Harbin, and Amie Thurber. "Teaching Race and Racial Justice: Developing Students’ Cognitive and Affective Understanding." Teaching and Learning Inquiry 9, no. 1 (2021).
  • Bogost, Ian. "American Will Sacrifice Anything for the College Experience." The Atlantic. October 20, 2020.
  • Bessner, Daniel. "The Dangerous Decline of the Historical Profession." New York Times. January 14, 2023.
  • Burress, Theresa, Emily Mann, Susan Montgomery, and Rachel Walton. "Data Literacy in Undergraduate Education: Faculty Perspectives and Pedagogical Approaches." In Teaching Critical Thinking with Numbers: Data Literacy and the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, edited by Julia Bauder. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2021.
  • Calhoun-Brown, Allison. "How Data and Technology Can Improve Advising and Equity." Chronicle of Higher Education. January 9, 2023.
  • Caplan, Bryan. "What’s College Good For?" The Atlantic. January-February 2018.
  • Cass, James, and Michelle Miller. "Don't Write Like a Robot." Chronicle of Higher Education. January 30, 2023.
  • Cassidy, John. "College Calculus." The New Yorker. August 31, 2015.
  • Chittum, Jessica, Kathryn Enke, and Ashley Finley. The Effects of Community-Based Engagement in Higher Education: What We Know and Questions that Remain. American Association of Colleges and Universities, 2022.
  • Cuseo, Joe. "The Empirical Case for the First-Year Seminar: Promoting Positive Student Outcomes and Campus-Wide Benefits." In The First-Year Seminar: Research-Based Recommendations for Course Design, Delivery, and Assessment. Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt, 2010.
  • Daniels, Ronald J. "Universities are Shunning their Responsibility to Democracy." The Atlantic. October 3, 2021.
  • Davidson, Cathy N. "A Newer Education for Our Era." Chronicle of Higher Education. October 22, 2017.
  • Devereaux, Brett. "Colleges Should Be More Than Just Vocational Schools." New York Times. April 2, 2023.
  • Friedman, Dan, James Winfield, and Katie Hopkins. "Faculty Development for the University of South Carolina's First-Year Experience Course."  Journal for Faculty Development 33, no. 2 (2019).
  • Gable, Rachel. The Hidden Curriculum: First Generation Students at Legacy Universities. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2021.
  • Geismer, Lily. "How the 'Chill Ivy' Decided to Give Its Students Absolute Freedom." Slate. September 2, 2022.
  • Ghachem, Malick. "A Better Way to Protect Free Speech on Campus." Chronicle of Higher Education. January 24, 2023.
  • Goodman, Sylvia. "The Elusive Civil Classroom." Chronicle of Higher Education. August 29, 2022.
  • Hanstedt, Paul. Creating Wicked Students: Designing Courses for a Complex World. Sterling: Stylus, 2018.
  • Hayashida, Marcelle. "A Broader Way of Thinking about Wellbeing." Inside Higher Ed. December 5, 2022.
  • Heller, Nathan. "The End of the English Major." The New Yorker. February 27, 2023.
  • Huntington-Klein, Nick, and Andrew Gill. "Semester Course Load and Student Performance." Research in Higher Education 62 (2021).
  • Jaschik, Scott. "What Are the Liberal Arts?" Inside Higher Ed. September 19, 2022.
  • Lametti, Daniel. "A.I. Could be Great for College Essays." Slate. December 7, 2022.
  • Lang, James, and Michelle Miller. "Don't Write Like a Robot." Chronicle of Higher Education. January 30, 2023.
  • Lederman, Doug. "Preaching to, and Challenging, the Liberal Arts Choir." Inside Higher Ed. January 10, 2023.
  • Liu, Melissa. The Race, Power and Privilege Designation Is Too Unclear." Brown Daily Herald. March 23, 2022.
  • Malesic, Jonathan. "The Key to Success in College Is So Simple It's Almost Never Mentioned." New York Times. January 3, 2023.
  • Marche, Stephen. "The College Essay Is Dead." The Atlantic. December 6, 2022.
  • Marcus, John. "Some Colleges Mull the Idea of 'Ungrading' for Freshmen Students." KQED. October 3, 2022.
  • Márquez, Cecelia. "What We Gain When We Lose Grades." Duke Learning Innovation. August 29, 2022.
  • McMurtrie, Beth. "AI and the Future of Undergraduate Writing." Chronicle of Higher Education. December 13, 2022.
  • McMurtrie, Beth. "Excellence in Undergraduate Education Must Include Equity, Says Influential Group." Chronicle of Higher Education. October 19, 2022.
  • Mintz, Steven, "College 2023." Inside Higher Ed. January 4, 2023.
  • Mintz, Steven. "Decolonizing the Academy." Inside Higher Ed. June 22, 2022.
  • Montás, Roosevelt. "Why the Core Matters for a New Generation." Chronicle of Higher Education. November 16, 2021.
  • Murphy, Kate. "Five Things to Know about UNC-Chapel Hill’s Curriculum Overhaul that Launches this Fall." The Herald Sun. August 12, 2022.
  • Nguyen, Terry. "Reading, Writing, and Resilience." The Chronicle of Higher Education. February 26, 2019.
  • Patel, Vimal. "Want to Revamp Your Curriculum? Here’s How to Avoid a Quagmire." The Chronicle of Higher Education. March 4, 2018.
  • Rosenberg, Brian. "Is Harvard Complacent?" Harvard Magazine. September-October 2021.
  • Roth, Michael S. "The False Promise of 'Practical' Education." The Chronicle of Higher Education. May 19, 2014.
  • Sansgiry, Sujit, and Kavita Sail. "Effect of Students' Perceptions of Course Load on Test Anxiety." American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 70, no. 2 (2006).
  • Schatten, Jeff. "Will Artificial Intelligence Kill College Writing?" Chronicle of Higher Education. September 14, 2022.
  • Schwartz, Barry. "Top Colleges Should Select Randomly from a Pool of ‘Good Enough.'" The Chronicle of Higher Education. February 25, 2005.
  • Selingo, Jeffrey. Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions. New York: Scribner, 2020.
  • Staley, David J. Alternative Universities: Speculative Design for Innovation in Higher Education. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019.
  • Strauss, Valerie. "Some See Liberal Arts Education as Elitist. Here Is Why It's Really Pragmatic." Washington Post. February 5, 2023.
  • Surovell, Eva. "ChatGPT Has Everyone Freaking Out About Cheating. It’s Not the First Time." Chronicle of Higher Education. February 8, 2023.
  • Summit, Jennifer, and Blakey Vermeule. "The 'Two Cultures' Fallacy." The Chronicle of Higher Education. July 1, 2018.
  • Supiano, Beckie. “How Colleges Can Help STEM Students Think More Broadly.” The Chronicle of Higher Education. May 9, 2018.
  • Weiner, Greg. "How Do We Get to Herd Immunity for Fake News?" New York Times. December 14, 2020.
  • Wiewel, Wim. "The Case for Liberal Arts Education in a Time of Crisis." The New Republic. May 27, 2020.
  • Worthen, Molly. "If It Was Good Enough for Socrates, It's Good Enough for Sophomores." New York Times. December 2, 2022.
  • Allen, Danielle. Education and Equality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2016.
  • Anders, George. You Can Do Anything: The Surprising Power of a "Useless" Liberal Arts Education. New York: Hachette, 2017.
  • Blum Susan D. (ed.) Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead). Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, 2020.
  • Davidson, Cathy N. The New Education: How to Revolutionize the University to Prepare Students for a World In Flux. New York: Basic Books, 2017.
  • Gable, Rachel. The Hidden Curriculum: First Generation Students at Legacy Universities. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2021.
  • Hayot, Eric. Humanist Reason: A History. An Argument. A Plan. New York: Columbia University Press, 2021.
  • Montás, Roosevelt. Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed My Life and Why They Matter for a New Generation. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2021.
  • Roth, Michael S. Safe Enough Spaces: A Pragmatist’s Approach to Inclusion, Free Speech, and Political Correctness on College Campuses. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019.
  • Selingo, Jeffrey. Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions. New York: Scribner, 2020.
  • Staley, David J. Alternative Universities: Speculative Design for Innovation in Higher Education. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019.

 

Return to top

PAST EVENTS

Throughout the curriculum development process, the Steering Committee organized a wide range of events to collect feedback, answer questions, respond to concerns, present updates, and bring experts to campus to share best practices and current debates on  curriculum reform.

External Speakers
  • April 14, 2023: Roosevelt Montás, "Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed My Life and Why They Matter for a New Generation"
  • February 27, 2023: Paul Hanstedt, "Creating Wicked Students"
Information Sessions (2023)

February 15, February 23, March 6

Program and Department Visits (2023)

History (January 23), Jewish Studies (January 24), Asian Studies (January 26), Earth and Environmental Sciences (January 26), Cinema and Media Arts (January 27), Gender and Sexuality Studies (January 30), Physics and Astronomy (January 30), African American and Diaspora Studies (February 6), Spanish and Portuguese (February 6), Communication Studies (February 7), Medicine, Health & Society (February 7), Economics (February 7), English (February 8), Classical Studies and Mediterranean Studies (February 9), French and Italian (February 9), Theatre (February 10), Climate and Environmental Studies (February 13), Sociology (February 13), Political Science (February 15), Philosophy (February 16), German, Russian & East European Studies (February 16), Art (February 17), Chemistry (February 17), Psychology (February 20), Communication of Science and Technology (February 21), Mathematics (February 23), Business Studies (February 27), Religious Studies (March 1), Biological Sciences (March 3), History of Art and Architecture (March 3)

Student Advisory Meetings

February 7, February 10, February 21, February 24, March 7, 2023

Steering Committee Visit to Stanford University

January 31–February 3, 2023, Stanford University

Presentation to the Arts & Science Faculty

January 17, 2023, 3:10 pm, Alumni Hall 202

Wond'ry Design Session

December 9, 2022, 9:00 am–2:00 pm, Wond'ry

Arts & Science Faculty Meeting

December 6, 2022, 3:10 pm, Wilson Hall 103

Q&A with Committee Members

November 9, 2022, 9:30–11:30 am, Buttrick Hall Atrium

Key Reform Ideas

October 20, 2022, 3:30 pm, Buttrick Hall Atrium

Why Rethink the Curriculum? (And How?)

September 20, 2022, 4:15 pm, Wilson Hall Lobby 

 

Contact: curriculum_as@vanderbilt.edu

Return to top