To: All College Deans
From: Breadth Requirement Subcommittee of the University Faculty Senate
Eric Rise, chair
Avron Abraham, University Studies
Brian Ackerman, Arts and Sciences
Doug Buttrey, Engineering
Jennifer Gregan-Paxton, Business and Economics
Steve Hastings, Agriculture and Natural Resources
Carolyn Manning, Health Sciences
Tony Seraphin, Arts and Sciences
Lynn Worden, Education and Public Policy
Re: Implementation of University Breadth
Requirements
In April 2009, the University Faculty Senate approved a university-wide breadth requirement to take effect in Fall 2010. This memorandum describes the procedures for implementing this requirement. Please distribute this memo to all associate and assistant deans and department chairs/program directors in your college, as well as any other faculty and staff who have responsibility for curriculum matters.
To summarize the requirement, all students at the University of Delaware will be required to take a minimum of 12 credits of breadth requirements—3 credits each from lists of courses designated as Creative Arts and Humanities, History and Cultural Change, Social and Behavioral Sciences, and Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Technology (see the complete descriptions of each group below). Students may not fulfill this requirement with courses from the same subject code (e.g. ACCT) as their major, and they must take courses from four different subject codes. Students must pass the course with a grade of C- or better to fulfill the breadth requirement.
The responsibility for identifying breadth courses rests with the colleges. The expectation is that course nominations will originate from departments and programs, since they are most familiar with which offerings fit into the breadth areas and are appropriate for a general university audience. Each college will establish its own procedures for reviewing and approving courses for inclusion on the breadth requirement lists. To qualify for inclusion, however, each course must meet the following criteria:
1. Courses that satisfy breadth requirements must be open to non-majors. This means that (a) more than 50 percent of the seats in the course each semester must be open to non-majors and non-minors, and (b) registration cannot require prerequisites open only or primarily to majors and minors. Prerequisites are appropriate, however, if they are widely available to the university community. For example, 300-level Psychology courses may require PSYC100 (General Psychology) as a prerequisite.
2. Each college is responsible for ensuring that the breadth courses offered by its departments/programs fulfill the criteria for one of the four areas described below. Colleges should also make sure that their nominated courses advance the purpose of the University breadth requirement, which is to provide all UD undergraduates, regardless of major, with the opportunity to explore diverse fields of knowledge and intellectual inquiry in disciplines represented by all colleges on campus. Relevant factors to consider, when evaluating whether a course is appropriate to satisfy a breadth requirement, include the intended audience, the expected degree of specialized knowledge, and the pedagogical objectives of the course.
3. A course can be nominated for only one breadth area. If a course crosses disciplinary or methodological boundaries, make a judgment about which area is the closest fit.
4. If you need to revise a course to fulfill breadth requirement criteria (e.g. to change or remove prerequisites), then you will need to submit these revisions to the online Course Inventory. Please indicate on your nomination list any courses that have been submitted for revision.
Each College will compile and submit a list of proposed breadth courses to the Breadth Requirement Subcommittee. Please use the format indicated in the template below. The role of the subcommittee will be to examine the lists to ensure that each course adheres to the criteria for open access, and that each course has been placed in the appropriate breadth area. When we have a question about placement or access, we will discuss the issue with appropriate college/department/program representatives to reach a mutually agreeable resolution. The subcommittee will then forward the completed list to the Undergraduate Studies Committee with its recommendation for approval. The list should be submitted to Eric Rise (erise@udel.edu) no later than December 11, 2009.
Please note that this process is separate from the approval process undertaken by the Educational Affairs Committee of the College of Arts and Sciences. Even if you have submitted a list of courses to the Educational Affairs Committee for breadth approval this year, you must submit a separate copy of the list to this subcommittee.
We realize that we have not anticipated all of the issues that may be involved in the implementation process, and that there may be matters that are unique to individual departments. If you have questions or need clarifications, please feel free to contact Eric Rise, the chair of the subcommittee, or the subcommittee representative from your college.
Descriptions of Breadth Areas
Creative Arts and Humanities:
Courses give students a better understanding and
appreciation of the visual and performing arts, of aesthetic forms, designs, or
craftsmanship, or of literary, philosophical, and intellectual traditions. Courses may focus on a single aesthetic form
or intellectual tradition, or cross-cultural differences or similarities.
History and Cultural Change
Courses provide students with an understanding of the sources and forces of historical change in ideas, beliefs, institutions, and cultures. Courses may address social, cultural, intellectual, economic, technological, artistic, scientific, and political development, changes in a discipline, or globalization and its effects.
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Courses provide students with an understanding of the behavior of individuals and social groups in the context of their human and natural environments. Courses emphasize the empirical findings, applications, and methods of the social and behavioral sciences.
Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Technology
Courses provide students with an understanding of fundamental and/or applied concepts and phenomena of mathematics, logic, and the natural and physical sciences, and methods used to approach and solve problems. The laboratory component provides exposure to the working methods of science.
Recommended Template
BREADTH REQIREMENT NOMINATION LIST
COLLEGE OF [College Name]
Creative Arts and Humanities
[Department/Program Names alphabetically]
[course identifications and titles, alphanumerically by subject code and course number]
[indicate cross-listings when applicable]
For example:
Anthropology
ANTH 205 Anthropology and Human Nature
ANTH 216 Introduction to Material Culture Studies (cross-listed with HIST 216 and MSCT 216)
Etc.
Art
ART 129 Design in Visual Arts
ART 204 Media/Design/Culture
Etc.
History and Cultural Change
[Department/Program Names alphabetically]
[course identifications and titles, alphanumerically by subject code and course number]
[indicate cross-listings when applicable]
Social and Behavioral Sciences
[Department/Program Names alphabetically]
[course identifications and titles, alphanumerically by subject code and course number]
[indicate cross-listings when applicable]
Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Technology
[Department/Program Names alphabetically]
[course identifications and titles, alphanumerically by subject code and course number]
[indicate cross-listings when
applicable]