Mark Van Doren, the noted literary scholar, once remarked, "The college is meaningless without a curriculum, but it is more so when it has one that is meaningless." Many current critics of undergraduate curricula in America assent to the crucial need for programmatic renewal in our colleges and universities. They bemoan the cookie-cutter sameness in far too many of them. The oddity is that U.S. colleges have long touted their "diversity" while largely holding fast to rather traditional pathways. This illuminating volume goes beyond formulaic nuts-and-bolts recipes for constructing curriculum: it seeks to interpret and analyze the contemporary landscape of college curriculum. Yet it also hopes to heighten pedagogic horizons in more imaginative, innovative ways by presenting actual curricula from more distinctive academic offerings. This book will stimulate vitally needed "out-of-the-box" thinking about curricula among faculty, administrators, and students, and ultimately invite the emergence of more radically diverse visions and realities for today's college curriculum.
Industry Reviews
"All too often colleges and universities go about forming and delivering their curricula without thinking deeply about what goes into them and what their overarching purposes are. Joseph L. DeVitis's thoughtful and beautifully crafted book asks the big questions: Why do we do what we do? What are students learning? How do we know what we are doing is working? This volume is essential reading for college presidents, provosts, deans, department chairs, faculty members, and students who want to make a difference in their academic institutions." (Marybeth Gasman, Professor of Higher Education, University of Pennsylvania) "Dr. DeVitis's book is replete with both practical advice and thought-provoking conceptual and theoretical discussions of curriculum in higher education. This volume makes a tremendous contribution to the understanding of how and why college and university curricula are created and recreated. In addition, readers are introduced to an array of distinctive and innovative curricula from U.S. institutions. They offer fascinating opportunities to explore the unique ways that academe has developed curricula toward specific aims." (Beth Rushing, Vice President for Academic Affairs andDean of Faculty, St. Mary's College of Maryland) "Curriculum matters! This collection of essays explores a panoply of curricular approaches to undergraduate education. It highlights the vital importance of curriculum change through the lenses of distinctive initiatives in today's academic landscape. The book focuses on many key concerns: Core curriculum, civic education, multicultural education, service learning, and cooperative education, among others. It is also sensitive to the particularities of individual institutions. Joseph L. DeVitis understands and celebrates this while encouraging the rest of us to learn from assaying that diversity and picking out insights that might work for us." (Kenneth Waltzer, Professor of History, Former Dean of James Madison College. Former Director of Integrative Studies in Arts and Humanities, Michigan State University)
