Cauldron

Issue date: 9/20/07 Section: Front Page

Media Credit: Michael Golden Working hard, in Doherty Library, sophomore English major Mary Green (left), junior communication and philosophy major Max Faidi, sophomore Brendan Hall and sophomore communication major Darnell Miller study.

A committee of UST faculty and administrators, appointed by President Robert Ivany, will be responsible during the next two years for the review and reform of UST's core curriculum.

Assistant Vice President of Academic Affairs Jerry Kramer will chair the committee, Dean of Arts and Sciences Dominic Aquila will be the vice-chair and honors program director Terry Hall will be the committee coordinator.

The committee comprises nine members. Four members represent the humanities and fine arts, including assistant English professor Shannon Forbes, theology professor Paul Hahn, philosophy chair Mary Catherine Sommers and Hall. One member represents the natural sciences and mathematics, biology chair Rosie Rosell. One member represents social and behavioral sciences, political science professor John Burke. A Basilian priest, the Rev. John Gallagher, is also on the committee. All committee members are Catholic.

In a letter to Ivany, Hittinger, Kramer and Aquila dated Sept. 7, the chairs of the mathematics, chemistry, environmental studies, history, biology, psychology, political science, international studies and communication departments requested more representation on the committee in the form of one additional representative from natural scienes and mathematics and another representative from the social and behavioral sciences.

Additionally, they requested that one of the members be non-Catholic to represent the faculty and students who are not Catholic at the University.

In a charge to the reform committee, Ivany noted that the core curriculum has not been revised for 25 years. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools requires continuous assessment and improvement of the core to maintain accreditation, and the guiding apostolic document "Ex Corde Ecclesiae" calls for an integration of disciplines.

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