| cultural life program | |
|---|---|
| tuition & financial aid |
Beginning next fall, our
academic programs here at Furman will undergo their most profound overhaul in
nearly 40 years, since the installation of our current 3-2-3 academic calendar
and the foundations of our current general education requirements were
established. Significant changes are on
the way for the academic calendar, the general education requirements, the
requirements in many major fields of study, the cultural life program, the
tuition and fee structure, study away opportunities, and our advising and
registration processes. While much will
change on campus next year, Furman will retain its core mission as an
outstanding liberal arts institution.
Since the adoption of the “Invigorating Intellectual Life” proposal in November 2005, many members of the Furman community, including faculty, staff, and students, have been engaged in very deliberate and careful planning to ensure that the implementation of all of these changes next fall will be as seamless as possible. We want to make sure you know what is ahead of us.
calendar & class meeting times
Furman will begin using a “semester
plus” academic calendar
beginning in fall 2008. Classes will
typically start for the fall semester the final week of August and conclude
with a week of final exams in mid-December.
Final exam periods will include five exam days and two reading
days. Classes will not be held on Labor
Day, during a two-day break in mid-October, and on the Wednesday, Thursday, and
Friday of Thanksgiving week.
The spring semester
typically will begin the Monday before the Martin Luther King, Jr.
holiday. Classes will not be held the
third Monday of January to observe Dr. King’s birthday, during a week-long “spring”
break in early March, Good Friday, and on the Monday immediately following
Easter Sunday. Final exams for the
semester will be conducted at the end of April and the first few days of
May. Commencement exercises will be held
either the first or second weekend of May each year.
The “plus” element of the
calendar, the May Experience, will normally begin the Monday immediately
following commencement in mid-May and conclude three weeks later on the Friday
after Memorial Day. All students will
have the option, but no student will be required, to participate in the unique
learning experiences conducted during this brief May term.
Some students may also opt
to enroll in the university’s summer session.
The summer session in our revised calendar will operate roughly in the
same time frame as our current summer offerings. Most courses will begin in early June and
conclude by mid-July, but we expect students may also be able to choose from a
greater variety of course start and end dates throughout the summer in a more
“open” summer calendar. All courses will
conclude no later than the third week of August.
Classes in our new calendar set-up will typically meet three times a week for 50 minutes or twice a week for 75 minutes a meeting. A variety of other course meeting patterns to accommodate the most effective teaching methods in each discipline will also be common, including once-a-week seminars, four-day-a-week meetings in courses requiring intensive patterned learning, and weekly or twice weekly laboratories, studios, ensembles, or activity models. The normal class day will begin at 8:30 AM and conclude at 4:30 or 5:00 PM each weekday. A significant number of courses offered later in the afternoon will definitely be different for life here at Furman. But, unlike in the past, we will do our best to make students aware of all the required time commitments for each course before they begin the registration process.
curriculum for returning students & transition rules
Early on in the planning for
implementation, the faculty adopted a Statement
of Principles that promised the revisions to Furman’s academic calendar and
curriculum would not negatively impact students who “progress satisfactorily”
and “plan responsibly.” Along those
lines, students admitted to Furman for any term prior to fall 2008 will be
required to complete the general education course requirements (GERs) described
in the current university catalog: ENG-11, HST-11, REL-11 or 12, upper level
humanities, etc. and the Asian-African course requirement; no new GERs have been added for returning
students. All the regulations and caveats
associated with meeting the current general education requirements still apply,
except when specifically stated otherwise.
The most significant
exception for these returning students will begin in fall 2008. Approved by the faculty in April 2007 to
permit broad participation in new curricular offerings and to allow for a quick
transition away from “old” courses, current GERs may be fulfilled by substitute
courses that meet the related requirement in the new
|
Students may earn credit
toward the current GER designation, as always, through already approved
courses: |
OR courses via the
“related” GER designation in the new curriculum: |
|
Composition (ENG-11) |
First Year Writing Seminar
(FYW) |
|
Humanities-History (HST-11) |
Historical Analysis of Human
Interactions (HA) |
|
Humanities-Religion (REL-11 or
12) |
Ultimate Questions (UQ) |
|
Humanities-Literature (ENG-12
and others) |
Critical, Analytical
Interpretation of Texts (TA) |
|
Upper-Level Humanities (any
course numbered 20 through 79 in a humanities discipline with specific
exceptions and additions as indicated in the university catalog) |
Any course numbered 200 or
greater that satisfies Ultimate Questions (UQ), Critical, Analytical
Interpretation of Texts (TA), or Historical Analysis to Study
Past Human Interactions (HA) |
|
Fitness and Wellness (HES-10) |
Body and Mind (MB) |
|
Foreign Language (language
skills courses or any course in a language discipline numbered 22 or greater) |
Foreign Language (FL) ***NO CHANGE*** |
|
Mathematics (MTH-11, 15, 16,
31, 32, or 33) |
Mathematical and Formal
Reasoning (MR) |
|
Natural Sciences (BIO-11, 16,
CHM-11, 12, 16, 18, EES-11, 16, 18, 21, PHY-11, 12, 14, 15 or 17, SCI-16 and
17) |
Empirical Study of the Natural
World (NW) |
|
Social Sciences (ANT-12, 21,
ECN-11, ED-20, PS-11, 12, PSY-21, 23, SOC-11 or 24) |
Empirical Study of Human
Behavior (HB) |
|
Fine Arts (ART-26, MUS-20,
THA-11, or Music Theory) |
Visual and Performing Arts
(VP) |
|
Asian-African (any course with
a number beginning with A) |
World Cultures (WC) |
No change will occur to the
foreign language requirement for returning students, although it will no longer
be possible to complete the entire language sequence 11, 12, and 21 in one
academic year. It is also true that
students already enrolled at Furman will not be required to complete any type
of first year seminar, nor is it likely students outside of their freshman year
will be able to participate in the seminars based on both their design and
limited availability.
Requirements will also change
in many major fields of study during the “transition” period. Departments are likely to approach these
changes in two ways. Departments employing
“parallel” standards will establish a certain date when all majors declared at
that point would meet requirements as stated prior to that date, while all
majors declared after the date would be subject to revised major
requirements. This method will be used
when changes are drastic and the department can support offering two unique
curricula. However, we expect that most
departments will “merge” their major requirements, moving all declared majors
to the new standards and allowing liberal substitutions so that no students who
have “progressed satisfactorily” and “planned responsibly” will be
disadvantaged.
A normal course load each
semester will be 16 credits; a typical student course load will consist of 4
four-credit courses. The minimum number
of credits required for the award of a bachelor’s degree will still be 128
credits, eight semesters earning 16 credits each semester. After all students
have had their first opportunity to register for the next semester, students in
good academic standing will be permitted to increase their course load up to 18
credits. Students with a grade point
average of 3.30 or greater (“B+” or better) in their past 32 credits will be
able to enroll for up to 20 credits at this point. Students in their first year at Furman, those
who have not yet earned 32 credits, will typically still not be permitted to
overload.
Finally, all courses will
be referred to for advising, registration, and record-keeping purposes by a
three-character discipline prefix, a course number of three or more characters,
and a two-character section suffix (for instance ECN-111-01 instead of
ECN-11-A). GER designations, for both
the current and new curricula, as well as the current two-digit course number
will be posted alongside new course numbers in all advising and registration
materials to limit confusion throughout the entire transition period.
returning student advising & registration
As we transition to a new
academic calendar and curriculum, the basic philosophies of our current
advising and registration processes will be retained, while the tools we employ
to accomplish these tasks will be dramatically improved. Students will continue to be required to meet
with their academic advisors each semester before they are permitted to
register. Initial registration priority
will still be based on credits earned and CLP events attended and within these
priority groups all students will continue to get a first course before any
student gets a second course, and all students will get a second course before
any student gets a third, and so on.
All of our advising and
registration tools will be consolidated into one entity, known as ARMS or
Advising & Registration Made Simple, delivered via our current student
information web solution, WebAdvisor, or a soon-to-be implemented
university-wide portal. A host of corny
acronyms will replace our current terminology --for instance, ICE (Initial Course
Election) will replace pre-registration and CAP (Course Adjustment Period) will
replace drop-add here at Furman-- and we will provide much more explicit online
instructions and help all in an effort to make the tools easier to use and
easier to understand. For instance, the
web-based course listings will undergo significant revision; the new mechanism
for listing our offerings each semester will allow more precise browsing,
provide course descriptions and GER designations for every section, and permit
us to abandon our paper copies.
Advisor permission will now
be required for all registration transactions, not just the initial course
election process, but registration PINs will be a thing of the past. Improved access to student records for advisors
will allow them to turn students’ ability to participate in the registration
process on and off via an “advisee roster.”
A host of other upgrades will be implemented as we retire FUWV and roll
out the ARMS product. All school
officials with a legitimate educational interest will benefit too as the new
tool will allow expanded access to student records, while securing these
records from inappropriate use will continue to be a top priority.
The Initial Course Election
process, formerly pre-registration, will be transformed. The revised process will let students
identify hundreds of sections, rather than just twelve, that they are
interested in for the next semester. It will also allow students to better
pinpoint sections that are their clearly preferred choices. All choices will be edited before students
submit their requests so it will not be possible to waste a selection on a
course section for which they are not eligible to register.
Some important changes to the timing of registration are also in store. All returning students will submit their ICE
selections by a common deadline that will give students three to four weeks in
the middle of the semester to meet with their advisors and make their choices
for the next semester, relieving everyone involved of the need to take action
in the two- or three-day windows we currently employ. The common deadline will allow us to better
respond to student demand, eliminating the need to restrict choices to whatever
is left. Department Chairs, the
Registrar, and the Dean will review the ICE results before they are released
each semester, adjusting offerings and schedules, to maximize both available
resources and student satisfaction with the outcome. Our plans will also enable
the use of web-based drop-add throughout the entire course adjustment period
instead of relying entirely on a paper process once classes have started.
The
calendar change will allow billing and financial aid processes to be simplified
significantly. We will now assess
tuition and fees and apply financial aid only twice a year, once each semester,
with the amount due divided evenly between those two terms. Our plan is still to mail a paper bill to the
student home address roughly four weeks prior to each semester. We hope to add the ability to directly accept
electronic transfers for the payment of tuition in the very near future. Tuition payments can still be made using a credit
card through Check Free, a third party processor, for an additional fee.
Furman
will continue to assess a comprehensive tuition charge, which will now include laboratory
fees, to all degree-seeking students consistent with the all-encompassing
nature of our undergraduate day program. The fee structure has been established
to offset some of the significant costs the university encounters in our
attempt to offer the finest quality liberal arts education to all
students. In regard to tuition, fees and
financial aid, we intend to remain competitive in the higher education
marketplace, and the university will do all that we can to make a Furman
education both accessible and affordable to as many as families as we can.
The
following charges are inclusive for all degree-seeking undergraduate day
program students:
The
following expenses will continue to be the responsibility (and at the
discretion) of the student:
Degree-seeking
students enrolling for fewer than 12 credits during any semester can not be
considered full-time students. Students considering enrolling for fewer than 12 credits should consult with
their academic advisors, Financial Aid, and/or Academic Records. Attending
Furman on a part-time basis may impact student financial aid eligibility,
progress toward degree completion, participation in co-curricular activities
(especially intercollegiate athletics) at Furman and even interests outside of
the university, such as health insurance coverage.
Students
intending to enroll on a part-time basis may apply to be charged tuition on a
per credit basis. Exceptions to the comprehensive tuition rate will be granted
only to students who are financially independent or who have documented
financial, medical, or learning difficulties. Comprehensive tuition rate
exceptions based on earned credits (the senior exemption) will no longer be
available for students entering Furman in fall 2007 or later.
The Cultural Life Program
(CLP), a staple of the undergraduate experience at Furman since the mid-1970s
will remain largely intact as we implement the new academic calendar and
curriculum. A special faculty committee
convened last year affirmed the value of the program, clarified the
requirements for events to gain a CLP designation, and tweaked student
attendance requirements. Beginning
August 31, 2008, students must be credited with attending 4 CLP events each
semester they are enrolled, not to exceed 32 events regardless of when they
started or how long it takes them to complete their studies. Students studying away from campus on travel
study or with a Furman affiliate program will be awarded credit for attendance
at 4 CLP events for each semester they cannot attend events here on campus.
Furman will continue to offer a wide variety of study away
opportunities, although the exact structure of these programs (length of stay
away from campus, housing for programs that will be on-campus for part of the semester)
have yet to be finalized. Furman continues to be primarily committed to travel
study programs, a distinct type of study away, where our own faculty accompany
each trip and teach courses from our curriculum. For fall 2008, we expect to conduct travel
study programs in
Many
universities outsource their study away programs by placing students in
programs at other institutions or organizations. Furman will continue to participate in this
model of study away as well, with affiliate or exchange programs in Australia,
China, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Scotland, South Africa and the Netherlands.
The Study Away & International Education office here on campus advises students on all types of study away opportunities: travel study, affiliate and exchange. Be mindful, though, study away will continue to be a privilege; participation in any particular program is not guaranteed. To improve their chance of being selected, students should consider the following:
The May Experience (May X) will
provide Furman students unique opportunities to explore a special area of
intellectual interest in-depth. Students
opting to participate in the experience immediately following the spring
commencement ceremony will engage in a single topic for three weeks. The two-credit offerings are expected to
include stand-alone on-campus mini-courses, specially designed short travel
study programs, value-added supplements to spring semester courses or specific
preparation for summer learning opportunities.
Akin to an overload during a
traditional semester, no additional tuition charges will apply for full-time
students choosing to complete a May X.
On-campus housing in designated
O week and new student advising & registration
Acclimating new students to
campus, advising and registering for fall term, building a sense of community
here at Furman, and establishing memories and friendships that will last a
lifetime are some of the goals we accomplish in our current orientation
week. The revisions to the calendar and
curriculum forced us to re-consider how we make all of that happen and what we
would need to do differently in the future to meet those same goals.
Our intention is to preserve
the extremely positive experiences most students derive from our current
orientation program, but to lessen the stress of the first few days on Furman’s
campus by using the time between a prospective students’ submitting their
enrollment deposit and the day they first arrive on campus in late August more
effectively. Most Furman students have a story about the deluge of mail they
received from the university the summer before they began their freshman year. We
plan to alleviate this glut of mailings by developing a website devoted to
information for new students. The site,
organized by “what to do to prepare” checklists and “when it needs to get done”
timelines, will be the primary means of communicating with new students.
The site will also connect
students to online placement tests and advising tutorials, enable them to
indicate first year seminar assignment preferences and guide them through the
initial course election process for the fall semester. Information supplied by new students will
allow us to develop tentative course schedules for each one of them that will
be carefully reviewed by a collection of faculty and academic
administrators. These tentative course
schedules will provide a jump-start for the personal advising relationships
that we strongly value here at Furman.
We expect that having this information already in hand will allow the
advising discussions that will occur during the on-campus orientation to be
much more than “nice to meet you, let’s make sure you get three classes, we’ll
talk more substantively later.”
On-campus orientation will
begin with new student move-in on the Friday before fall semester classes start
the next Wednesday. We expect to celebrate the opening of a new academic year with
university-wide welcome programs beginning the next day at noon, the Saturday
before classes start. A full slate of orientation
programming will extend through the next weekend co-mingled with the first few
days of class.
We are confident that the
transition to a new academic calendar and curriculum will be successful. We know as we progress through the
implementation process that we will almost certainly encounter some unexpected
challenges. The degree of our success
will depend largely on the entire university community’s being well-informed
about the changes, understanding the goals we hope to accomplish with the new
calendar and curriculum, and being willing to adapt accordingly.
This is an exciting time to
be a part of the
Find out more at the ITF web site: www.furman.edu/itf.