The Liberal Arts Curriculum Proposal

Committee Process and Timeline of Activities

In February 2020, Dean Robert Flowers convened a committee to evaluate and consider changes to the general education program in the College of Arts and Sciences.  Members of the committee include co-chairs Amanda Brandone (Psychology) and Stephen Peters (Earth and Environmental Sciences), along with Eugene Albulescu (Music), Bill Bulman (History), Annabella Pitkin (Religion Studies), Brooke Rollins (Writing/English), Mark Skandera (Mathematics), Damien Thévenin (Chemistry).

The charge of the General Education Committee was to lead the College of Arts and Sciences in developing a coherent, thoughtful, 21st-century general education curriculum that reflects the College’s mission and values. 

Over a period of 18 months, the committee engaged in a systematic review of the liberal arts landscape resulting in the development of a mission and vision statement asserting the core values of our College and a proposal for a new liberal arts curriculum. The committee reviewed scholarship on best practices and creative solutions in general education, benchmarked peer and aspirational institutions, and consulted with faculty, relevant stakeholders, and disciplinary experts. Faculty were regularly apprised of committee progress at College faculty meetings, and faculty were encouraged to provide input into the curriculum development process. 

The committee shared a complete draft of the curriculum proposal in October of 2021 and invited faculty feedback via several town hall meetings and an electronic survey. The committee revised the proposal based on faculty feedback and presented the revised version at the CAS Faculty Meeting on November 15, 2021. 

In January 2022, an electronic vote was held and faculty voted strongly in favor of moving forward with the curriculum. Of the 226 CAS voting faculty, 168 cast votes (74%). 116 voted in favor of the proposal, 48 were opposed, and 4 abstained. This equates to support from 69% of those who voted and 51% of the eligible voting faculty.

After the vote of faculty support, the General Education Committee began further specifying the curriculum and analyzing its feasibility. Departments and programs provided initial information on how courses in the existing catalog meet the designations in the new curriculum. The General Education Committee co-chairs, with the support of the Registrar's Office, OIRSA, and the Dean's Office, conducted feasibility studies that evaluate students' ability to complete the curriculum, and the College's ability to offer the necessary courses. The committee also crafted catalog language to describe the mechanics and implementation of the curriculum. 

During Fall 2022, the College Policy Committee conducted an in-depth review of the curriculum and catalog language and submitted several revisions for consideration by the General Education Committee. All of the revisions were accepted and incorporated into the proposal. In January 2023, the College Policy Committee voted in favor of forwarding the revised curriculum for consideration and approval by the CAS faculty. 

In February 2023, the CAS faculty voted to adopt the new curriculum. Of the 184 faculty members who participated, 117 (63.6%) voted in support of the proposal, 58 (31.5%) voted opposed, and 9 (4.9%) were present but not voting. Finally, the proposal was approved by the Educational Policy Committee in March 2023 and the Faculty Senate in May 2023. 

The new Liberal Arts Curriculum is scheduled to be in place for students entering Lehigh in Fall 2024.  

This site presents (1) an overview and detailed description of the curriculum proposal, (2) tables providing a side-by-side comparison of the current and proposed curriculum, (3) analyses demonstrating the feasibility of the curriculum, and (4) the official catalog language voted on by CAS faculty. We also link to previous reports further describing the development of the curriculum proposal and the accompanying mission and vision statement.