As many national commissions and observers have noted, the past forty years have brought unprecedented declines in humanities enrollments and programs in U.S. higher education. These changes are particularly striking in the iconic academic heart of the enterprise, the four-year college sector, where many institutions have diversified curricular…

Proponents of civic engagement extol the virtues of the college experience for enhancing students' capacities for democratic participation, yet few studies have examined the organizational contexts of such actions. This article applies theory regarding social movements in organizations to highlight the relationship between campus curricular…

Some major circumstances that require the development of new curriculum models are briefly discussed, and a statement of what a curriculum model must include to be viable is presented. (Article originally published in 1965.) (AF)

Although liberal arts colleges are reputed not to offer business education, a study of 182 nationally known colleges found that most offer business majors. Apart from economics, these programs predominantly operate outside disciplinary mainstreams. Although business education is associated with lower performance and reputation rankings, it is a…

Higher education's problems of adjustment and survival during World War II are discussed. Topics include acceleration of college programs in general, emphasis of vocational training, and staff and equipment diversion from undergraduate teaching to the war effort. (Article originally published in 1942.) (AF)

The responses of 10 disciplinary task forces to an Association of American Colleges challenge to improve the college major were examined, using content analysis. Consistent with previous research on academic planning, results showed that the disciplines respond to curricular reform proposals in different but characteristic ways. (Author/MSE)

The purpose of this study is to examine how particular courses that are inclusive of diversity in their content and methods of instruction, what educators will call "diversity courses," promote the importance students place on taking personal responsibility for social issues and problems. Two types of courses are compared in this study: diversity…

Although certain ethical issues in faculty employment have received attention, little consideration is given to others, such as the teaching role and avoidance of practical ethics in the curriculum. There are several possible reasons for this neglect, particularly the anxiety potential of the topics. College faculty must put their own ethical…

The general education curriculum should include academic experiences based upon selected theories of intellectual development. The works of Dewey, Piaget, and Perry provide the theoretical framework for an interdisciplinary model that takes cognitive development as the primary goal and disciplinary exposure as a by-product. (Author/MLW)

Issues of the value and direction of liberal education are viewed from three perspectives: content, intent, and consequences of liberal arts. Educators are encouraged to characterize their own positions and those of their colleagues as a way of understanding their own and others' priorities. (MSE)

A conceptual model of curricular decision making that identifies curricular planning variables and clarifies the relationship among these variables is presented. Environmental inputs affecting decision making and design variables from which decisions evolve, and the relationship between input variables and curricular design are discussed.…

Changes in the role of the university up to 1932 are discussed, focusing on the growing complexity of the curriculum, the trend toward specialization, changes in the scholarly environment, political and social events, and inquiry by the American Association of University Professors into the university faculty's new and future role. (Originally…

Five curriculum designs appropriate for general education programs that have evolved in American secondary schools and colleges are identified: distribution requirements, required courses, correlated courses, combined courses, the integrative seminar, and core curriculum. The advantages and disadvantages of each are discussed. (Author/MLW)

In designing a core curriculum, educators should use the cross-cultural methodology of the social sciences to examine the range of values implicit in a core curriculum. Students should also learn how to use cross-cultural studies, to both learn about other cultures and identify inconsistencies or shortcomings within their own culture. (MSE)

Calls for institutional accountability and curricular coherence suggest that faculty must collaborate more than they have in the recent past to achieve significant and ongoing curricular improvements. In the study reported here, the author and her colleagues asked members of academic departments with a reputation for ongoing curricular renewal to…