Liberal Education Curriculum Survey - Round 2
Since 1995, there has been a program of study that has been required of all students who graduate from the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) at WMU. This program, known as the Liberal Education Curriculum (LEC), gives all CAS students a foundation in three areas that are core to the mission of the College: world languages, writing and critical thinking. The LEC incorporates the requirements of the current University General Education program so that students who complete the LEC will automatically have satisfied their General Education requirements.
The Liberal Education Curriculum is being phased out with the implementation of WMU Essential Studies (WES). CAS leadership formed a committee in the fall of 2018 to investigate replacing the LEC and maintaining core College requirements beyond WES for CAS students as an academic signature going forward. The LEC Committee has met monthly since then to research the possibilities. CAS leadership wants this information gathering process to be as inclusive as possible.
An initial survey was conducted online in December, open to CAS departments/units, individual faculty, students and staff. The results of the first survey revealed strong support for keeping and even strengthening existing requirements. Furthermore, new potential requirements were suggested as well, as was a name change for the required CAS program of study. Market research was then conducted to see what Colleges of Arts and Sciences at peer universities were requiring in regard to world language study, writing and critical thinking. In addition, independent, authoritative academic perspectives were sought out in each of these areas of study. The results of the initial survey in conjunction with the market research and the expert academic opinions have led the LEC Committee to formulate some basic tenets of a new proposal. The LEC Committee proposes replacing the LEC with a new program of study to be known as College of Arts and Sciences Essentials (CASE).
At this time, the LEC Committee is distributing a Round 2 survey to all of the CAS departments and units to provide further input and guidance in this process. The LEC Committee requests that CAS department/unit chairs distribute this packet to all faculty members in their respective CAS departments/units in advance of March faculty meetings so that informed discussions of this matter may take place at the March department/unit meetings. Only one response per department/unit will be accepted; therefore, each department/unit's response should represent the majority opinion of the department/unit.
Current LEC requirement
Below you will find a series of one-page briefs for each current LEC requirement:
Each brief is followed by the Round 2 survey for that area of study. The LEC Committee requests that, before answering the Round 2 survey questions, all CAS departments/units give very careful consideration to the one-page briefs.
Potential new CASE areas of study
The following areas have been identified from the first survey as potential new areas of study that CASE could include beyond world language, writing and critical thinking:
- Experiential learning
- Social science
- Multiculturalism/race relations
- Sustainability/environment/climate change
- Money management
- Language arts beyond literacy
Below you will find a one-page brief for these potential new areas of study: