We should be much better informed in this country of the implications and consequences of the Bologna process, and we soon might have to be as the Western Governors University and a Lumina Foundation initiative gather steam. So what is the Bologna process?

The first misconception is that Bologna is an initiative of the European Union. In fact, it is perhaps the most tangible non-legal initiative of the Council of Europe

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Requiring a mathematics or quantitative reasoning course as part of a liberal arts education is not a new concept, but many of the innovative ways that students are able to fulfill this requirement are. Previously students would likely have taken a course covering traditional math content, such as precalculus. The entire course experience was almost certainly reminiscent of the high school classes that, for too many of these students, had felt mechanical and uninspiring. Surely this was not what anyone had envisioned when they included a mandatory math component for graduation.

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Simply stated, I believe the core curriculum should have two purposes: first, to provide the basic knowledge and skills that the student will need to be successful in college and in life after college, and second, to engage students in learning about themselves, other people, and the world around them from a variety of perspectives provided by the different academic disciplines. It is time to implement a simpler core curriculum.

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I would like to initiate a discussion here about the desirability of making any changes to the current foreign language requirements at Salem State College, whether it be to relax them or to increase them. Such a conversation could be nothing but helpful in these times where the core is open for review.

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But arguments for revising the core curriculum are historically situated and context specific. What worked for Matthew Arnold in 19th century England or for Robert Hutchins at the University of Chicago in the 1930s or John Dewey in the first half of the preceding century will not work in the early years of the 21st century. For a 21st-century Core, we can’t look to the past. For one good reason: The Internet.

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A Core for the 21st Century By Rick Branscomb, English Department Arguments for revising the core curriculum are historically situated and context specific. What worked for Matthew Arnold in 19th century England or for Robert Hutchins at the University of Chicago in the 1930s or John Dewey in the first half of the preceding century [...]

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By Jude Nixon Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences This is my first opportunity as Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences (SOAS) to address you in ASpect. I wish first to express my deepest gratitude to Chris Fauske, who served tirelessly and diligently as Interim Dean, holding the office together in [...]

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Kate Kohler Amory (Department of Theatre & Speech Communication) has performed in many off-Broadway theater productions including The Life of Spiders, and Einstein’s Dreams (Culture Project), Twelfth Night and Much Ado About Nothing (Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater). She has performed with many regional theaters including Shakespeare&Company and New England Shakespeare Festival and has written and performed numerous [...]

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By Rebecca Hains Communications Department Kristin Esterberg is the Provost and Academic Vice President of Salem State College. The SOAS Communications Team gave a round table on interdisciplinarity this year on Opening Day.  The faculty in attendance noted that while there are various opportunities to do interdisciplinary work on campus, we also face a range [...]

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By Jim Gubbins Department of Interdisciplinary Studies “What is a good life?” Isn’t that a big, wonderful question? Isn’t that the question we should all be asking ourselves? I strongly suspect that unless we have wandered into a philosophy class, we are not asking that question, nor will we find that question dominating the Blogosphere, [...]

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