drury: our context small college (1,600) in sw missouri; founded by congregational church liberal...
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Drury: Our Context• Small college (1,600) in SW
Missouri; founded by Congregational church
• Liberal arts heritage, now with professional & master’s programs
• 40% growth in campus-wide enrollment over the last decade
• Globally-oriented, common core General Education program introduced in 1995
Our Curriculum: Global Perspectives 21
• Goal: prepare students for responsible & productive lives in 21st century
• 57 hours focused on Global Studies
• Each student earns a minor in Global Studies by completing the curriculum
Why an Interdisciplinary Approach?
• Real-world problems• Modeling for our students• Addressing open-ended questions• Creating faculty connections and
community• Shared responsibility for general
education
The ‘Core’: 15 hours• Alpha Seminar: The American
Experience– Year-long, common first-year experience– Taught by faculty across the university
• Values Analysis (2nd year)• Global Awareness/Cultural Diversity
(2nd yr)• Global Futures (capstone)
– Connect general education & major field in addressing the nature & issues of the future
Other efforts
Theme Year Convocation Program Connecting core with themed events, speakers, readings and
assignments
Arts Administration Program Joint effort between business, art
Edward Jones Center for Entrepreneurship Study abroad support, Arts Administration
Connecting Science classes with service ‘Drury Science Day’ at middle school; all classes taught by
teams from General Education science classes
Other efforts
Forum on Animal Rights Supported by DU alum B. Barker Interdisciplinary team of 10 faculty from biology,
philosophy, psychology, languages,… First course offering: Animal Ethics (Fall 2008) Multi-team-taught course examining interactions of humans
and animals from a variety of intersecting perspectives Study and preparation for this course has already produced
changes in the faculty’s personal choices
Drury’s SIFE Team
Chapter of Students in Free Enterprise, a global non-profit
Develop projects locally, nationally and internationally that serve others through entrepreneurship Working with elementary schools kids in Laredo, TX to
develop and market class calendars Developing strategy for bio-sand water purification in
villages in Mexico, Zambia, and India 40 students from 15 majors across campus National and international recognition through SIFE
competitions (World Cup champions 2001, 2003)
Next Step: Pathways• Student desire for choice, coherence in GP21
experience• Solution in progress: Offer sets of linked core
courses around a common theme• Grew from existing options:
– Science & Inquiry with sustainability focus– Environmental Ethics for Values Analysis– Global Futures section focusing on ecological challenges
• Create linked sets of existing or modified courses, providing a pathway through GP21
• Six working teams preparing proposals– Latin America and Latina/o Studies, Gender Studies,
Global Health, Asian Studies, Middle Eastern Studies