Ithaca College

Thank you to all who have participated over the last year and a half in developing the Integrative Core Curriculum (ICC) proposal. The questions raised in meetings across campus, feedback shared electronically or in person with me and members of the Committee on College-wide Requirements (CCR), work completed by School and departmental committees, and comments sent forward with results of discussions and voting in the Schools have been, and continue to be, essential to the development of the proposal and to future implementation of the program.

The CCR, chaired by Jack Rossen, deserves particular recognition for its efforts to this point. The task handed to that group when it was formed in October, to flesh out a curricular skeleton and shape it into a viable curriculum for the entire campus, was a mammoth undertaking. The time and thoughtful, deliberate intellectual effort the CCR has put into discussing the proposal and feedback from many constituencies, communicating with faculty and administrative personnel in the various Schools, and working to define an overarching vision for the ICC has been truly extraordinary and I want to publicly thank each of the CCR members: Mike Buck, Luke Keller, Granger Macy, James Pfrehm, Jack Powers, Jack Rossen, and John White, for their contributions to shaping this proposal.

As part of its process of obtaining feedback from faculty across campus, the CCR asked School curriculum committees to facilitate discussion and provide opportunities for faculty to formally weigh-in on the ICC proposal. The results of faculty voting across campus, provided by each of the Schools, appear below.

School of Business: 15 in favor, 3 opposed, 1 abstention 

Park School of Communications: 19 in favor, 14 opposed 

School of Health Sciences & Human Performance: 42 in favor, 6 opposed

School of Humanities & Sciences: 111 in favor, 41 opposed

School of Music: 45 in favor, 1 opposed, 5 abstentions

The support of faculty for the ICC, as evidenced by the large percentage of faculty voting in favor of the proposal, is important as the program moves forward. I also want to assure those who provided comments on the proposal, regardless of how they voted, that their feedback and concerns are being carefully considered as the ICC continues to develop.

The next stage of the curricular process is for the ICC proposal to go to the Academic Policy Committee (APC). The APC-Curriculum Subcommittee, chaired by Ann Lynn, has been generous in providing consultative comments during the development of the proposal and the ICC will formally move forward to APC this week. As we move to complete the curriculum approval phase of the ICC work, work on issues of implementation, which has already begun, will continue in earnest. Development of the Ithaca Seminar program, led by Associate Director of the ICC, Shaianne Osterreich, is proceeding with faculty development events and administrative coordination as we prepare to pilot the large-scale offering of this course in fall 2012. Faculty across the institution have responded enthusiastically to the Ithaca Seminar effort, as the initial goal of approximately 70 ICSM sections for fall 2012 has been exceeded and 82 sections are on the schedule. Many thanks to Shaianne for her leadership in this endeavor.

As we make the ICC ready for our students entering in fall 2013, continued collaboration among faculty and administrators across campus will be essential, particularly as we continue to work on the capstone and electronic portfolio elements of the ICC and to develop relationships between the ICC and other IC 20/20 initiatives, including the Center for Student Advising and Achievement, expected to open during the spring 2013 semester. Please know that Shaianne and I, as well as members of the CCR and other campus groups, continue to welcome questions, comments, concerns, and assistance as we move into this next stage of the ICC.