Among the common requirements for receipt of a degree in the social sciences is the completion of a senior seminar in which a senior thesis or capstone project is produced. A number of educational goals have been proposed for this requirement: integrating the knowledge base supplied by the regular curriculum, contributing to students' future roles…

Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa has developed a successful interdisciplinary program in liberal arts core courses, entitled "Introduction to Liberal Arts." The goals of the program, operational structure and curriculum construction are reviewed. (Author/PG)

A series of essays and lists of resource materials as well as courses relevant to peace studies at the University of California Berkeley are presented in the two guides. Topics of the 1982-83 guide include the undergraduate major in Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS), a proposed curriculum, core courses, concentration area courses (social systems,…

Reported are the findings of the Panel on Undergraduate Major Curricula which define the specific content on an undergraduate core curriculum in the biological sciences. In-depth analysis of the detailed information content of the core program is presented. Content descriptions of the core programs at four colleges are provided, and a composite…

The debate over the nature and form of general education is discussed. The Project on General Education Models, which surveyed colleges and universities that had taken concrete steps to review or revise their general education programs, is described. Some new programs are outlined. (MLW)

In the late 1970s, it became clear to a group of Kirkwood Community College (KCC) faculty and administrators that fewer and fewer students were taking humanities courses, that students' selection of courses was usually imbalanced, and that most had little idea of what the term "humanities" embraced. With a grant from the National…

A variety of general education programs and evaluation approaches are described, with a focus on assessments of student attitudes and achievement. The introductory essay by Jerry G. Gaff, "A Practical Approach to Evaluation," presents a three-step evaluation approach, as well as suggestions for general education program directors, deans,…

This paper describes a new degree option for the M.A. in French that was developed in response to declining graduate enrollment and complaints that the traditional study of literature is not relevant to future teachers at the high school and junior college level. The program fits into existing rules for the M.A. in literature and was based on…

The theme of this journal issue is "Institutional Renewal." Projects designed to address the issues of the 1980s at 18 colleges are described, and 15 definitions of institutional renewal are presented. Participating colleges were provided expert advice through the Association of American College's (AAC) Project Lodestar (renamed…

A model for an interdisciplinary graduate degree program based on the Behavioral Science Graduate degree program at California State University at Dominguez Hills is described. In light of the declining resources available to higher education institutions it is recommended that curricular programs be accountable and responsive to the needs of the…