Shaping the Curriculum of the Future

Calling for a bold and comprehensive reimagining of Seattle University’s curricula to squarely and strategically meet the challenges of our time, Provost Shane P. Martin, PhD, opened the Reimagine and Revise Our Curriculum Summit on May 25 by pointing out the centrality of SU’s curriculum in the education we provide our students and in our contributions toward a more just and humane world.

“Our curriculum anchors everything we do here,” Martin said, adding later, “A Jesuit education is an action-oriented pedagogy.”

The Provost Fellows organized the summit, which convened more than 115 faculty—Department Chairs, Program Directors and the newly created role of RRC Coordinator, funded by the Office of the Provost’s grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust—all of whom are leaders and facilitators of curriculum change in their respective schools, colleges, departments and programs, to prepare for the work ahead next year in Reimagine and Revise Our Curriculum, Phase 2: Revise.

Provost Martin noted the challenge of reimagining SU’s curriculum comes as universities around the country confront not only a decreasing number of college-bound students but also political platforms that have turned against higher education, becoming what Provost Martin called “anti-intellectual” and “anti-academic.”

In such an environment, a values-based education has its place at the forefront, Martin said.

“I believe we need to double down on who we are and our values,” he told the gathering.

Here’s a look at some of the workshops and breakout sessions of the day:  

Sustainability, Environmental Justice and Integral Ecology 
When discussing how to integrate sustainability, climate change and social justice topics into curriculum, Associate Professor of Chemistry Katie Frato, PhD, said the moment society is in has prompted students to begin questioning their coursework.

“Never before have students cared why we taught stuff,” Frato said. “Now students are asking ‘Why?’ And that surprised us.”

Professor Tanya Hayes, PhD, director of the Institute of Public Service, said the purpose of the workshop was to engage with instructors about how they can integrate the topics into coursework, knowing that it might be a stretch for some.

“It’s just getting folks to think about what they can do,” Hayes said.

Some professors have adopted unique approaches to engaging students with the subject, such as Associate Professor Victor Reinking, PhD, director of French in France and Africa in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures.

As part of the program, nine of Reinking’s students wrote and performed a song about climate change and migration in Dakar, Senegal, in collaboration with three Senegalese singers and several Senegalese students. SU students are working on the final touches of a video for the song.

Building Greater Racial and Economic Justice in Curriculum with a Curricular Audit Tool
Led by Maureen Emerson Feit, PhD, Kerry Soo Von Esch, PhD, and Edward Donaldson III, DMin, this workshop centered on conversations around the use of a curricula tool that can help in engaging dialogue and implementing in coursework topics around racial and economic justice. In small table discussions, summit participants shared how this tool could be applied in their college or department as well as what conversations are already happening—or not—around issues of race and economic equity. While the tool is not intended to be a quick fix or a stand-in to avoid difficult but important conversations, it can be highly useful across disciplines.

“The curricular audit tool is designed to assist you and your colleagues as you foster more inclusive and equitable learning environments for your students,” said Feit.

Connecting the Big Three in Your Curriculum Revision 
This workshop looked at the connection to curricula in three key areas: racial and economic justice; technology and its impacts on society; and sustainability and climate change.

As one facilitator noted, the aim is to integrate these themes across campus. 

“Racial and economic justice can also be practiced through inclusive pedagogy,” noted one of the workshop’s facilitators, Professor Hazel Hahn, PhD. “It’s not just about students but also about ourselves.”

The session also sparked conversations around the importance of employing the “big three” in fostering “a classroom culture of mutual respect in which every student—and their aspirations—are validated.”

There were also discussions around integral ecology, which came out of the Laudato Si’ and Pope Francis’ “on care for our common home” and recognizing the urgency of the climate crisis and the need to approach it in a comprehensive way.

Engaging Seattle: Deepening and Expanding Experiential Learning Opportunities
During the breakout session for “Engaging Seattle: Deepening and Expanding Experiential Learning Opportunities,” Kent Koth, executive director of the Sundborg Center for Community Engagement, noted that students who participate in community-engaged learning report deeper learning, engagement with diverse communities and greater confidence in their skills.

Ultimately, it makes the students more likely to become civically engaged, “regardless if it’s here or elsewhere,” Koth said.

In making those experiences available to all SU students, the university reached out into the diverse and historic neighborhoods that surround campus.

“Everything we do starts with listening to the community’s needs,” said Cecilia Morales, PhD, senior director of Campus and Community Partnerships for the Sundborg Center for Community Engagement.

As part of its “place-based approach,” SU partners with more than 100 community-based organizations, schools, government agencies and nonprofits, Morales said.

Setting up the programs takes time and effort, though. Associate Professor of Communication and Media Rick Malleus, PhD, said instructors have to jump through many hoops when crafting experiential learning programs.

“It does take some creativity to broaden our ideas of what would work,” Malleus said.

Nursing and teaching are majors that naturally lend themselves to experiential learning—engineering and business are other disciplines that have easily identifiable paths into community settings. But what about something like philosophy?

Often students can become crestfallen when confronted with the realities of the world, said Assistant Professor of Philosophy Char Brecevic, PhD, who looked for experiential learning opportunities that can provoke engagement with the material while also showing students the good that is happening in their communities.

“I think philosophy is a way of life,” Brecevic said. “It’s not just writing papers.”

Brecevic brought a group of students to a reserve where the animals had been fitted with prosthetic devices. Students at first were surprised to learn that animals who suffered an injury were not immediately euthanized.

It might be impractical for every student to participate in community-engaged learning, as many students must hold down jobs while cramming in classes and homework, said Kiyana Higa, assistant director of career education at the Career Engagement Office.

Often it just takes learning new ways of explaining their experiences when presenting themselves to potential employers and understanding what they are already doing can be experiential learning.

Often Higa hears students depreciate their valuable experience in class by saying, “I just did those things.”

“‘I just did those things’ are huge pieces,” Higa said.

Read on to learn more about this work. If you would like information on how you can support Reimagine and Revise Our Curriculum, contact Vice President for University Advancement Edgar Gonzalez.