Student Keanu Daly speaks into a microphone during a public presentation

Initiatives of the CAS Strategic Plan

Enhance Transformative Education

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The college will enable students to deeply reflect on, better articulate, and put into practice their transformative liberal arts experiences.

The college will cultivate activities that enable students to deeply reflect on, better articulate, and put into practice their transformative liberal arts experiences through: structural changes; operational process improvements and financial support; enhancing student learning and high-impact practices such as internships, research, experiential learning, team-teaching, community & alumni engagement, study abroad, and global learning.

Why Is This Important?

High impact practices are critical components for student learning, vocation discernment, community engagement, and an overall high quality liberal arts education. Team-teaching is recognized to be valuable for students and faculty alike in providing diverse perspectives and deeper learning experiences. By deeply reflecting on, better articulating, and putting into practice their transformative liberal arts experiences, the impact of those experiences will be heightened and communicated.

What Does Success Look Like?

Students and alumni recognize that a liberal arts education fosters creativity, relational intelligence, and an integrative habit of mind, which equips them to embrace adaptability, navigate complexity, and form meaningful connections in their professional and social circles. They are thereby empowered to thrive in an ever-changing world. More students are able to articulate the transformative value of their CAS education.

First-Year Goals

Identify existing practices that cultivate transformational liberal arts experiences and illuminate those via activities and awards that connect students and alumni.
Working in collaboration with the Career Development Center, University Advancement, and the Center for the Common Good, evaluate current status of high impact practices across CAS, prioritize them, and provide new grant opportunities, operational fixes, and other supports for high-impact learning.
Assess current team-teaching initiatives (Living-Learning Communities, Honors Program, etc.), identify new areas for team-teaching efforts, and develop a process for programs to request team-teaching opportunities in the college.