Faculty has until 2013 to incorporate changes

The Board of Trustees approved removing Liberal Education Requirements from Kent State’s curriculum.

In its place will be the new, more streamlined Kent Core curriculum, a system that will allow students to take electives within their major and not require students to retake courses after changing their major. The restructuring will take place in Fall 2010, but faculty will have until Spring 2013 to implement changes to their rubric.

Faculty Senate endorsed the curriculum changes at its Dec. 7, 2009 meeting. The Senate’s Professional Standards Committee developed the new system.

“(The Liberal Education Requirements) were burdensome on everyone,” President Lester Lefton said. “We’ve streamlined it. It will facilitate students graduating within four years.”

Patrick Mullin, Board of Trustees chairman, said he hopes the new set of requirements will help quicken students’ graduation.

“It’s funny because everything really comes around and goes around,” Mullin said. “When I was here 40 years ago, we had a core set of requirements much like these. Now the average graduation date is 6.5 years. But 40 years ago it was 4.5 years.”

The board and members of Lefton’s cabinet toured campus following the meeting to evaluate aging facilities that will be targeted in a $200 million, university-wide renovation.

No new decisions were made about the renovations, which Lefton said will begin to take place in six to nine months.

President Lefton discussed last week’s university economic summit and the release of a new economic impact study during his report to the board.

The Board of Trustees’ next meeting is scheduled for March 16.

Contact administration reporter Jenna Staul at [email protected].