The College has undertaken several initiatives at the undergraduate level to advance our commitment to equitable access and student success. The Excel Network establishes and supports a holistic approach to experiential learning, career education, student advising, and alumni networking in the College of Arts & Letters to chart successful paths to meaningful careers. Drawing on our new experiential learning requirement, the Excel Network supports our students as they seek to put their core values into practice and chart their own paths to intellectual leadership.
The Citizen Scholars Program, now in its third year, continues to provide open access for any aspiring College of Arts & Letters undergraduate to perform their way into academic excellence and advanced cultural and civic understanding through a combination of course-based and co-curricular requirements to the designation of “Citizen Scholar”. The program prepares students for meaningful careers and leadership roles by providing structured and self-directed paths that help them explore their own interests in diversity, inclusiveness, social justice, and civic service. These citizen scholars access resources to fund an enhanced capstone experience that sets them apart from their peers both through self-knowledge and career preparation.
With these signature programs in place as the infrastructure through which to enrich the undergraduate experience, the College needs to encourage more engagement with and support for the undergraduate mission through incentives that provide more robust rewards for undergraduate teaching and experiential learning. To this end, we will appoint a third Associate Dean in the College to focus on undergraduate education with a mandate to diversify the curriculum, so we can live up to our commitment to equity and on enhancing faculty engagement with the Integrative Arts & Humanities program as we advance our values of access and collaboration.