For the first time in more than a decade, a committee was formed to examine the RPI core curriculum. Of the recommendations, the most sweeping will require all undergraduates, starting with the Class of 2008, to take one course in biology/biotechnology. They also include an increased emphasis on entrepreneurship and technology, as well as a reinforcement of the dedication to calculus, humanities, and social sciences.
According to Vice Provost Gary Gabriele, with the exception of the biotechnology course most of the changes do not require a specific class to be taken. As Gabriele said, the recommendations are “leaving room for some innovation in the courses.” In almost all cases, departments will be able to choose which classes will best suit students in different courses of study.
As to the increased emphasis on entrepreneurship, Rensselaer is currently conducting a search for a vice provost for entrepreneurship. Gabriele outlined that the goal of the emphasis will be on teaching the “fundamental idea of how companies take concepts and turn them into products.” The person named to the new position will be responsible for designing the specifics of how to achieve this goal, but will be doing so in a school already rich with entrepreneurship. As Gabriele pointed out, RPI students already encounter entrepreneurship in Navigating Rensselaer and Beyond, a Union club, and a number of courses including Introduction to Management, as well as the Incubator Center.
While there is no plan to require all undergraduates to take a computer science courses, the curriculum expects that all students will understand the basics of an algorithm and how to use information technology to solve problems. “The best setup is one where students don’t depend on us for everything [they] learn, where [they] learn things on their own,” Gabriele said, describing the way in which this goal will be achieved. He elaborated that many students learn what they need in these areas both through the laptop program and simply being immersed in an atmosphere such as RPI.
In addition to these changes, every student will have to have an “appropriate culminating experience,” Gabriele said. Most curriculums are already structured this way—where seniors are required to work on a project as in engineering and EMAC or write a thesis on research in science curriculums. But some departments do not have such programs in place, and will need to develop one. Like the other recommendations made by the committee, the specifics of this will still be decided upon by the faculty of the individual schools.
The new course in biotechnology will be similar to the current “Introduction to Biology” course that is intended for non-majors; however, the curriculum being developed for it is being overseen by all departments to ensure that the class is appropriate for all undergraduates. Its planned topics will be evolution; genetics; molecular and biotechnology; environment, ecology, and diversity; and health and disease.
“The real intent,” said Gabriele, “is to provide a certain literacy in biology and biotechnology that we feel everyone graduating from RPI needs.”
The new course will be piloted in the spring and open to any undergraduate. All members of next year’s incoming freshmen class will be required to take the class and current students will be advised to take it if possible. The goal of requiring a life science course is to diversify and broaden the student’s view of the world around him or her. The Vice Provost said that without this broader view students are doing a “disservice” to themselves, as both companies and graduate schools are looking for graduates with broad backgrounds.
The last time the core curriculum was changed was in the early 1990s. Among the changes made then were increasing the quantity of courses that were taught in studio format and a greater emphasis on leadership in the curriculum.
