First-Year Experience Curricular Component
Approved by the Curriculum Committee on February 10, 2010, to be effective Fall 2010
Approved by Campus Assembly on March 3, 2010
Updated and Approved by Campus Assembly on September 27, 2022 in conjunction with the Morris Core Curriculum
The broad goal for an Intellectual Community (IC) seminar course aimed at first-year UMM students is to produce a small class setting where students will become part of a liberal arts intellectual community. To accomplish this, these IC courses will introduce students to the skills necessary to engage in discussions with one another and encourage active involvement of students with the material, each other, and their faculty instructor.
The IC component is fashioned after the other general education components of the curriculum: it describes what the expectations are and it allows faculty to design and decide how these expectations will be best met.
Goal of the IC requirement
Foster development of an intellectual community among new college students at UMM
IC courses need to
- introduce students to intellectual and practical skills that they will need to participate effectively in an intellectual community
- be designed to promote active participation (written, oral, creative) by students
- provide students with the opportunity to work with and to know others from their cohort well
- provide students with the opportunity for close interaction with faculty
Implementation Considerations
- IC courses could have discipline-based prefixes or could be IS courses, but all will be at the 1xxx level. IC courses are 2 credits. Course enrollments for 2-credit courses would be expected not to exceed 18 students.
- All new college students would be expected to complete the IC requirement in their first semester of enrollment at UMM. Transfer students who have completed 12 credit hours or more of courses as a degree-seeking student at a college or university would be exempt from this requirement. Students who fail their IC course will still be required to satisfactorily complete the IC requirement.
- Course proposals for the IC designation will be solicited from faculty on campus. The Curriculum Committee will screen these proposals and work with faculty to ensure that the goals of the general education requirement are met by the course as described.
- Courses with the IC designator will be brought through disciplines and divisions, reviewed and approved by the full Curriculum Committee, and brought to Campus Assembly for approval. Please find the course proposal form on the Curriculum Change Form website.
- While this general education requirement meets the curricular aspects of the First-Year Experience for college students, we expect to work closely with campus committees and staff in ensuring that other aspects of the transition to college are addressed through appropriate campus programs and events.