AMU Expands Academic Offerings
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Published on Friday, 04 November 2011 23:41
Ave Maria University is embarking on a significant expansion of its academic offerings, adding nine new majors and four new minors, as well as offering modern languages.
The school's board of trustees, in approving the new programs Friday, also voted to modify the university's core curriculum language requirement, which currently requires all students to take two semesters of Latin, to a requirement that all students take two semesters of a foreign language that could be a modern language rather than Latin.
University President Jim Towey said in an interview that AMU will continue to offer Latin, and it will be required for some majors, but wanted to give students more latitude in the language as part of the core curriculum.
The new majors, minors and languages are planned to begin in the 2012-2013 academic year.
"As you grow a university, you have to grow your academic offerings," Mr. Towey said. "Today we just took a giant leap forward."
The new president had asked faculty and other university staff and administrators to come up with recommendations for the new programs.
"I'm grateful to the faculty for responding so quickly," he said.
The new majors are: American Studies; Biochemistry; Catholic Studies; Global Affairs & International Business; Greek, Humanities & Liberal Studies; Managerial Economics and Strategic Analysis; Physics; Political Economy & Government. The new minors are: Catechetics; Ecology & Conservation Biology; Education; Family & Society.
AMU currently offers 12 majors and two minors. One of the current minors, Physics, will be elevated to a major bringing the total offering to 21 majors and five minors. The current academic programs can be viewed at the AMU website here.
The university will determine in the coming months which new languages to offer, Mr. Towey said.
The new majors and minors will be added with minimal additional staff, Mr. Towey said, because the current faculty has the skills and capabilities to teach the subjects that will be required. The university will need to add faculty to teach modern languages, none of which are currently offered at AMU.
Mr. Towey also said the board directed him and other staff to develop strategies to improve student retention. He said that the school would be looking at a number of factors, including financial aid, academic standards, quality of student life and best ways to help athletes academically. That initiative that will be guided and overseen by Dr. Michael Dauphinais, the university's dean of faculty (right).
Increasing retention, enrollment and fundraising all are critical to the university reaching its goal to be financially self-sufficient in the 2014-2015 academic year, Mr. Towey said.
The board of trustees also voted Friday to re-elect current board chairman Michael T.O Timmis for another four-year term.
