by Rebecca Cooper
Staff Writer
The aroma of Chinese food and coffee waft into the offices of the Liberal Studies program after a summer of change.
The department moved from the Barkley Building to Suite 205 of the Lordsburg building on July 29.
They also rearranged two programs and hired two new staff members. To celebrate the changes, the office held an open house on Sept. 19.
“We’re experiencing lots of changes this year,” said Lisa Porter, director of liberal studies program. “The open house was very successful and a great way to celebrate all the changes we made.”
The biggest change to the program was a state mandate requiring all universities in California to revise and restructure their subject matters and get approval from the state.
In June, the University of La Verne became the first university in the state, under the “early adoption” process, to have its redesigned program approved. They are not required to have the redesigned program approved until Dec. 31, 2005.
“It was a grueling process and it seemed that it was never ending,” Porter said. “It’s great that we finished it all early, and were the first university, but now the challenge of balancing the old and new programs is what we face.”
The new program puts students in the classroom starting their freshman year, as opposed to their senior year.
There are more history, English and science classes, and a new California history class is required, Porter said.
“The reason the changes came about was that the state wanted to align the subject matter taught at the universities with the curriculum they’re actually teaching in the classroom,” Porter said.”This started with the incoming freshman, but does not impact continuing students, because the requirements are different and there are no benefits to them to switch, it would only require them to stay here longer. It’s been a balancing act, but an exciting one.”
A new requirement for Liberal Studies majors is an electronic portfolio that they can later use as a career tool to send as a portfolio to school districts after they complete the teacher credential program.
