University of Southern Maine

News Releases

USM Uses Davis Educational Foundation Grant to Implement New General Education Curriculum

July 18, 2008

USM has received a $354,420 grant from the Davis Educational Foundation to support implementation of USM's new general education curricula, a series of courses required of all undergraduate students. This grant follows two other Davis Educational Foundation grants, one for $92,200 and another for $100,000 awarded in 2002 and 2003, which supported the planning stages of the curricula.

The USM Core and the Lewiston-Auburn College Common Core are replacing the University’s 20-year-old general education curriculum. Following recent approval by the USM Faculty Senate, USM is moving toward full implementation of the new curricula, a process to be completed no later than 2012.

The USM Core is a progression of courses that begin in the freshman year with the interdisciplinary Entry Year Experience (EYE), college writing and quantitative reasoning courses.  It concludes with a capstone project related directly to a student’s major.

EYE courses are team designed by professors from different academic departments who give a range of perspectives on subjects as diverse as shopping, public green space, and natural disasters through rigorous reading and writing assignments, group discussions and fieldwork. “Shopping: Consumerism in America” had students doing field research at the Maine Mall, while “Portrait of Space” led students to the studio of local artist Pandora LaCasse to help her build the light sculptures in Portland’s Deering Oaks Park, the public green space they studied.

The USM Core also will feature a “Mid-career Seminar,” giving students a chance to consider ethical issues and reflect critically on their roles in society.  Students will also have the option to complete a minor that explores a topic or theme in depth.

In a letter, Carol Geary Schneider, president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) noted that, "... that the work being done on your new general education curricula is cutting-edge in the national context." An AAC&U newsletter story about USM’s General Education curriculum is available on the AAC&U Web site at http://www.aacu.org/aacu_news/AACUNews07/june07/feature.cfm

The Davis Educational Foundation was established by Stanton and Elisabeth Davis after Mr. Davis's retirement as chairman of Shaw's Supermarket, Inc.

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