Explore UAB

Myah Clinton
Staff Reporter
mkc16@uab.edu


When it comes to core curriculum, theatre is a class that Maggie Phillips, sophomore in psychology, could do without.  When it comes to core curriculum, theatre is a class that Maggie Phillips, sophomore in psychology, could do without. 


 “I just don’t really have a use for that in my field I want to go into,” she said. “I don’t really even enjoy watching theatre.” 


UAB is working on a new Signature Core Curriculum to better fit the needs of students. The new curriculum, which is one step of UAB’s Strategic Plan, will replace the current one that has been in effect since the 1990s, according to the Signature Core Curriculum webpage. 

“The core ought to feel as important to the overall undergraduate degree as the major does,” said Alison Chapman, Ph.D., professor and chair of the English department, who also serves as one of the three co-chairs for the UAB Signature Core Committee.  

Chapman said the new curriculum is still in the research phase. The committee is collecting feedback from students and looking at how other schools changed their core curricula.  Stephen Miller, Ph.D., associate professor in the UAB Department of History, teaches Western Civilization I and II, which fall under the Area IV core curriculum requirements in the UAB course catalogue.  Miller said he can tell whether students like his class or not. 


“For some, it’s obvious they are pre-med and nursing students and they’re there because they [have to be],” Miller said. “They just want to get their grade and get out. Then there are others who really like it, who sit up front and then they tell me afterwards that [lecture] was so cool. Some people even change their major to history.” 

Miller said that class sizes should not exceed 45 students.  “I would go back to the smaller classes, because other professors, not me, when they teach 101 and 102 [Western Civilization I and II], they continue to assign papers and essays, which helps students learn how to write,” Miller said.  Anna-Katherine Escoto, junior in biomedical sciences, said that she also would like to see smaller core classes.


“Whenever I walked into my chemistry class the first day, [there were] 200 people and I wasn’t expecting that,” Escoto said. “I do feel a disadvantage to the core classes is that there are so many students and your professors aren’t really available to see everybody.” 


Ishani Rewatkar, senior in psychology, said she thinks that students should simply be required to fulfill a set number of core curriculum credit hours instead of being told that they have to take specific courses.  Some students also think core classes take away priorities from their other classes.  

“They take away time from my anatomy class,” said Catherine Saunders, sophomore in nursing. “That’s what I really want to concentrate on, but I have to study for English when I really should be concentrating on my major instead of something I most likely will never use again.”  


Mike McConnell, Ph.D., academic advisor for the Vulcan Materials Academic Success Center, hosted a workshop on Demystifying the Core Curriculum, on Friday, Oct. 12. McConnell offered tips to students about how to make core classes better fit their schedule and major, such as taking some classes online and taking classes that fulfill both core curriculum and major requirements.