| fsu torches | | florida state university |
Office of the President > State of the University 2000 | departments | directories | search || departments || directories || search |
   
 

A Future We Would Welcome - How We Measure Up
 An Update on the Recommendations of Florida State University’s
Commissions on the Future
  II. Improve the educational experience of our undergraduates. Recommendation II
    Building on the tradition of excellence of Florida State College for Women in liberal studies, the faculty and administration of FSU are working to assure that every undergraduate student on this campus has a nurturing and enhancing experience through both our curriculum and our environment.
    When he spoke to our Commissions, Frank Rhodes, the distinguished former president of Cornell University, encouraged us to dramatically reformulate our liberal studies program for today’s student. As Dr. Rhodes intended, moving toward this goal has taken some soul-searching.
    In 1999 the Faculty Senate appointed an Ad Hoc Committee on Liberal Studies, which reported the state and direction for liberal studies at Florida State. The Undergraduate Policy Council has reviewed the entire liberal studies program and provided mechanisms for assuring its quality, including distance learning. Over the course of the coming year, the faculty will have the opportunity to review these recommendations.
    Smaller class sizes for students in their first two years has been one of our goals, and we have found several new ways to provide students with more face-to-face exposure to senior faculty. Our freshmen now have the opportunity to interact with senior faculty in small groups through our Presidents’ Seminars for first-year students. This semester, 18 seminars are being offered. Over the years, topics have ranged from the Geography of London to Philosophies of Love to Traumatology.
    Thanks to all of you who have been offering these courses on top of your regular course load. Your efforts add immeasurably to the experience of the incoming freshman.
    The academic interest and excellence of our students is also measured through our honors program, which has grown considerably. In the past three years, enrollment in the honors program has doubled. We are pleased that more and more students are qualifying for our honors program and are choosing to participate in the program.
    President’s Seminars, honors classes and our Living Learning communities in renovated dormitories provide small class experiences for many undergraduate students. Today, we are operating two learning/living halls--Arts & Science in Bryan Hall and the Social Sciences residential program in Public and International Affairs in Broward Hall. Two more--in Music and Education--will open as soon as restoration of Cawthon Hall is complete in August 2002.



   

Our international programs are an important aspect of improving the undergraduate experience. In 1999-2000 nearly 800 undergraduates gained a global perspective on their education through in our year-round programs,

and more than 300 participated in summer programs.
    We have expanded international full time campuses as well as summer programs. We have expanded our London campus, and with the strength of the dollar against European currencies, we are seriously considering permanent facilities in France and Italy. We have added a summer program in Vietnam, but the sun does set on FSU. With our accomplishments we can honestly say that there are few international programs that can be compared to ours.
    In addition, over 300 students per semester--most of them from Panama--are taking classes at our Panama City, Panama campus.
    We’re making other efforts to improve the experience and involvement of undergraduate students.
    Participation in volunteer activities rises each year, and we believe that this work helps our students prepare to become responsible citizens. Thanks to our unique Service Transcript, we can now begin to measure the community service of students as certified to us by community service agencies.
    We are also working on other areas to advance the college experience, like campus beautification, including art, clearing randomly posted notices, providing additional recreation, and a community-wide effort to change undergraduate drinking patterns.
    We believe that we’re doing well in improving the undergraduate experience.
   

 Surveys of recent graduates give us high rankings overall.

  Recommendation III back to I
| florida state university seal |
| florida state university |