Spring Break
Modified tDEC curriculum in the works
Molly Brackin
Issue date: 6/2/06 Section: News
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Joseph Martin, chair of the Senate Committee on Academic Affairs, reported that after being in effect for 10 years, the tDEC curriculum was in need of some changes. The changes that the committee has been working on will take two years to be applied and rolled out for incoming students.
As of now, only the freshman curriculum has been revised, as the senate is only in phase one of the changes. The purpose of the changes is to integrate the freshman engineers into classes with students outside the College of Engineering, such as English 101-103. The tDEC courses will be dropped, and three new engineering and computer science courses have been developed.
In order to accommodate the requirements of the engineering programs, the College of Arts and Sciences will adjust some courses. Because the only changes that have been made to tDEC so far have been to the freshman curriculum, current engineering students will not benefit from the revisions.
"The changes don't affect me, but if I were an incoming freshman, I'd be happy," said Tom Reeb, a freshman majoring in computer engineering.
The Academic Support Committee brought an issue to the table that spurred a lot of discussion. Raymond Lum, chair of the committee, reported that the Hagerty Library is working toward discarding any print resources that are also available in electronic form. As a result, there will be more space available that can be utilized as study space for students.
Lum also reported that a proposal to place a coffee shop in the library has lost a lot of support since January. This is in part due to the recent news of the Starbucks that is being placed in the Pearlstein Center, and because the committee feels that the library doesn't get enough volume to sustain a coffee shop. It has been suggested that the library have vending machines installed instead.
Like many of the faculty, students feel that the library is a better place to hold a coffee shop than Pearlstein. The library has longer hours and is used by a more diverse group of students.
"Students need that caffeine to help keep them awake while studying," said Kelly Pillard, a freshman majoring in psychology.
"I'm not a business major, so I don't go to the Pearlstein Business building," said Michelle Robinson, a freshman majoring in civil engineering.
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