As a liberal arts school, Augustana College seeks to blend broad learning experiences with students' individual professional goals.  Because of this, each student at Augustana is required to complete the college's general education requirements before they can receive their diploma. 

The current general education requirements, known as the Augustana Plan, were implemented in the fall of 1986.  In September 2008, the General Education Task Force was formed by the Curriculum Council with a goal of analyzing the current plan and making updates to ensure that the mission of Augustana's liberal arts foundation is being fulfilled. 

"The need for review comes from the fact that our current plan was put in place 24 years ago - before most of our current students were even born," Registrar Joni Krueger said.

Computer science professor Dan Swets was appointed chair of the Task Force in the spring of 2008, after serving as chair of the Curriculum Council. He said that although the current general education plan is not perfect, it does meet the Task Force's vision of an educated person. 

"We saw in this effort an opportunity to describe the liberal arts experience in a thematic way, a unique, signature experience that distinguishes Augustana in the minds of the entire Augustana community," Swets said. 

In addition to applying a theme to the general education plan, the Task Force was charged with thinking about what students should know by the end of their program of study at Augustana, how students should be changed and how the current general education requirements stack up to these questions.

With these thoughts in mind, the Task Force presented a work-in-progress framework of the new general education plan to faculty at the beginning of the academic year titled, "The Good, the True, and the Beautiful in Tradition and Translation."

The goal of this framework is to explore cultures and traditions in order to examine the patterns that shape the social, political, cultural and religious life of communities.

In comparison to the existing Augustana Plan, two significant changes evident in the initial framework of the new plan are the absences of the Capstone course and the wildcard opportunity.

The wildcard option in the current Augustanta Plan allows students exemption from one requirement in the general education plan, not including the laboratory science class.  According to the registrar's office, approximately 95 percent of the student body takes advantage of the current wildcard opportunity.

Almost 40 pages worth of feedback were gathered from the faculty on the first draft, and the Task Force is now working on a second draft.

Communications studies professor and Task Force member Heather Bart said that although changes are being made to the first draft, there is no mandate to restore the Capstone course or wildcard option.

Vice President for Enrollment Nancy Davidson does not think the lack of a wildcard will affect prospective students' reactions to the general education plan.

"I believe there are many ways in which we could improve the general education plan and provide the freedom and flexibility for exploration that many students want," Davidson said. "If this is done, no one will give a second thought to whether or not there is a wildcard."

Dean Mark Braun said it is too early to determine what the specifics of the new plan will be. "However, we will be getting input from a variety of constituencies, including students, before implementing a new plan," Braun said.

Braun also said that the main goal of the program is to address issues that a liberally educated person needs to know.  Because of this, making sure every academic department is equally represented is not a primary focus of the Task Force. 

"Some departments are more able than others to teach in the liberal studies program," Braun said. "The most important goal is to orient students to the intellectual expectations of Augustana and to have an understanding of self and the special calling we have for our place in the world."

There is no definite timeline set for the completion of the new general education plan, but the task force hopes to have a revised framework to present to the Curriculum Council by the end of the calendar year.  The plan would then have to be approved by the Curriculum Council and the rest of the Augustana faculty before any actual changes can be made.

"All students currently at Augie would be accounted for in introducing the plan," Braun said. "There will be a thoughtful transition that will ensure student success regardless of which plan they are under. We won't change the rules overnight."