Journey of Transformation: A Path to Reimagining the Curriculum

It’s not hyperbole to put forth the notion that Jesuit education not only engages and enriches minds but also has the power to change the world. Seems lofty, perhaps, but this is at the heart of the truly transformative work that is being led and coordinated by faculty in all 75 departments and programs across campus in an ambitious process of fully reimagining and revising the curriculum.

“Reimagine and Revise Our Curriculum” (RRC) is listed as Goal 1 of the Reigniting Our Strategic Directions 2022-2027, which states that as a “comprehensive university in the humanistic and liberal arts tradition, we are preparing our students to respond to the great challenges facing our society, including sustainability and climate change, racial injustice and widening economic inequity and rapid technological change and its societal and economic impacts.” This work also closely aligns with our Jesuit ethos and mission to form and care for the whole person.

Propelled by the expertise and experience of faculty, the work that began in 2022 is nearing the midway point, with the process undergirded by an objective to deeply embed practices and qualities that make an SU education more distinctively Jesuit and empowering into the curriculum, while addressing the most pressing challenges of today. Getting to this point involved countless hours, workshops, one-on-one sessions and ongoing dialogue with faculty across disciplines and departments. Creating buy-in was crucial to this process—faculty members’ scholarly expertise, pedagogical experience and leadership are central to curriculum changes, the creation and revision of courses and the development of new programs.  

What makes this ambitious effort all the more unique—and illustrates the magnitude of the work behind revamping all aspects of a curriculum—is really how extensive it is. While it’s not uncommon for a college or university to revise a specific course or to make changes within a single department, this endeavor literally touches every program, every department, every school and college. Additionally, the work represents an interdisciplinary approach that employs Ignatian pedagogy and responds to the changing needs of students, while ensuring and retaining high academic quality.

“What our Seattle University faculty members are doing to distinguish the education we provide our current and future students is remarkable,” says Special Assistant to the Provost for Curriculum Charles Tung, PhD, who is also co-chair of Goal 1 with John Fleming, director of Curricular Policy and Programs with the Provost’s Office. “Part of our Jesuit educational tradition focuses on the creation of a better world. And the priorities are significant because that is what faculty are asking of every major, every grad program, every part of the academic enterprise to engage in and improve.”

Speaking on the importance of this work, Provost Shane P. Martin opened the 2024 Reimagine and Revise Our Curriculum Summit—the second summit of its kind specifically built around Goal 1—with these remarks:

“I view our academic curriculum as the center of who we are as a university. It’s the clearest and best expression of our values, what our faculty prioritize in our courses, in our academic programs, in the Core Curriculum and the pathways we create for our students. This is how we walk with them, form them, prepare them for the various opportunities that they’ll have in their lives.”

Photos of  Provost Fellow at the Reimagine & Revise Our Curriculum Summit

Going into this work, faculty had to adopt a mindset that recognizes there is not one singular curriculum, per se, says co-chair Fleming. “A curriculum is an assertion of values and a commitment to developing knowledge, to thinking through how students can engage big questions and urgent issues. RRC has encouraged and cultivated this engagement in multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary ways. Our students will bring an interdisciplinary perspective to these issues, which will enable them to contribute more effective ways of addressing them.”

The work of revising and reimagining the curriculum also includes an emphasis on professional formation. Advising one of the Goal 1 working groups on this point is Carol Lwali, director of the Career Engagement Office. Though Lwali works more directly with Provost Fellows involved in Goal 2, “Strengthening Professional Formation for All,” she has been involved in reimagining the curriculum because of her eye on industry and career preparation.

“If we are able to help students gain an area of expertise,” says Lwali, “addressing environmental sustainability or addressing economic insecurity, that’s very helpful for students to see the meaning behind the curriculum. Seattle University is definitely moving in the right direction by thinking about career readiness, preparing students for the future of work.”

One of the Provost Fellows working groups for Goal 1 developed a comprehensive tool for faculty to self-assess integrating issues of racial and economic justice in classrooms, academic programs and departments. The team behind this held workshops and revised the tool, based on feedback from colleagues from across campus and sessions on utilizing the tool, including at the two summits. Members of this working group—History Professor and Department Chair Hazel Hahn, PhD, Associate Professor Maureen Feit, PhD, and Ret. Rev. Dr. Edward Donalson, III—presented the tool at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) annual meeting this April.  

“Our working group is very mindful of seeking and supporting long-term, profound changes, rather than shallow, performative or short-term changes in curriculum,” says Hahn.  

New programs and courses are also being developed such as in cybersecurity, AI and sustainability in business.

The changes to the Core Curriculum will likely be implemented by the 2026-27 academic year, according to Fleming.

While this is an aggressive timeline to reimagine and revise an entire curriculum, Fleming says the relative swiftness is necessary.

“The reality is students know we don’t have the luxury of time to grapple with and effectively address these issues that impact our world,” says Fleming. “Seattle University’s values—as a Jesuit Catholic institution—motivate our faculty to respond in educational terms to this reality.”

A Closer Look at the Changes to the Core

At the heart of a Seattle University undergraduate education is the Core Curriculum, ensuring that students gain knowledge emphasizing the values of a Jesuit education while preparing students for the changing world.

For the 16 years Hilary Hawley, PhD, has been at Seattle University, she has been teaching Core classes and in light of her long-term engagement with the curriculum she was selected as one of eight Provost Fellows to focus on revising a curriculum that is foundational to an SU education. Hawley is a teaching professor in the English Department as well as director of First-Year Academic Engagement and facilitator of the University Core Curriculum Working Group, part of Goal 1.

As facilitator, she has been organizing and leading the group’s revision work while consulting with the facilitators of the other Goal 1 working groups and leadership. For the past two years, her group has researched and consulted widely with faculty, staff and students to ensure the work is as transparent and collaborative as possible.

“Our Core stands out for its developmental, outcomes-based curriculum and for helping students to ask big questions and to envision a more hopeful future,” says Hawley. “Grounded in Jesuit and Catholic intellectual traditions, it invites students to engage with diverse modes of inquiry, expression, reflection and action.”

Hawley’s group has proposed a set of changes that build on the strengths of the existing Core and that highlight the work faculty are already doing in relation to the themes of the strategic directions. This includes the introduction of thematic pathways through the Core that give students the option to have these emphases noted on their transcript, she says.

Among the proposals are a new Signature Seminar, which would introduce all incoming students to SU’s Jesuit model of education and Seattle itself. The working group has adjusted the sequence of the Core to emphasize a student’s developmental journey and have also reimagined the third and final stage of the Core to allow for more flexibility, an emphasis on both global and local engagement and the introduction of a Responsibility and Action requirement.

Changes in the Core are already taking place across campus, Hawley says.

“But there are also some real opportunities for professors to create new and exciting courses, such as the Signature Seminar and the Responsibility and Action courses that align with our university’s commitment to community engagement,” Hawley says, noting that the work has been as challenging as it is energizing, revealing the passion and dedication of faculty and staff.

“I love hearing colleagues exclaim that they wish they’d had a Core like this when they were undergrads,” she says. 
As for the process of approving the changes and full implementation, Hawley says that currently, the faculty is participating in an advisory survey. Hawley’s working group will analyze the results of the survey and present a report to the provost with recommendations. That report will also be shared with the Academic Assembly, SU’s faculty governance body, which will vote on the final curricular model this fall.