Integrated
An Integrated educational experience draws students together with faculty and with one another through meaningful curricular and co-curricular learning opportunities. Programming synthesizes learning across the curriculum, emphasizing curiosity and inquiry through research and reflection. Selected metrics detailing achievements related to our Integrated learning goals are available at right.
Significant Achievements:
- With the support of generous donors and SI Funding, a faculty-led Humanities initiative launched in 2017. This interdisciplinary initiative - exploring the study of culture, history, language, literature, philosophy, religion – coordinates a Humanities Forum, Artist in Residence Program, is a pathway for students to participate in the Research as a High Impact Practice
- SI Funding is also supporting ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ/Community partnerships to further K-12 STEAM education, with a focus on science enrichment activities in local elementary, middle and high school students. The new Synergistic Activity Program for Science Education ("SynAPSE") initiative enables ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ research students to conduct learning activities at a local Scranton elementary school.
- Residential learning opportunities continue to flourish at Scranton. In 2017-2018, 28% of the first-year class (255 students) and 173 upperclass students participated in these programs. In addition to existing programs, Residence Life and the Kania School of Management collaborated to offer the new Scranton Innovative Thought and Entrepreneurship (SITE) RLC, with 68 students taking part in the first year.
- New Signature Programming:
- Business Honors Program, with 19 students taking part in inaugural cohort
- program, supported by an NSF grant
- Magis Honors Program in STEM, providing undergraduate students with a more intense, interdisciplinary experience of research in STEM fields
- New Academic Offerings:
- New majors in Social Media Strategies and Business Communication
- New major in Physiology
- New minor in Cinema Studies
- A new specialization in Global Health
- A new interdisciplinary concentration in Legal Studies
- A new advanced certificate in Behavioral Analysis
- A new affiliation between The ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ and Duquesne ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ School of Law, through which eligible Scranton students may complete their senior year bachelor’s degree requirements during the first year of law school at Duquesne.
- The summer 2017 launch of the Business High School Scholars Program, engaging cohorts of sophomore and junior high school students interested in pursuing a business degree at Scranton. The program offers financial support to participants from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
- The development of a policy for Academic Freedom for Adjunct Faculty.
Supporting Student Success
- In 2017, the ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ revised its academic development (ADP) program to form the new cohort-based Gonzaga Program, in which students pursue their first 2 semesters with required courses in reading, research, and writing. The Program is named for Saint Aloysius de Gonzaga, S.J., Patron Saint of All Students.
- In 2017, the Provost charged a new Retention Committee to identify ways to enhance student success.
Strategic Metrics
Student participation in learning communities, including residential learning communities
Student participation in research experiences, particularly those with faculty
Faculty research activities and scholarship products
Number of new academic programs, including four- and five-year accelerated programs
Post-graduation outcomes: employment, education, and full-time service
Number of students participating in selected high impact practices (HIPs) by graduation
Percent of academic programs completing assessment plans and reports each year
Student satisfaction with academic advising and other support services (NSSE)
Students connecting learning to societal problems or issues (NSSE)
Click here to see a visual of selected metrics.
An Emphasis on Faculty/Student Research
- The ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ biology professor Marc Seid, Ph.D., was awarded $200,703 from a National Science Foundation (NSF) collaborative research grant which will largely be used to support summer stipends for undergraduate student researchers.
- Meeting a departmental goal to facilitate the completion and presentation of student research as a high impact practice, seventeen current and past Psychology majors co-authored a total of 27 presentations with program faculty in 2017-2018. Faculty also co-authored presentations and publication with 12 students from other majors.
- In conjunction with the Humanities Imitative, the ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ launched the Undergraduate Awards for Humanistic Inquiry (UAHI) program, which provides support for faculty-mentored student experiences in research and scholarship conducted in the humanities.
