CURRICULUM
Kent State University is accredited by the North Central
Association and offers a wide array of associate, baccalaureate, master's,
and doctoral degrees.
Its programs provide a balance of academic
and professional preparation in accordance with the
highest national standards. Kent fosters collaboration
and articulation with community colleges and four-
year institutions as well as cooperative efforts with
secondary and elementary schools to further facilitate
successful transition to and within higher education.
The University is committed to providing a living-
learning environment that encourages individual
growth and promotes the successful and timely
completion of degrees. [Kent Institutional
Characteristics statement (KICS)]
Providing students with a superior university education requires
faculty who are expert in the curricula and programs they teach. To
better serve the learning needs of all students who want to take advantage
of the academic programs offered at Kent, the University will
Goal: Enhance the program collaboration among all eight
University campuses.
Objectives
Deliver advanced coursework and programs at
Regional Campuses in selected professional areas
to meet community needs.
Provide distance learning with interactive video
between the Kent Campus and the Regional
Campuses.
Goal: Promote cooperative efforts with other universities,
colleges, secondary and elementary schools, and public
and private organizations.
Objectives
Collaborate with other Northeast Ohio universities
for selective enhancement and expansion of
graduate and research programs.
Work with public schools, and educational and
other private institutions to facilitate students'
successful transition to the University.
Ensure that the community college general
education module fits well with Kent's general
education requirements.
Provide instruction at community and technical
colleges where demand exists for upper- division
technical or professional coursework utilizing
distance learning where possible.
Develop programs such as Tech-Prep and the Early
English Composition Assessment Program to link
with high schools to ensure their graduates are
adequately prepared for postsecondary instruction.
Include student-oriented focus and marketing
strategies to ensure high school students are aware
of their educational opportunities within the region.
Encourage academic departments to offer
cooperative education programs, field studies,
practica, or internships through industry and public
agency connections.
Undergraduate Programs
Kent's undergraduate programs reflect
... the University's commitment to a liberal education
foundation, which is intended to broaden intellectual
and aesthetic perspectives, explore ethical and humane
values, and prepare students for lifelong learning and
responsible participation in a complex, changing
society. The specialized major provides study in
depth, which leads to knowledge and understanding in
academic and professional fields of study.
Undergraduate students are also offered varied
opportunities to participate in research, take graduate-
level coursework, and engage in work outside the
classroom. [Kent Institutional Characteristics
statement (KICS)]
Students of all ages are realizing that an undergraduate education
is increasingly necessary for future success. While more and more
citizens agree that a college degree is important, the University faces the
challenge of making sure that the undergraduate experience results in an
"education" and not just a "degree." To ensure the highest quality
educational experience for all undergraduates the University will
Goal: Ensure that the Liberal Education Requirements
(LER) as a program achieve liberal arts purposes.
Objectives
Expand Writing-across-the-Curriculum efforts to
include increased emphasis on writing in the LER.
Revise appropriate LER courses to achieve the
University's cultural diversity objectives and reflect
multicultural perspectives in the LER curriculum.
Develop a limited number of carefully chosen
interdisciplinary courses for inclusion in the LER
program.
Implement a University-wide mathematics
requirement.
Develop nontraditional and innovative strategies
for measuring the multidimensional impact of a
liberal arts education on students while at the
University and after graduation.
Reduce excessive intrusion of major requirements
into the LER program.
Assure more full-time faculty teach regularly in the
LER program.
Goal: Reinforce student skills in written and oral
communication and in the use of information
technology.
Objectives
Implement fully the Writing-in-the-Disciplines
program.
Strengthen course activities that require students to
articulate their ideas through verbal
communication.
Develop programs which foster the acquisition of
information-seeking skills.
Goal: Identify, develop, and publicize a select number of
distinctive undergraduate programs for which Kent
State University would be known regionally.
Objectives
Identify existing undergraduate program strengths
utilizing appropriate criteria and assist
departments to develop comprehensive strategies
for publicizing distinctive programs.
Identify and develop at all eight campuses
undergraduate programs of particular relevance to
potential students and employers from Northeast
Ohio.
Develop undergraduate "program clusters" which
involve departments and schools with similar or
complementary programs.
Enhance the Honors Program by increasing the
number of Honors courses, involving more
students in scholarly research, and emphasizing
new interdisciplinary courses.
Link the Honors College and its students more
effectively to the Regional Campuses.
Increase services to better meet the academic and
personal needs of Honors and other academically
gifted students.
Goal: Develop more undergraduate program focus in and
among departments, schools and colleges.
Objectives
Continue the development of engineering
technology programs within the School of
Technology, seek additional collaboration with
other programs in the applied sciences, and
gradually phase out unrelated graduate and
undergraduate programs.
Phase out certain undergraduate majors such as
Human Resource Management, Management
Science, and Real Estate within the College of
Business Administration.
Consider enhancing the pre-engineering program
by developing a two-plus-two or three-plus-two
engineering program with a nearby university
which would provide students with science degrees
from Kent and engineering degrees from the
collaborating university.
Goal: Review and revise curriculum to encourage the timely
completion of academic degree programs.
Objectives
Reduce undue program complexity and over-
specialization in majors.
Develop an on-going process of evaluation of
content, instruction, and the overall value of
programs and courses to reduce complexity and
revise and improve programs, as needed.
Build upon the existing outcomes assessment
program that evaluates the effectiveness of learning
within the majors.
Review the requirements of majors to minimize
additional requirements for students who change
majors.
Improveaccess and communication for
nontraditional students through the use of micro-
electronics (e.g., e-mail, computer networking,
interactive televised instruction).
Graduate Programs
Kent State University is Northeast Ohio's senior public
institution of higher education and as such
... offers an extensive range of advanced academic
programs leading to the master's degree and selected
programs leading to the doctoral degree. Kent is
committed to providing graduate-level programs that
complement and enhance undergraduate education
and meet the highest national standards. These
programs provide advanced training and knowledge
essential to the economic development and general
welfare of Ohio and the nation, as well as lead to
research with a global impact. The University recruits
and retains high-quality students from across the
nation and abroad to engage in study under the
direction of a distinguished graduate faculty. [Kent
Institutional Characteristics statement (KICS)]
Graduate programs provide advanced levels of knowledge and
simultaneously increase the scope of human knowledge and
understanding. Further, strong graduate programs stimulate
undergraduate learning through mentoring and increase the population of
students seeking advanced professional training. Thus, graduate curricula
and programs of study benefit the citizens of Ohio, the nation, and in
many cases, the world. To ensure the highest quality educational
experience for all graduate students enrolled at Kent, the University will
Goal: Provide graduate programs that meet the highest
national standards and develop more focus in graduate
programs.
Objectives
Review graduate programs to ensure focus and
interdisciplinary and interinstitutional linkages.
Identify and enhance selectively graduate programs
that have achieved or have the potential for
national and international distinction.
Ensure that acquisition budgets (for both serials
and monographs, as well as the funds for on-line
data bases) of the Kent State University Libraries
are sufficient to support graduate programs in
general with specific attention to graduate and
research programs of distinction.
Develop new programs in highly selective ways to
respond to need and ensure quality.
Implement the Master of Fine Arts in Theatre and
simultaneously discontinue the Ph.D. program in
Theatre Studies.
Goal: Offer graduate programs of particular importance to
the state in general and Northeast Ohio in particular.
Objectives
Recognize and strengthen synergistic relationships
between graduate and undergraduate programs in
selected areas.
Identify the unique assets of Kent's graduate
programs in a statewide context.
Plan for offering selected graduate courses and
programs at Regional Campuses.
Goal: Develop collaborative graduate and research programs
with other universities as well as with other public and
private organizations.
Objectives
Avoid unnecessary duplication among graduate
programs.
Expand and strengthen collaborative graduate
program development in the School of Biomedical
Sciences.
Simplify graduate transfer credit and consider cross
listing of selected graduate courses among public
universities in Northeast Ohio.
Develop the Ohio School of International Business
in collaboration with The University of Akron,
Cleveland State University, and Youngstown State
University.