New Essentials in Higher Ed: Core Reform 101

There is a growing consensus that universities in the U.S. must adapt their fundamental approach to education in order to preserve the nation’s status as a world leader in discovery and creativity. In this podcast, Dr. Roark examines the current and future state of general education curricula in light of the medieval origins of the university and the evolving structures of human knowledge. He argues that the dramatic growth of human knowledge and increasing intellectual specialization witnessed in the 20th century provide unprecedented opportunities to confront shared challenges, but they also introduce new challenges of their own. Roark claims that, in order to meet their public charge, universities must integrate specialized training with a broad array of multi-disciplinary experiences for students and support for developing non-cognitive competencies.