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Frequently Asked Questions

  • The new curriculum will be called “Eastern’s Liberal Arts Core” or ELAC for short. 
  • For Disciplinary Perspective courses, complete the necessary forms (new course or course modification and, if necessary, program modification(s)) and supporting documents. Have these forms signed by the Department Chair, Faculty member submitting the course, and the appropriate Dean. Depending on the course, you may need to obtain approval from departments with overlapping content and/or the Writing Program Director. Then make sure all files are combined into a single pdf and email the pdf as an attachment to LACperspectives@easternct.edu. Please do not send forms to LAPC or the LAPC Secretary through Adobe Sign. After receiving your submission, LAPC will review the course. If LAPC approves the course, they will forward the paperwork on to the Curriculum Committee. If they do not approve the course, they may ask you to make some revisions and resubmit.  

    For LAC Seminars, complete the New Seminar Application form and all supporting documents. Have the form signed by the Department Chair. Make sure the form and supporting documents are combined into a single pdf and email the file to LACseminars@easternct.edu.Please do not send forms to LAPC or the LAPC Secretary through Adobe Sign. After receiving your submission, LAPC will review the course. If LAPC approves the course, no further action need be taken. If they do not approve the course, they may ask you to make some revisions and resubmit.  

    A flow chart of both processes is included below.

    Flow chart of submitting courses to LAPC.

  • Probably but with modification.  
    All ELAC courses will need to use at least one high-impact teaching practice and be centered around at least two of the ELAC learning outcomes. If your course does both, you are off to a good start and the course may only require small modifications to become part of ELAC.

    If your course is a requirement for some major, then your course may need to be modified further to fit the mission of ELAC. All ELAC courses should be designed for non-majors and may not have prerequisites. You can always talk this through with the ELAC coordinators to get a better idea of whether a course will work in ELAC. 

    To submit your course as a Disciplinary Perspectives course, please follow the directions described here: Submit a Disciplinary Perspectives Course

    To submit your course as a Disciplinary Perspectives course, please follow the directions described here: Submit a Seminar

  • Maybe.  
    All ELAC courses will need to use at least one high-impact teaching practice and be centered around at least two of ELAC learning outcomes. If your course does both, you are off to a good start and the course may only require small modifications to become part of ELAC.

    If your course is a requirement for some major, then your course may need to be modified further to fit the mission of ELAC. All ELAC courses should be designed for non-majors and may not have prerequisites. You can always talk this through with the ELAC coordinators to get a better idea of whether a course will work in ELAC. 

    To submit your course as a Disciplinary Perspectives course, please follow the directions described here: Submit a Disciplinary Perspectives Course

    To submit your course as a Disciplinary Perspectives course, please follow the directions described here: Submit a Seminar

  • Maybe.  
    All ELAC courses should be designed for non-majors and may not have prerequisites. So you may need to modify the course so it is suitable for non-majors. All ELAC courses will need to use at least one high-impact teaching practice and be centered around at least two of the ELAC learning outcomes.

    A department may allow a disciplinary perspectives course to count towards their major. Students who take this course as part of their major will need to take a different course to fill the ELAC requirement.

    To submit your course as a Disciplinary Perspectives course, please follow the directions described here: Submit a Disciplinary Perspectives Course

  • Yes, but students cannot count courses for both their major and ELAC other than the Math Foundational Concept requirement.

    Students pursuing two majors (including pursuing teaching certification) may use up to 15 credits of ELAC courses to fulfill major requirements, provided that no ELAC course is used to fulfill requirments in more than one major.

    This policy may be found in Senate Bill 22/23-04.

  • Absolutely!

    To design a course for ELAC, please visit Design a Course for ELAC.

    For information on submitting a Disciplinary Perspectives course, please visit Submit a Disciplinary Perspectives Course.

    For information on submitting a seminar, please visit Submit a Seminar.

  • Senate Bill 08/09-7 provides the policy on courses worth 4 or more credits. This policy will be applied to courses in ELAC. The bill states “All proposed four (+) credit courses (new or modified) that fall into one or more of the existing classifications, are part of the Liberal Arts Core Curriculum, are required for implementation of the Eastern Connecticut State University Strategic Plan, are part of a major or are required to meet the requirements of external accrediting agencies will be allowed provided: (1) The department or program articulates a strong curricular justification to the Curriculum Committee and University Senate that fits with one of the above criteria and; (2) Is approved by the Eastern Connecticut State University Curriculum Committee and University Senate, and any other applicable committee.” 

    For the list of criteria mentioned, please see Senate Bill 08/09-7. 

  • If you have questions about Disciplinary Perspective courses you should contact the Disciplinary Perspectives Coordinator, Joshua Idjadi (idjadij@easternct.edu). If you have questions about LAC 100, 101, 200, or 400 you should contact the Seminar Coordinator, David Pellegrini (pellegrinid@easternct.edu). Questions about policies should be directed to the Liberal Arts Program Committee (LAPC) co-chairs Ben Pauley (pauleyb@easternct.edu) and Peter Bachiochi (bachiochip@easternct.edu).
  • The 5 competency based learning outcomes are Communication, Creativity, Critical Thinking, Ethical Reasoning, and Quantitative Literacy. The definitions, along with rubrics for their evaluation, appear in SB 19/20-07 Policy on Liberal Arts Learning Outcomes which may be found here: Senate Bill 19/20-07 
  • Students will take a minimum of 40 credits to complete ELAC. They will take  

    • 10 credits worth of seminars (LAC 100, LAC 101, LAC 200, and LAC 400)
    • 6 credits (minimum depending on placement) of Foundational Concepts (1 course in writing and 1 in math) 
    • 24 credits of disciplinary perspectives (3 credits in each of the 5 learning outcomes and 3 credits in each of the 3 disciplines) 

    Details about this structure maybe found in Senate Bill 21/22-06. NECHE requires at least 40 credits in general education (see Standard 4.18 here https://www.neche.org/resources/standards-for-accreditation#standard_four). Note that, the LAC required a minimum of 46 credits. 

  • There are three main senate bills that address policies related to ELAC. Senate Bill 19/20-07 defines the liberal arts learning outcomes and provides rubrics for their evaluation. Senate Bill 21/22-06 ccreates the structure for the liberal arts curriculum and defines the requirements for courses. Senate Bill 22/23-04 clarifies policies related to transfer students, double majors, submitting courses, etc.