Curriculum II History

Gustavus has a history of innovative thinking, especially about general education. It was the first school to set up an exchange program with Kansai Gaidai, now one of the leaders in this kind of international exchange in Japan. It was one of the first to adopt a January-term. Its Curriculum II and Writing across the Curriculum programs have received national attention.

Curriculum II grew out of an intensive review of general education in the early 1980s. Around that time, Gustavus was just winding up a five-year NEH grant (1976-81; Director, Claude Brew, English) that among other things had involved experimenting with the concept of "clusters," a group of courses taught by faculty from different departments focussed on the same theme with students encouraged to take multiple courses in the cluster. The success of some of these clusters and experience with core curricula at other colleges prompted a group of faculty to promote adoption of an integrated core curriculum. As the faculty debated various options, it became clear that the majority favored a less restrictive model. However, instead of rejecting the core curriculum idea, the faculty voted in 1982 to adopt both a distributive general education program (Curriculum I) and an integrated one (Curriculum II). Curriculum II would be limited to enrolling up to 10% of the entering class (60 students). The faculty also agreed to permit the Development Office to seek endowment funds for the Curriculum II program. By the time the first class was enrolled in 1985, the Curriculum II faculty had filled out and refined its plan of courses, had written and had had the faculty approve the course descriptions, and had fielded a team of faculty to teach them. Endowment funds had begun to accumulate and a crucial NEH endowment had been secured. Ultimately, the Development Office more than fulfilled its three to one match with NEH resulting in an endowment of more than a million dollars to support Curriculum II. Curriculum II was the result of the advocacy and work of many people, who argued for this alternative program and shaped the program and the individual courses. Especially important in the inception and implementation of the program were Richard Fuller (Physics), a major proponent and the first Director; Doug Huff (Philosophy) and Ranae Peterson (Administrative Assistant), who wrote the NEH application; Bob Peterson (Development), who spearheaded seeking the matching funds; Tom Gover (Chemistry), Director of General Education; and Rob Gardner (Theater), first team leader. Other important early advocates and participants included Claude Brew (English), Bill Deane (Religion), Will Freiert (Classics), and Ron Christenson (Political Science).

Both the faculty and the program have remained remarkably stable. The first team chose the "individual and community" theme, which became part of the program. There have been some changes but they have been relatively minor. Originally, students were required to take all of the CII courses but eventually students were allowed to petition substitutions. The CII math and recently the health fitness courses were dropped in favor of CI alternatives. Last year, the CII faculty voted to allow a few first-year students to start in mid-year.