4.01 - 4.11 General Overview of Programs and Instruction
4.12 - 4.19 Undergraduate Degree Programs
4.20 - 4.25 Graduate Degree Programs
4.26 - 4.28 Scholarship and Research
4.33 - 4.41 Admissions and Retention

1. Competency-Based Skills in reading comprehension, basic college mathematics, and computer literacy
2. English Composition (2 courses)
3. Speech
4. Health
5. Physical Education
6. Foreign Languages

Departments reside in the Schools of Arts and Sciences, Human Services, or Business. Responsibility for the coherence and integrity of academic programs lies with the School Deans for undergraduate programs and is shared with the Graduate School dean for graduate programs.

The School of Arts and Sciences has a two-tiered function: to provide core liberal education for all students and to provide major programs within its disciplines. Program initiatives over the past five years include introduction of several new concentrations, a new B.A. degree in Spanish, and the reconsideration and revision of many programs. Examples of curricular developments include the Biology Department’s creation, in 1998, of an aquaculture concentration at the Cat Cove facility in response to the region’s economic crisis in the fishing industry; the Art department’s receipt of ten-year accreditation from NASAD in 1997 and introduction of a concentration in Interactive Multimedia Design in September 1997; major revisions in the core courses within the Computer and Information Studies major and updating of the Computer Literacy Exemption examination in 1996-97; the English department’s implementation of new undergraduate program in ESL in Fall 1997 and major revisions of B.S. in Communications curriculum in 1996-97; the Foreign Languages department’s introduction of a B.A. in Spanish, approved by the Board of Higher Education in 2000; implementation of Geography curriculum revision in 1997-98; the Interdisciplinary Studies Department’s revision of the Urban Studies minor and the Peace Studies minor in 1999 and the introduction of a Latin American Studies and Latino Studies minor; the Sociology Department’s introduction of a new concentration in cultural diversity approved in 1996-97; the Sport, Fitness, and Leisure Studies Department’s receipt of national accreditation for its Athletic Training Program in 1998; and the Theatre program’s receipt of accreditation from the National Association of Schools of Theatre in 1999.

The Schools of Human Services include the Occupational Therapy Department, the School of Education, the School of Nursing, the Criminal Justice Department, and the School of Social Work. This structure represents some changes since the last NEASC visit; the Occupational Therapy Department has been added to the Schools and the School of Education has incorporated the "Department of Business Technology and Education."

The new Occupational Therapy department represents Salem State’s response to a regional need. The College agreed to design and implement an upper-division Occupational Therapy program in response to a request from North Shore Community College. Created as a part-time evening and weekend program for working Certified Occupational Therapy Assistants, the program was designed to share resources. Salem State has full program responsibility but shares the well-equipped and substantial OT labs on the North Shore campus. The College developed the curriculum and secured commitment for numerous clinical placement sites. In April 1999, the College was granted developing program status from the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy (ACOTE). Currently over 300 potential students have requested information about this new program offering and a first class of 25 students was admitted in Fall 1999.

The Education Unit received National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) approval at the time of the last NEASC visit. The School is now preparing for re-accreditation. Program coordinators from almost every undergraduate and graduate program completely rewrote their program folios to conform to the changing standards of their respective professional disciplines. The School of Education is changing in response to educational reform movements at both the state and national levels. The School has strengthened its admission requirements and has made curricular changes to ensure an increased knowledge base in the arts and sciences as well as adding rigor to the entire program. Pedagogical content has also been strengthened. An Executive Advisory Committee for the Education Unit was formed to provide interdisciplinary leadership; this Committee is composed of faculty, staff, and administrators from education and the arts and sciences as well as practicing K-12 public school teachers with the Dean of the Schools of Human Services and the Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences serving as co-chairs.

The School of Nursing is also preparing for re-accreditation. In 1998-99, the School received preliminary approval from the accrediting body of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (CCNE), as well as maintaining its current accreditation from the National League for Nursing. Currently, faculty plan to seek accreditation from both these professional organizations.

The Criminal Justice Department has added new faculty to better staff the programs for the numbers of students who are interested in this discipline. The department has established a Criminal Justice Institute which involves the community in joint projects and grant efforts.

The School of Social Work is preparing for re-accreditation of its graduate and undergraduate programs.

The School of Business has been working towards accreditation by AACSB-International Association for Management Education since 1995. This has led to structural changes within the School (the Department of Economics reverted to the School of Arts and Sciences) and to curricular revisions at undergraduate and graduate levels. Thus, in 1996-97, all course descriptions were reviewed and revised in conformity with AACSB standards and in 1997-98, management concentrations in international business, entrepreneurship, and human resource management were approved, as was a Business minor for non-Business majors.

Through its approval processes, the Curriculum Committee, which has faculty, administrator, and student members, facilitates orderly undergraduate curriculum development at the College. The Curriculum Committee receives from the All-College Committee "any recommendations submitted by any Department Chair or by any member of the College community" and "after consultation with any appropriate department or departments" sends "reports and recommendations with respect to the general coordination and improvement of the College’s academic program" to the Academic Vice President. Since 1997 the core curriculum has been the subject of discussion and review; and in May 1999, the Curriculum Committee stated that while the process of reviewing the core curriculum was "not yet complete our preliminary findings show that the general structure of our core curriculum/general education sequence is robust and compares favorably with similar long standing sequences at other colleges, both regionally and nationally." In addition, during the past several years, the College Curriculum Committee has approved significant program introductions, revisions, and deletions. The notable program introductions include a new degree program, a B. A. in Spanish with concentrations in Literature, Pedagogy, Professional (1998-99), and several new concentrations--in Journalism within the English program (1996-97), in Interactive Multi Media within the Art program (1996-97), in Cultural Diversity within the Sociology program (1996-97), in International Business within Business (1997-98) and in Aquaculture within Biology (1997-98). New minor programs were introduced in Music (1997-98) and Educational Studies (1998-99). The Office Administration major was phased out in 1996-97 and minors in the Administrative Services and Business Teacher Education in Business Education were deleted in 1997-98; the Pre-Engineering Program was deleted in 1998-99.

While the deliberations of the Curriculum Committee in approving these program introductions and deletions were important, its role in reviewing and appraising curriculum revision proposals was even more engaging. Some curricular revisions emanated from the need to meet external agencies' accreditation standards and others from departmental faculty’s responses to disciplinary changes. Among the former were the approval of a revised Physical Education concentration (1997-98) and of extensive changes in the Theatre B.A. and B.F.A. programs (1997-98). There were also changes in the Art Teacher Education program (1997-98), the Education clusters of the Geography and Music programs (1997-98),and in the Chemistry major (1997-98). Among the latter were extensive revision of the Communications major courses (1996-97), the Computer Science major courses (1997-98), the Economics major (1997-98), the Political Science major (1998-99), the Latin American Studies minor (1998-99), the Urban Studies minor (1998-99), the Philosophy minor (1998-99), and the Women’s Studies minor (1998-99).

In the past several years the Curriculum Committee also has been a forum for deliberating policies relating to academic programs. For example, in 1997-98, the Committee initiated a review of the core curriculum which is on-going and approved the College mission statement, while determining that the Basic Algebra course (Mathematics 104N) was a remedial course that would count towards enrollment status but not towards graduation credit.

Recently the Curriculum Committee also has responded directly to the Board of Higher Education's "Rule of 5" initiative. This policy "used only one criteria, whether an average of five students graduated from a degree program per year for three consecutive years, to evaluate and eliminate programs." When the Board reviewed the Chemistry and Economics major programs using this criterion in 1997-98, the Curriculum Committee approved a statement in support of maintaining the Chemistry and Economics majors. In 1999-2000, the Committee met only once to adopt unanimously a statement opposing the "Rule of Five" as "unnecessary, arbitrary, and academically indefensible."

In 1999-2000, MSCA contractual issues prevented the Curriculum Committee from meeting except to approve the "Rule of 5" statement. During the year, changes in School of Education courses and Occupational Therapy courses have been approved by academic departments, the Academic Vice President and President to meet accreditation deadlines. While this administrative approval process enables essential curriculum initiatives to continue, it inhibits the vitality of on-going curriculum development, which requires faculty participation.

Various academic programs at the College are accredited by external agencies. Accreditation review processes have enhanced several undergraduate programs at the College in recent years. The Athletic Training Program received initial accreditation in 1997 from the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs with commendation for its faculty and affiliated clinical instructors and with a request for a plan to include more medical and allied health personnel in the program. The Chemistry department is seeking to remove probationary status and re-achieve full compliance with American Chemistry Society professional training standards. The department has begun to implement a plan to strengthen its curriculum, enhance the disciplinary competencies of its faculty, increase its enrollment, and upgrade its equipment with the expectation that the program will be fully compliant in 2001. In 1999, the National Association of Schools of Theatre granted Associate Membership to the Theatre Arts B. A. and B.F.A. programs, noting the need to enhance the facilities for these programs and for long-term planning.

The National Council for Accreditation for Teacher Education (NCATE) evaluation of the School of Education Unit, completed in November 1995, also was extremely positive. Out of 20 established NCATE standards, there was only one which was not met; this related to the lack of a clear entrance process for students into the College’s certification programs. Since this visit, the School of Education has addressed this deficiency and a formal procedure for admission to Certification Programs has been established. Many strengths were cited, including a strong conceptual framework, complete and well-written folios, a wide range of excellent field experiences, strong collaboration with area schools, and a well qualified faculty.

The Occupational Therapy Program underwent an initial accreditation review of its application for Developing Program Status. The program received full approval as well as positive feedback on the College’s resources, innovative scheduling and integration of research into the curriculum. There was concern related to the department chairperson’s lack of teaching experience and some budgetary issues regarding equipment, travel, and library resources. A plan to address these issues has been developed and is being implemented.

The reviews by specialized accrediting bodies during the past five years have been successful, with the exception of the AACSB accreditation for the School of Business. Nevertheless, the School of Business has made significant advances in implementing its curriculum revision based on student surveys and strategic planning. The School of Business Strategic Action Plans clearly delineate the linkage between action and resources within a two-year time frame. The undergraduate Business program has been strengthened significantly since the last NEASC accreditation visit.

The College is moving to models of performance-based assessment. The School of Nursing and School of Education are incorporating outcome measures in their programs. For the new millennium, most accrediting bodies are requiring institutions to plan for performance-based evaluation systems, which include both internal and external sources of evidence to demonstrate quality and effectiveness. Already many curricula are building outcomes assessment mechanisms into their programs of study, such as the Spanish baccalaureate program that compares entry level and senior level skills and the English Composition Assessment Project that has resulted in course changes in that essential general education program.

Increased cross-disciplinary programming is anticipated. This may lead to new courses and concentrations, as well as to team teaching. The future challenge will be to establish flexible, creative and interdisciplinary instruction utilizing appropriate technology. Team teaching will become increasingly necessary in the field of Education, in which effective teacher education will depend on the matching of pedagogy with content.

Early in the next decade the School of Business will continue to strengthen its undergraduate programs and determine whether or not it will seek accreditation from external agencies. That decision will have significant impact on academic resource planning throughout the College.

While major fields probably will remain constant, certain new undergraduate programs may be introduced, such as an accredited Sport Management program, a Hospitality Management program, an Asian Studies minor, and a teacher certification program in health education.

Major changes in the Education programs are anticipated to continue in response to the Board of Education’s demands for higher standards.

The College anticipates that more professional programs will be developed in music, dance theatre, radio, television, and graphic arts. In addition, the new Central Campus facilities will bring increased attention to programs in the creative and performing arts.

The College will continue to give consideration to Community Service Learning as a component of existing programs and to increase internship and undergraduate research opportunities.