PLAN Modifications: Process and Next Steps

All three proposed modifications to PLAN (provided below) were passed by the faculty last week. We’ll be communicating these changes to students, with the help of SGA representatives, after the break. The Provost asks that you not share this news with students until it’s been officially communicated to them.

Modifications to PLAN approved by the Undergraduate Faculty on December 12, 2022, are as follows:

1. Eliminate the 3D requirement.
2. Change the 8-credit Learning Community to a 4-credit Integrative Learning course.
3. Modify the language requirement to two semesters of the same modern language at a second-semester college-level (102) or demonstration of proficiency equivalent to that same level.

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Here’s an overview of what we’ll be sharing with students:

Given the recent modifications to the PLAN (General Education) requirements at Simmons, the requirements for graduation are as follows:

• Students graduating in May 2023 or August 2023 are expected to meet the current PLAN requirements, as described in the 22-23 catalog.
• Current students graduating after August of 2023 may meet either the current PLAN requirements or the modified PLAN requirements approved by the faculty on December 12, 2022.*
• Any undergraduate student entering Simmons, as a first-year student or a transfer, in the Fall of 2023 or later will be expected to meet the modified PLAN requirements.

*Note, beginning in Fall 2023 we will no longer offer 3-course, 8-credit Learning Communities, and beginning in Fall 2026, it will no longer be possible to complete a 3D project.

Daren Graves, the Learning Community Faculty Lead, will be reaching out to faculty later this week with an invitation to serve on a faculty working group. This working group will take the lead in designing the new Integrative Learning course. Daren will also include information about the process for proposing an Integrative Learning course to be offered in the Fall of 2023 in his email this week.