Students weren’t the only ones busy growing and making big changes this summer; NSU underwent some major academic restructuring during the past few months. Because most students were away, there will be many surprises this semester. Do not fret—the changes aren’t as daunting as they may seem. Here are the big ways that your life at NSU will be affected by the restructuring.
- What happened to the Farqhuar College of Arts and Sciences?
This once broad college is no longer in existence. The many departments that were once contained by the college have been broken up into three independent colleges: The College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, headed by Honggang Yang; the College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography, headed by Richard Dodge; and the College of Psychology, headed by Karen Grosby. These will house all of the pre-existing undergraduate majors, but they will be within colleges that are more specific to each major, allowing peers with similar passions and career goals to mingle and work together.
- What does vertical alignment mean?
President George Hanbury’s email to the NSU community about these huge changes mentioned that programs will be “aligned vertically.” This means that undergraduate programs will no longer be separated from the graduate schools that students typically matriculate into. For example, the College of Natural Science and Oceanography will house all biology and marine biology majors, from bachelor’s through doctoral degrees. This change applies to all of the newly created colleges, and has been made to better facilitate research opportunities for undergraduate students and collaborations between students at all levels of study.
- What happened to the Honors Program?
Like so many other academic institutions in the country, NSU now has its own Farquhar Honors College, which is headed by Dean Don Rosenblum. Students will still be housed in their college corresponding to their major, but those who also complete the Honors College programs will receive special acknowledgement on their diplomas, transcripts and at commencement ceremonies. Technically, these students belong to two colleges at NSU. There will also be a separate graduation ceremony for the Honors College. The Honors College will include a new Honors in Major option, beginning in Fall 2016. But immediately this semester, there are already several changes in place, including more fellowships, scholarships, and more active academic honors societies. The usual annual Undergraduate Symposium and Distinguished Speakers Series will still take place. The application process to be accepted into the Honors College will be more involved and more selective, and details of this will be announced soon.
- Are there any new majors/minors or programs?
To meet the demands of the competitive global medical field, NSU has created the College of Allopathic Medicine, which is essentially an M.D. program. This is projected to bring in new students who covet the title of M.D., rather than D.O. It is unclear yet if there will be a dual enrollment component to this new program.
There is also a new general engineering program, which will expand the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) aspect of NSU’s academic programs. The new Bachelor of Science in engineering will begin in Fall 2016.
- How do students access their syllabi?
For the time being, students can Google search “FCAS course wizard” to access the old Course Wizard website. This is where students can use their NSU ID or course reference numbers to search for their updated syllabi.
For more information on the academic restructuring of NSU, and to see which college your major belongs to, visit nova.edu or consult this chart provided by President Hanbury at nova.edu/massmail/presdesk/NSURealignmentofAcademicPrograms.pdf.
