CHANGING CURRICULUM FOR A CHANGING WORLD

by Teresa Buckner, Director of Publications

The world as we know it—our technology, our culture, and importantly, the world of work—continues to evolve with each passing year. Yet, the skills drawn from a liberal arts education remain among those most sought after by employers, according to Provost and Executive Vice President Tracy Parkinson.

If Mars Hill University is to effectively serve its students, Parkinson said, it must adapt its curriculum to the needs of the 21st century. This fall, the university will launch several new or updated programs. These new and updated programs (as well as another recently-launched program) represent MHU’s commitment to that goal.

“MHU faculty have been remarkably committed to providing an education that both relies on core principles of our mission—namely providing an education grounded in the liberal arts—and, at the same time, adapts to a changing world and workplace,” he said.

Parkinson pointed to the first theme of the university’s recently-released strategic plan (2023-28) as evidence of the university’s mandate to meet the educational needs of modern students.

“The committee working on our strategic planning noted that ‘we must design and adapt for the next part of the 21st century—designing new programs and adapting existing programs to address the current environment of demographic challenges and changes’ in higher education,” he said. “These programs are perfect examples of just that.”

Changing Curriculum: Biomedical Science and Ecology and Conservation Biology

Biology as a major has become such a broad area of study that it has lost some appeal for students who are seeking a more tailored undergraduate experience, according to Dr. Michelle Gilley, associate professor of biology and dean of mathematics and sciences.

“We currently have students majoring in biology whose career aspirations range from becoming doctors, pharmacists, and physician assistants to ecologists, wildlife biologists, and zookeepers,” she said.

For that reason, the natural sciences faculty at Mars Hill University have added two new, more specific majors in biomedical sciences and ecology and conservation biology, and eliminated the biology major. They have also completely overhauled the existing zoology major. (Of note, MHU is one of only two schools in the state to offer zoology as a major. The other is N.C. State.)

The changes have been initiated by student choice, Gilley said, since faculty have taken taken the most popular concentrations in the former biology major and molded them into stand-alone majors.

Now, students will have the more tailored and streamlined experience they want and need to pursue their specific career paths.

The zoology curriculum has been overhauled to place a strong emphasis on research, study, and care of animals. The program will no longer require courses geared specifically toward helping students go to veterinary school, Gilley said.

“The vast majority of students coming to MHU to major in zoology were doing so because they wanted to pursue careers in animal research, rehabilitation, or animal care—not to prepare for vet school. The newly redesigned major will give students what they want to accomplish that goal.”

For MHU students that desire to go on to veterinary school, medical school, or a graduate program, all three majors leave room in the schedule for adding a pre-professional minor (or any of the other 36 minors offered at MHU). The pre-professional minor is designed specifically to prepare students for entry into professional and graduate programs, Gilley said.

For Gilley and the other natural sciences professors, the hope is that students will catch a new excitement in the program.

Changing Curriculum: Entrepreneurial Leadership

One curriculum change making big waves at Mars Hill University and in the local community is a minor and concentration in the business department which will allow majors to have a deeper level of experiential learning than is possible in the classroom alone.

Entrepreneurial Leadership is a program founded on “strategic partnerships” with members of the local business community, who will provide experiential learning opportunities, internships, mentoring, and possible funding for new ventures in the future.

“Local businesses are already excited about the potential this program is bringing,” said James Heinl, who is director of the Entrepreneurial Leadership Program and assistant professor of business at MHU.

“They love getting in the classroom and meeting our students and have already started talking about next steps.”

Ultimately, the program is designed to help students gain both skills and knowledge that will enable them to be successful members of a business organization or fulfill their dreams of business ownership.

“This curriculum is an enabler for students. They benefit from the ability to pursue passion via the liberal arts and simultaneously equip themselves with the coveted skillsets employers want.”

According to Heinl, the impetus for the program is a reported cultural gap between the skills of college graduates and the skills necessary to succeed in a career. Both students and employers agree that the transition from learning about business to conducting business in the real world is a difficult one.

“Students who are engaging with businesses throughout their education and learning the curriculum through that process gain confidence and capability that directly translates to a smoother transition,” Heinl said. “Soft skills are paramount in business and today’s students who have experienced much more virtual interaction are lacking the skills that are most coveted by employers. At the end of the day, students need and want jobs. Employers need and want graduates that are ready.”

The program aims to educate a new, diverse generation of business leaders for the future of western North Carolina, and to make business ownership a more reachable goal for the students involved, including, in particular, people of color and females.

All these goals, Heinl said, are consistent with the work of a liberal arts institution.

“Overall, the alignment of the entrepreneurial leadership curriculum with liberal arts degrees reflects the increasing recognition of the importance of a well-rounded education that emphasizes creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. I have sensed that some people perceive a ‘conflict’ between business and liberal arts. I hope that the entrepreneurial program is the bridge needed to make that superficial conflict disappear.”

Changing Curriculum: Computer Science and Web Development

One of the most rapidly changing academic areas is computer science, and careers related to the field continue to grow. In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that jobs related to web development and digital design are expected to increase by 23% between 2021 and 2031.

With these statistics in mind, the computer science program is undergoing an overhaul to prepare for the fall 2023 semester. The program is updating the computer science major and launching a new major called web development, which is a revision and upgrade of the previous webmaster minor. A simplified description of the difference in the majors, according to Associate Professor of Computer Science Stefen Howard, is this: “The computer science major is geared toward students who want to pursue a more traditional software development career or to prepare for graduate studies, while the web development program will prepare students to enter the newer field of web application programming or website management.”

According to Howard, these changes allow the program to provide majors which are more prescriptive for the students’ needs.

Howard said the computer science major was due for an update. Because the computer science world changes so rapidly, the courses in the major undergo continual, incremental modification. But the changes this year constitute a more extensive overhaul of the program, complete with a rewrite of the course descriptions required by the major.

Today’s computer science and web development courses teach methods and technologies that didn’t even exist when computer science first evolved as an academic discipline. New web pages are more interactive, Howard said, and they adapt to look good on various devices. Today’s programmers have to learn to navigate content management systems, back-end technology, database interaction, and commercial hosting services.

“What we were doing prior to these curriculum revisions was a small subset of what we’re doing now,” said Marty Gilbert, associate professor of computer science. “In an industry where information and technology changes by the week, overhauls of the program should happen fairly frequently.”

Changing Curriculum: Graphic Design Communications

Currently, graphic design/photography is a concentration in the visual arts major. For the coming academic year, professors in the art department will modernize graphic design into a stand-alone major called graphic design communications.

Lora Eggleston, assistant professor of graphic design, developed the new major and said the change is necessary to address rapid changes in the field. These changes include not only the tools that designers work with, but also the way they work in teams with other designers.

“Our software and technology changes constantly,” Eggleston said. “And then, the way we collaborate with teams through the internet is changing. We have to know how to use various software for different platforms. Graphic designers in general have to be very versatile in software, and ways they communicate their message.”

An additional reasoning for the updated curriculum is that more and more, designers are designing for screens rather than print.

Shane Mickey, associate professor and chair of art, said: “Graphic design used to be almost all printbased, and that’s what our program pretty much was. In this new major, we wanted to not necessarily move away from print, because it’s still important, but to bring in some of these new digital elements that are out there.”

Knowing how to use the new technologies is crucial, but it does not replace understanding the core principles of graphic design, Eggleston said.

“Students in this major are still learning about colors, fonts, two-dimensional design, and the appreciation of space, and then applying it with the new technology to get their message out,” she said.

Some knowledge of computer science is also necessary. “Graphic design in general is the bridge between the artistic and commercial worlds,” Eggleston said. “The major now adds elements of computer science. We’re not programmers; we’re still on the creative side. We’re using the same design tools in our tool belt, but we’re communicating in a few different ways.”

Graphic design communications will be a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree rather than a Bachelor of Arts degree. According to Mickey and Eggleston, this degree is a pre-professional degree, geared toward artists who plan to work in the field.

Changing Curriculum: Interdisciplinary Studies

While the concept of interdisciplinary studies has been around for a long time, the program did not become a stand-alone major at MHU until fall 2021. Its tenets have long been recognized as necessary in some circumstances, but they are more and more necessary in the modern world of work, according to Dr. Kim Reigle, coordinator of the program.

“IDS is a highly individualized major, where students can craft their own plan of study,” said Reigle. This allows students with multiple interests to pursue multiple disciplines in one major, Reigle said. It also allows students—with help from a faculty advisor—to put together a major for a particular career goal, even if that major is otherwise unavailable at MHU. An additional goal of the major is to prepare graduates for careers they cannot yet envision.

“Some of the jobs that current MHU students will have may not have even been created yet,” Reigle said. “For that reason, a major like interdisciplinary studies allows them to build on strengths they may already have. They also build problem solving and career readiness so that they have skills they can basically use in any area,” Reigle said. Reigle said she works closely with the Cothran Center for Career Readiness at MHU and its director, Jimmy Knight. Students create electronic portfolios which they can take with them when they graduate. The portfolios include resumes, as well as information and highlights from their educational experiences that enable them to “market themselves” for the careers they want.

According to Reigle, the major is project-based. And like the real world, the projects put before students require complex solutions from multiple disciplines. An example of this principle from the real world, she said, would be the COVID-19 pandemic, which required input and solutions from professionals in the worlds of healthcare, business, biology, education, public information, government, and more.

“As our world becomes more and more complex, these complex problem are the ones that will come to the fore and need to be addressed. And interdisciplinary studies prepares students to do that,” Reigle said. One of most important tenets of the major is “perspective-taking,” Reigle said. It encourages students to look at a problem from several different perspectives. They are encouraged not to latch onto a single perspective as providing the only possible solution.

Such an approach, Reigle said, develops creative thinking and problem solving, skills which are foundational to the liberal arts, and which can translate into any career.

Who are Mountain Movers?

Mountain Movers are everyday students, faculty, and alumni doing extraordinary things. In this and future issues, we want to share some of their stories with you. Find out how Mars Hill University equips people to move mountains and achieve their dreams.

Braxton Robinson ’25

As a psychology major and a Student Health Ambassador at MHU, Braxton Robinson should have recognized the toll that grief was taking on his life when both his grandfathers passed away during a three-month span during his freshman year. But Braxton is also a driven, high-achieving student athlete, who dove into his studies and soccer practice with a vehemence designed to banish any lingering emotions.

“I knew I had responsibilities in school as well as on the field to live up to. And so I didn’t really take time away to process what I was going through, or grieve. I just sort of let it build up,” he said.

When Braxton finally turned to his parents and sought help to deal with his bottled-up emotions, he realized that he was behaving like many men do, by refusing to admit or deal with his emotional struggles.

Braxton has now turned his personal experience into an opportunity to serve other young men on the MHU campus. With the help of the MHU Counseling Center and other staff, Braxton is planning a seminar and workshop on men’s mental health for the fall semester. He is also hoping to encourage young men to seek the positive support of a new group on campus coordinated by Student Support Services, called Men of Distinction.

“This experience really made me think more about my mental health, as well as the health of other men on this campus and other men in my life that I’ve seen not properly address their mental health,” he said.

As a Student Health Ambassador, Braxton is one of several students charged with encouraging healthy lifestyle choices among students, faculty, and staff on the MHU campus. While the ambassadors group often focuses on physical health, Braxton is mixing his interest in psychology with his platform as a SHA, to elevate awareness of mental health.

According to Braxton, men are culturally conditioned to hide their emotions. That can be even worse for athletes and black men, he said. But when men don’t learn to deal with their emotions in healthy ways, those emotions can cause damage in the long run, he said.

“I want to bring light to this and show that it’s OK to go through mental health struggles,” he said. “It’s OK to want to express these emotions, because at the end of the day, we’re human. It’s our nature to have these emotions and to show them.”

According to Dr. Kari Hunt, associate professor of health, human performance, and recreation, and coordinator of the Student Health Ambassador program, Braxton is a natural and approachable leader on campus who is using his passions to lead others toward a healthier life. She said: “Braxton has been an influential health advocate and ambassador since day one. His strong passion for educating his peers and creating awareness on campus is evident in his work addressing mental health stigmas in the male and African American populations, leading campus affirmation initiatives, and serving as president of the Black Student Association. We are very lucky to have such a natural and approachable student leader as part of our SHA program!”

Mountain Movers

Hope Hughes ’23

When Cleta “Hope” Hughes applied for a senior internship at Madison Health and Rehab outside Mars Hill, the people who would be her supervisors told her they had an idea for a project using music with dementia patients.

“And I just thought it was a really cool idea, and I kind of took it in my hands,” Hope said.

The project is called “Music is Medicine,” and over the past several months, Hope has been responsible for turning the project into a reality.

“Basically, we just take CD players and iPods and take them around to the patients at the facility, specifically the dementia patients, and just let them listen to music.”

If the patient can communicate, every effort is made to individualize the music to what the resident requests. According to Hope, it’s clear that the music has an effect on the residents.

“For some of them it’s sparked memories and things they have experienced in the past. And it’s been pretty cool to watch that.”

There was the case of the 98-year-old lady who used to be a dancer in her younger years. Upon hearing the swing and big band music loaded on her iPod, “her face lit up,” Hope said. She began moving in her chair, and talking about her son, as well as former dance partners she had had in her earlier life.

Another resident had been a flight attendant years before. She requested Rolling Stones music, and when she heard it, she began telling stories of flying, of places she’d been, and of concerts she had experienced.

Yet another resident used to want to lie in bed all day. But since beginning the Music is Medicine project, he has begun getting out of bed more often. Hope attributes this small victory to the effect of the music. And Hope has noticed that some residents remember lyrics from gospel hymns, even when they cannot otherwise communicate.

As a senior social work major, Hope is looking forward to embarking on a career in the field. The project has helped confirm for her that the population she most enjoys working with is the elderly.

She said she feels this project will influence her as she embarks on a career. “I just never realized how powerful music can be and how much it impacts us. Music really can be medicine in a way,” she said.

Johannes Waals ’23

For Johannes Waals, Mars Hill University’s entrepreneurship program began at just the right time. The program’s launch aligns with Waals’ senior year, as well as the genesis of his business plan to create, build, and ultimately franchise, a pizzamaking robotic food truck.

Waals’ Gearfire Pizza project fits neatly into the goals of the university’s entrepreneurship program, which encourages students to seek entrepreneurship opportunities in cooperation with already-existing businesses in the Madison county area. As an example: Johannes’ already-incorporated business has an agreement in place for work space and engineering support from a new member of Mars Hill’s business community: Spark Robotic.

As for Johannes, the opportunity is not just a chance to start a business, but also a chance to reflect well on the MHU business program, the engineering program at Mayland Community College where his idea was born, and Spark Robotic’s invitational incubation space as well.

“If everybody takes a shot on me, and I pull this off, we’ll all look really good,” he said.

A native of the Netherlands, Johannes came to the U.S. with his family when he was three years old and spent most of his childhood in Pennsylvania. The circuitous route that led him to MHU wandered first through a degree in computer animation and design, an early attempt at a gaming business with some friends, and then, a brief stint in the U.S. Army. After a career-ending injury, Waals left the Army with medical retirement and GI education benefits.

When Johannes lost a job in technology due to downsizing, he decided to pursue further education.

Now living outside of Burnsville, he chose MHU as a university he could attend in person. And, despite interests in engineering and art, he ultimately chose psychology as his major at MHU.

“I’ve always been interested in people,” he said. “That’s what led me out of the video gaming industry to begin with.”

During the height of the pandemic, Johannes took a couple of courses in engineering at Mayland Community College. His food-making robot grew out of a class project in one of those courses. Back at MHU, he enrolled in the entrepreneurship program and sought out a relationship with Spark Robotic that would allow him to work on producing a prototype of his robot inside the company’s “incubation space.”

That focus and the consistency to keep moving toward his entrepreneurship plan is the difference, Johannes said, between a good idea and reality.

“You just have to keep showing up and doing it, and people go, ‘oh, it’s real, I guess.’ Cause people aren’t going to do it for you,” he said.