A Curriculum That Transforms
Designing the Lipscomb Core - Journey
When I joined the faculty at Lipscomb in 2022, a new strategic plan had just launched. This plan had been created by the Lipscomb community, and one of the key components was the development and launch of a new liberal arts curriculum. And I was the person charged with making this happen!
I spent the first semester holding open listening sessions to learn what faculty wanted out of their general education program and how they envisioned the liberal arts core being a vital part of shaping the student experience and learning outcomes at Lipscomb. We then spent time looking at different examples of curriculum frameworks and talking through what would be the best fit for our vision, and then we started creating the core goals and framework that we would use.
Over 200 faculty from across campus participated in these sessions over the next two years, allowing the curriculum to be shaped by folks from a wide variety of disciplines and perspectives. What I came to understand as I listened to the Lipscomb faculty is that when we thought about our new liberal arts core, curriculum design couldn’t just be about course requirements. It had to be embedded firmly in the core values of the university so that the experience was distinctly Lipscomb. As we designed the Journey curriculum, I’ve continually asked: What do we want every graduate to carry forward from their time with us, not just into their careers, but into their lives?
As I noted above, the Journey Core was born from a deeply collaborative design process involving over 200 faculty members. As we went through the two year process, I continually stated that my goal was for the process to be communal and iterative. We had formed a faculty Liberal Arts Core Task Force to do the work of leading the development, which I chaired. But I didn’t want this to be something just created in a vacuum and handed down.
And so, throughout the creation process, we listened, revised, and aligned our vision around the themes of seeking, discovering, knowing, and flourishing. Through lively discussion and deep times of questioning and wrestling together with what we wanted to create, it became clear to me that these aren’t just words that sound catchy. The importance of the work that the Lipscomb faculty did together was that we designed a framework for a life well-lived that we believe will set our students up for success both in the workforce and in their lives. We want them to be prepared for and be ready to land that first job, of course, and also to be equipped to live out their vocational calling in whatever comes next with integrity and purpose.
With four shared Sign Post courses throughout the Journey curriculum, a Christian intellectual tradition thread, and a focus on real-world application, it was vital to the faculty that the Lipscomb Core helps students become both thinkers and doers. This is a curriculum that is designed to grow with our students and the culture they’re called to shape for the greater good - flexible to innovation and change, but rooted in core values such as serving others and respecting all. We believe Journey will equip our students to be difference makers, people who can take their own unique set of strengths and passions and, with the knowledge and skills they build at Lipscomb, go out to love and serve our neighbors locally and globally. That was our hope in creating the Journey curriculum - to provide our students with a transformative educational experience that equips them for lives of purpose and service.