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 5 Questions With...
Marcia Welsh
Provost and Vice President, Academic Affairs
Q: Can you explain the new Academic Plan that was recently developed?
A: In an effort to successfully attain TU's academic goals, the Academic Plan highlights the institutions' core academic values which include: intellectual depth and integrity, creativity in teaching, learning and discovery that leads to individual and collective transformation, collaboration across disciplines, high standards in person and unit performance, commitment to a diverse and multicultural community and civic responsibility and engagement. These core academic values correlate closely with the goals set forth in our campus strategic plan, TU 2016: Building Within, Reaching Out. The Academic Plan will serve as a road map to ensure that Towson's academic programs develop students' capacity for effective communication, critical analysis, and flexible thought. Additionally, by adhering to the standards set forth in this plan, Towson will continue to emphasize excellence in teaching, scholarship, research and community engagement responsive to the needs of the region and the state.
Q: How will revisions to the core curriculum improve the quality of a TU education?
A: First, the new Core Curriculum includes a Towson Seminar, meant to bring all students new to Towson into a smaller course taught by a fulltime faculty member that will introduce Towson expectations for student engagement, broad-based curiosity, and intellectual challenge. Second, the new Core combines experience in different disciplinary ways of knowing with the examination of multiple perspectives. A Metropolitan Perspectives category, for example, provides courses concentrating on urban issues and outlooks and encourages service learning, consistent with Towson's mission as a Metropolitan University. The Global Perspectives category recognizes the need for awareness and understanding of a rapidly changing world, a world of shifting power and intertwining cultures. And the categories Ethical Issues and Perspectives and Diversity and Difference address the choices and interactions that will be part of the world in which students actually live. The Core Curriculum adjusts general education to speak more fully to the balance of capacities and knowledge our graduates will need.
Q: What does it mean for Towson to be a "Metropolitan University"?
A: Towson's campus is in the metropolis of Baltimore; therefore we are committed to making a social, cultural and economic difference by learning from, leading and collaborating with the Baltimore metropolitan region. Through our academic programs, research, and outreach efforts, Towson University has embraced our "metropolitan" mission, by working to address problems that plague the urban and suburban communities and developing partnerships with area organizations and K-12 school systems. As a leader in applied research and through our work in the envisioned School of Emerging Technologies, Towson University offers academic programs that not only meet the needs of an ever-changing workforce, but also provides students with hands-on experiences, particularly in areas of high demand for the metropolitan area. Through all of these functions, Towson has positioned itself as a critical component of the higher education engine that is driving the new economy in the metropolitan region and the state.
Q: Towson has achieved much success in closing the achievement gap- what are the plans to keep that success going?
A: Towson University will continue to admit and enroll capable, motivated students while we continue to develop, improve, and enhance programs and services that support them. Towson espouses an "Admit to Graduate" philosophy, emphasizing high school grade point average over test scores in the admissions process because grade point averages are far better predictors of graduation than are SAT scores. The divisions of Academic Affairs and Student Affairs will expand effective programs, such as the "S-3" student success seminar, the "SAGE" mentoring program, and the "CEEP" involvement grant program. We will implement an early warning system to support student success; we will continue to increase institutional need-based financial aid; we will improve services to transfer students; and we will maintain a healthy and welcoming campus environment.
Q: What do you see as the academic vision for Towson moving forward?
A: Towson University is strongly committed to continuing academic quality. One of the ways in which we are working to implement campus-wide academic transformation is to review and evaluate our curricula and course offerings and to expand course redesign throughout all colleges. Academic programs at Towson are becoming more collaborative and interdisciplinary. This facilitates crossing the boundaries of disciplines and creating more realistic and useful perspectives by our students. We are also committed to increasing degree production in high demand fields such as STEM, health professions and education, and enrollment in both our master's and doctoral programs in Applied Information Technology have steadily increased due to high demand. Additionally, we recognize the importance of improving access for new and returning students, and providing programs and services to ensure the successful and timely completion of a college degree. We have implemented strategies which include improvements in recruitment, marketing and outreach, targeting underserved populations and working with community colleges to provide a seamless transition for those students transferring to Towson University.
Towson University 2016
 Linking TU to the Community...
In April 2009, Towson University launched TU in the Community, a database-driven collaboration tool that connects the community to university resources. The searchable database provides easy access to resources for community partnerships, current project locations (through a GIS enabled map), new service learning courses, engaged research, collaborations, and best practices.
Since launching, more than 150 faculty and staff have created profiles and added their scholarship, research, and outreach projects to the database. Beyond serving as a web resource, TU in the Community also serves as a physical center for assisting community groups and supporting faculty and staff members in their outreach activities. TU in the Community publishes a monthly e-newsletter called What's New on TU in the Community, and is active on facebook and twitter.
2016 Plan | Guiding Principles
New in the News
Read up on the latest higher education issues that have appeared in the news recently:
 Legislative Bills and Hearing Information
The following bills have been introduced to the legislature recently:
- SB 628 Status as of February 16, 2011: Bill is in the Senate - First Reading Budget and Taxation, State Health and Retirement Benefits - Public Employees and Retirees, Senate: Budget and Taxation (Hearing: March 2, 2011, 1:00 p.m.)
- SB 856 Status as of February 18, 2011: Bill is in the Senate - Re-referred Education, Health and Environmental Affairs, Maryland Higher Education Commission - Review of Program Proposals, Senate: Education Health and Environmental Affairs
- HB 932 Status as of February 16, 2011: Bill is in the House - First Reading Ways and Means, Building Opportunities for All Students and Teachers (BOAST) in Maryland Tax Credit, House: Ways and Means (Hearing: March 16, 2011, 1:00 p.m.)
- HB 758 Status as of February 16, 2011: Bill is in the House - First Reading Ways and Means, Green Technology, Life Science, and Health Information Technology Loan Assistance Repayment Program, House: Ways and Means (Hearing: March 9, 2011, 1:00 p.m.)
UPCOMING BILL HEARINGS
FEBRUARY 23 at 1:00 p.m.
SB 695 Regulation of Public, Private Nonprofit and For-Profit Institutions of Higher
Education
Senate: Education Health and Environmental Affairs
HB 451 State Government - Council on Efficient Government
House: Health and Government Operations
MARCH 1 at 1:00p.m.
HB72 Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act of 2011
House: Appropriations
MARCH 2 at 1:00 p.m.
SB 628 Public Employees and Retiree Health Care
Senate: Budget and Taxation
SB 87 Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act of 2011
Senate: Budget and Taxation
MARCH 3 at 1:00 p.m.
SB 401 Use of State Employees Instead of Service Contracts
Senate: Education Health and Environmental Affairs
For more bill information, please click here.
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