From the Newsstands: This article appeared in The Eagle’s December 2025 print edition which can be viewed here.
With a new strategic plan slated to go into effect in 2026, American University’s undergraduate Core curriculum will experience a “complete overhaul.”.
The current AU Core — which includes AU Encounters, Habits of Mind, Complex Problems and more — was implemented in 2018 after the Faculty Senate’s unanimous approval. Cynthia Bair Van Dam, senior professional lecturer for writing and co-chair of the AU Core Implementation Task Force, worked for three years to design the current core curriculum.
Bair Van Dam questioned AU’s decision to overhaul the curriculum soon after the 2018 change, which remains in place. Previously, AU’s general education curriculum hadn’t significantly changed since 1989. She said overhauls usually happen every few decades.
Dean of Undergraduate Education Bridget Trogden said in a statement to The Eagle that while many institutions revise their general education programs every few decades, the gaps between updates often leave students’ academic needs unmet, something she hopes to avoid at AU.
For Bair Van Dam, the AU Core goes beyond coursework: it’s an expression of the University’s values.
The introduction of AU Core in 2018 cemented a focus on diversity initiatives. Many of former AU President Sylvia Burwell’s first actions in 2017 involved diversity — such as the Inclusive Excellence Plan, which sought to increase students’ awareness of systems of power and privilege as well as BIPOC history.
Elizabeth Deal, assistant vice president and deputy chief communications officer, told The Eagle that AU’s effort to promote inclusion has not wavered.
“While we do not know the outcome of the new AU Core yet, we remain committed to fostering an inclusive community in a variety of ways, including teaching,” Deal said. “The core will be developed through a cross-section of faculty and will consist of our values as a university, including diversity.”
According to Bair Van Dam, students participated in designing the core and made many demands for diversity requirements at the “height of student engagement and advocacy.” Students particularly pushed for AUx II — which was significantly altered last fall — and the Diversity & Equity requirement.
As AU finalizes the strategic plan and a new curriculum set to take effect in 2026, Bair Van Dam advised students to form ties with administrators.
“This is the time to make some noise and get involved, because pretty soon the window will be closed again,” she said. “You have this winter to make sure that you have seats at the table.”
History of AU curricula
Methodist bishop John Fletcher Hurst founded AU in 1893 as an educational institution where open inquiry, a commitment to justice and a pursuit of global understanding shaped future leaders.
AU’s general education system was intended to achieve that by encouraging students to explore ideas across perspectives.
In 1933, students spent their first two years building a broad multidisciplinary foundation before focusing on their majors.
By 1962, AU formalized a core curriculum: 38 to 43 credits in English composition, civilization studies, humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, mathematics and physical education. AU eliminated most distribution requirements in 1970, leaving just English composition and reading requirements.
The first general education program at AU, designed in 1989 and revised in 2009, sought to give students a broad foundation of knowledge across disciplines. By 2017, proposed changes emerged as Advanced Placement credits and double-counted courses began to weaken that shared academic experience.
A major change in 2017 was the introduction of Complex Problems, a mandatory first-year seminar designed to engage students in university-level inquiry by exploring social and conceptual issues from multiple perspectives.
Bair Van Dam said courses like Complex Problems gave faculty the freedom to teach subjects they were passionate about, even if those topics weren’t tied to a specific major. Changes like these, she said, are what make AU Core meaningful.
What are AU’s strategic plans?
A university strategic plan is a comprehensive mission statement, typically implemented by new leadership, and includes everything from building community to altering coursework.
The 2019-2025 Strategic Plan implemented by Burwell, “Changemakers for a Changing World,” was divided into three themes: Scholarship, Learning and Community.
The drafted 2026-2030 Strategic Plan is focused on “what can or should make AU distinctive” and is divided into the “5C’s”: Community, Career, Civic Pluralism, Curriculum and Curiosity.
The new curriculum outline asserts that the new core intends to emphasize workforce readiness, accelerated programs and artificial intelligence literacy.
Jeffrey Hakim, professor and chair of the Department of Math & Statistics, thinks these changes are vital.
“I believe that we should embrace AI,” Hakim said. “If we embrace it more, then people will not fall into the traps.”
Marianne Noble, a literature professor, said she’s witnessed a decline in intellectual curiosity and a possible rise in what she calls “transactionality” in the college experience.
“College should be about curiosity and learning more because you love it. But I do think that many students don’t see it that way. They’re much more looking for the skills that they need to succeed in a particular career,” Noble said.
To her, those skills are inherent to the college experience and don’t need to be the strategic plan’s focus. Bair Van Dam saw two sides to this point.
“It would be unethical for us to just take your money and not make sure that you’re prepared for the world,” Bair Van Dam continued. “But it’s also unethical if we see this only as a transaction, that you’re just here to get a piece of paper and get out.”
This article was done by Owen Auston-Babcock, Abigail Hatting and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Sabine Kanter-Hutching Ariana Kavoossi and Audrey Smith. Fact-checking done by Aidan Crowe
