American University is launching a new five-year strategic plan called “Meet Our Moment,” President Jonathan Alger announced Monday, making a number of pledges to students.
Meet Our Moment will prioritize three key pillars — career readiness, community and curiosity — according to the announcement. The strategic plan includes guaranteed funded internships, artificial intelligence literacy, civic engagement and the launch of a “90-day sprint” to overhaul AU’s Core curriculum.
“Meet Our Moment is a promise to help students achieve the career outcomes and lives of achievement they seek,” Alger said in the press release. “Across our strategic imperatives, we will advance the skills to engage civically, solve problems, and enhance democracy…”
Alger touted the plan’s focus on equipping students with career readiness, including the new program AU Ready, which will provide every undergraduate access to a $4,500 resource for a funded internship or research opportunity starting in their sophomore year. The five-year plan seeks to boost the percentage of AU students who complete at least one internship from 87 to 95 percent.
The plan advances a proposal to rework AU’s Core curriculum that received criticism from faculty in the fall. It will commit working groups to “review and reimagine our undergraduate curriculum,” Provost Vicky Wilkins said in a Jan. 16, 2025, email to faculty that was obtained by The Eagle.
The “90-day sprint” involves immediately updating academic policies that slow student progress, Wilkins said, plus an “ongoing marathon” to envision a new core curriculum for traditional undergraduates.
The current proposal seems to be a more developed version of the original, said literature Professor Amanda Choutka, who criticized the speed at which administrators wanted to implement a new curriculum in November.
Many faculty pointed to a proposal to require all students to take a class on AI as a major problem. The new proposal, Choutka told The Eagle, has developed that idea into a class on AI literacy and ethical usage, though it isn’t clear whether it will be mandatory.
The work will be led by a steering committee of 11 faculty members elected by professors from each school and co-chaired by Martyn Oliver, the faculty chair of the AU Core, and Steve Silvia, the chair of the Faculty Senate. Under University regulations, the Faculty Senate controls the school’s curriculum.
Changes to the Core would likely not affect current students because students’ degree structures are generally defined by the University Catalog from the year the student enters AU, according to the Undergraduate Academic Regulations.
The plan also includes the AU Global initiative, which aims to provide every student access to study abroad, global learning or an international research opportunity. Currently, AU ranks No. 5 in study abroad programs on U.S. News and World Report’s college rankings.
Meet Our Moment will establish AU90, a 90-credit degree pilot program designated for students seeking a flexible and efficient pathway to a degree or graduate school.
AU90 “aims to target career changers, public servants and veterans as well as traditional undergraduates,” according to a slideshow presented to faculty in September. “AU is motivated by affordability concerns, workforce readiness, and flexibility,” the slideshow reads.
Meet Our Moment is a continuation of the University’s democracy and Civic Life initiatives, according to the press release. The Civic Life Initiative aims to engage students through events, programs and activities. This includes the Student Civic Life Fellows program, the Democracy Innovation Lab and the Sine Institute of Policy and Politics, according to an article from The Eagle.
Students’ degree programs will include civic learning with documentation of student’s engagement, dialogue and problem-solving skills on a Civic Transcript as a credential for employers and graduate schools.
“A community-wide engagement will continue bringing new initiatives online and leveraging the expertise of AU faculty, staff, students, and alumni to create a model for a 21st-century university: relentlessly innovative, inclusive in spirit, and deep in purpose,” the press release reads.
Owen Auston-Babcock contributed reporting.
This article was edited by Owen Auston-Babcock, Payton Anderson and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Avery Grossman. Fact-checking done by Andrew Kummeth.
