Director of Accessibility Services Marie Saddlemire, Ph.D., crosses the front of a Bryant University classroom, a PowerPoint displaying the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as her backdrop. The 17 goals, which were developed by member states during the 2012 U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development, serve as the basis of the Bryant Impact Core, a new general education curriculum for all incoming students at Bryant University.
“Institutions of higher education should take responsibility for advancing these goals, because we are teaching future leaders,” Saddlemire tells her students.
Over the course of the 50-minute class, the first in the Impact Core curriculum, first-years begin developing cognitive, affective, and behavioral skills that are essential to making sense of the world and – improving it.
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The Impact Core was developed over the course of a year of cross-disciplinary collaboration and was designed to inspire generations of purposeful leaders, says Provost and Chief Academic Officer Rupendra Paliwal, Ph.D.
“Whether they are transitioning to campus or the workforce, learners will feel empowered by the curriculum’s emphasis on social impact and community,” says Paliwal.
The curriculum, which launched with the Class of 2027, aims to advance global equity through social, economic, and environmental sustainability practices. The 17 goals are infused into all 16 general education courses at Bryant, says Professor of History Ron Bobroff, Ph.D., from microeconomics and world history to new additions such as “Weather and Natural Disasters” and “Intercultural Communication.”
“As much as students don’t think much about general education, it stands at the heart of an institution and creates a student identity,” Bobroff says. “Many schools abdicate that responsibility but, here at Bryant, we’ve created something that will inspire students to be more thoughtful, critical thinkers who are aware of their place in their communities and in the world.”
To Terri Hasseler, Ph.D., director of the Center for Teaching Excellence who contributed to the curriculum’s design, the new Impact Core “has Bryant all over it,” she says, with coursework that emphasizes experiential learning and community engagement. “If you distill us down to our essence, we’re all about outcomes. We’re not just going to talk about this; we’re going to go out into our communities and do the work.”
This focus on social impact, says Trustee of Management Professor Mike Roberto, has been part and parcel of Bryant’s curriculum for years. But the new Impact Core connects longstanding work within the university’s College of Business, College of Arts and Sciences, and School of Health and Behavioral Sciences in an intentional way.
“Students have long cared about urgent societal issues: poverty, environmental sustainability, labor conditions in emerging markets,” he says. “When they go out into the working world, these issues are front and center. We can no longer ignore them.”
The curriculum is designed to foster engagement on campus, as well. Academic Center for Excellence Learning Specialist Cindy Mueller assisted with developing and implementing the “Student Success” course, a one-credit class open to first-years during their first semester on campus. Students learn self-advocacy, stress management, and time management skills; the course also elevates conversations about diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging on campus and beyond. The curriculum also features a secondary “Boost” course, which was piloted in the spring 2023 semester, for students who would benefit from additional support early in their collegiate careers.
From its beginning to present, College of Arts and Sciences Dean Veronica McComb, Ph.D., has overseen the development and implementation of the new curriculum as well as managing those involved with the redesign. Overall, twenty stakeholders were involved in the latest process; the last general education program was overhauled in the 1990s with iterative changes over the course of three decades.
“Our faculty and staff designed a curriculum that is both relevant and academically rigorous,” says McComb. “Now, our students have a shared framework that allows them to communicate effectively, work strategically, and think creatively.”
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Back in the classroom, Saddlemire splits her nearly two-dozen students into four groups. She uncaps a dry-erase marker and asks the first group to share how they’ve engaged with SDGs in their other courses.
One student explains that his statistics class completed an Excel project on electric vehicles and clean energy. Another student adds that her Psychology course starts with five minutes of mindfulness to improve health and well-being. As the conversation segues into how undergraduates can further their involvement with sustainability efforts, the group suggests volunteering at soup kitchens and holding food drives to fight poverty.
“When you get out of school,” Saddlemire tells the first-year students, “you have the responsibility of taking the things you’ve learned and making the world a better place.”
