2004-2005 Undergraduate Bulletin [ARCHIVED BULLETIN]
New College
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Office: 205 Roosevelt Hall.
Telephone: (516) 463-5820
David C. Christman, Dean
Heidi Contreras, Senior Assistant Dean and Master of Arts Program Administrator
Melissa Cheese, Administrative Associate and University Without Walls Administrator
Rene Giminiani-Caputo, Senior Administrative Associate
Students should consult the Class Schedule for specific offerings before registering for their programs.
Prologue
New College of Hofstra University is no longer new in age. It was founded in
1959 as Hofstra’s “collegium,” a coming together of master teachers and apprentice
students dedicated to intellectual inquiry within the liberal arts and to their
social applications. Historically, the first New College was founded at Oxford,
England, over six hundred years ago during the medieval period for masters and
apprentices interested in achieving intellectual emancipation from the constraints
of that time and place. In the 21st century, Hofstra’s New College continues to
employ the individualized apprenticeship model created at Oxford.
New College is one of the colleges at Hofstra University offering both a bachelor
and master of arts degree to students sharing its commitment to the intellectual
and practical dimensions of the liberal arts. It assists its students in achieving
their liberal arts goals through a curriculum more individualized in response to student needs and interests, more flexible in structure and more varied in modes of learning.
Hofstra And The Liberal Arts
Since its founding in 1935, Hofstra University has had a firm nd central commitment
to the liberal arts.
The liberal arts are those studies which expand horizons and sharpen intellectual
skills. They invite us to clarify our values and apply them appropriately in new
situations. They make us aware of our common humanity.
The liberal arts do not prepare for specific careers; they prepare for all careers.
When business and industry seek employees with college degrees, they seek people
with keen and supple minds, the capacity for clear and precise expression and
a broad awareness of human accomplishments and possibilities. Professional schools,
too, seek not the trained apprentice but the educated person. Such people learn
and adapt quickly; such people are productive.
The liberal arts prepare for recreation and responsibility as well as for work.
They provide opportunities to develop sensibilities and to refine notions of goodness,
beauty and truth. In short, they open ways for us to achieve our full, human potential.
New College, 1960
In 1959, with support from the Ford Foundation, Hofstra founded New College to
develop new ways to achieve traditional liberal arts goals. New College has pioneered
in the development of off-campus education, intensive eight-week courses, individual
student projects and cross-disciplinary approaches to fundamental human questions.
In 1965, New College became Hofstra’s second, degreegranting liberal arts college.
Thus, Hofstra is one of the few universities in the country whose commitment to
the liberal arts is so firm that it offers two routes to the B.A. degree: a traditional
one at the Hofstra College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (HCLAS) and a nontraditional
one at New College.
New College Today
New College is small by design. Classes are small; friendships form easily. New
College offers its students all the advantages of a large, metropolitan university–including,
for example, Hofstra’s superb 1,360,000 volume libraries (Axinn and Law)–along
with the closeness of a small, liberal arts college.
New College students may enroll in courses at any other undergraduate school/college
within Hofstra University, just as students from any other undergraduate school/college
within the University may enroll in New College courses. In addition to New College’s
own full-time faculty, professors from other academic units at Hofstra and from
the metropolitan community regularly teach courses at the College.
At New College, the faculty and academic fields are organized into four areas–Creative Studies, Humanities, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences. Students at New College do not select a traditional departmental major; they
concentrate in an area. Creative Studies center on the making of concrete re-creations of aspects of the human experience.
The Humanities concern themselves with imaginative representations and thoughtful interpretations
of the human experience. The Natural Sciences describe and analyze phenomena in the physical universe. The Social Sciences describe and analyze aspects of the human experience.
Students who wish to develop an undergraduate program of studies which explores
some topic from a variety of disciplinary perspectives may concentrate in a fifth
area, Interdisciplinary Studies.
This organization of the traditional academic disciplines into areas greatly
increases communication among professors of the different disciplines and gives
undergraduate education at New College a distinctively interdisciplinary character.
Faculty and students are always alert to connections between their own and other
disciplines.
One of the principal differences, then, between New College and most liberal
arts colleges is that New College fosters interdisciplinary breadth and discourages
unnecessary or premature over-specialization.
Admission To The Bachelor Of Arts Program
New College welcomes students with a serious commitment to the educational rigor
of its Bachelor of Arts program. Although admissions requirements for undergraduates
at New College are the same as the requirements for all undergraduates at the
University, the College especially welcomes both freshmen and transfer applicants
with these qualifications and credentials:
- previous academic performance in a liberal arts area or areas at an above average
level, as demonstrated by high school class standing or transfer student status;
- strong aptitude for a full utilization of liberal arts resources at New College,
as shown by standardized test scores (SAT or ACT) above the national average;
- serious motivation for academic work within the liberal arts and an interest
in New College, as demonstrated through an admissions interview or through a written
statement of purpose.
Applicants should demonstrate strength in at least two of the three guidelines
listed above to assure a positive response to their applications.
Early decision and early admission are possible at New College just as they are
available to applicants for admission to other University programs. For current
information about undergraduate admission, please contact the Dean of Undergraduate
Admissions.
Transfer Students
Students entering New College and transferring credits will be classified as
follows:
freshman transfer students: 3-24 transfer credits
sophomore transfer students: 25-57 transfer credits
junior transfer students: 58-87 transfer credits
senior transfer students: 88 or more transfer credits.
All transfer students must satisfy all the general and area graduation requirements
for New College including the New College Writing Requirement.
Students must complete their last two full-time semesters under the supervision
of a New College faculty adviser in order to be recommended for the Bachelor of
Arts degree from Hofstra University through New College.
Academic Calendar
New College uses the intensive four-credit course as its characteristic offering.
The traditional 15-week semester is divided into two halves or sessions. In each
seven-and-a-half week session, courses meet four days a week, 95 minutes a day,
or 6 hours and 20 minutes a week. Most Wednesdays are classfree days for intensive
reading, writing, study and research.
Most students enroll for two, four-credit courses a session, or 16 credits (four
courses) a semester.
This academic calendar allows students to concentrate their attention and energies
on two courses per session instead of spreading their efforts over four or five
courses throughout a semester. The calendar also adds variety to the student’s
intellectual life: midway through a semester, when other students are taking midterm
examinations, New College students are beginning new work.
Since certain subject matter is more appropriate for semester-length exposure,
some semester-length courses as well as an array of two-credit special seminars
are offered.
Modes Of Learning
New College offers its students several modes of learning.
- Course work: these are standard classroom lectures and seminars.
- Individual Projects: a student with a particular academic interest registers
with a faculty member who can nurture that interest. The two agree on what work
will be done, when, what the bases for evaluation will be and how many credits
the work will represent, normally from one to three. During the term of an individual
project, normally a session, the student and faculty supervisor meet regularly.
- Off-Campus Education: students pursue an educational or preprofessional goal
for academic credit at sites such as hospitals, law offices, public service agencies,
galleries, theaters, broadcasting studios, legislatures, scientific laboratories
or in study abroad. The Off-Campus Education Program is supervised by a New College
faculty committee. Carefully prepared proposals are submitted to the committee
for consideration during the semester prior to the proposed off-campus project.
Clearly stated learning objectives, a good fit between those objectives and off-campus
site activities, and student preparation for work at the site are the principal
criteria used by the committee when evaluating proposals. A faculty member keeps
in close touch with each student involved in a project. A learning report is required
at the conclusion of all projects. The Basic Learning Report is a written, reflective
statement of what and how the student learned. A scholarly research paper relating
to, or drawn from, the student’s off-campus activities is frequently required.
New College Areas
Creative Studies disciplines are:
Dance Arts
Fine Arts
Theater Arts
Writing Arts
Humanities disciplines are:
Art History
Cultural Anthropology
Dramatic Literature
Literature
Philosophy
Interdisciplinary Studies: theme or problem-centered programs designed by the individual student in consultation
with a faculty adviser. In addition, Interdisciplinary Studies includes programs
in:
American Civilization
Cognitive Sciences
Communication and Society
Family Studies
Human Development
International Studies
Women’s Studies
Natural Science disciplines are:
Biology
Chemistry
Mathematics
Social Science disciplines are:
Economics
History
Political Philosophy
Political Science
Psychology
Sociology
In addition to completing a concentration in one of these areas, students may
complete an Elective Focus in a secondary area or discipline under the direct
supervision of a New College Area Coordinator or designate. Also, as a complement
to any of the above Area programs, New College offers an Elective Focus in elementary
education which leads to provisional certification as an elementary teacher in
New York State. For further information on New College foci, please see the sections
on New College Areas.
New College Educational Resources
Students are encouraged to take full advantage of the educational resources available
to them as members of the Hofstra University community. Equal to its commitment
to the liberal arts is New College’s commitment to serve individual students through
advisement, access to University resources, and a unique calendar and tuition
policy. The New College Writing Program is also a resource for the development
of communication skills.
Advisement
All institutions of higher education offer forms of advisement and counseling.
New College intends its academic advisement to be as close and informed as only
a small college’s can be, but augmented by the College’s presence within Hofstra
University. Students are initially assigned a New College faculty adviser, but
may choose a different adviser as their academic interests become more defined.
With few exceptions, New College faculty offices and records are located within
the New College building, thus facilitating student access to advisers for conference,
registration and general information about the College, the University and programs
of study.
University Resources
As members of the Hofstra University community, New College students have full
access to University resources. These include undergraduate courses at the Hofstra
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (HCLAS) and the Schools of Business, Communication,
and Education; opportunities for student-initiated projects supervised by faculty
other than New College faculty; full use of the University’s excellent library,
computer facilities, swimming pool and music listening rooms; and the full range
of student services provided through the Dean of Students Office, Residential
Life Office, the Hofstra University Wellness Center and the Office of Financial
Aid.
Tuition
The tuition policy of New College supports its flexible, individualized programs
of study and its various modes of learning. Students registering as full-time
(a minimum of 12 semester hours attempted per semester) are billed a fixed tuition
amount. This entitles the student to register for 12 to 20 hours for that semester.
Students must secure the permission of the Dean of New College to register for
more than 18 hours a semester and must pay per credit for credits in excess of
20. Those registering for fewer than 12 semester hours will be billed at the University’s
part-time, per credit rate. This tuition policy provides New College students
with a wide range of educational choices within a fixed tuition amount.
The New College Writing Program
Expository Writing
The New College Writing Program is designed to help all students write as well
as they possibly can. Expository writing–writing that explains, analyzes, clarifies–is
central to many of the courses at the College. Several of these courses have been
chosen to introduce the Writing Program and tohelp students develop their writing
skills.
An Introduction to the Liberal Arts, the fall semester freshman course, is the first course in this series. The
spring freshman writing workshops and the writing intensive discipline courses
for juniors and seniors follow. In each of these courses, students are given the
opportunity to write a college essay which is evaluated by the instructors of
these courses and members of the New College Writing Committee. These evaluations
(which are described below) enable students to monitor their development as writers.
When students have satisfactorily completed these courses and written college
essays that receive satisfactory evaluations, they have fulfilled the expository
writing component of the New College Writing Program.
Students who have difficulties completing this part of the Writing program can
receive additional help from the faculty. They may be advised to register in one
or more New College courses emphasizing writing or to sign up for tutorial work
under the supervision of a faculty member.
Transfers to New College
Students who transfer to New College after earning 30 credits elsewhere are required
to take a writing intensive course and to write a satisfactory College Essay (an
essay that is given a #5 evaluation) in order to complete the expository writing
requirement. They may, of course, also choose to register for a writing workshop.
Scholarly Writing
Students normally demonstrate their ability to locate, use, interpret, and document
appropriate library and other sources through satisfactorily written research
papers submitted to the New College faculty. When two New College faculty members
agree that a student has demonstrated such scholarly ability through the submission
of two different papers, the student will have satisfied this requirement, and
this accomplishment is noted on the student’s official record.
Students begin learning research skills in their Freshman Seminars. They are
given opportunities to write research papers in their Sophomore and Junior Seminars
and in many advanced courses.
Procedure
- At the completion of a New College course in which a library research paper is
required, the New College faculty member lists those students whose writing has
satisfied this requirement. If a paper is submitted late, it is the student’s
responsibility to ask the faculty member to inform the New College Writing Coordinator
if the paper meets the standard for scholarly writing;
- Library papers written for courses given outside of New College or for courses
given within New College by parttime faculty may be considered for this requirement
after they have been evaluated by the instructors of these courses. Students should
submit these papers to the New College Area whose concentration (Humanities, Social
Sciences, Natural Sciences, Creative Studies) is closest to the subject matter
of the paper. The paper will be assigned to a member of the New College faculty
who determines whether it meets this requirement;
- In a course for which no library paper is required, students may request that
the instructor assign a library paper as part of, or in addition to, regular class
assignments. The instructor will decide whether or not such a paper is useful
in that particular course.
Students normally satisfy the scholarly aspect of the standard as they progress
towards meeting all requirements for the Bachelor of Arts degree at New College.
Normally, a student does not undertake work on a Senior Project until this requirement
has been satisfied.
Student Status
Students not making satisfactory progress toward meeting either aspect of the
Writing Standard, or who fall below the requisite level after satisfying either
aspect, are subject to a change of student status from “good academic standing”
to “probation” and/or continuance with “restrictions on registration.” Students
with probationary status are not recommended for the award of the Bachelor of
Arts degree by the faculty and Dean of New College.
Scholarships And Financial Aid
Hofstra University offers financial awards based on academic quality, personal
merit, need, and in some cases, proficiency in a special area. Students seeking
financial aid should consult the Office of Financial Aid.
General Requirements For Graduation
I. Successful completion of a minimum of 120 semester hours: 40 s.h. of area
requirements, 40 s.h. of College requirements and 40 s.h. of electives. At least
90 of these 120 s.h. must be in the liberal arts. No more than 40 semester hours
may be taken in a single discipline.
A. Successful and sequential completion of 40 s.h. of courses required by one
of the five New College areas (Creative Studies, Humanities, Interdisciplinary
Studies, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences). See requirements under specific area.
B. Successful and timely completion of 40 s.h. of College requirements:
Sem. Hrs.
1) Introduction to the Liberal Arts
(freshman year) (ISB 1) 4
2) Main Ideas in the Western Tradition
(sophomore year) (ISA 1) 4
3) Area Seminar
(junior or senior year) 4
4) two courses in a second area 8
5) two courses in a third area 8
6) two courses in a fourth area 8
7) one course in Quantitative Thinking 4
Total: 40
Students in Interdisciplinary Studies must satisfactorily complete a minimum
of 8 s.h. each in Creative Studies, Humanities, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences
in addition to the one Quantitative Thinking (QT) course.
Transfer students entering with fewer than two fulltime semesters of academic
work in the liberal arts must enroll and complete ISB 1, Introduction to the Liberal Arts, or its equivalent.
Transfer students entering with two or more full-time semesters of academic work
in the liberal arts need not take ISB 1, Introduction to the Liberal Arts. They may, however, elect to take it.
Transfer students entering with fewer than three fulltime semesters of work in
the liberal arts must complete ISA 1, Main Ideas of The Western Tradition.
Transfer students entering with at least three full-time semesters of completed
work in the liberal arts may elect to take ISA 1. However, students who do not
complete this course must complete a one-semester hour Individual Project to accompany
the required upper-level area seminar. This project must deal with the intellectual
antecedents (prior to 1825 C.E.) of the student’s area or disciplinary interests.
All students are expected to satisfactorily complete the Upper Level Seminar in
their area.
C. Successful completion of 40 s.h. of elective work approved by the student’s
adviser.
II. Students must satisfy the New College Writing Standard. It is expected that
they will satisfy the first aspect by the end of the sophomore year and will maintain
that standard subsequently. Normally, the second aspect of the Writing Standard
should be satisfactorily completed before registering for the Senior Project.
III. Each student must remain in good academic standing while enrolled at New
College.
For Freshman Entering The Fall 1998 Semester And After
Students entering New College in the Fall 1998 semester and thereafter, are subject
to the same graduation requirements as specified previously. However, while the
requirements remain the same, the structure of these requirements has changed
as follows:
Year I:
First Semester Sem. Hrs.
Introduction to the Liberal Arts 4
Introductory Level course 4
Introductory Level course 4
Elective course 4
Total 16
Second Semester
Directed writing course 2
Elective 4
Elective 4
Elective 4
Elective 2
Total 16
Year II:
First Semester
Main Ideas or culturally
different course 4
Elective 4
Elective 4
Elective 4
Total 16
Second Semester
Main Ideas or culturally different
course (whichever not taken in first
semester) 4
Elective 4
Elective 4
Elective 4
Total 16
Year III
First Semester
Upper Level Area Seminar or Methods/
Criticism Area course 4
* Thematic Writing course 4
Elective 4
Elective 4
Total 16
Second Semester
Upper Level Area Seminar or Methods/
Criticism Area course (whichever
not taken in first semester) 4
Elective 4
Elective 4
Elective 4
Total 16
Year IV:
First Semester
Senior Project or course 4
Elective 4
Elective 4
Elective 4
Total 16
Second Semester
Senior Project or course 4
Elective 4
Elective 4
Elective 4
Total 16
* Students may enroll in additional Thematic Writing courses in subsequent semesters
either as elective offerings or to further improve writing skills.
Academic Standing
The New College faculty and/or the Dean of New College reserve the right to review
student records periodically for successful and timely progress toward satisfaction
of College and area requirements and to make recommendations to the University
about student status. A decision is made for each student in terms of one of the
following categories:
retention in good standing
retention on academic probation
restrictions on registration
dismissal
Data used to determine student status include:
Completion ratio: ratio of credits successfully completed to credits attempted;
Number of deferred evaluations (Pr’s) and Incomplete (INC’s) outstanding;
Grade-point average (GPA);
Timely and orderly satisfaction of both College and area requirements.
For New College Dean’s List eligibility, see the New College Addendum to this Bulletin.
Special Degree - Granting Programs
University Without Walls
Melissa Cheese, Administrator
University Without Walls at New College is a competencybased, liberal arts Bachelor
of Arts or Bachelor of Science program for able adults who can spend only limited
time on campus, but whose life situations provide opportunity for full- or part-time
learning.
Students work with advisers to structure individual programs of study which are
pursued at home, on the job, in the community, through travel and in the classroom
and library. UWW individual curricula, based on students’ past experiences, allow
advisers to assist students to design liberal arts programs of personal interest.
One of four principal modes of learning is contractual–an agreement between the
student, the faculty supervisor and, ultimately, the program’s core faculty –
which shapes the student’s academic and intellectual work for a specific period.
UWW does not count credit or time as measures of student progress toward the
baccalaureate degree. Instead, UWW students work toward the development and demonstration of those
abilities and competencies which, traditionally, have characterized the liberally
educated person.
Individuals interested in the University Without Walls approach to the baccalaureate
degree must present admissions credentials similar to those required of all applicants
to New College’s undergraduate, degree-granting programs. In addition, because
of the special student audience served by UWW, students must demonstrate a need
for the “external” and individualized nature of UWW learning contracts through
an oncampus interview and through an essay showing, in part, why their personal
and professional commitments prevent their easy access to an on-campus, undergraduate
program.
For additional information, consult the University Without Walls Addendum.
Distinguished Professorship
The Lawrence Stessin Distinguished Professorship.
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