The United States Military Academy’s Office of the Dean announced recently that it is currently preparing changes to the curriculum designed to keep USMA at the forefront of the world’s academic military schools and meet Army needs.

Dr. Judith Loomer, the associate dean for academic affairs, said, "We’ve conducted internal assessments and participated in external reviews to answer the question, ‘Are we doing a good job preparing these cadets for the new Army and changes in world cultures that might effect them?’ The answer is, ‘We are doing it well, but we can still make it better.’"

Brig. Gen. Daniel Kaufman, dean of the academic board, points to USMA’s overarching goal -- "Enabling our graduates to anticipate and respond effectively to the uncertainties of a changing technological, social, political and economic world" -- as key. He sees the evolution of the curriculum as a necessity to continue developing the best leaders of the future.

The primary change in the curriculum will be to reduce the number of engineering classes taken by non-engineering majors, add an information technology sequence and strengthen the major or field of study with an additional course, Loomer explained.

"The process of developing these changes has helped us reaffirm the goals of the academic program," she said.

The new curriculum retains USMA’s commitment to a large core curriculum that is balanced among the humanities, social sciences, mathematics, basic sciences and engineering.

"The changes will allow us to do more of what we are already doing well," Loomer explained, "and will allow us to design courses that directly support the academic program goal."

USMA faculty members are working on proposals for ways to implement the new curriculum, a process that is set to begin with the class of 2005.

Cadets selecting their majors and courses of study next fall will be the Class of 2004 (yearlings), and they will select based on current offerings. The changes will be proposed this spring and the dean’s curriculum committee will review changes next fall, making recommendations to the general committee and the academic board next winter.