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Ongoing efforts surrounding the university’s curriculum, including implementation of the common curriculum and the university's new initiative integrating sustainability into the curriculum, were front and center during the Boulder Faculty Assembly (BFA)’s final meeting of the semester on Dec. 4.

Common curriculum and residential learning communities

When it comes to implementing the common curriculum and the inception of residential learning communities (RLCs), everything is currently in progress and on track, according to the update provided by Vice �Թ��� and Senior Vice Provost for Academic Planning and Assessment Katherine Eggert and Interim Dean and Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education Erika Randall.

Back in 2023, then-Provost Russell Moore tasked Eggert, along with then-Dean of Undergraduate Education Daryl Maeda and the BFA, to implement the newly approved common curriculum proposal based around the idea of “sustainable futures,” which comprise the self, society and world.

The theme of “sustainable futures” all came about, according to Eggert, “with the idea that students coming from our university should be prepared to help all of these things keep going into the future.”

Along with the work of implementing the common curriculum came the 2025 charge from Provost Ann Stevens to create a new living, learning model that will evolve the current Residential Academic Programs (RAPs) and Living Learning Communities (LLCs) into RLCs available to all new undergraduate students at no additional cost. Stevens also charged the new RLCs with supporting the implementation of the common curriculum.

A BFA working group on the common curriculum, chaired by BFA chair-elect David Paradise (history), began work this semester by looking at the general education requirements of the College of Arts and Sciences, which support many of the core undergraduate requirements of the other colleges and schools.��

In the spring, the group will examine the unique core requirements of other colleges and schools. This cross-campus analysis will help the group determine where the specific “learning outcomes” of the common curriculum, or what undergraduates will gain from their CU Boulder education, will be located—whether they’ll be in the requirements from colleges and schools or the student’s major, or in an academic course associated with a RLC.

The aim is to have this new curriculum model and RLC cohort in place for the entering students of fall 2027.

Faculty interested in getting involved in the process should talk to their assistant or associate dean for undergraduate education about RLCs, Eggert said, as well as plan to get involved in forthcoming discussions about RLCs and the common curriculum within their colleges, schools, departments and programs. Eggert and Randall promised further updates to BFA in the spring semester.��

Update from the Buckley Center

Earlier this year, �Թ��� Justin Schwartz��announced the formation of the Buckley Center for Sustainability Education, with the former chair of the Environmental Studies department, Max Boykoff,��as the center’s first faculty director.

Created with a venture-style investment model through a $10 million gift from CU Boulder alumnus Spike Buckley, the center is meant to transform the way sustainability is taught at CU Boulder—empowering students and faculty to create a more environmentally sustainable future in the face of a changing climate.

Since being formed,��the Buckley Center has hit the ground running, Boykoff told the BFA, working on many of their first-year goals, which include:

• Hiring faculty associate directors and staff
• Selecting faculty ambassadors, selected by deans to begin in January
• The formation of the Buckley faculty fellows and SPIKE student scholars programs
• Exploring CU Boulder curriculum assessment, support and expansion opportunities
• The discussion of collaborations and partnerships with units, centers, institutes and/or programs

“This is a real opportunity for all of us (faculty), and I want to emphasize that we see this as ‘us,’ and we welcome all of your input and engagement,” Boykoff said.

During the meeting, Phaedra Pezzullo (communication) was introduced as one of those faculty directors. She announced that the center is currently soliciting applications for this spring’s faculty fellows. This position, which in future years will span a full academic year but this spring only a semester, brings together faculty experts to discuss sustainability education on campus. This spring’s theme is “climate and environmental justice.”

Anyone interested in applying to this competitive fellowship, which also gives a $5,000 stipend to those selected for spring 2026, may��refer to the Buckley Center website for more information. Applications are due this Friday, Dec. 12.

“We’re all having these isolated conversations around sustainability, and this gives us an opportunity to support people to bring those networks together in a regular conversation, in a monthly way,” said Pezzullo.

In other BFA action

BFA heard an update from Academic Technologies Committee Chair Janet Casagrand (integrative physiology) about the��Grades for Student Success initiative. One of this group’s strongest recommendations is for faculty to make sure they are posting grades on Canvas throughout the semester so that students know when to seek help and can make informed decisions ahead of course drop deadlines.

The BFA voted to approve two resolutions and one motion introduced��during last month’s meeting:

• A resolution to “reject loyalty oaths,” which urges CU leadership to reject any proposals compromising the mission, values and independence of the university
• A resolution “against surveillance in the name of security,” which urges the chancellor to give full consideration to the recommendations of the BFA Working Group on IT Security Standards, whose report was presented during the November BFA meeting
• An amendment to the bylaws and standing rules so that meetings may be held more than once a month, depending on the academic year schedule

Learn more about the BFA and previous actions on��the BFA website.