Guiding Student Success: How FSW’s Curriculum Comes to Life
We are spotlighting Jeremy Pilarski, Curriculum Committee Chair, and Jarrod Neubert, Senior Coordinator Curriculum & Program Planning to give you a sneak peek behind the coordination and campus-wide collaboration required to create and maintain FSW’s curriculum and catalog. You might assume that the catalog is and always was the same, but in reality, it is a very dynamic document that has to be reviewed and updated regularly. It takes a rigorous series of steps to put new classes and programs into action.
It all begins with a curriculum proposal. Course changes and new programs and classes are proposed, revised and approved through a committee of faculty representatives from each school. This committee is led by Jeremy Pilarski. He has served on FSW’s Curriculum Committee for six years and has been the acting chair for a year and a half. When Pilarski was appointed by his Dean, the responsibility of this role was not taken lightly by him, in fact he noted that he was a bit apprehensive leading the “voice of the faculty,” but he is no stranger to taking on tasks outside his comfort zone.
Jeremy summarizes the importance of the Curriculum Committee’s purpose wonderfully this way, “Curriculum connects us all. We all share the same students at a certain point during their academic journeys. Offering them the best courses is a collaborative process involving both the shared governance between faculty and administration. The curriculum process at FSW makes our programs unique and competitive compared to other state colleges. Our esteemed faculty are experts in their fields, championing both rigor and innovation. I am proud to serve as chair for this committee, and in closing, wish to extend thanks to all committee members who have dedicated their time reviewing proposals.”
Once proposals are approved, they need to be published. This is where Jarrod Neubert steps in. As a member of the Office of the Registrar, Jarrod is tasked with taking the approved proposals and updating the College catalog, which is published on FSW’s website for public view and reference. According to Jarrod, “The catalog is a student’s best friend. It outlines everything they need to know regarding their requirements for their academic journey as well as different college policies.”
In addition to updating the catalog, Jarrod puts the new classes and programs into action by updating our student information system so that students can register and track their progress through their degree evaluation on their student profile.
To ensure quality programming, some proposals can take semesters or years of research and design, and they may even need to go through additional accreditation steps. The strategic effort put into to publishing our annual catalog ensures that FSW represents its academic programs clearly, completely, and accurately to students and the public — an important element for maintaining our institutional integrity and our regional accreditation. While the curriculum and catalog processes are led by our spotlight members, Jeremy and Jarrod, the process to create a rich and seamless education system for students requires the dedication of faculty and leaders from multiple departments. FSW’s commitment to providing a quality and affordable education experience is college-wide!
