Wharton Vice Dean Bellace presents new curriculum

Wharton Vice Dean Janice Bellace outlined the new curriculum for Wharton undergraduates entering in the fall for a group of 30 students yesterday in the annual Undergraduate Deans' Advisory Board forum. Bellace said the new curriculum, which includes the new foreign language requirement, is more focused and directed than the current one. "[The new curriculum] is not a huge smorgasbord without direction," she said. The new core, which was announced last year, will be in place for the Class of 1995. The undergraduate curriculum will be separated into three basic categories: general education requirements, business fundamentals and the environment of business. The environment of business is a hybrid category which integrates business and arts and sciences in a manner similar to the International Relations major currently offered by the College. The seven-course-unit General Education Requirement will be similar to the current requirements with a few minor changes. Decision Science 101, not formerly required, will now be an integral part of the Wharton undergraduate's education. Bellace called this addition "the big change" in the curriculum. Math 140 will not be counted as one of the seven required general education course units. Math 141, for which Math 140 is a prerequisite, however, is a required course. Since, Bellace said, "at least half [of the students] come in with knowledge of the subject matter of Math 140" through Advanced Placement credit, the curriculum will not include the course. Math 140 will have to be taken as a free elective, she said. The business fundamentals will include six units -- Accounting 101 and 102, Finance 101 and 102, Management 101 and Marketing 101. These courses, though not previously required, were taken by most students, Bellace explained. A business depth section, which will be a four-course concentration, and the business breadth section, which will be three diverse business courses, will also be part of the new curriculum. The general education distributional will be similar to the Arts and Sciences distribution in that seven courses must be chosen from categories entitled Social Structures, Language, Arts and Culture, and Science and Analysis. After the free electives, the non-business electives and the new foreign language requirement, the curriculum is rounded out by the new "Environment of Business" category, which includes the "global environment," the "societal environment" and the "organizational environment." The "global environment" courses are those courses that comprise the International Relations major. The "societal environment" course choices include Legal Studies 101 and 210 and Policy and Public Management 203. The "organizational environment," which will be chosen "from an approved list that has not been approved yet," will most likely be a category made up of such classes as Insurance and a course in modern technology. "There may be many more requirements but there is still a great deal of choice," said Bellace. "With early planning it shouldn't be too difficult [to work out a schedule]."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.