Very soon, the College of General Studies as Penn knows it will no longer exist.
CGS is redefining its mission and vision - and, within the next few months, its name - in response to changing global and national trends in higher education as well as shifts in Penn's administration over the last few years.
Housed within the School of Arts and Sciences, CGS offers programs for high school and study-abroad students, as well as for adults seeking higher degrees.
But when CGS executive director Kristine Billmyer took office in 2005, she realized that more students than ever were seeking post-baccalaureate and graduate degrees in order to enhance their careers - not just to continue their educations.
As a result, CGS is creating new programs from scratch and redesigning others to usher in the next generation of professionals in emerging job markets.
To meet the demand for medical physicists, for example, Kate Spillane was brought in to revitalize the Medical Physics program, which teaches the physics of medical technologies, in July.
Revamping the program with a more well-rounded curriculum and an increased emphasis on practical application, Spillane has already seen a wave of student interest: The program will admit eight to 10 students in the fall, and up to 20 after that.
There are only 10 accredited medical-physics degree programs in the U.S., and Penn hopes to become the eleventh when its program debuts in fall 2008, Spillane said.
Since CGS can blur school and discipline boundaries more easily because it's not a traditionally structured school, it has "more rope to innovate," SAS Dean
Rebecca Bushnell said.
For example, the new Master of Urban Spatial Analytics program is a collaboration among CGS, Wharton and the School of Design. This kind of interdepartmental, cross-school partnership is cited as one the key elements in CGS's new vision.
College Dean Dennis DeTurck and Billmyer are currently exploring ways in which to integrate the missions of the two schools; many College students elect to take later CGS classes, DeTurck noted.
CGS officials emphasize the school's pragmatic approach; the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program teaches therapeutic practices based on individual strength and value.
Last February, CGS hosted a program for an Australian private school to help integrate positive psychology into the curriculum, and this past summer, the program trained 90 teachers from the United Kingdom.
"We can be the conduit of knowledge produced at Penn to society's needs," Billmyer said.
CGS is also making the leap from local to global, increasing its geographic diversity by recruiting students from around the world - the positive psychology program flies in students from as far away as Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and Switzerland each month.
