The College will officially reduce its graduation requirement to 124 credit hours from 128 next fall because of a second faculty vote approving the change at a meeting last month, according to Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education Joanne Brzinski.
Current students will be “grandfathered” into the new graduation policy, meaning it will impact those enrolled in the College at the time it is implemented.
According to a Nov. 1 Wheel article, this alteration coincides with the credit-hour changes that will go into effect next fall.
Emory University will begin following the Carnegie Unit System, in which the number of credit hours designated for courses matches the number of “contact hours,” or the amount of time students are in the class, each week.
Because the “standard” College class will be worth three credits, rather than four, the reduced requirement is an attempt to “make it a little bit easier on students,” Brzinski told the Wheel in November.
Faculty approved the graduation requirement change by a nearly unanimous “voice vote” at both November and December faculty meetings, Brzinski said.
In general, faculty members must approve policy changes regarding graduation and distribution requirements at two successive faculty meetings for them to take effect, as stated in Emory College’s Faculty Bylaws.
The Educational Policy Committee – a group of faculty, student and committee representatives that makes decisions regarding College policy changes – proposed the alteration and approved it at the beginning of the fall semester.
In addition to the College, the Goizueta Business School announced last spring that it would also be reducing its graduation credit-hour requirements to 128 from 138, as most B-School courses will be worth three credits starting next fall.
– Contact Jordan Friedman at
jordan.m.friedman@emory.edu
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