College looking at future of its academic programs and student profile

[Gator88NE]

http://gargoyle.flagler.edu/2016/03/college-looking-at-future-of-its-academic-programs-and-student-profile/

“I see Flagler as a school that is on its way up and is improving academically,” Woolfolk said. “But I think we need to sharpen our identity. We need to clarify exactly who we are, and one way of doing that is developing programs that take advantage of the rich culture and heritage of this city and region.”

One way to define the college is by strengthening its academic programs, Woolfolk said. Newer majors, such as criminology and coastal environmental science, are doing well, and more majors are on the way. Part of the reason coastal environmental science is succeeding at Flagler is because of the campus’ location.

“Flagler is a unique place in a unique location, so let’s leverage the location as much as we can,” Woolfolk said. “That’s one way to make us distinctive.”

A new Honor’s Program:

New programs are also being proposed, starting with an Honors program. A small group of students will be invited into the program as incoming freshmen based on their academic profile. Students in the program will be placed in honors sections of certain courses and be required to write a senior honors thesis at the end of the program, among other requirements.

“I think it’s a program students will like. It’s not going to overwhelm them, but it will engage our best students,” Woolfolk said.

New scholarships will be offered:

Strengthening the academic profile of the school, rather than radically changing it, is what the college is looking to accomplish. To do that, several scholarships for incoming students have been added in the past few years. Before that, there were no scholarships for incoming students because of Flagler’s relatively low cost for a private school.