n 1997-98, the Hebrew Union College-
Jewish Institute of Religion conducted an
extended strategic planning process which
was facilitated by a Working Group of eleven
representatives of the Faculty, Administration,
and the Board of Governors. This process
consisted of a protracted self-study which
involved a series of focus groups made up of
students on each of our campuses, faculty in
each location, local groups of alumni, all of
our lay leadership, as well as groups of lay
leaders from the wider Reform Movement.
The findings pointed to the fragmentary
nature of the educational experience of many
of our students, the lack of integration
among the academic, professional and reli-
gious components of their learning, and the
need to help our students shape a clear
vision for Jewish life. As a result, the
Administration of the College-Institute laid
out a series of short- and long-term objec-
tives; chief among them was the creation of a
new three-year integrating core curriculum
for all rabbinical students.
To this end, a Core Curriculum Planning
Committee was formed, involving two facul-
ty representatives from each of our
campuses, two rabbinical alumni who serve
congregations, and two outside consultants,
Dr. Mary Boys, the Skinner and McAlpin
Professor of Practical Theology at Union
Theological Seminary and expert in semi-
nary education (see page 15), and Karen
Barth, an experienced facilitator and planner.
The Committee was charged with shaping a
new core rabbinic curriculum leading to the
M.A.H.L. degree which would:
1.
Integrate the Judaica knowledge, profes-
sional skills learning, and religious growth of
our rabbinic students;
2
.
Better integrate the First Year Program in
Jerusalem into the broader curriculum;
3.
Enhance the academic growth of our stu-
dents by raising matriculation requirements
in both Hebrew and basic Judaic knowledge;
4
.
Create a holistic learning experience;
5.
Build students’ professional skills in coun-
seling, education, leadership training, and
synagogue change by establishing new require-
ments for mentored in-field experiences.
In shaping the new core curriculum with
the support of the Nathan Cummings
Foundation, the Committee was sensitive
from the outset to the challenge of achieving
greater unity without total uniformity and
of creating a structure that also promotes
innovation and the use of the unique
resources of each campus. Therefore, in
defining the curriculum, the Committee
anticipated that it would not prescribe spe-
cific syllabi or course outlines, rather,
stipulate the areas and subjects to be covered
as well as the learning aims and goals for
each. Each faculty then would have the
autonomy to determine the details of each
learning experience and its structure.
A. The Planning Process
At the beginning of the Committee’s work,
extended discussion about the goals of our
core curriculum planning took place at the
first all-faculty retreat, June 14-16, 1998.
The retreat involved 65 faculty members
from all our campuses and helped shape the
Committee’s ongoing deliberations and the
methods by which additional faculty input
could be garnered.
Following the faculty retreat, the Core
Curriculum Planning Committee spent time
initially shaping an agenda of the overarch-
ing issues that had to be addressed in our
planning. It reviewed our Educational Vision
for Professional Training, which had been
put together as part of the wider strategic
planning process, which generated many of
the key questions to be answered. At the
same time, the Committee reviewed all of
the existing academic, cocurricular, and spiri-
tuality programs on each of our campuses, as
well as current attempts at integrating the
academic, professional, and religious growth
of our students. In addition, we created an
inventory of the curricular models in place
in the other Jewish seminaries.
The Committee then had meetings with each
of the faculties in New York, Cincinnati, and
Los Angeles, gaining input from each on the
following key questions:
•
How to integrate learning across different
academic areas?
6
THE CHRONICLE
I
New
Rabbinical Core
Curriculum
Strengthens
Teaching, Learning, and
Congregational Impact
by Dr. Norman J. Cohen, Provost