Academic Experience
Innovative teaching and expanded access to all Emory has to offer
Through the Student Flourishing initiative, Emory is enhancing students' academic experience on multiple fronts—from curricular innovations to operational improvements.
In addition to introducing new and improved first-year courses to provide undergraduates with a strong foundation for success, we're developing opportunities for students to gain confidence through experiential learning, collaborative problem-solving, a focus on digital literacy, and other high-value skills for lifelong flourishing. Behind the scenes, we're focused on removing barriers and opening doors to help students access and explore all that Emory has to offer.
Education Reimagined
“By ensuring greater connections between what happens in the classroom and the experiences students have beyond it, we can provide a more fully integrated educational experience. From experiential learning to more deliberate career development, the new programs and opportunities within the Student Flourishing initiative will better prepare students for personal and professional lives of achievement, meaning, and purpose.”
—Joanne Brzinski, senior associate dean for undergraduate education, Emory College of Arts and Sciences
Academic Experience Highlights
Setting the Stage in ECS 101
This foundational course for all Emory College first-year students has been redesigned to emphasize student flourishing through community-building, health and well-being, purposeful reflection, and finding pathways toward personal academic, co-curricular, and extracurricular goals—providing an introduction that sets the stage for student success in college and beyond.
First-Year Flourishing Seminars
Rooted in the Student Flourishing Initiative’s focus on the whole student, these seminars combine multidisciplinary liberal arts studies with weekly community-building dinners and opportunities for personal reflection on flourishing and well-being—including at least three follow-up gatherings after the semester ends. The goal: deepening not only what students know but who they aspire to be.
New Avenues to Business Education
Along with a reimagined BBA curriculum emphasizing customized pathways, technology and data analytics, personal and professional development, and community engagement, Goizueta Business School expanded access to its popular program in 2022–2023 by introducing a new business minor open to all undergraduates. A new cross-school initiative launched in fall 2023, Goizueta@Oxford streamlined the path to a BBA for Oxford students by expanding prebusiness course options, programming, and advising.
Enhancing Access to Emory
The expanded Emory Advantage program helps more students graduate debt-free by eliminating need-based loans as part of undergraduate students’ financial aid packages, replacing them with institutional grants and scholarships. Since its expansion in fall 2022, undergraduate borrowing has dropped by 50% with Emory meeting 100% of demonstrated need.
The Emory Undergraduate Council
Led by the provost, this university-wide council is charged with identifying and acting on operational improvements, including policy changes that improve the undergraduate experience. In spring 2022, the council extended the add/drop/swap period to give students an additional week to shape their semester. Other priority areas include moving date of record, revisiting credit hour maximums, creating a student (consulting) partnership and creating opportunities for faculty-student engagement outside the classroom.
Expanding Experiential and Skills-Based Learning
Aligned with Emory’s strategic priorities, including the Student Flourishing initiative, the university’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) — first announced in 2023 — will foster experiential learning opportunities that prepare students with skills and perspectives to flourish in a rapidly changing world. “Connect-Integrate-Reflect" will support students’ personal and professional success by expanding opportunities to apply academic knowledge to real-world situations, guided by faculty, alumni and community partners.
Creating a Uniquely Emory AI Education
Emory is forging a distinctive approach to artificial intelligence, where advances in AI benefit humanity. In conjunction with the university’s AI.Humanity initiative, we are developing educational opportunities aimed at fostering AI literacy across campus, providing students with essential skills needed to excel in a technology-driven world. One example is the Center for AI Learning, which provides co-curricular learning opportunities for students. The center offers year-round short courses and workshops along with sponsored experiential learning projects that allow students to apply AI skills they learn in class to solve real-world problems.
